The Pen Addict 168/transcript

The Pen Addict Podcast Transcript
Episode:	168
Title:	Big Green Hulk Hands
Release Date:	August 17th, 2015
Hosts:	Brad Dowdy Myke Hurley
Guests:	No guests this episode
Additional Information
Official page:	Episode 168
Audio File:	Audio Episode 168
Podcast page:	The Pen Addict 168
Length:	7272 min <br />1.2 h <br /> minutes
Previous Transcript	Next Transcript

Myke Hurley: From RelayFM, this is The Pen Addict, episode 168. This week's episode is brought to you by lynda.com, where you can instantly stream thousands of courses created by industry experts and Pen Chalet. Great deals on high quality pens with a 100% satisfaction guarantee. My name is Myke Hurley and I am joined by Mr Sleepyhead, Brad Dowdy.

Brad Dowdy: What's up, mate? Hey, Mr Sleepyhead. Do you have one of those airplane landing, we need one of those airplane landing sounds, you know, coming to a land, someone running like, and then a car like screeching to a halt in a driveway, and then me running into the room. It's like Mr Bean, Mr Bean goes to DC. It's like, I feel like I'm one of those skits running in here.

Myke Hurley: So how long ago did you actually arrive home as we record this?

Brad Dowdy: I'm going to say, let's ballpark it at 2pm Eastern.

Myke Hurley: Okay, and it's what, 5 now?

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, 5.30. Yeah. But in between then, I picked up my kids from school, so it's like I didn't come home and like chill. So I got home at 2, went to pick up the kids at 2.30, got back about 3.30, 3.45, made a cup of coffee promptly. That promptly put me to sleep. I think I fell asleep sitting there for about 30 minutes. I made sure to set my alarm knowing that I was going to fall out, set my alarm for 5.10. So I've actually been coherent here for about 30 minutes.

Myke Hurley: Why did the coffee send you to sleep, by the way?

Brad Dowdy: I don't know. I was trying to get it to wake me up, and I fell straight out right after I drank the cup of coffee. I was snoring within five minutes. My wife was making fun of me. It was pretty bad. That's how tired I am. And Jeff even took a picture. I didn't even realize until I got home, I was scrolling through some pictures. Jeff took a picture of me like falling out on the plane on the way home. I didn't notice that one until I was showing my wife some pictures from DC this week. And I was like, hey, what's this one? And then, oh, it's me on the way home, just zonked out.

Pen Show

Myke Hurley: So we're going to talk a lot about the pen show today, naturally, right? But I do have some follow-up items that I want to talk about. Because believe it or not, just because everybody's in DC, the pen world doesn't end. You know? There is stuff happening for those of us that couldn't make it.

Myke Hurley: And I wanted to talk about some of that stuff with you.

Brad Dowdy: Okay. Yeah, I'd like that. Because there's actually the topics you've put in here are big time on my radar. So it'll be nice to talk about these and do a little more research on them for next week.

Myke Hurley: So the first thing, this came across my radar yesterday. Oh, no, it was a couple of days ago.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, I think it was the day I left.

Myke Hurley: Yeah, actually, it might have been the day you left. I don't know why I thought it was yesterday. It was a few days ago. Mark Newsom. Mark Newsom is a designer. And at the moment, one of the reasons this is very interesting and pertinent to me and Brad, is he's actually working at Apple right now. And he's been working, it would seem, on the Apple Watch. And he's been doing some stuff with Johnny Ive. But he is very much a contractor. So he continues to do work outside. And he has designed a new pen for Mont Blanc called the M, the Mont Blanc M. And it was unveiled on the 13th. And it's currently on sale in Harrods until September when it goes on wide sale. So Harrods is a department store in London. And I believe it goes on wide sale in September worldwide from then. But it's in Harrods now. And in September this year, it goes on wide sale. Oh, my.

Myke Hurley: So. You've seen this thing, right?

Brad Dowdy: Yes. I saw the link. I went in. I was doing something. I think I was on the road. We might have been in the shuttle getting to the hotel or something when this tweet came across. And I was struggling to kind of get a good look at the image. I absolutely 100% guarantee you this will be my first Mont Blanc pen. This thing is beautiful.

Brad Dowdy: It's an absolute no-brainer. It's stunning. It's really stunning. I mean, once we figured out the price. I mean, if it was going to be $2,000 or something, I mean, hell no. But what did we figure out the price was in the $300 US? What was the final amount that we came up with?

Myke Hurley: Well, our good friend and now pen addict guest, the pen economist, tweeted at us to let us know that it was a price at £375 in Harrods. Now, this, again, I don't fully know because this is a line of pens. So, I don't know if the fountain pen is $375. That's true.

Brad Dowdy: They could start, yeah, if they have a, whatever the entry level of that group is.

Myke Hurley: Yeah. So, Jonathan wasn't completely clear with that when he said that. But the debut price is $375. But did say he believes it may, well, no, he said it may fall once released more widely. It may be at a higher price right now. Believe it or not, Mont Blanc on their website have nothing about this pen.

Brad Dowdy: But color me not shocked at all.

Myke Hurley: So, I can't find, I can't even find any more pictures of it other than what's been released press-wise. I can't find, I can't find any independent source for how much it actually is costing in Harrods. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. And I can't find any information about how much it's going to cost outside. But with how I feel about the way this pen looks, it's going to have to be really expensive for me not to buy one.

Brad Dowdy: So, the conversion here, it's actually at the bottom of the article. And the price it gives is $585 Australian dollars. And that's for the gold nib, two-tone finish, rhodium ruthenium, topped off by the inscription of MN. So, this sounds like the fountain pen model. So, that converts to $432 US dollars.

Myke Hurley: If that's the case, I will be buying one of these. Yeah, same. Pretty much as soon as I can. So, I don't know how much you've read. I don't know how much anybody's read. But it's beautiful. I can't, they tried to explain it, but I can't fully understand what the utility purpose of the dip at the end is for. Yeah. I'm saying something about the way you hold it, but like, whatever, I don't care, it looks fantastic.

Brad Dowdy: It really does.

Myke Hurley: I don't know if you've seen this, but there is a magnet in the cap, which not only keeps it shut, but perfectly aligns the clip to the Montblanc logo in the dip.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, that kind of stuff really, I really appreciate that kind of stuff. Because I'm crazy about getting that kind of stuff lined up anyway, you know? So, to have the manufacturer build that into the design is important. I mean, it's what they should be doing, unfortunately. Not all manufacturers do it, right? But when, you know, Mark Newsom and Montblanc get together, it's going to be tight. And I'm glad it's not $1,500 to $2,500 or more. It's a pin that, you know, only slightly crazy people can get into. It's not cheap by any stretch.

Myke Hurley: What do you think about the nib, the nib materials and stuff like that?

Brad Dowdy: Oh, it's beautiful. I mean, it's gold. It's going to be great. So, yeah. I have no issue with the design or pricing of this pin. I would like to find some more information before it becomes widely available. Who knows if it will be available on Montblanc's website. But that's a challenge we all have right now, getting information, especially from a generally tight-lipped Montblanc, to be honest. I mean, you know, they won't even do – they're very tight on their retail channels, their supply and distribution channels. So, getting any information out is tough.

Myke Hurley: Yep. I think they only even spoke about this because it was available in Harrods on that day. Right.

Brad Dowdy: And the – like the press release or the information and articles didn't come – they don't – this one didn't even come from a Montblanc source, right? Did it even – oh, yeah, there is one interview from – so, I guess Design Boom, which is where we'll have the link in the show notes to, they did have a sit-down with Montblanc about this pin. So, there's some video and things like that you can get some information on.

Myke Hurley: Yeah, Newsom was also talking to some outlets on that day, and this was part of it. So, he was doing some wider interviews, and this was part of that. So, I want you to explain something to me quickly, because they're saying it's a gold nib, right? Sure. With – where does it say this? And then it has a two-term finish of rhodium and ruthenium. Yes. Can you explain to me the gold? I always get a bit confused by this.

