The Pen Addict 250/transcript

The Pen Addict Podcast Transcript
Episode:	250
Title:	The Cool Kids Room
Release Date:	March 29th, 2017
Hosts:	Brad Dowdy Myke Hurley
Guests:	Ana Reinert
Additional Information
Official page:	Episode 250
Audio File:	Audio Episode 250
Podcast page:	The Pen Addict 250
Length:	8484 min <br />1.4 h <br /> minutes
Previous Transcript	Next Transcript

Pen Chalet

Myke Hurley: From RelayFM, this is The Pen Addict. Today's show is brought to you by Pen Chalet, Blue Apron, and Harry's. And I have not said the number of this episode, because I am going to give that joy, that pleasure, to my co-host, Mr. Brad Dowdy. Can you tell our ladies and gentlemen out there in Pen Addict land the episode number, please, Brad?

Brad Dowdy: We have made it, Michael, to episode number 250 of The Pen Addict podcast. Yeah, we have. Well, how, though, right? I don't know, but I have a very strong feeling it is the quality of our guests that we have on the show. And with us today, we have the only person befitting the guest spot on episode number 250, and that's Miss Anna Reinhardt. Hey, Anna.

Ana Reinert: Hello. How are you guys this morning?

Myke Hurley: Very good. Good. Thank you so much for joining us.

Ana Reinert: Thank you for having me.

Myke Hurley: Yeah. So, as we have done, you know, we spoke about this a couple of weeks ago, right? We've been doing our big milestone episodes at Atlanta. So, 150 and 200 were both live in Atlanta. But the calendar did not treat us well this year. So, we figured if we're going to do this episode 250, we need the three of us to continue the tradition of every 50. So, Anna is here today. And we are actually going to finish this show today by talking a little bit about the Atlanta Penn Show. Because of some, like, weird travel schedules and stuff like that that me and Brad have got going on right now, I don't even know if we're going to be able to do, like, a full-on episode of, like, getting ready for the show. Because we have some guests and stuff booked in. So, today, we're going to talk about getting ready for the Atlanta Penn Show just as a way to hype everybody up. We're going to hand over to Hype Man Dowdy. And he's going to help us out. But we do have some follow-up, as always. I want to just, I think it's only right to continue the safari forever.

Lamy Safari

Myke Hurley: I think it's just right to just continue that thread. I think everyone's in agreement that the Lamy Safari is the best pen out of the safari and the all-star. No, sorry. Anna, I think you're breaking up on me a little bit. I can't hear you properly. But the safari, I got an email from Penn Shelley because I put my name down for the pre-order of the petrol. And I put my order in for the petrol safari and the petrol of the ink as well. So, that's when it's where I think that I'll be shipping out sometime in April. It's where I'm going to be.

Brad Dowdy: It's where I'm going to be. Yeah, it should be next week, probably. Because the European pictures started popping on Instagram. So, I threw one I found this morning that was running through the Slack channel the past couple days. So, you know, a bunch of the European retailers get the Lamy releases first for obvious reasons. And I got to say, this looks better than dark lilac to me. But that's just me. So, maybe Ron was right when he said this is going to be better than dark lilac and I poo-pooed him. So, I don't know. But it's pretty hot, I got to admit. So, what do you think about this safari versus the Pacific Blue, Anna? Yeah.

Ana Reinert: The ink looks lovely. But when we're talking about the pen colors, I'm not as keen on the color of the pen.

Brad Dowdy: Mm-hmm. Yeah. The Pacific Blue is so bright. It looks awesome.

Ana Reinert: Yeah. And I'm not crazy about the pebbled finish that they're doing on the safaris right now. I like the smoother finishes on the safaris.

Brad Dowdy: See, I like the pebbly. I like the pebbly plastic as opposed to the fancy, shiny aluminum. Because you saw my Instagram post. I got just a ding in my AL star, which is why I always vote for the safari because I don't even know how that happened. I didn't drop the pen. I just banged up against something, I guess, and doink.

Ana Reinert: Yeah. But you saw my engraved all-star.

Brad Dowdy: I know. That looks...

Ana Reinert: You can have those, get those engraved. They look really cool.

Brad Dowdy: So we got a logo one, I think, for last year's DC Pen Show. It looks awesome. If you want to get a pen engraved and get something cool written on the cap, or we did the Pen Outic logo on a black one, it just came out awesome. So I don't know, but I'm all about the petrol, Myke. This is going to be a winner. And I've broken my ink promises this year. Not that I've really had any defined promises, but I bought six bottles of ink at the Arkansas Pen Show, or seven.

Myke Hurley: That's a pretty catastrophic way to break a promise, Brad.

Ink

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. But my theory is to not ever buy... I used to buy two bottles of limited edition ink that I liked. I'm going to stop doing that. This one's going to be a hard one not to buy two bottles of, because they're only like 11 bucks. It's kind of stupid. So I appreciate that Lamy keeps the prices low. That's why they sell out of them so fast.

Myke Hurley: In case anybody had trouble scaring themselves, if that's a thing that you need, and you wanted to head over to Alex's Pen Outic Coloring page, we have another new feature. And what is almost becoming a regular recurring segment of Alex adds features to the Pen Outic Coloring web page, there's a button now. He knows. He times it.

Brad Dowdy: He times it.

Myke Hurley: He gets it. There's a button now called Nightmare Mode, which if you click, it just does terrible things. Like, just really bad things.

Ana Reinert: I was playing with that this morning.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, I was having fun clicking that. That's my kind of mode.

Myke Hurley: Oh, God, it's so bad.

Alex's Pen Outic Coloring page

Brad Dowdy: This thing is ridiculous in all the best ways. I mean, it's awesome. This is one of the coolest things we have.

Brad Dowdy: We're going to have to start paying for Alex's hosting.

Ana Reinert: I was a little worried clicking on that, that my picture might appear on that, too.

Brad Dowdy: An Easter egg. Don't mention it, because he'll do it. Yeah, I'll be there next. Consider it done, right? So, that thing is cool. So, before we get into all of the things with the pen show and what Anna's been up to recently, I do want to hit on a couple of reviews I did. In the past week or so, I did the Baron Fig Archer, the Snakes and Ladders edition, and I did JB's Perfect Pit and Flush, which is kind of a weird thing to review, but Myke had some questions on it. So, I figured we'd talk about these real quick, because I wanted to pick Anna's brain about the Baron Fig Archer, because you had the first batch, right, Anna? You got the first ones that came out, the charcoal, I guess, the gray with the black tip, and you liked those, right? I mean, they've got pretty much consistently really good reviews.

Ana Reinert: Mm-hmm. No, I've really enjoyed them, and I had not yet sharpened the Snakes and Ladders, just because we'd been so busy with the pen show in Arkansas and everything. But after reading your review, I went ahead and sharpened one just to see, because you had mentioned that the color had come out a bit darker, even though it was supposed to be the same core.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, so I had never tried the original Archer. I was just holding off until these arrived, assuming they'd be, you know, essentially the same on the inside. And I guess theoretically, they're supposed to be, but I think it's just a matter of manufacturing variants. I sharpened up the Snakes and Ladders, and I was like, wow, this is really dark, and it's soft, and it's a little bit gritty. Like, it's like a pencil should be, right? Except we've gotten spoiled with other amazing soft, dark, firm leads, like Blackwing 602 and things like that, Tombow Mono. So, you know, comparing it to that, it's a little bit different. But I found this to be a little bit too soft for me, which, you know, helps with the darkness. So if you like a dark, soft pencil, this is really good. It's beautiful. The color is awesome. The Snakes and Ladders logos look great. But it's not a pencil I would recommend for really anybody, unless they were just looking for, like, something very specific. It's a very ordinary pencil. It's not bad. It's not good. It's just there. Like, I got a single charcoal archer from you, Anna, at the Little Rock Pen Show, and I sharpened them up. I was like, oh, this is how I want the pencil to write. You know, I enjoyed that core better, even though they're supposedly the same. It was firmer and a little bit lighter. And it was noticeable to me. I mean, it was clearly noticeable when I was writing with them.