Brad Dowdy: Sure, sure. It's basically a plated gold nib, the plating being the rhodium and ruthenium on top of the gold underlying softness of the nib. That's how you're getting that silver look or that two-tone look. You know, that's what you see in something like my Nakaya nib on my Nakaya portable, which I am looking around for it somewhere on this mess of a bed. But it's a rhodium-plated gold nib, and you can actually tell, because I got the nib ground and the underlying – like, right on the very tip of the grinding, you can actually see the gold of the gold. So it's basically like a metal plating on top of the gold nib. Makes sense.

Myke Hurley: Is that so you get a lot of the benefits of gold without it just bending?

Brad Dowdy: Right. Well, you get the softness of the gold. I don't know if ruthenium or rhodium can actually be made into a nib themselves. Someone smarter than me will have to answer that. But it's a gold-based nib, right? So you get all the properties of having a gold nib, and then you get a finish on top of that nib, which is your ruthenium and rhodium. So same thing goes for something like the Sailor Blackluster pen that I have, which this actually – this section in the nib remind me a lot of, right? So it's got that black – it's a gold nib, but it's black. You know, it's got that coating on it.

Myke Hurley: Sure.

Brad Dowdy: It's plated, I should say. I shouldn't say coating, but plated.

Myke Hurley: But I assume that plating does something for, like, strength or something. Like, it must be doing something, right? Because why else would you cover it up?

Brad Dowdy: Style.

Myke Hurley: Oh, really, you think? Okay. Fair enough. Fair enough.

Brad Dowdy: Absolutely style, because all the other parts of this pen are silver or ruthenium, probably. Good point. Or rhodium. So, yeah, they'll do it for style. Just like my Sailor, my Blackluster, I have it in my hands right now because I brought it to DC, but I never got it into Lori's hands from Franklin Kristoff, who wanted to borrow it. So I sent it to her. Or everything, like, the nib is gold, but it's this complete, you know, gray, like, gunmetal-looking plating that they use. But, like, if you took a saw and cut this nib in half, the underlying aspect of it is gold. It would show the yellow of the gold under there.

Myke Hurley: Okay.

Brad Dowdy: So, yeah.

Myke Hurley: The naming of this pen as well makes it incredibly difficult to Google for.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. Not surprising. So, I guess there'll be more when it comes out into the normal population. I'm very excited about it. If it does, I'm wondering how much, I mean, they don't talk about it being limited. Like, I wonder how much of a production run they'll have. I don't know if this is going to be something they have forever, like a stock line pen or just something they're going to run for, like, six months, probably through the Christmas season.

Ink

Myke Hurley: Listen to this pen addict right here. So, this is in an interview that Newsom did with the Wall Street Journal. One thing I can't live without is an A4-sized notebook. It's always hardcover and super generic. I can't stand spiral versions. The paper has got to be thick enough so the ink doesn't go through. I used to buy them from a shop called Papier Plus in Paris. I've got about 30 of them at home. I love fountain pens because they get used to you. The nib changes. They develop an angle according to your movement. That's why you should never lend your fountain pen to somebody else.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah.

Myke Hurley: How awesome is that? That's great, right?

Brad Dowdy: That's pretty cool. I mean, it's essentially wrong, but it's pretty great.

Myke Hurley: Well, I think he's saying long term.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, I know. I agree. I mean, there's some truth in the statement, but I, yeah. Yeah, you know where I stand on that. I'll loan my pen to anyone. It's not going to change in the few moments that they're going to use my pen into something different, into something. Oh, no. It's no longer me.

Myke Hurley: You're not going to send me one of the Anakai's for six months. That's exactly right. Because I'm going to ruin it.

Brad Dowdy: Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. But handing my pen to someone and letting them try it is just not going to phase it at all unless they're, you know, like, have those big green Hulk hands, you know, where you can, like, punch people with. And they try to, like, Hulk right. And, you know, that wouldn't go so well for my pen. But, yeah, otherwise, it's pretty good.

Custom Notebooks

Myke Hurley: Next piece of follow-up. I saw this today. I received an email from Baron Fig. It's part of their marketing email stuff. They are now doing custom notebooks for brands. And they have some pictures on their pages of some stuff that they've done for what looks like Bloomberg, Nike, stuff like that. So it seems like they're doing, they'll do anything. But it seems like they're mainly doing what looks like, I think, the big hardcover, the confidant. Yeah. And they seem to be, like, putting things in there, like, to print on top. I can see an ArtSnacks logo in here.

Brad Dowdy: Mm. Cool.

Myke Hurley: What do you think about that?

Brad Dowdy: Oh, I see it. Yeah, right on the bottom left. Yeah, no, I think that's cool. And this has been out before, except they never did this push. Yeah, they never talked about it. If you go to, like, their footer in their website, because when I was researching the WorkPlay edition, you know, I was just bouncing through everything. You know, just, you know, all their about me's and facts and things like that. They actually did have a, the custom and bulk page was different than the marketing spiel that they have up there now. But they did offer this option earlier.

Brad Dowdy: It just looks good. I mean, it's just flat out good looking notebook. For companies like this and that have the design aesthetic that someone like Bear and Fig has and the ability to crank these out, it's pretty much a no-brainer. And they look fantastic.

Myke Hurley: If you give them out at events and stuff like that, which is what a lot of this stuff is used for, people are used. I think, oh, it's a mosque. Oh. Yeah. That's how it will go, right? Right. Because they'll go to pick it up and be like, oh, what is this material? You know, it looks like what you expect, but it's more than that. And I think that's, it's actually, I think, a very smart way for them to do business. Because, like, Field Notes, their custom stuff meets the design sector, right? Because it's kind of like you can make it the way you want. And Field Notes are cool in design. But this feels way more like you could not only hit some of that market, but also, like, the business world. Oh, yeah. Totally. This is a very, I wouldn't be surprised if within a short space of time, a big, big chunk of their profit is made up by doing this kind of work.

Brad Dowdy: I would imagine so. And just, you know, anecdotal conversation and evidence from Field Notes, that's like a massive part of their business that you never hear a lick about, you know.

Myke Hurley: Whoa, until it goes to the Field Notes group.

Brad Dowdy: But you can tell that how often they're getting into that type of thing. And this format is going to do super well in, you know, more official business type settings, if you will. You know, like, you know, like professional conferences and training conferences and things like that.

Myke Hurley: Well, as well, for these ones, more than the Field Notes, I can imagine a company buying 10,000 of them and putting them in a storage closet. And that's what everybody in the company uses. Yep. Yep. You know, which I don't know if you'd get for Field Notes as such. Exactly. I feel like they're different.

Brad Dowdy: Yep. We're in agreement on that. Totally.

Branded Stationery

Myke Hurley: Because the Field Notes feel like more of a gift where this could just be a stationary item. Yep. But it's branded. So when you've got your people going to meetings and stuff, they've got the branded notebook. Right. Which always looks good, I think. Yeah. Especially if it's a good looking notebook.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. I saw on our flight home, I didn't, you know, we're heading from D.C. to Atlanta today. I didn't see any, like, corporate branded, like, stationary. But I saw plenty of corporate branded, like, bags and stuff. So it would fit into that. Like, a big group of the Chick-fil-A people were, you know, coming back into town. They're based out of Atlanta. And, you know, like, all our bags. You know, but, like, Levenger-style looking bags and briefcases, right? Like, super nice stuff. And with just a very tiny little, you know, logo on it. So something like this is perfect.

Myke Hurley: Smart, smart move. Yep. Right. We're just basically wasting time now because everybody just wants to hear about the pen shows. Let me take a first break and we'll jump right in. This week's episode of The Pen Addict is brought to you by lynda.com, the online learning platform with over 3,000 on-demand video courses to help you strengthen your business, technology, and creative skills. For a free 10-day trial, visit lynda.com slash penaddict. That's L-Y-N-D-A dot com slash penaddict. Lynda.com is for people that want to solve problems, people that are curious, or people who just want to make things happen. Maybe you want to master Excel. You want to learn the getting things done way of life and get things done. Maybe you want to learn how to bootstrap a business. You want to learn Photoshop. You want to learn the foundations of color, typography, negotiation tactics, how to build a website, how to use conversion rate optimization fundamentals. I don't know what they are. Maybe you want to know what that is. You can go to lynda.com. Not only can you feed your curious mind, you can find out exactly what conversion rate optimization fundamentals are. I know what that is, actually. It's about marketing stuff. So conversion rate optimization, if you're in sales, you need that sort of stuff. You want people to convert. But this is the type of thing you can learn at lynda.com. You can watch and learn topics all taught by top experts, people who are passionate about teaching, who can help you learn. You can watch these videos that they create. They're already professionally made. You can stream them on demand on your laptop, and you can follow along with the transcripts that they have on the web. So you can see what people are saying, and you can follow along, or you can search back later. But you can also watch these videos and download them as well to your Android and iOS devices with the lynda.com app, which they have. You can create and save playlists that you can watch wherever you want, and you can even share these playlists with friends, family members, or colleagues, team members as well. It's really useful with lynda.com. You can customize your own learning path, and you can also share it with others so they can learn the same sort of stuff that you are. Your lynda.com membership will give you unlimited access to training on hundreds of topics for one flat rate. Whether you're looking to become an industry expert, you're passionate about a hobby, or you just want to learn something new, I would love it if you would go and visit lynda.com slash penaddict. Not only would it be worthwhile for you, it's also going to help us out and help support this show. Thank you so much, lynda.com, for helping today and for supporting us at RelayFM, as we are one year old this week.

Brad Dowdy: That's right. Yay, happy birthday.

Myke Hurley: Indeed. It's our big, big year. I mean, it doesn't make a lick of difference for this show. 168 episodes, three different podcast networks. Nothing can stop this show.

Brad Dowdy: That's right. We're unstoppable. But you're unstoppable as well, Mr. Hurley. So congratulations to you on the big one.

Myke Hurley: Thank you, buddy. And thank you for being the one and only person who's stuck with me for the longest.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, I don't know if that was such a good idea, but we're going to just go with it. I mean, what am I going to do at this point?

Myke Hurley: Who else is going to hit me?

Brad Dowdy: How's that for a vote of confidence?

Myke Hurley: I've got nowhere else to go.

Brad Dowdy: No, man. It's been awesome. I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for you, right? I mean, there's a reason I'm here and there's a reason Relay is successful. And I think we all know what it is at this point.

Myke Hurley: Love you, man.

Brad Dowdy: Love you too, bud.

Myke Hurley: Let's talk about the pain show. Well, I didn't love you this week. Yeah. Well, I had lots of love this week. Let me tell you.

Brad Dowdy: Mega love.

Myke Hurley: I have been just gutted. I have been so... Seriously, I have been just so jealous and sad this week. I kept talking to Adina about it and was like, I feel worse having met the pen show than when I miss a bunch of tech conferences or whatever. Because Atlanta was the first time in like three or four years that I have felt like truly nerdy. Like the first time that I went to WWDC, it was like, oh, wow. You know, I'm with these people and everybody's talking about the stuff that we love. And like, I don't get this at home. But then it became normal because every time I go on these types of things, they're always about that. And then we have a bunch of nerds that I love talking about Apple stuff. But the pen show was like, I'm getting this nowhere else. Like, this is completely unique to us being here together. And I really wanted that back again. And I had so much fun in Atlanta that I was just... I have been so jealous and felt really sad that I wasn't able to attend. And there have been many times where I wished that I would have just done it anyway. And I then felt even worse because I could have done. But I made the decision not to. And I think I still made the right decision for the business. Sure, sure. Because I couldn't have taken the few days off. Like, because, you know, you end up with all the time before and after. But I really, really wish I would have done it.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, I wish you would have been there too because so many people were there. I mean, it was just... It was the who's who of our little world. Not to mention that doesn't count everyone. All the pen show people, right? Sure. I told... When we got to the airport this morning, Jeff and I were waiting around for the flight. I made a list. It's like, I'm going to list all the people that I just... That I met this week that I kind of knew online. Like, I had some idea, you know, of their Twitter handle or Instagram handle. Or, you know, kind of somehow knew them prior to the show. That who ended up actually coming to the show. I think I'm at... My list ended at 56 names.

Myke Hurley: How do you remember all of that?

Brad Dowdy: Well, Instagram was part of it. I'd roll through. Like, I did as many as I could off the top of my head. Then I started scrolling through pictures. I was like, yep, yep, yep, yep. Forgot them, forgot them, forgot them. And like I said, that's just people like, you know, pen bloggers, Instagrammers, Twitter followers. What this doesn't count is the people who came up and said, oh, hey, are you Brad? You know, I love reading the blog. I love listening to the podcast. That was dozens and dozens of who knows how many people. It was crazy the amount of people that were there that were involved in our little community. And it was pretty amazing. And, you know, just like how in Atlanta, everyone had that same feeling, you know, about the people. That was the recurring theme here. You know, the people are what the, you know, memories you're going to have for years and years and years. Not what pen or paper you bought or what nib grind you got done. But who you met, you know, what you talked about after the show, you know, and those connections you made on a more personal level than, you know, through these digital wires that were on most of the day. So it was really, really cool. And I wish you were there. And a lot of people asked about you. And they wished you were there, too.

Myke Hurley: So how is it different to Atlanta, better and worse?

Pen Show Size

Brad Dowdy: It's enormously huge. Huger than I could have pictured beforehand. Just the size of the show. The show. I'm talking about the show itself. Like Lisa Van As told me, you know, how many people were going to be there, how crowded it was going to be. That I could picture. What I couldn't picture is like the physical space of the show. How many tables there were. How many vendors there were. I would say if you combined all the spaces at DC. And they were three rooms that were all kind of connected in some way. Like you could basically walk a circle. Like in Atlanta, you had one room. You walked out of a hallway into another room. These just had like a wide door into the next room.

Brad Dowdy: And it just flowed like that. I would say size wise.

Brad Dowdy: Five times bigger. And that's probably selling it a little short. It could be like seven times bigger. If I really thought about it. And really got some hangouts. Just in vendors.

Brad Dowdy: So extrapolate that into people attending the show. Right. So Thursday night when we showed up. I mean we got there. We hit the hotel at like 1.30 in the afternoon. And the whole atrium foyer area is just like set up with tables and free for all for any vendors who want to, you know, put out their wares on the table. No assigned tables. No official show.

Myke Hurley: That sounds mad.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. Lots of vintage trading. So we didn't do anything but just kind of tool around these tables. There might have been 30 of those tables. Something like that of people just sitting out. Really just chit-chatting and seeing what's going on. Friday was the first day of the official show. But only for those who bought the weekend trader pass. Right. You had to buy the expensive pass. The $45 Friday, Saturday, Sunday pass to come to Friday. And that was a really good, busy, steady day. Like everyone who I knew was traveling to the show, you know, if they didn't arrive Thursday night, came in on Friday. So you started to see a real heavy turnout on Friday.

Brad Dowdy: Saturday was straight up packed. That's the first public day where it's $7 to get in. And the line was hundreds of people long to get through, like the ticket counter to get into the show. Friday.

Myke Hurley: Is that wherever you had a ticket or not? Or is that to get a ticket?

Brad Dowdy: To get a ticket. Right. And then, yeah. So if you had a weekend trading pass, you could go through. You could go ahead and get in. And you could get in an hour early. But if you were just having your first day's pass was the Saturday day, you had to wait in this line. The people I talked to who were like wowing at the line, I don't think it took them more than like 30 minutes to get from the back. To the front. But still, that's pretty shocking, all things considered, right? Yeah, it's a pen show. It's a pen show.