Ana Reinert: Yeah. So I'm wondering if they just had better quality control with the first batch.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. Who knows? It happens. I mean, it's a manufacturing thing. I mean, we get at Nock, if we do a steel exterior, like, the color of it can range, right? There's a variance in the dye lots, even though they're still called the same. You know, same with Olive coming up. For the Laniers, you know, there's variance in there. And it's still normal. It's still within the range. And it still makes it a good pencil. But I'm not, like, $15 a dozen pumped about this pencil. It's like I wouldn't buy it again. Or I'd recommend about 10 other pencils before it. But it's a good pencil. It's cool looking. So that's my only Baron Fig subscription. Do you subscribe to any of them?

Ana Reinert: Yeah. I've been getting pretty much everything. So.

Brad Dowdy: Well, yeah. I've been getting that, too. But I actually ponied up for the pencil one. Because they don't send me the pencils, I think, you know, on purpose. As a matter of fact, Joey wrote me a note in my subscription. I guess when they packed it, they noticed it. Joey wrote a note. But I meant to take a picture of it before I threw it away. He said something like, don't tell your followers that you have a pencil subscription or something like that. It was pretty funny. He's got your number, Brad. He does. So, I mean, we'll see how this tracks. First release. Most of their first releases have been okay. And, you know, we talk about them a lot. And we'll talk about them some more. Yeah.

Ana Reinert: They do try really hard to improve with every product that they do. So, I feel like if, you know, if they've gotten feedback that there wasn't inconsistency, I definitely think that they're going to work really hard to up the game on this. Because I know that they've done that with their notebooks. Exactly.

Myke Hurley: Yeah, I guess what makes the pencils harder than maybe the notebooks is that, like, you get a pack of them. Right? So, I guess there's a greater percentage of chance for inconsistency when you receive, like, 12 or something than one or two or something. You know? Yeah. Yeah, I guess. It's like you're more likely to notice it, I guess, is what I'm saying.

Ana Reinert: So, well, I mean, I guess the next step would be to go and sharpen all 12 of them and see if across all 12 pencils, if they're all inconsistent. I mean, if they're all soft or if some of them are harder than others. That'd be interesting. But I'm wondering if the whole lot of 12 are softer. Because you and I each got a box and both noticed that the pencils were softer. So, I'm thinking that across the board, maybe the lead was generally softer with the snakes and ladders than with the first batch of Archer pencils.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. So, I would assume they're all the same, too. But I probably will sharpen all these up because I think these are going to go straight to the kids. They'll be pretty happy with these. So, I'm not going to use a dozen of these. Whereas, you know, I'll get, I'll keep using some of the black wings that I enjoy more and more and get into the dozens a little bit deeper. This one, I'll probably not use more than the one that I have sharpened. And I'll just keep it handy for when I need that type of pencil.

JB's Perfect Pen Flush

Brad Dowdy: This other thing I keep handy now is a new thing for me. And it's JB's Perfect Pen Flush. Have you ever used any product like this for the pen flush, Anna?

Ana Reinert: No, but I sold a ton of it in San Francisco when I helped out at the Andersons table. So, I was curious to see how you were using it compared with how the Andersons instructed me to tell people how to use it.

Brad Dowdy: Ooh, ooh, give me the pitch. I want to hear it because I'm not sure either. Because I was confused. You have this large bottle of liquid. And on the back of the bottle, it says, just pretty much use it in the bottle as it is.

Ana Reinert: Yeah, that's exactly it. And so, yeah, because they, because that was, I was very interested to find, you know, because they talked me through how to tell people how to use it. And so, when I saw how you used it, I was like, I don't think he used it right. Mm-hmm.

Myke Hurley: Mm-hmm. So, for anybody that doesn't know, JB's Perfect Pen Flush is a liquid, like a solution, I guess, that is intended to help you clean stubborn ink out of fountain pens.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. So, what are they, what's the rules, Anna? How do we use this?

Ana Reinert: Um, well, when I was, um, selling it for, and the Andersons, and we sold a ton of it, um, the instructions were literally to, um, put the, um, you know, that tip of your pen into it and literally flush it in and out of your, um, your pen just from the bottle. And so, when you get the brand new bottle, the liquid is clear. Mm-hmm. But that's the whole, you know, so rather than having to, like, pour a little bit into a container, you know, and use just a tiny bit and then pour it out, you just continually use that same container.

Myke Hurley: Huh. So, I guess what it's doing is, like, what it's actually doing to clean, it doesn't matter if there's a little bit of ink inside the liquid because it's still able to do its job, right? Like, it's still able to clean. And then you refresh it when you need to refresh it and then job done. Mm-hmm.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, so that makes me think that the small bottle would be the best purchase if I'm just going to use because, I don't know, the, yeah, I don't know. Now I'm just confused.

Ana Reinert: Well, and they, um, the, the instructions, you know, like, what the Andersons were suggesting is that if you don't need it very often, like, if you don't have, like, stubborn dried ink in a pen very often, you probably only need, like, a small bottle. But if you're cleaning lots of pens and have a lot of stubborn stains and that kind of thing, you might want a larger bottle. Or if you're maybe going to only replace that bottle every five years or something, maybe a larger bottle.

Myke Hurley: This is going on my pen show list, I think. Because I just have a couple of pens, like, especially my Edison, the pump filler, where, like, that thing is just, I know it's skunky inside, but I can't do anything about it. Like, like, so it's the piston filler. Like, I can't, I can't get in there really and clean it. And I'm worried that it's kind of rotten away or whatever in there. You know, like, I'm just concerned about it, but I can't see it or do anything. So this feels like a good thing to give me a bit of peace of mind that it's getting a better clean. Yeah.

Ana Reinert: Especially if you're making a big change from, like, you know, your, your Fuyugaki to a, like a, you know, a dark blue ink or a black ink where you're making a big shift. And then going back to Fuyugaki later where you really want to get that black ink out and put a light, bright color and you don't want it to have that sort of murky look in between.

Myke Hurley: Which it will forever. Like, it feels like it just never changes. Because then it, like, it changes gradually and I don't notice it. And then like, oh, man, it's never right. That's how I kind of feel about it. Yeah. Yeah.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. And it's, it's definitely like Anna said, I didn't realize it till I sold a bunch of it at a pen show. I was like, maybe I should have this just handy for when I need it. And I don't have lots of gunky nibs. I have, I have good fountain pen hygiene, but I do like it on, like you were saying, Myke, the Edison and Franklin Kristoff nibs. It seems to, I seem to have a tougher time, tougher time cleaning the YOWO nibs and nib units and feeds than other types of nibs. Because the ink doesn't, like, the water doesn't flush through those better. So, it's nice to have this extra help of the JB's perfect pen flush. And that's what I used it for. And I cleaned the Schaefer's that I bought at the pen show. You know, just the older pens. Let them get all in there and clean out the, whatever bits and bobs might be stuck in those pen barrels. So, I think it's cool. I'm going to use this. I won't use it religiously. But I could see if you had a lot of pens to clean and a lot of older pens, especially vintage pens, and, you know, get them in there and soak them up. I thought it worked really well. And I will continue to use this. So, I liked it.

Ana Reinert: That's cool. I'm thinking, like, before you were to sell a pen or something, like, I would do, like, a, that would be, like, the deep clean so that I made sure, like, if I was selling a pen, it would be, like, super clean.

Harry's

Brad Dowdy: That's a great idea.

Ana Reinert: You know, I wasn't giving someone, you know, I wasn't selling a pen to someone that, like, still had, like, a little, little bit of gunk in there.

Myke Hurley: I didn't even know this product existed. I don't think I've ever seen it or heard about it until I was looking at Brad's website this morning. I was like, oh, what is this weird-looking thing? You know when you see something and you're like, how is this a business for someone? Like, it just seems like such a niche, niche, niche product. But I guess it's because of the people that use it. They buy a new bottle every year, right? Like, I guess that's what keeps it going. But it's just, it's the fact that, like, the label is so old-timey looking, and it's just, it's really funny to me.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, and a bunch of the pen shops, I know Goulet makes their own, Monteverdi has their own. I wonder if it's just the same white-labeled stuff or if the formula is probably really simple and basic. You could get someone to mix it up and bottle it up for you.