Brad Dowdy: And then that was the first day we actually worked the table with Lisa, Lisa Van Es and the rest of her staff. And we didn't hardly leave the table all day. It was from open to close. It was straight up packed. And which is good. I mean, that's what it's, that's what it was going to be. That's what it's supposed to be. And then Sunday, I think, was actually quieter than I thought it would be. I think it was, I thought there would be like a rush in the afternoon. Which kind of, you know, Sunday mornings are always, you know, pretty quiet. You get a little buzz in the afternoon and then it dies down completely. It didn't really pick up much. It was quiet in the morning. Didn't pick up much in the afternoon. And then we started packing up at 3. You know, we were still selling probably until 4, 4.30. But, you know, we started breaking down things and packing up inks starting about 3, 3.30. So it was really, really winding down by then. But still so much was going on. But that was the day I was able to get around and talk. Like Friday and Sunday, I got around and talked to a bunch of people and, you know, did my shopping. Things like that. And Saturday was just straight up insanity sales day. So that's the biggest way it was different. Just the overall size, capacity, quantity of everything.

Brad Dowdy: As far as what's better or worse, I mean, it was all good. I mean, like, I don't know that there was any negatives, like, Pinchot-wise. Either in Atlanta or D.C.

Myke Hurley: Well, I mean, that's like, because I'm thinking, is the size a negative in any way?

Brad Dowdy: If I didn't, if I wasn't working, it wouldn't have been. But I still never saw every table for the whole show.

Myke Hurley: Sure.

Brad Dowdy: I didn't get, I, I, if I had, I maybe saw half the tables at the show. Right. But if I had like a weekend trader pass Friday, Saturday, Sunday, I would be totally fine with the size of the show. I wouldn't have had an issue. Yeah. I wouldn't have complained saying, oh my God, it's too big and too crowded. So I wouldn't have had a problem with that.

Myke Hurley: So you had a meetup. There was a, like an officially sanctioned meetup, right?

Brad Dowdy: Officially sanctioned Panatic meetup on Friday night, 7 p.m. We got, we were supposed to have a larger room initially, but it was set up with, in like a chair row style. So like if someone was up front, like it was set up for the following night's auction, right? So someone was up on a stage at a, at a lectern. And then there were just rows of chairs facing that person, right? And that was a big room. But it had like no tables. We wanted to have like tables for, for people to have, you know, pens, paper out. It's just a more, a more casual setting that way. You know, having those rows of chairs is just weird and it's not good for mingling. So we got shifted to a smaller room that was better set up for us style-wise with the tables and chairs. But what ended up happening is it became a sauna in there really, really quickly. It was packed. Like we were definitely over the fire code. I think the fire code for that room was 50. I think we were at least at 50, you know, probably in that 50 to 60 range at the peak. And unfortunately we didn't have like the air conditioner. We didn't prep the hotel that we had moved the room and can engineering switch the air conditioning to like Arctic level to handle. The mass quantity influx of people. And it was really nice. Everyone didn't complain. They, I made jokes about it. Other people made jokes about it. It was pretty funny. But we, and it purposefully didn't last long. It wasn't going to be like an all night type of meetup thing. We ordered pizza. There was a happy hour that the show sponsored out in the lobby from six to seven. And then our meetup ran from like seven to eight. And by eight, everyone was, you know, had gotten to eat. We gave out some door prizes, some really cool stuff. You should have been there, Myke. It was pretty cool.

Myke Hurley: Like what?

Brad Dowdy: So we had like one of our NotCo Brasstowns, one of our NotCo Half Tower prototypes. Lisa Van Ness, my favorite thing that she gave away for, she engraved a Pilot of Roshizuku Shinkai bottle. She like engraved the sticker on the box for like, and said like 2015 Pen Addict Meetup DC Pen Show. And then engraved the back side of the glass bottle with like the same thing. It's like Pen Addict 2015 DC Pen Addict Meetup.

Myke Hurley: Oh, man.

Brad Dowdy: It's pretty sweet. I'll get you a picture of it. Dan Don, who's in our Slack channel, won that. And he's posted a picture of it online. I'll send it to you to look at because it's really cool. And then she did some Rhodia Webbys where she engraved the same stuff on the front of the notebooks, on the front cover. That was really cool. Bert Oser from Bertram's Inkwell donated a pen that we gave away. So we had a really, really good turnout and some really good gifts and just some good mingling. And we got it over with, got everything done in efficiently in an hour because we were just all sweating like a mother the entire time. So I felt a little bit bad for that. But everyone was super nice. We were all equally as stinky. So it just worked out.

Myke Hurley: All right. I still want to know what it was like to sell. I want to get a bit more about that. But obviously, more importantly, I want to know what you bought. But I would like to take a break. Thank our second sponsor this week. That is our friends over at Pen Chalet. You know Pen Chalet. They sell authentic, amazing roller balls, fountain pens, ballpoints, mechanical pencils, and so much more from all of your favorite brands like Pelican, Lamy, Pilot, Monteverde, Namiki, Sailor, Kaweco. And they are, of course, an authorized dealer of all of them. And they're adding new stuff from these brands and more all the time. They have special discounts twice a month. They have specials every two weeks as well for closeout deals. And they're always making sure that they're keeping you stocked with other types of stuff as well. Related things like pen holders, refills, converters, and so much more. They have very fast and reliable customer service with free shipping on orders over $50 in the continental United States. But they also sell internationally with very reasonable shipping rates. And don't forget, Pen Chalet has a 100% satisfaction guarantee as well as their low prices on high-quality stuff. You can go to PenChalet.com and you can use the code PenAddict to save 10% off anything that you will find over at Pen Chalet. But don't forget, as always, you should click the podcast link at the top of the website and use the code PenAddict for even more savings as well as your 10% off. Ho, ho, ho, ho. Ho, ho, ho. And Brad has seen the offer this week. We are offering the Pen Chalet R and are going to be offering this week the Kaweco Brass Sport Fountain Pen. They have a limited number of extra fine along with some fine and medium nibs. If you want this one, you've got to get in quick. Because Ron has told me that they have some available, right? They haven't got a ton. They have a limited amount. Ron is going to give 15% off this pen. Then when you add on your 10% coupon, you will be able to pick yourself up a Kaweco Brass Sport Fountain Pen for $76.50 American.

Pen Chalet Sponsorship

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, that's ridiculous. Like, as we do recently with the Pen Chalet stuff, I don't look at it. Myke doesn't tell me what it is beforehand. So I'm typing in the codes and stuff and clicking the link while he's reading it. And I couldn't help but giggle when I was looking at that. Because it's like I get back from the pen show, right? I've spent all this gobs of money. It's like, how am I going to go? Well, you know, what's going to entice me to go buy something else? And I haven't been, a bunch of people have been raving about this pen. And I've got, you know, I've got a good amount of AL Sports, which I enjoy. And I enjoy the Lilliput as well. You know, I've probably got five of those, you know, between different models. And the brass board I've been holding off on. But there was a couple people at the show this weekend that had them. And I asked them to, can I borrow it for a second? Can I hold it and feel how it looks like? It's nowhere near as heavy as I thought it would be. It's, of course, substantial. It's a heavy pen comparatively, especially to the Classic or the Skyline. I think is what they're calling the different color Classics. And it's definitely heavier than the AL Sports. But it's by no means like a big hunk of brass that you're riding with. It's balanced well. It feels great. The patina on the Gentleman's that I used was awesome. He had a clip on his. He had it, you know, in his shirt pocket with a different Kaweco model that he's saying was only available in Europe. So that's a steal, steal of a deal for $76.50. And is that free shipping on top of that? Yeah, of course. I don't want to get in trouble. Yeah. Yeah. Free shipping. That's just, as my friend and partner Jeffrey Bruckwicky would say, that's just stupid.

Myke Hurley: That's what we love about Pench LA. They're always giving great deals for you. Thank you so much to Pench LA for sponsoring this week. Man, that's cool. Great deal. So, what was it like to sell? Because, actually, I'll come back to this part. Were you personally busier than Atlanta? The show was obviously busier, but were you busier?

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. Yeah? Probably.

Brad Dowdy: Probably.

Myke Hurley: Were you mentally busier, though?

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, mentally busier.