Myke Hurley: Yeah.

Ana Reinert: Yeah. I think I recently saw, like, Jay Herban is now selling some.

Brad Dowdy: Oh, wow.

Ana Reinert: Yeah, and I don't remember where I saw it. I don't know if I saw it at a pen show or in a catalog or something, but.

Myke Hurley: Gotcha.

Ana Reinert: Yep. A couple other people are selling it.

Myke Hurley: All right, today's show is brought to you in part by our friends over at Harry's. Harry's was started by a couple of guys who go by the name of Jeff and Andy. They were fed up of being overcharged for their razor products, so they decided to go out and fix it. They did this by buying a factory. This is a blade-making factory in Germany that had over 100 years of experience. They did this so they could make their own high-quality products and sell them online to ship to people directly for just half the price of what you'll be used to paying at the drugstore. With Harry's, you'll be paying just $2 a blade compared to the average $4 a blade from bigger brands. Harry's razors include everything that you need for a close, comfortable shave. You get a weighted ergonomic razor handle, five precision-engineered blades that include a lubricating strip and a trimmer blade, and a travel blade cover as well. And they have all of the extras that you'll need, like amazing shave gel or cream. I bought just some stuff. I'm just trying to get ready for a bunch of travel that I'm going on, and I was thinking about Atlanta, and I was just imagining the bathroom that me and Brad will share as it is just covered in Harry's products, like across the whole sink. Everything smells of aloe vera. Like it's a whole big deal. And I will say, as a man who's been close to Brad Dowdy, that he always looks really good, and he always smells really good, and it's because of Harry's.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. And I'm a sensitive guy to you, Myke. You are. I know, you are. Not just my tears, but my skin is also very sensitive. So Harry's is the first blade that has allowed me to shave against the grain without cutting my neck all up. Which that's a big deal for someone that has to shave the sensitive skin around their face, and this is the first blade and shave cream that I've been able to do that with without going to the hospital. So thank you, Harry's, for giving me a smooth, clean shave, blood-free.

Myke Hurley: Yay! Harry's is so confident in the quality of their blades that they want you to try their shave set for free. All you need to do is go to harrys.com slash penaddict right now. You'll claim your free trial set that comes with a razor handle of your choice, a five-blade cartridge and shaving gel. It's the perfect way to try out Harry's. All you need to do is just pay a small price for the shipping. Once again, that's harrys.com slash penaddict to claim your free trial set. Thank you so much to Harry's for their support of this show and RelayFM.

Episode Count

Brad Dowdy: So before reading the show notes, Ana, did you know how many episodes of the Penaddict podcast you had been on?

Ana Reinert: Nope.

Brad Dowdy: No idea. So I was guessing.

Ana Reinert: Not even a guess.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, I was guessing. I was thinking like eight to ten. Then I was going, wow, that seems like a lot. And I started going through the Relay site because Myke and Steven have wonderful search features on the site. And there's actually a guest page on the site, but it's not updated with the entire back catalog. But Myke did something special for you to answer this question for all of us. So why don't you tell us how many episodes Ana has been on and tell everyone where they can find all those episodes.

Myke Hurley: So there'll be a link in the show notes. You'll see like the guest information and it will have Ana's name, which you can click on. And it will give a list of all of Ana's guest appearances on this show. And I went in this morning and because, you know, as anyone that's listened to the show for long enough will know that the Penaddict has multiple homes over its 250 episodes. And when we brought everything into Relay, it didn't bring over the guest information. So I went through today, found all of the episodes that Ana's been on and attached them to her Relay FM profile. And the current number up until today was 12. So this makes unlucky number 13 today for episode 250. And what I really like looking at the numbers is you can tell how like when we had you on the first time, how awesome we knew you were because you were on episode 54, 62 and 71. It's like we just we just kept having you back within like a couple of months. Like we've got to have Ana again. We just got to have Ana again. Like she's so great. Let's just keep getting her back. And that really makes me laugh.

Ana Reinert: Oh, that's so funny. I can't believe it's that many episodes. The funny thing is I didn't know about that page, the guest page. Like I had never it had never occurred to me that you guys kept like a sort of a running log of like who all had been guests on different relay shows. So I started going through and seeing like who else had been on different shows. And so I was like, oh, look, Dan Frakes has been on a lot of shows. Like I've been on more episodes of shows than he has. Like I'm catching. I'm catching up. Yeah.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. And they'll they'll cross, you know, cross shows, too. So if like for some reason, you know, you or I were on a different post, like I would show up as a guest host on some other random show. If we were on they do these guys at relay, they do a really good job. They're pretty good.

Myke Hurley: I know. Some say they know what they're doing.

Brad Dowdy: I didn't say that.

Myke Hurley: Because I mean, I think.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, I think all three of us here can, you know, relate to that. Like we don't know what we're doing, but we do it and we have fun and, you know, we we try our best to do something awesome. And Anna just recently did something extremely awesome. So, Anna, we're going to pepper you with questions about the color ring ink testing notebook. So Myke, Myke just discovered how the word works. The coloring. Two weeks. During the show. Yep.

Myke Hurley: Two weeks.

Brad Dowdy: During the show last week, he had an epiphany.

Myke Hurley: Wait a minute. What a coincidence.

Ana Reinert: Bob played that back like three or four times and was so tickled.

Brad Dowdy: It was so genuine. It was hilarious. I was like, what is happening with my life?

Myke Hurley: I never claimed to be quick at these things, you know?

Brad Dowdy: Yeah.

Myke Hurley: Yeah.

Ana Reinert: But that was what we wanted. And so that was what made it so perfect.

Brad Dowdy: Yep. It was great. It was. It's just. It's just the best name when you've. When you. I know we'll talk about this, I guess, as we go. But, you know, you had a long process trying to figure out the name. Naming things is hard because you're kind of stuck with it.

Myke Hurley: Yeah.

Ink Swabbing

Brad Dowdy: So we'll get into that in a second. But tell us how, how did this idea even happen just from the ink swabbing and testing perspective?

Ana Reinert: Well, I'm like so many other like fountain pen users. I became a huge ink junkie in the process of becoming a fountain pen junkie as well. And I discovered those like the word cards and of course discover the Maruman word cards about the same time everyone else did just about the time they discontinued them.

Brad Dowdy: Right.

Ana Reinert: And so I was able to get, you know, a couple packs of them, you know, as they were being discontinued. And so, you know, ran out of them and was complaining, like, what am I going to do now? I really like this sort of size and format and I can't find anything in the market that's anything like this. You know, what am I going to use to test my inks? And this has become a real part of sort of how I do my blog and how I keep track of my inks. And I just had like volumes of things that I wanted to test and compare. And Bob's like, like every time I complain about something that I don't have, he's like, let's just make it.

Ana Reinert: And I'm like, are you serious? And he's like, well, what do you want? And I'm like, I want little cards that with a hole punched in them that I can attach a ring to so that I can, you know, group my inks together. And he's like, well, how hard can that be? He's like, I've got a machine that can die cut paper. We can find rings. Like, come on, this isn't rocket science.

Ana Reinert: And so he's like, all right, so what kind of paper do you want? And I'm like, it's got to be really good for fountain pens. And, you know, I showed him what the Maruman paper looked like. And he's like, well, it kind of looks like watercolor paper. So we started to look at watercolor paper. And we found out how expensive watercolor paper is. And we're like, okay, we could never produce anything with watercolor paper because these books would be like $40 a pop. Like, okay, this is not going to work. So we're like, okay. So we started looking at commercial printing paper. And every time he's like, he would bring home, you know, he would get samples from commercial printing vendors. And I would touch like a, you know, a cotton swab or a paintbrush to it. And it would just like soak in and just look like a blob. And we're like, okay, this is never going to work. Like, so first he was just bringing me like sheets of samples. And then he would just actually bring me the sample books that come from printers. He'd bring me the whole book. He's like, just try them all. Just try every single sheet. Just try them all. So I was like, I must have tried 100 papers. I'm like, no, none of these work. So then we started going to like art supply companies. And he's like, just try these papers. And I'm like, could we even get these in the quantities that we need? He's like, I don't know. But just try them. Like until we find the paper, like just try them.