Myke Hurley: Yeah?

Brad Dowdy: Interesting. Not like, you know, work. So, Saturday was the big sales day. So, I was really, like, I was, you know, had my Vaness Pins hat on and I was slinging as much ink as possible. So, that part of selling was super busy. You know, that's just, you know, what comes with working a table at one of these things. So, you know, we're selling ink and answering questions and helping customers out. So, Sunday was mostly my meeting day. You know, I had to meet certain people that, you know, I want to do things with in the future. Some people that I haven't met before. Kind of a huge kind of a networking day for me on Sunday.

Brad Dowdy: Saturday was, I mean, excuse me, Friday was not a busy day for me. We were just mostly taking in the show and meeting people who would come to the show. And then around, like, meetup time, you know, I got busy because I was kind of leading that charge. But I was equally as tired every night. So, it must have been equally as busy. But, yes, a lot of it is mental busyness, right? You just wear yourself out. My throat is shot. My voice probably sounds different a little bit. It feels better than it has in days. Every night, I would just go to bed with just my throat just throbbing sore. And there's nothing really you can do to fix that. But, yeah, just the selling overall was really good. Friday, we did have, we were able to put out some knock stuff for a while in the afternoon.

Myke Hurley: This is what I was going to ask you. I thought you weren't selling anything.

Brad Dowdy: Right, we weren't. But we told people we'd bring whatever we could carry on the plane. So, Jeff took a backpack and, like, compressed, like, all our cases so we could fit as much stuff as we could into the backpack. And so, we sold a bunch on Friday, a couple little things on Saturday because we were too busy with Vinesse. If someone came up to us and asked something, we'd sell them something. And then Friday, we had whatever we had remaining. We went back, I don't know the number of cases we came with, but we came back with only the fodder stacks because we couldn't sell them because we didn't have index cards to show people how they worked. Right, we didn't take much paper.

Myke Hurley: Sure.

Brad Dowdy: So, as far as busyness overall, it was pretty darn close, even though I felt like in Atlanta, I had more after-hours responsibilities. In D.C., I just pretty much had daytime activity responsibilities. You know, like at night, you know, we just, okay, let's go walk across the street and grab dinner. You know, I didn't have a podcast to record, you know, or I didn't have an event to put on at NOC, you know, things like that. So, I was probably busier in Atlanta, but I was exhausted every night at D.C. I mean, we closed down the bar, I think, the first three nights we were there, which was about 1 a.m.

Brad Dowdy: So, I was just, I mean, I was wearing myself out. But it was good because, I mean, I felt like if I left the bar at night, I couldn't, I was going to miss something fun. But last night, it really quieted down. I mean, last night, I was in bed by 9.30, so.

Myke Hurley: All right, let's talk about your haul. All right. So, I've got an Instagram photo here. Okay. Can you talk me through what's going on?

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, so let's take it day by day here. I won't go through the photo itself because I'm going to break this out. But just in general, this photo that we'll have in the show notes, that was like the bag of loot that I came back with the show, from the show. And you can't really see everything, especially the pens. You can't see the pens themselves. I don't have them laid out. So, let's talk about, let's take this day by day, and that'll be the easiest thing. So, Friday, I knew, was going to be my day to shop. Okay. So, that was where I was going to walk around, check out the vendors that I really wanted to see, check out anything. I don't know. I didn't go in with a list. There was nothing particular. I just kept telling everyone I was looking for vintage pilot stuff because I knew I should be able to find it here. I didn't know for a fact that I would be able to, but my assumption was that I would be able to. And within the first 30 minutes I'm in the showroom, you know, I'm finding, like, those types of things that I'm wanting to see. So, I'm like, hey, this is a good sign. You know, but I didn't jump right into buying anything. I saw, like, there was, like, at least two pins. There was some Murex, some Pilot Elites, you know, with, like, the lattice work done on them. You know, there was a pile of Murex in red that my friend Susan just ordered. You know, there was some cool things you don't get to see every day. But I didn't just jump it. Like, I mean, I've been there 30 minutes. I'm not going to jump at the first thing I see. Except.

Myke Hurley: Yeah, I think I know what you're going to talk about. I think I saw it on Periscope.

Bung Box Pens

Brad Dowdy: Maybe. I don't know. I don't know. My good friends at Bung Box. That's where I knew I was going to spend my money. Like, immediately.

Myke Hurley: Oh, no, I didn't see this.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, yeah. That was the first thing I did. And it just so happened on Friday, you know, we were hanging out around the Van Espen's table. And we had our knock stuff out. And Jeff and I were taking turns kind of walking around the show. But Bung Box set up around about 20 feet away from us. So I was like, okay, well, let me get them, let them get set up. And then I'm going to go over and get, see what they have and get what I want. Because I know a couple of things that they're going to bring.

Brad Dowdy: And every time I turned around, their table's like three deep. You know, they just have like one eight-foot table. That's really only about three-quarters full with stuff. And, you know, paper, ink, and pens. And then a bunch of their like fabric-type goods. You know, they have pen cases and different cloths and pen trays and things like this. So I finally get my opening. I go over there. And they have the pen that I've been spying on their website for, I don't know, ever since it came out. It's been months, which is a Pilot Custom 91 in blue, which is made by Pilot just for them.

Brad Dowdy: That's the sleeve of the box. Like I said, you're going to hear a bunch of racket.

Brad Dowdy: So I'm already a big fan of the Pilot Custom Heritage 91 line. I have two of them already. It's actually Pilot's kind of entry-level gold nib pen. But what this one is, is in a color, a resin barrel color, only made for Bung Box.

Brad Dowdy: With, you know, special writing on the cap. It's kind of got this glittery, like if you look at it, not in the light. It just looks like a blue and silver pen. If you put it in the light, it sparkles. So it's just a Bung Box limited edition, made by Pilot. The nib is super cool. They did a nib grind of Bung Box logo on there.

Brad Dowdy: And, oh, and Carrie was there. Carrie from Fountain Pen was there. Just talking in the chat room, the exact thing I'm just saying. I'll get a good picture of the nib etching to put on there. So I knew if they had that pen, I was getting that pen. So that was easy. And I bought that. And I also bought one of their pen wraps. I'll have to find more information about this cloth when I post about it. But it's just this really beautiful Japanese cloth that I've also seen on their website for ages and ages. That I'll have to get more information on. But it's a real neat pen wrap. And then I got a pen tray, which is something. It's basically like a plastic tray you would just put on your counter. Like a valet, right? You know what I mean? Myke, want to say that? So it's just like a tray. But it's got a little ridge in the middle. So you can put like two or three pens in it. And they can just sit in there and not get scratched. Because this whole tray is wrapped in this same type of linen cotton fabric.

Myke Hurley: Is that this little blue guy on the picture right in the middle?

Brad Dowdy: Yes. Yeah, it's like a rectangular tray, pen stripe tray. Yeah. Yeah, so that's what that is. So you just put that on your desk and you can rest your pens in there if you need them not to roll away. And then I also bought the Bung Box Tangerine ink. Which is an orange ink that I had been wanting to try for a while. See how it compares to the beloved Sailor Apricot. And I have to say it's pretty close so far in the trials and tests that I have been doing. So, I mean, right out the gate I spent like a huge chunk at Bung Mucks. And they were funny.

Myke Hurley: Yeah, they did good out of you, man.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, yeah. And they were real happy. And it was funny. I left the table and, you know, went and carried my purchase over and put it in my backpack or something. I might have even taken it to the room. And I came back down and they were like waving me back over. And they wanted to get there. They have like a gift worth purchase over $100, which I didn't know. Didn't see the sign. So, they wanted to give me that. And it's a Pilot Plumix with, you know, they have the extra. I always tell people to, you know, buy the Plumix if you wanted a Japanese EF nib for your Metropolitan or your Pereira or something like that. But it's got the Bung Box logo on it. And they were excited to give it to me. And they were like, which color do you want? And, you know, they had the black and the clear one. And it was funny. Kowlu, the owner of Bung Box, she didn't speak hardly any English. But she had a translator there. And they were funny. They handed me the pen. They're like, oh, you take this. It's like, you take lots of good pictures. It was funny because we communicate mostly on Instagram. So, they see my pictures on Instagram. So, they'll know I'll take a good picture of their Bung Box stuff. So, I thought it was kind of cute and kind of funny. So, I got a big kick out of that. So, that was really sweet of them.

Brad Dowdy: Why did they go?

Brad Dowdy: Just because. Just because it's a massive show. So, they wanted to. I guess it was their second show. I think they were in LA earlier this year.

Myke Hurley: Because, obviously, like, you know, Lisa has a lot of their stuff, right? But I guess they just wanted to be there themselves. And they obviously didn't go to the lengths that she went to table size.

Brad Dowdy: Right. And they have just gotten a huge following. You know, and it's all, like, through social media type stuff. You know, especially with them with Instagram. So, they have this huge following now. So, I guess they made the decision that it would be worth it. And they didn't ship anything. They just brought, they packed an entire suitcase. Like, a full-size suitcase full of ink. And it made it safe and sound. And it didn't get TSA'd or anything like that. And it went back empty. So, yeah. That's crazy town. They made a good call.

Myke Hurley: Yeah. I can't believe they did that.

Myke Hurley: The distance that had to go. Yep. Wow. Okay. Well, you know, whatever. Whatever floats your boat.

Brad Dowdy: Whatever floats your boat. So, I didn't...

Brad Dowdy: I'm trying to think if there's anything else I bought on Friday. I'm trying to think if I bought my second pin. Wow. I'm already forgetting what day. Yeah. I bought my second pin on Saturday. So, that was my only purchase on Friday was the Bung Box goods. I had a couple swaps. I swapped a pin with Lori at Franklin Christophe. My Amber Model 20. They wanted to give me a replacement on that because I had a cap designed for a clip. So, it had a gap in it. You know, like a cutout for the clip. So, they just swapped that out for me. You know, like I did that on Friday. So, I have a new one of those in hand right here.

Brad Dowdy: So, I think that was it for Friday.

Brad Dowdy: Saturday, we didn't get out very much like I was telling you. But, I did make a couple stops. And, the biggest one was a table that was really only about, God, 50 feet away from us. It was a guy. I don't know how much I've talked about him on the show. But, his name is Bryant. He's with Chatterley Luxuries. And, anyone that's into like serious pins knows who Bryant with Chatterley Luxuries is. He has great pins at great prices. And, a lot of hard to find stuff. You know, but mostly like high end stuff. Right? And, he does like a lot of Visconti. And, you know, a lot of Danitrio. And, I don't know. All these big name brands. Yeah, Bryant. Bryant. So, not another Bryant.

Brad Dowdy: Bryant. But, just wait. You're going to get confused as I tell this story. Mrs. Soup. So, he had this pin on his trays. He has a great display at the show. Just beautiful stuff. And, it's this solid orange pin. Just completely orange. No clip. No embellishments. No gold. No silver. No nothing. And, I'm looking at it closer. And, it looks. It's the shape of a. I'm saying this is kind of Nakaya-ish looking. But, I didn't think it was a Nakaya just by the color. And, I pick it up. And, it's an Edison Pearl. Well, the Edison Pearl is made after the Nakaya Piccolo. Which, I know. Because, I have a Pearl. I have a Piccolo. They're very. Yeah. They're very similar in shape, size, and feel. So, I pick it up. The solid orange pin. And, I'm. So, you kind of hear that, right? That's me unscrewing the cap. And, I'm like. This is really weird. Like, I can see this.

Brad Dowdy: Kind of pattern. Underlying pattern in the material. Of the pen barrel. And, I have no idea what it is.

Brad Dowdy: It's. It's really interesting. I did this a lot this weekend. It's kind of feels almost ceramic-y. Like, when you. When you hit it together. So, I start asking Bryant about it. And, I was like. Tell me about this pen. And, he's like. You know. It's an Edison pearl that Brian. From Edison Penco. Made for me. I bought this material. This material is called G10. And, I've never heard of G10. And, basically. In the short version of what G10 is. It's a fiberglass composite. Essentially. Epoxy. Fiberglass. And, it's super compressed. At, you know. Super massive weights. It's mostly known. For like. Knife handles. Like, it's a. It's a very durable. Strong material. It's in the same. Category. Myke. As like. The micarta. Right. It's got that fibrous. Inlay. Inlay. You know. Like, within the material. So, that's where this pattern. That I'm seeing in the barrel. Is coming from. And, like. When I. When I take closer up pictures. You'll see the threading. Doesn't look as clean as the barrel. Because you can see those fibers. In between there. And, the same thing with a micarta pen. Right. When you're looking at the threading. On it. So, I was like. Okay. You know. I got. I got Bryant's side of things. So, let me. Go talk to Brian Gray. Because. He. The Edison Pen Co. Is there. So, let me. So, obviously. Brian. Brian made the pen. Let me go talk to him about it. So, I go talk. And, he's like. Yeah. So, Brian asked me to do this. He bought several rods of G10. And. Rods of orange. Rods of black. I made two pens. I made one orange one. One black one. And, I wanted to see what it was like to work with that material. Because, like our friend Dan Bishop in the chat room saying. It's hell on the tooling. Right. It is not a material that your drills are going to slice right through. Or your saws. Or anything cutting or finishing this material. It's really. You know. Like cutting it and manipulating it is a huge challenge. So, Bryant wanted Brian to try this. And. After I talked to Brian at Edison. I was like. Okay. I was pretty happy with. You know. What he was saying about the pen. And, you know. How it came to be. And, you know. Ask him a lot about the construction. Since he hasn't done. You know. Anything but two of these. On it. And.

Brad Dowdy: And. You know. How he thought. And he was like. You know. I think it's great. It's beautiful. It's wonderful. It's probably the most durable pen you'll ever own. The material is never going to do anything. But you do have to be careful of it. Like a micarta pen. You don't want to dip the section in ink. You know. Because it could stain it. Or you don't want the. Pen bouncing around. And ink splashing around. Inside the cap. It could stain it. That kind of thing. So you just have. You do have to be a little bit more aware. With the pen. So. I went back to Bryant. Look. Asked him the price.

Brad Dowdy: And. It's. This one has a. 18 karat. Gold nib on it. Which is my first Edison gold nib. And. Asked him the price. And. I was like. Okay. Let me think about it. And I walked away. And I just kept. It's. You know. You just kind of get. You know. Enamored with a pen. And you keep going back. And look at it. And you know. About the third time. You've gone back by. And looked at it. You know. It's coming home with you. So. It did. I purchased it. It's the only. Orange. G10. Pearl. In existence. He made the orange one. And a black one. I was showing it off. The rest of the day. You know. My. My teeth. You know. I had like that little glow on my teeth. From my smile. So big. For the purchase.

Brad Dowdy: You know. I am very happy with the pen. I love the pen. And I was showing it off. And told someone. You know. Said there were. There was a black one still over there. It was a gentleman named Jim. And he went over. And bought the black one. Like an hour. Or 30 minutes. After I bought mine. So. This. This was.

Brad Dowdy: Easily. My favorite. Purchase of the show.

Myke Hurley: I can tell. It wasn't cheap though.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. It was. I'll tell you. It was $400.

Myke Hurley: Okay.

Brad Dowdy: So. It's not mad. Not mad. A custom pearl. With a gold nib. I think is at least. In the three something. So. It's in the ballpark. And. For such a different material. And for a color. That. You know. I obviously love. And for it to be a one of a kind. Type pen. So far. Not that they won't make more of them. Um. Yeah. It's just not something you're going to see every day. Which is why. It's cool to go. A pen show. Otherwise. I would have never ended up with this pen. So. I thought. I thought $400 was pretty good. Uh. In the end. And both the black one. And the orange one. Uh. Were $400. And uh. Jim picked his up. And um. So. Uh. We were. We were showing them off the rest of the show. But just because when you. When you get this pen in your hand. It's a really different feeling. And. Um. It's really unique. Um. And I. I. This is a pen I'll definitely be showing off to a lot of people. Just because it's so different than anything else that I own.