Myke Hurley: Did you know what you were looking for specifically? Or was it like, I'll know it when I find it?

Ana Reinert: It was kind of, we'll know it when we find it. Like it had to be, you know, the right weight so that we could fit enough sheets into a book that it wasn't going to, you know, like, you know, we kind of like, it needed to be about the same weight as the Maruman so that we could get about 100 sheets in. It couldn't be too expensive. So we would go by what the retail price for a full sheet is that we could cut it down. Like, could we get it in the US? Like, could we order it? Or was it going to have to be shipped in from Europe or Asia? Like, it started to become this kind of thing, like, we just have to find the right paper. We'll figure out how to get it here later. Because at a certain point, it got to the point where we just couldn't find the paper. Like, nothing was right. And it's like, it would either be too rough or too smooth or too, like, it just, it started to be like, does this paper even exist? Like, nothing was right. And then we finally got this paper. And I'm like, I think this might work. And it was like, the vendor that showed it to us didn't have like a commercial price for it. And we're like, um, do you actually sell this paper? And he's like, well, I guess we can sell it to you. And we're like, seriously? And he's like, well, yeah, since you're just down the street, yeah, we'll sell it to you. We're like, awesome. So that's how we got it. It was literally because we are in town. It's an art supply vendor that distributes basically art supplies and art papers. Like, they bring it in from all over the world. And then they distribute out of Kansas City. But normally this paper, they actually use and make it into like sketchbooks and stuff. But because they're here in town, they'll actually sell it to us in the sheet.

Brad Dowdy: Crazy.

Ana Reinert: So that's how we got the paper.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. And the paper's got a story to it, right? I mean, this isn't your run of the mill, no pun intended paper.

Ana Reinert: Yeah. It comes from a 400 year old European paper mill.

Ana Reinert: Of course it does. Of course it does. So it basically comes over from Europe to this warehouse that's literally like two or three blocks from my office where I work. And then like I basically can see their warehouse from my office. And then they put it on a truck and take it over to Skylab, which is like a mile away. Okay.

Brad Dowdy: This is why people love you and this product. And we're going to talk more about that. But just knowing the care that you put into just choosing the paper. Like people should just buy this sight unseen, right? I mean, this is why we're like into this stuff that we are. Because we can be so fussy about things that don't matter to a lot of people but matter greatly to us. And to have someone take the time and care into doing that, it shows up in the end product. And I just wanted to, you know, point that out and say that, you know, not almost anyone can make a paper product. Not anyone can make a paper product good. And it takes what you did to make it good. And I just think it's awesome. Thanks.

Ana Reinert: So, yeah, at one point we like kind of had a panic. Because the paper is about the same texture, both on the front of the paper and the back of the paper. To the point where we had like a panic one night where we were like, what happens if people take these out of the ring and then can't remember what's the front and what's the back? So, like, what if they swab on the wrong side of the paper? Like, will it have a different effect? I literally got up in the middle of the night and like swabbed on both sides of the paper. Because I'm like, what happens if they swab on the wrong side? Like, will they get a totally different effect? And then they'll be really upset. And they're like, wait, this paper is terrible. So, I swabbed on both sides of the paper. And I like, Bob was literally like just handing me pieces of paper. And he's like, here's the front, here's the back. Just swab on both sides. Just do it.

Brad Dowdy: And what were the results? Same?

Ana Reinert: It looks exactly the same.

Brad Dowdy: Okay. You had to be stressed there for a second. I did.

Ana Reinert: Because I totally panicked. I was like, oh my gosh. Like, what happens if you do like a 52 card pickup? Like, and the paper just goes everywhere.

Brad Dowdy: So true.

Ana Reinert: And because, you know, it happens to me all the time. I'm not, I'm always knocking stuff over and, you know, the paper's going everywhere. And I couldn't tell the difference. I mean, there may be a slight variation in your color, but not enough that anybody's going to get. Yeah. You know, like comparison. Like, you're not going to notice. Your, your aurora blue black is going to look like 98% the same, whether you're swabbing on the front or the back.

Brad Dowdy: Right.

Ana Reinert: And we were like, whew, okay. Not going to stress out over that. Because we were thinking like, even as we're putting the books together, because we're, we're hand assembling all the books. And we're like, well, what happens if we'd like put the covers on and the paper front or back? We're like, eh, it's fine. It's okay. You can swab on either side.

Brad Dowdy: Real quick for the uninitiated. Skylab Letterpress is her husband, Bob's print shop. So this is a, this is a fame, all in the family business. So when she refers to Bob and Skylab, it's Anna's real husband and his real print shop.

Brad Dowdy: Yes. So, so you and Bob.

Ana Reinert: The rest of the family.

Brad Dowdy: Yes. Yes. You launched these just recently at the Little Rock Pin Show was the, the big unveiling, right?

Ana Reinert: Yes.

Brad Dowdy: Yes. So how, how did that go?

Ana Reinert: It went really well. Like what was so surprising was that like we were showing these to people and this was really the first time that we had actually shown anybody these. And in the case of Little Rock, for a lot of people, this was the first time that they had ever seen the idea of sort of doing ink swabs. For, for a lot of people, this was, they had never seen the concept. Like for a lot of like pen addict listeners and, and people who, you know, are on your blog, they've all seen these concepts and people who've been on the well-appointed desk have seen my ink swabs and stuff. So they kind of had, have a general idea of this concept, but a lot of people at the pen show had never seen this. So they, we were sort of educating them on the idea of doing ink swabs. And, you know, at a lot of pen shows, people just have no, they're like buying lots of colors of ink. Why? Right. Black, blue, maybe blue, black. Like that's all I need. We're like, that's fine. You can swab those three colors to, to your heart's content. You could use these as scratch pads, like whatever you want.

Brad Dowdy: How does Parker Black look on your paper?

Ana Reinert: Excellent. Looks lovely. It doesn't bleed, doesn't feather. You could use these as, you know, scratch pads. But yeah, so it was interesting just to watch them kind of just see us play and, you know, we're fascinated. And what was even more fun was we were sort of right next to the Van Es table with all of their inks and then the ink testing station. So for a while, there were people who were literally like taking swabs and walking back and forth and eventually buying like two and sometimes three books. Nice. Coloring books. So it was really fun.

Brad Dowdy: Nice, nice. So then you, you had a, I guess that was kind of a soft launch. Then you, you, you took them home, put them up on the website and what happened?

Ana Reinert: Um, I spent a lot of time packaging orders.

Brad Dowdy: And that, how awesome was that? That was totally fun, right?

Ana Reinert: Uh, it was just really surprising because honestly, when I put them up, I, it was, again, we, it was kind of a soft launch. Like, you know, we put them up, I put like a post on Instagram and a post on Twitter and kind of just waited to see what would happen. Right. And it kind of exploded.

Brad Dowdy: It's funny.

Ana Reinert: You're sort of laughing at me.

Brad Dowdy: I am because it's funny how, when you put in a lot of time and a lot of effort into something that you believe in and it's successful, it's like, huh, it's funny how that happened. It's not like you, you know, you didn't just wake up one day, print some books and throw them on the internet. You gave a crap. Right. And it shows in the end and like, I've gone through the same thing and, you know, and I'm still nervous about every product we launch. You know, at, at knock and it's nerve wracking as hell, but you know, like deep down that you put in everything you could into this product. And lo and behold, it's a huge success. And I'm just so proud of you. And I love the books. And it's just, it's just such an amazing product. It's a needed product. You know, I talked to you this weekend while you were packing and we talked about it and it was just, it's just, it's just fun to see this happen. It's just, I just get the biggest kick out of it and it's exciting for me to watch. And I'm just, I'm just so, so excited. So, you know, what are you able to keep up? How's the production looking? You know, do you have these ready for Atlanta or do you have a bunch more on the website now? How's it going?

Ana Reinert: We're continually putting more up on our big cartel page. So we're just going to keep adding them. We're in contact with our paper distributor. So we're going to have, we'll have more for Atlanta and we're just going to keep rolling. So if there's not more up on big cartel, we'll get some more up shortly. So we're just going to keep rolling. But yeah, so we're, we're working. We were really surprised at how enthusiastic people were. So we just, you know, we did, we just didn't know. We weren't, you know. Sure. Our expectations were low because, you know, with anything you, you know. Yeah, I think that's good. We didn't, we didn't make a million and like, and sat back and like, let's watch the money roll in. Right, right.