Brad Dowdy: Anything else? Yeah. I got. Um.

Myke Hurley: You went pretty mad on this one. Like more than I thought you'd buy.

Brad Dowdy: Well. So I thought I was kind of done there. I knew I was going to get a couple of TWSBI uh. Ecos. Because I just wanted them to play with. So I picked up two of them from Anderson pens. I bought a white one. Let's see. What do we got? A white one. And.

Brad Dowdy: Medium nib. And a black one. And an extra fine nib.

Myke Hurley: Right.

Brad Dowdy: Um. So I wanted one to. Just kind of use. And I wanted one to tear apart. And play with. And see what other kind of nibs I can jam in there. And things like that. So that was easy. I. I picked that up. Um. I also got. A second bottle of Bunk Box ink. Um. Lisa Van S. Held me a box of the 4B. Which is one of my favorite inks. And it's not. The easiest to get. And you know. I don't know if they're going to keep making it or not. I had a special surprise awaiting for me at the Anderson Pens table though. Myke. Did you hear about this?

Myke Hurley: Uh. I don't think so.

Brad Dowdy: Probably not. Um. So Lisa told me to stop by. Someone had made a purchase online for me. Oh. Said to bring it to the show. And give it to me. And it's a bottle of Mont Blanc Irish Green. From our recent podcast guest. Dr. Jonathan Deans.

Myke Hurley: Oh. Look at that guy.

Mont Blanc Irish Green

Brad Dowdy: Gifted me the Mont Blanc Irish Green. So how cool was that?

Myke Hurley: I did see the Mont Blanc on your Instagram feed.

Brad Dowdy: Yep. That was from him. So he ordered that through the Andersons with a note to hold it. And bring it to the pen show. Uh. For Brad. So I really appreciate that. Uh. Jonathan. That was pretty cool. Um. So. We're wrapping up on Sunday. And I'm over there. At the Ecos. And. At the Andersons. Looking at the Ecos. And I'm. They have some killer sailor pens. Uh. Right now. They've gotten. Uh. They've done. Done really well. With. Uh. Their sailor stock here recently. And. I don't know. Their stock as a whole. Um. Just went. Was. Super good. I. There were several pens that I could. I could have bought from there. And I started. I'd looked at some Omos pens earlier. Back at the Kenro table. And. I'm just learning about Omos. And. You know. What type of materials they come in. What type of. Nibs they have. You know. You know. How good quality they are. And things like that. So I was. Jeff was walking around with me. So I was going through them. At the Anderson table. Kind of.

Brad Dowdy: You know. Reinforcing in myself. What I had learned. By teaching it to Jeff. Right. So. As I'm doing this. You know. One of the Omos's. That I've always enjoyed. Um. But. But. And looking at in pictures. But never owned. Is. Um. Boy. Where's the box. I can't even think of the name of it right now. Oh. I'm blanking. But it's this orange. It's this orange Omos barrel. See. There was definitely an orange. Orange theme. It's a clear orange one. They. Uh. They made last year. It's a limited edition. And I'm gonna have to look it up. Because. I am. Mentally fried. Right now. Uh. So let me get this model for you.

Brad Dowdy: But anyway. Long 24 hours. Huh. Yeah. So I. Uh. So I had this. It's the. Yeah. It's the limited edition.

Brad Dowdy: Oh. I'm gonna butcher this name. It's. Oh. Giva. Or. Or Giva. Vintage. Alba. 2014. Orange. Translucent. Okay. So. I'll. I'll. I'll finalize the name. When I put it in there. That's the name. It's a. Ogieva. Vintage. Alba. So. Italian brand. So. Italian name. And. I never knew. When they came out with this color. It was orange. Purple. And. Kind of a turquoise. Bluish green. And they all look really really pretty. And when the reviews came out of them. They were all really stunning. And I just never ordered one. You know. It's an expensive pen. And. It just didn't. You know. You can't buy everything. Right. So. Now next year. They're coming out. And they already had them at the show. At the Kenro distributor. Um. The. Next year's colors are yellow. Red. And blue. Okay. So. Um. They shift out these colors once a year. And three. Out. Three new colors in. This is the only orange one. That I had seen. Um. They're not making it anymore. And it had a fine. Extra. Flessible nib. So it's like a soft. Very soft. Writing a little. Give. On the nib. Um. Brand new.

Myke Hurley: Say that. Say that nib name again.

Brad Dowdy: They call it. Extra. Flessible. Okay. It's spelled exactly as it sounds. F. L. E. S. S. I. B. L. E. I think. It might even be Flessibile. It might even have an extra I there. Oh.

Myke Hurley: Flessibile.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. So I. I can't see it. I can't see it. So. Um. I. I got it. Uh. Who's asking me this? Uh. Dan Don. Did I get it through the site? Uh. Oh. He's talking about something else. He said. He says he has a purple one in the same. Same pen. Um. I hope. I hope Dan Don likes it. Because I have not inked this up yet. Because it was kind of a last minute thing I bought on Saturday. I actually. I walked away from it at first. I was like. I've spent enough money. And. Um. So. I walked away from it. Knowing. Well. You know. If I really want that pen. I can get one of the. Uh. Other colors. Yellow. Blue. Red. Because they're equally as pretty. Um. But. It is orange. And so. Jeff and I started talking about it. And he's like. Just go get the freaking pen. He's like. You know what. Just give me. Give me the money. And I'll go get it for you. And I'm like. Fine. Yeah. Just go. Get it. And he was going to get. He was going to pick up something else. While he was there. So I felt good. Well. He's going to buy something. So I'm going to buy. Well. We'll both buy something together. Right. So then he just comes back with my pen. I'm like. What are you doing? This is not. This is not the plan. This is not how it's supposed to go. I'm not supposed to end up with a pen. And you end up with nothing. And. Uh. He's like. Oh yeah. I ended up really not wanting that. But he ended up finding. Um. Another sailor pen. Of. Of his own. That um. He really. He really really liked. He did a good job. He got a special edition. Sailor. Bung box pen. It's called the Soleil. And it's this yellow piston filler. That's just completely killer looking. So. Um. We both ended up with a. A sweet pen. At the end of the day. On Sunday. And uh. That kind of wrapped the show. And. And what's funny. Is those are the things I bought. I ended up with so many. So much other stuff. That people brought to give me. You know. Like ink samples. Notebooks. Uh. I'm looking around here. What did I get? I got several. I got like. One. Two. Three. Four. Five. Five separate notebooks. That people brought me. Two of them were handmade. Um. Like. Um. Amanda. At Side of the Sea. And uh. Tanya. At Merber Draws. Both on um. On Instagram. They brought. These killer notebooks. That have. Several different papers. Like. Interlaced. Within the binding. Of the notebook. Right. So it's got like. A Tomoe River. And onion skin. And it's different graphs. And different rulings. Um. Through the thing. You know. It's just something they put together. And then. Funnily enough. At Prairie Knots. Um. On Twitter. Came by. With the same thing. It's called the Paper Tester Edition. And what she did. Is has. You know. Pay. Uh. Type one through eight. It's got. Thirty two pound copy paper. Twenty pound copy of paper. Rhodiograph. Rhodioblank. Rhodiodot. Tomoe River Cream. Tomoe River White. Clairefontaine Line. All bound. In one. So. One. Uh. Simple notebook. So you can test your one pen. On all these different paper types. How cool is that?