Ana Reinert: We definitely, you know, we're, we're prepared for, you know, let's, let's wait and see what happens. And, you know, and we're, we're learning. I mean, like things just, you know, figuring out things like we, we, we prepared for packaging for, you know, people who placed orders for one and two books. And then we had people order four and five and 10 books. And we didn't have packaging for that. So we kind of had to improvise for a lot of that. And so we may have, you know, I was nervously packaging, trying to figure out how to package larger orders. And, you know, like literally like sweat beating, like, I'm not sure I did that right. Like, I hope the packaging worked out, you know, so.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. Pro tip, that never stops. There's always going to be something.

Ana Reinert: Like, I'm not sure I did that right.

Brad Dowdy: Yep.

Ana Reinert: But yeah. So, you know, we'll figure all that out. Everything went, you know, everything got shipped out with tracking numbers. And, you know, if we have to send them, send them out again, because they got muddled in the mail. It's been raining like cats and dogs here. So I'm a great, I shipped paper in the rain. Awesome. Awesome. You know, we'll ship more of them. You know, it's, it's paper. We can make more.

Brad Dowdy: So does this get the wheels turning for any other products?

Ana Reinert: We're definitely thinking about what else we can do, but I don't want to rush anything. Because again, you know, this was something that we made because we felt like there was a need and a want and a desire to do it. So.

Brad Dowdy: No, I was just going to say it. It's, it's clearly you, you've hit on something and, you know, it's just, it's cool to see. And, and anything we can do to support you in the coloring book, Myke, we are glad to do. And you even, you've, since you, you mentioned like an Arkansas show, people didn't know what an ink swatch book was. And you've gotten a bunch of questions since you've put them online. So you did an ink swatch video too, right?

Ana Reinert: Yes, I did. It was sort of my first, first attempt at doing stuff like that. So.

Brad Dowdy: Well, I thought it was awesome. We'll link that in the show notes. So give the, give the quick overview of just your general process for swatching.

Ana Reinert: Oh yeah. I, my, mine's, you know, it's kind of been refined over the years, but I just use a paintbrush, just like a watercolor paintbrush to do a big swab. And then I use a dip nib to do just a quick writing sample. And then that way everything can be cleaned up really quickly and I can do another one. And that's how I do each one. And so that was actually sort of my litmus test for the paper that I use for the coloring is that it had to stand up to that test, which I think is sort of like the hardest test for any paper because dip nibs are the most likely to feather and bleed. And it's the same thing with using like a watercolor brush, which is sort of laying down a lot of ink.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, I thought it was the most accurate test too, because I've used cotton swabs in the past and they just don't do a great job of giving you a real expectation of what the ink looks like. But I think your swatches and the way you do it with the paintbrush and the dip nib give you like a really accurate and the paper too. Obviously, you know, that's important. And, you know, we were looking at as you were doing them at the show, we were looking like, oh, my God, look what this ink did. And I'd go and like buy the bottle of ink. It was like, okay, I need this now because look at this. It's crazy.

Ana Reinert: And with a brush, you can do like a big glob of ink and then you can kind of let it kind of dry brush it a little bit and get a little bit less color. So you can kind of see what it looks like when you're getting sort of that faded edge quality. So that's kind of why I ended up settling with using a paintbrush is because I can kind of get like the variation of color. So what it looks like really saturated and what it looks like when it's a little bit drier kind of thing. And then same thing with the dip nib. You can kind of and you can do that sort of you can get the line variation, the thicks and thins. So.

Ana Reinert: But yeah, so the whole video kind of is my very nervous attempts at showing all of that. But hopefully it'll get better as you know, if I do any more videos, if anybody wants to see other examples of things that I do, I'd be willing to do another one and maybe improve my quality a little bit. I just did it with my phone and very quickly. I was teased about the sound quality and stuff. And I'm like, well, I used my mic stand to hold up my camera, which is why there is no mic involved.

Brad Dowdy: Yep. No, I think it's perfect. That's all you need. All you need. We're neither one of us are at Myke's level of video production. And I think we can be forgiven. Absolutely not. Yeah. We're not at we're not at Penn Chalet's level of fountain pen sales either. Are we, Myke?

Pen Chalet

Myke Hurley: Nobody is. That's why. You know Penn Chalet. Come on. Out there in Penn Addict land. Do you not know Penn Chalet yet? Well, you should because they have everything that you're looking for. They have all your favorite brands. They have all of the amazing rollerboards, fountain pens, ballpoints, mechanical pencils that you're looking for. All of the accessories. They have all of it. They do great shipping prices. They do free shipping on orders of over $50 in the US. Great shipping overseas. They sell internationally as well. And they have a bunch of different accessories as well. So they have pen holders and refills and fountain pen converters and so much more. Actually, our special offer this week is a great accessory. Perfect for pen show season. I'll tell you about that in just a second. Penn Chalet has low prices on high quality pens and they offer a 100% satisfaction guarantee. And they are the biggest supporter of the pen addict. They have been with us for such a long time now. And there's kind of no end in sight. And we keep working with Ron to draw up these deals. And he'll help support the show. So I want to thank Ron and Penn Chalet for their continued support. It really means a lot to us. And, you know, there's never a better time to show your support for this show than to go buy something from the Penn Chalet with our code episode 250. Make them your next destination for that thing that you're looking for. Go to PennChalet.com. Click the podcast link at the top of the website. And enter the password penaddict for this week's special offer. And to get the code you need to save 10% on anything at Penn Chalet. So this week's special offer is 40% off the Monteverde 36 pen zipper case. Perfect for pen show season.

Brad Dowdy: So Ron always has good deals that he does for the Penn Addict podcast. And then sometimes Ron has no-brainer deals. This is one of the second ones. This is a no-brainer for the price that he's selling this 36-slot pen case for.

Brad Dowdy: You know, if you have pen problems like myself and need a lot of storage, especially portable storage for things like pen shows where you want to take a bunch of pens to show to everyone and want one big case to keep them in, 36 of them. This is kind of ridiculous in the price that it's at. Ron makes me stumble across my words when he does things like this because I don't get it. But you should get it, like, as in order it now. Because I don't know how many he has, but that's kind of a ridiculous price. So, yeah. Monteverde 36 zip case.

Myke Hurley: If you need something to put your pens in to travel with or, like, even if you're just looking for an easier way to store some stuff that you're not using, you've got to buy a couple of these and put them on a bookshelf, right? Like, that is a great offer. So, go to penshalet.com, hit the podcast link at the top, and enter the password pen addict. You'll get the code you need and the offer for the Monteverde 36-pen zip case. Thank you so much to Penshalet for the continued support of this show and RelayFM.

New Products

Brad Dowdy: So, while we have you, Anna, we want to find out what you're into these days. What kind of new products, new pens, inks, papers, all that fun stuff. So, let's start it off with some pens. Do you have anything that you're anxious about, anxious to see, anxious to try on the shopping list? What do you have going on?

Ana Reinert: Does the stuff that I'm waiting for delivery count?

Myke Hurley: Absolutely. If something you're excited about, that'll do.

Ana Reinert: Oh, I was so bad this week. Well, you know, when people place a lot of orders for things, the space credits.

Myke Hurley: Mm, yep.

Ana Reinert: Go ka-ching.

Brad Dowdy: Yep.

Ana Reinert: So, yeah. Yeah, I bought myself a little present.

Brad Dowdy: Nice. That's what you should do.

Ana Reinert: Yeah, I ordered a Sailor Fresca. Well, yeah. I love that color. Yeah, I know. First, I had to bother Brian and Lisa at Anderson Pence. I'm like, you guys don't have a fine or an extra fine.

Ana Reinert: And Brian's like, I put one in there for you. Hit buy now.

Brad Dowdy: That's awesome.

Ana Reinert: Yeah. I think they were probably like, either they were on the road for the Long Island show or they were like packing to leave. But yeah. That's funny. I was like, I'm sorry. I keep bothering you.

Brad Dowdy: Well, that's a great color. Like I am. Yeah. I, that's one I stare at. Just like, come on, man. I know. Yeah. That's a great color.

Ana Reinert: I couldn't resist. Yep. So, yeah. I ordered one. He's like, I'll put it in the mail today. I'm like, thank you.

Brad Dowdy: And these Lady Schaefer script shirts. This is your thing, like at pen shows. Yeah. You're like on the hunt. What's going on with these pens?

Ana Reinert: I don't know. I'm just, I'm a junkie for them. Yeah. The way you feel about the, about the Schaefer pocket pens, that's me in the script shirts.

Brad Dowdy: I can see why. They're really cool.

Ana Reinert: They're really cool. Like besides the whole like horrible, like ad campaigns that they did in the sixties for these, like they couldn't have been like more sexist with the ad campaigns. The pens are so pretty. It's a pen for ladies. I wish we had the internet back then.

Myke Hurley: You know? Yeah.

Ana Reinert: For all the jokes that we make about like Mont Blanc and their horrible ad campaigns, like these pens are so, they're just, I love them. I don't know why. But yeah.

Myke Hurley: I think the difference is though, is that you shouldn't still be doing that today. I mean, it shouldn't have been done then, but people accepted it. Like, but you shouldn't still be doing it today. No way. You know, that's a Mont Blanc kind of get away with, with marketing like that in 2017. It's ridiculous.

Ana Reinert: Absolutely. And, you know, besides that, like, even like when I'm like looking for these at pen shows, like the people that have them are usually the older gentlemen and they get excited about them. They're like, aren't these gorgeous?

Brad Dowdy: And I'm like, yes.

Ana Reinert: So even the guys who have them are like, aren't these the prettiest? So it's like, they appreciate like how lovely these pens are. Yes. Stunning. They're just so, and like when, like usually like you'll uncap them and the, the like grip section will be a different color. So they'll, you know, it'll be like, you know, black and gold, you know, a pattern and then you uncap it and it'll have like a red plastic section. So it's like.

Brad Dowdy: Wicked.

Ana Reinert: They're just so cool. So anyway. Yeah.

Brad Dowdy: How many do you think, how many of those do you have? You think?

Ana Reinert: I think, I think I'm up to like six of them. Six or seven. Yeah. So, and they're, none of them are the same. So I've managed to.

Brad Dowdy: That's what, that was coming out of my mouth. They are all like very different.

Ana Reinert: Yeah. And I've been able to actually like, they, they changed the designs a little bit over time. Cause they did them for like, I want to say almost like 20 years or something like from the sixties, almost into the late seventies or something like, like early sixties to the late seventies. So they started to square them off and they kept changing the designs. They eventually, I guess, became like the lady Schaefer. So they started to do like the white dot, but they kept some of that sort of like netted engraving on them. So they sort of kept that sort of script cert look, but they became just the lady Schaefer eventually. So they kind of kept going. So they're really interesting.

Brad Dowdy: That's such a hard, that's such a hard name to say. It's a dopey name. What does it even mean?

Myke Hurley: Does it have any meaning to it?

Ink Names

Ana Reinert: No. It sounds like one of those like weird branded names. Yeah. Kind of like color ring. It's a dopey name.

Myke Hurley: No, but there's a meaning, right? Like they can see, hear it. And like, it's, it's a funny name. It's a pun, right? Like there's a thing to it.

Brad Dowdy: Script was, script was in the ink name at the time.

Myke Hurley: Right.

Brad Dowdy: Um, but yeah, I don't know what it means.

Myke Hurley: Well then it's just building off the existing brand that they had then, I guess. Yeah. Okay. Well, that makes sense. Well, it makes enough sense.

Brad Dowdy: It was the same, same dudes that were making the ads were coming up with the names. Yeah. Yeah. So what, what are you writing in on with, with your new fancy pens? Um, what, what kind of paper have you been writing in?

Ana Reinert: Um, well, I, I've been getting kind of excited. Have you seen the Loic Term, uh, hundredth anniversary editions?

Brad Dowdy: Whoa. I did. And I don't know how Myke hasn't blown up my inbox with these. Like I need all of these.

Myke Hurley: I have not seen these.

Ana Reinert: So, um, for their hundredth anniversary, Loic Term has done gold, silver, and copper covers.

Myke Hurley: Oh man.

Ana Reinert: One of the things that, uh, we were joking about, um, at Little Rock was that they basically match the Lamy, um, the copper, the LX. The LX editions. Mm-hmm. They're almost the same color. And we thought that looked really cool together. Yeah. Like, but yeah. So I thought those were really pretty. And I couldn't decide. I haven't.

Myke Hurley: I love the 1917 on them. That's beautiful.

Ana Reinert: I think that's just the paper wrap. Yeah. I don't think that's actually printed, but it just looks really nice. Like as a package.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. They did a great job because it's, it's the hundredth anniversary, uh, of Loic Term 1917. I guess it kind of makes sense, but they did, uh, the, the look and style of these look amazing.

Myke Hurley: Yeah, they really do. Wow. That's great.

Ana Reinert: I thought those were very sure.

Brad Dowdy: And are you, did you review the Moo Notebook when it came out? I did. And that, that one kind of snuck up on us, right? I mean, it's a really, really good book. And now they, they've kind of ramped up their production on that.

Ana Reinert: Yeah. Yeah. So Moo just, and they really, they did pretty quiet, um, announcement of their new colors for their notebooks. Yeah. So that was one thing that everybody asked for when they announced their original release of their notebook, which, so their notebook is, has like a cloth cover and then it has, um, white paper. But then in the middle of the notebook are like eight, about 18 pages of colored paper. And the one, and the initial release had sort of like, um, that sort of industrial green color for the paper in the middle. And the one thing everybody asked for was, will you please release versions with different colors paper in that center section? And so they did, but it was a real kind of quiet release about a week ago. And I, I'm, I think people should know about it because I thought was the big thing that everybody had asked for because the paper that they put in the middle is that color plan paper.

Myke Hurley: From friends with Joe G.S. Smith. Yeah. Yep.

Ana Reinert: Yes. Um, and it's, so it's really nice paper. It's fun to draw on. It would be great for like colored pencils or markers or anything like that. But yeah, so they've released, um, the cloth, book cloth on the cover is a bunch of different colors and then it's a sort of contrasting paper in the middle. So they look really beautiful.

Brad Dowdy: Um, so now if they just mix in a dot grid, I'd be ordering them, but I just can't do lines.

Ana Reinert: Yeah. This it's still lined. The lines are not bad. Um, cause I'm not a big fan. If they did them all blank, I'd be like, I'd buy them in gross. That's all I would have.

Brad Dowdy: That lime green one is awesome.

Ana Reinert: I know. Like when they released it, I was like, oh, I'm like, you had to do it. And they're like, cause we know you love it. I was like, yes. So yeah, they're, they're just beautiful. And that the lines that they use on the paper are actually very fine lines. So they're, I mean, like if you can do lined paper, like go order one, pick your, pick your favorite color, go order it. Cause the, it's just, they're lovely. They're notebooks. They're beautiful. They lay flat. They have that really cool. Like the cover opens up and you can actually see the binding on the inside. So I'm not being paid to say this.

Brad Dowdy: No, no.

Ana Reinert: Like they're just, I really like their, the notebook.

Brad Dowdy: And they're like communication back when they were doing the original PR push, they just like showed up. There was like, no, like, Hey, we've got this new thing and we're going to tell you all about it. It's just like, check out our notebook. And I was like, Whoa, you've got something here. That's pretty good.

Ana Reinert: Yeah. And because mostly what they do are like, um, print on demand business cards and postcards and stuff like that. This is really kind of an, like a side project for them. So I really think it's like a passion project. It's something they wanted. They wanted to do it. I think it's something they want to get into. Yeah. Like something they're genuinely interested in doing. Cause like book binding and stuff, that's not necessarily in their wheelhouse. Yeah. So I think anything we can do to sort of support that kind of project means they'll do more of it. And since they have introduced the colors, I think that that's suggests that they'll definitely be open to adding things like dot grid blank, you know, since it's really only been a couple of months since, cause they released the first edition, like right at the end of the year. It's like November and it's only March and they've got the colors. So yeah, I think it's strong possibility that give them another couple of months. They may have, you know, the reaction was so good to the first edition.