Myke Hurley: That sounds pretty cool.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. And Tanya and Amanda also gave out. Uh. M&Ms with DC Pen Show. And these little. Uh. Found pen nibs on it. So that was pretty sweet. They definitely hooked a lot of us up. With that stuff. And I've got more stuff. I know I'm forgetting stuff. Um. Le Reyes gave me a notebook. Um. I got some backpack journals. Um. Which are the. Also a Tomoe River Paper Journal. So. I'll be going through this. Oh. I got something really cool. A non-pen related item. I did meet. I met two thirds of the Erasable crew. Myke. So Tim. Tim Wassum and Johnny Gamber there. I know we're running like super long. Now on the podcast. But um. They were both there. Wonderful guys. Yeah. To meet. Um. Johnny kept threatening to. You know. Blow up the entire room. He's like a hardcore. You know. Pencil guy. Right. He's like. Yeah. I think he was breaking out in hives or something. He was going to. Being around all these pens. But uh. Tim handled it pretty well. And uh. Tim brought me a gift. He brought me one of the Coom Masterpiece. Um. Um. Sharpeners that we. We talked about one. I don't know if we ever called it by name. But it was something I'd been tracking them discuss. Um. A reader. A listener of theirs from Germany. I think it was Germany. Or somewhere in Europe. Sent them over a handful. Um. One for each of them. Because they're not very easy to obtain. And it's this little um. You know. Solid aluminum. Uh. Hand sharpener. It's very small. But it's very fine. And precise. And it's like one of the best sharpeners. You can get. It's just not easily available. So that was a cool pleasant surprise. So.

Brad Dowdy: Oh. So. Talking like this. We just did for what? A little over an hour?

Myke Hurley: Yeah.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. So you know in Atlanta. You do this for what? 14 hours straight? 16 hours straight? However long you're awake. This is what it's like. So my voice. Was totally shot. I mean just by Friday night. I had to do like a big yell. To get everyone's attention. In the conference room. To do the door prizes. And my voice broke like immediately. I went.

Myke Hurley: Hey.

Brad Dowdy: And everyone. That got everyone stopping. Because everyone just started dying laughing.

Myke Hurley: I can really imagine you doing that. Like. I feel like I've already heard you do that before. Yeah. Whether you have or you haven't. It just sounds like something that you would do. Dude. Well yeah. That's fantastic.

Brad Dowdy: I'm going 100 miles an hour at these shows. Right. So I never stop talking. Because I'm meeting so many people. And just want to talk. And give hugs. And shake hands. And see how you're doing. And how's the shows going. And you know. It's. You've had this experience. I'm glad you've had this experience once. This was a lot of other listeners first time doing this. And I think the experience overall. Was identical to Atlanta. And by that I mean. It was.

Brad Dowdy: A lifetime highlight type of experience. Right. It was. It was. All the people. We didn't even get to the bar scene after the show. I will say one thing about that. Every night it was packed after the show. And their bar. So you were talking about the good and the bad. Or different. Better and worse. Between Atlanta. And DC. DC has the way better bar. So I would give it up to DC for that. Yeah. So it was not set up good for this many people. DC's was. So not only did they have tons of tables and chairs. Spread out everywhere. They had one gigantic table across the middle. Which everyone flocked to. That was always the first table hit up. Because it was long. You know. They had one long table in Atlanta. That was on like higher. Like bar height chairs. So they had that table. To ground level chairs. About three times as long. So we would hold like. Twelve or fourteen or more people. Sixteen people around that table. And then we would just kind of. Spread out. Out from there. And all these different tables and chairs. The bar was a great setup. For an event like this. For people who are. Bringing things to the bar. Like pens and paper. For other people to. To play around with. Between the. The bar being better. And the periscoping. Going on. Those were the two new. Those were the two. The two big hot things. At this show. That we didn't have it in Atlanta. So. I'll have to work on my periscope game. Brian Goulet. Was trouncing us all. But. I'm going to work on it myself. And. You know. See if I can get up there with him.

Myke Hurley: So what do you think. Next year then. Do you think that. You're going to. Well. Naturally you're going to do Atlanta. That would be dumb not to do that. Right. Atlanta may always be. Knox biggest show. Who knows. Right. Right. Right. Just because of the amount of stuff. You can take. But do you think that you'll. A. Go to DC again. And B. Do you think next year. You might try and sell.

Pen Shows

Brad Dowdy: A. Yes. B. Definitely. Maybe. But. I'm not going to say. Definitively. Right. So I've. I've had lots of. Talk. Talks. Meetings. Ideas. Thrown around. I've had a lot of time to think myself. While I'm traveling. And I've got some ideas. I want to explore. And it does. It obviously involves Atlanta. It probably involves DC. And then. You know. It's just something we got. I have to figure out. Personally. And we have to figure out. As a company. As not. Um. You know. It's. It's. Be too premature. To say. Definitively. Anything. Um. Certainly. We'll be attending DC. Uh. Next year. Um. Obviously. Atlanta. Um. Is. Is. Is. Is a no brainer. Um. And then. You know. As we go along. I'll share. Like. What my thoughts are. Um. In the big picture. Um. You know. Of. Of what I envision.

Brad Dowdy: You know. Pen shows to be. For communities like ours. And I'd like to really do something. Very specific for that. Um. And you know. I have things I can't really share on the show. And there's no plans imminent. But I just think there's going to be a lot of change. Like in the next six months. Before we. A lot of discussion. Not a lot of change. A lot of discussion in the next six months. Before we get into the next pen show season. And trying to figure out. You know. How I want to be involved in it. How NOC wants to be involved in it. And how to get the community involved in it.

Brad Dowdy: So it was. This was a. This was an extraordinarily. Worthwhile trip. Um. If just for. Like. The meetings I had. And um. You know. That was like. The low point. You know. Out of all of it. You know. You know. Shopping and seeing. All. All my friends. Um. Was clearly the high point. But um. To. To have the low point. Be at such a high level. You know. It was a pretty awesome show.

Myke Hurley: Well. I'm gutted that I missed it. I mean. I'm definitely going to make Atlanta. We'll see about DC. Next year. Just uh. You know. Atlanta's one I'm not going to miss. Right. Cause. Right. Yeah. That makes more sense to me at least.

Brad Dowdy: The best way to leave it. Is. Everything that we've done. Have done so far. Will be bigger and better the next time.

Myke Hurley: Yeah. Yeah. I like that. It's a good way to put it.

Brad Dowdy: That's. That. That's the place we're in right now. So. Lots of work to be done. On. On those type of things. So. You know. There's no point in having discussions. Because. You. You don't even know. This far in advance. But. Bigger and better. Will be. The recurring theme.

Myke Hurley: Sounds good to me. If you want to find our show notes. For this week's episode. Head on over to. Relay. FM. Slash. Penaddict. Slash. One. Six. Eight. If you want to find Brad online. He is. At Dowdyism. On Twitter. D. O. W. D. Y. I. I. S. M. And you want to keep your eye. On his Instagram feed. And on the site. Over the next few days. So that's. Instagram. Dot. Com. Slash. Penaddict. And. Penaddict. Dot. Com. You want to check those out. Because he's going to be posting. More pictures. And writing about. All the great stuff. That you picked up. Over the last few days. So you get a bit more detail. On that. Because I know. I'm looking forward to seeing. Some pictures. Of some of this stuff. Plus you got to do the bung box. Folk proud. Right. They want you to take pictures.

Brad Dowdy: Right. Oh you take good pictures. I'm like. You know me. So. Yeah. And I probably took. The least amount of pictures. Of the attendees. At the show. So I'll probably. I'll. Like I did for Atlanta. You know. I'll try to link to everyone's. Pictures and write ups. Recaps and all that. You know. As we go through the week. It's probably not going to be tomorrow. I am so far behind. You know. Just on the day to day stuff. With the blog. But that's okay. It was. It was worth it. To have the weekend. That we had.

Myke Hurley: Good stuff. If you want to find me online. Being sad. About not going to the pen show still. I am at iMike on Twitter. I am YKE. Thanks so much. Linda.com. And Pen Chalet. For sponsoring this week's episode. Did you want to say something Brad?

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. I was going to tell everyone. To go give Myke a virtual hug.

Myke Hurley: Yeah. I need one. And we'll be back next week. For another episode. Of the Panatic Podcast. Until then. Say goodbye. Brad.

Brad Dowdy: Goodbye.

Myke Hurley: Brad. Brad.