Brad Dowdy: Yep. So have you tested out this new Toroco design 68 GSM Tomoe river paper that our good buddy Thomas Hall sent a lot of us?

Ana Reinert: Yes.

Brad Dowdy: Oh, tell me all about it. Cause mine's still in the package and it's just like calling my name, but I haven't had time to, I want to sit down and spend some time with it. So, so tell me it's as good as it looks.

Ana Reinert: It is really nice. And I'm, because I'm left-handed, a lot of the Tomoe river paper, it's, it just doesn't dry fast enough for me. I end up getting it all over my hand. But for me, that's one of the things that I really like about the traveler's notebook is cause it's tall and skinny.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah.

Ana Reinert: It's not, I don't travel across the paper as far, so it's a little less likely for me to get it all over my arm. So tall and skinny, good format for me.

Myke Hurley: Yay.

Ana Reinert: But yeah, no, uh, the paper's really nice and you're not getting it quite as much show through, but yeah, it's a really nice paper. So yes. So what inks? Yay 68 GSM.

Brad Dowdy: Nice. So what, what inks are you throwing down on it?

Ana Reinert: Um, I actually like when I had all of the pens from the show with me and I just tested everything that I had in my inked up that I had in my book. So I tested everything and I was quite pleased with it. So yeah, I'll, I'll have a full review in a couple of weeks.

Brad Dowdy: Nice. Yeah. That's probably about when mine will come out maybe to sometime in April. Probably that's, that's all I can commit to these days. Oh yeah. Sometime next month. So these platinum classic inks. So that's, those have been a problem for me and I noticed you put them in the show notes. I wasn't sure if you were into those or not. Have you gotten any yet?

Ana Reinert: I have them, um, on order. They're supposed to be here today.

Brad Dowdy: Cool.

Ana Reinert: You're not happy with them?

Brad Dowdy: Oh, I love them. I'm not, I'm not happy that I had to buy all six of them. I'm not happy that I couldn't just buy one of them that I had to buy all six of them. No, no. Ever since they came out, I was like, these can't get here fast enough because this is, this is my ink right here. These are amazing.

Ana Reinert: They look really beautiful. I just ordered samples because I have a feeling I'm going to end up buying all six bottles, but I thought I'd start with samples because that's a lot of money.

Brad Dowdy: It is. It is. And I bought them at the Arkansas pen show from Dan Smith had all six colors. And I've got the lavender black review. I think I'm going to shoot for Monday on that, but they're all just very cool. Um, I'm just interested to see, I haven't cleaned them out of a pen yet, but they look like they're going to behave super, super well, which I kind of expect from platinum and, uh, the color's just, just killer. And it's fantastic. I'm going to be addicted to these inks, um, this year, I think. So they're very cool. Very happy with them so far. And then you got me hooked on a new Robert Oster color at the little rock pen show when you swabbed it. Um, one of them was the Australian opal mauve.

Ana Reinert: Mm. Yeah. That one's gorgeous. Oh my gosh.

Brad Dowdy: That's a crazy looking ink. So what, what other ones are you into?

Cafe Crema

Ana Reinert: Um, the, the, uh, is it crema cafe or cafe crema? I always get the name backwards.

Brad Dowdy: You know, that's a great question. I don't remember. And that's like one of the most popular ones.

Myke Hurley: I can tell you it's the cafe crema. Okay.

Ana Reinert: Yeah. I, for, for brown inks and I'm curious to compare it to, I guess everybody's getting excited about this, the, uh, Edelstein, um, smoky quartz. Mm-hmm. So I'm going to put those two side by side and see which one wins out. I know they're not similar, but in the, which is the best brown for 2017?

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. The, uh, cafe crema sells a lot.

Ana Reinert: Yeah. Well, I'll put that to the test in Atlanta.

Brad Dowdy: Cool. Yeah. Well, we'll expect a full report.

Ana Reinert: Okay.

Carondash Pens

Brad Dowdy: I'll let you know. All right. And you linked to one more pen in here that I want to talk about because I have this fascination fascination. And I think it's just one of those things that's, you know, 20 years in the making of a pen that you see, that's just a very classic traditional pen. And that's a Carondash 849. And you're looking at the fountain pen.

Ana Reinert: Yeah. I know. It's a sneaky link. I'm not sure if I should actually have put it up there, but it popped up. I found it. Thank you, Google.

Brad Dowdy: Yep. It's, um, there's something about these pens that are just cool. I just like the style. I mean, I, I'm a Carondash fan, um, new to the party, if you will, not a, not an old school Carondash fan, but I've found a love for pretty much everything they make. And these look cool. I haven't seen these before.

Ana Reinert: Okay. So a little, just a little backstory. Um, at some point, like a link or an email came through for the, like a Carondash 849 fountain pen. Mm-hmm. Now I'm not sure if somebody jumped the gun, um, and they weren't supposed to show this quite yet or not. Um, and then it vanished.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah.

Ana Reinert: Um, so I, um, and I was like, we like top secret links here. Yeah. It's, so this was, I'm not sure if it's a top secret link. I'm not sure if I'm, you know, we're not supposed to be giving this away.

Brad Dowdy: Well, it's a public link. It's just not in stock yet.

Ana Reinert: Yeah. It's, it just says it's not in stock yet, but I was like, whoa, whoa, whoa. Where'd that link go? Why can't I find it? Cause I was gonna, I was gonna post it on link love like a couple of weeks ago and I'm like, wait, now I can't find it. Why? Where did it go? And I'm like, this looks really interesting. I want, you know, it says, you know, available soon. And I'm like, come on, where'd it go? And so like, I went to Google and I've typed it in. I'm like, okay, wait, now I can't find it. So then I typed it in again and it popped up again and I'm like, okay, well, there it is again. I'm like, but then it vanished again. I'm like, but this is the only place that I can find it. And I'm like, well, maybe they're not supposed to have it up yet. So they made it invisible. I don't know. And I was like, well, okay, I'll email and check. And then I just didn't get around to emailing to double check and see, but I'm like, it looks interesting, but I don't know. Like, is it or isn't it? Can we talk about it? So what do you think?

Brad Dowdy: We're talking about it. We're talking about it. I think we can talk about it and the colors look great.

Brad Dowdy: We'll see what the price is. They're probably going to be in that $50 range. I'm guessing, although it's Caran d'Ache, you never know what they're going to do. They're not known for being on the low end of the pricing scale, but that seems like about the range of that pen. Like the ballpoint for that model is around $20, $22. I imagine the fountain pen is going to be like $45 to $50. If it is, I think that'll be cool. I like it.

Ana Reinert: It says it's got a stainless steel nib. It's got that same sort of, you know, painted metal barrel as the ballpoint. The only thing is I wish it had the sort of silver end, like the ballpoint, even though I realized it would not be functional. It just looks weird with a flat end. I don't know why.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. Don't you think? Yeah. You're just so used to seeing that style, like it's the same visual style and aesthetic from them. It does look a little bit different. Myke, do you own a Carondash anything?

Myke Hurley: No, nothing. No.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. I'll bring you a ballpoint. They're very, very nice. I'm a big fan.

Myke Hurley: I'm familiar with the style.

Brad Dowdy: I've seen them. Yeah, exactly. They've been around forever.

Myke Hurley: Like I've seen them in England, I'm sure. In like stores, like nice pen stores or whatever. But it's just not a brand that I feel anything for, really. Like they don't excite me. And I think it might be because like it's a brand that I've known for a long time because it's like a cross, you know, in that like it's been around forever and it's in all the pen stores. So I'm not so excited about it. But this is a beautiful looking pen though. This is very good looking. Yep.

Brad Dowdy: All right. Before we get into, we have a little Atlanta prep that we want to get into. But I want to circle back onto the Little Rock Pen Show because Myke lost his mind when I told him that you brought typewriters to sell at the Little Rock Pen Show. And not only did you bring them, you blew out of them by Saturday. So tell us, tell us about your typewriter fascination.

Ana Reinert: Yeah, I brought four like small portable vintage typewriters. I brought an Air May Rocket, a Smith Corona Empire, which is basically the same typewriter, just rebranded. Um, what else did I bring? Oh, I brought two Olivettis. One was a Studio 45, I think Studio. Yeah, something like that. And what was the other one? A Latera 22. Maybe I'm getting the numbers backwards, but you get the gist. Um, but yeah, so, um, the, the studio was the Olivetti studio was the probably the nicest one that I had. It was probably the newest. It was like turquoise blue. Um, very pretty, had a really nice box, um, that came with it and like still had the keys for the box, like the carrying case. Um, and that one sold first, of course, because it was like, I mean, like T it was like teal blue.

Brad Dowdy: It was really cool looking.

Ana Reinert: Yeah. It was really cool looking. But yeah, people were, went crazy for them, but I really did. I brought the, like of my stash of typewriters, I did bring like, they were all in working order. They all, I had, they were all cleaned up. They all had new ribbons. Um, and they marched out the door.

Brad Dowdy: I'm giggling over here because now I'm, I'm remembering back when, you know, not only were you selling them, but people were taking them off to the side to test and I'd just be sitting there walking around in here. And I was taking little videos of people doing them. They love the typewriters. So like, did you expect to sell even one, not much less all four that you brought?

Ana Reinert: I, I expected, I, I like at least one or two of them. Like, because I, I didn't, um, hear from like Lisa had mentioned Lisa Venice ahead of time that there were a couple of people. She had mentioned that the typewriters were coming and there were people who were genuinely interested in vintage typewriters. So I thought maybe one or two would sell, but I did not expect to sell all four.

Brad Dowdy: Yep. So between the color rings and the typewriters and all of Bob's prints and your little notepads that I can't say on the show that I know sold really well because I saw people going over there to get them, do you see you specifically or you and Bob or Skylab or Well Appointed Desk setting up at more pen shows?

Ana Reinert: Um, we've talked about it a little bit. Um, if we did, it probably wouldn't be until maybe the Dallas show. Um, just because, you know, just timing and everything, but like, you know, Dallas would be the soonest this year and that like, if everything went well, like maybe we would do shows next year. But yeah, like, I don't, I don't know. It was a lot of work. Boy, we were really tired.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. Yeah. That'll do it.

Ana Reinert: Yeah. It was a pretty big, it was a pretty big ordeal. Um, but yeah, it, I don't know. It's, it's kind of, it was, it was nerve wracking.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah.

Ana Reinert: Um, kind of sleepless, sleepless nights going up, leading up to it.

Brad Dowdy: God, it's definitely tiring that I know. And I'm sure in Atlanta, we're all going to be exhausted. So we need some sustenance before we go, Myke.

Myke Hurley: You know, we can provide that. Our friends over at Blue Apron, Grace Eggway Bread.

Brad Dowdy: Hmm.

Myke Hurley: Blue Apron are the number one recipe delivery service that has the freshest ingredients. They deliver seasonal recipes with high quality ingredients to help you make delicious home cooked meals. For less than $10 a meal, you're going to get everything you need to put together a beautiful meal for your family. Every Blue Apron recipe is presented to you on a beautiful step-by-step card. And all of the ingredients are already proportioned so that you can get everything you need, nothing more, nothing less. And everything can be prepared in 40 minutes or less. All those meals are fantastic. Blue Apron's ingredients, they're all, they're all sourced sustainably. They believe in setting high standards for the ingredients that they provide to you. Their produce is sourced from farms that practice regenerative farming. Their beef, chicken, and pork come from responsibly raised animals. And their seafood comes from a partnership they set up at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch to develop some standards in which the way that they source their seafood, they use these standards to make sure that they're doing right by the world, which is a good thing. You can choose from a variety of new recipes every single week. Although Blue Apron's culinary team surprise you, no recipes are repeated in a year. And right now you can get beautiful food like smoky seared catfish with glazed udon noodles. Lemongrass and ginger turkey burgers with marinated radishes and roasted sweet potatoes. Or maybe you could get your hands on some spicy chicken sandwiches with Alabama white sauce and sweet potato. Blue Apron delivers to 99% of the continental US. There's no weekly commitment, so you only get those deliveries when you want them. And their freshness guarantee means that every ingredient arrives ready to cook or they'll make it right. Blue Apron's going to be able to send you great food. You're going to be able to put together great meals. And you're also going to learn some skills as well for how you can put yourself to better use in the kitchen, which is always a good thing. Check out this week's menu and get three meals for free of your first purchase, including free shipping by going to blueapron.com slash penaddict. You will love how good it feels and tastes to create incredible home-cooked meals with Blue Apron. So go to blueapron.com slash penaddict. And we thank them for their support of this show. Blue Apron, a better way to cook.

Atlanta Show

Brad Dowdy: All right, Ana, are you ready for Atlanta? I'm ready. I am ready. Oh, no.

Brad Dowdy: No.

Myke Hurley: No, no, no, no. No, no, no, no. I'm ready to get back into the show. Am I ready for the pen show? I am not. No, no, no.

Brad Dowdy: Myke, are you ready for the Atlanta pen show? Nope. Hmm. So am I ready? Nope. Nope. It's too soon. Too soon to be ready. I was impressed that Ana was ready, though. No, no, no, no. All right. So let's give a quick outline. I'm starting to get questions, as we probably all are, about the show, about what's going on, the events, the location, all of that. One thing the Atlanta show does is it's not a huge show. So everything's right there, like at the show. So the show opens on Friday, and it runs through Sunday. So it'll be normal hours, like 10 to 5 for regular badge holders. I think they open at 9 for the weekend pass holders. The weekend pass holders also get a cookout on Friday night that the show puts on every year. They do a really great job. I know it was packed last year. A bunch of us went to that. So that's fun. You know, they cook out hamburgers and hot dogs and have drinks and all kinds of things like that. And then...

Ana Reinert: For the vegetarians, there's nothing for you to eat at the cookout.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. Yeah. So Jeff...

Ana Reinert: Be pre-warned. Go across the street to the grocery store, and there is lots of yummy... They have like a little deli place and salad bar.

Brad Dowdy: Perfect. So Jeff did not attend the cookout last year because he had a wedding to go to. So good pro tip there. Um... Then Saturday, show is all day long. And then that evening is the Panatic Podcast with Myke, myself, and Anna. Um... We're gonna work on a special guest or two to join us during the show. Do something a little bit different this year. Maybe to talk to some people that you've... You guys and gals have been asking us to talk to. So maybe we'll get a couple of people on the show. Let's not finalized yet. Can we make suggestions? You can, but I already have a list. And I don't want to say them publicly yet because it's not confirmed. But I think you'll be very happy.

Ana Reinert: All right.

Brad Dowdy: So...

Ana Reinert: I'll make suggestions offline.

Brad Dowdy: Okay. Okay. So... And that's after the show Saturday night. And that's literally right around the corner from the showroom. And I mean in like inside the hotel around the corner. So it's 20 steps, 30 steps to walk around to the room that we have the podcast in. Then we'll have an after party there. In the little side room we have. We had pizza last year. We're going to do the same thing again for everyone. And then Sunday we all walk around like zombies and try to sell the last bit of stuff that we have on our table. So it's a really straightforward schedule. Just know that we're going to be there the entire weekend. It's going to be fun during the show. It's going to be fun after the show. You know, the hangout at the bar time is always the best.

Ana Reinert: Sunday can be a little smelly.

Brad Dowdy: Sunday can be a little rough. Sunday is Waffle House Guarantee Day. There's a Waffle House attached to the hotel. So you will see a lot of us there. We always get a few good pictures from the Waffle House. And yeah. So what's your working plan at the show, Anna?

Ana Reinert: I'm working for the Van Ness Pen Shop Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. I believe Van Ness will be in the what we've dubbed the cool room.

Brad Dowdy: Mm-hmm. Which is the new, last year's new room. We call it the cool kids room.

Ana Reinert: Yes. Which is across the hall from the previous new room, cool kids room.

Brad Dowdy: It's actually the first room you can walk into.

Ana Reinert: Yeah. So it's probably the smallest of the three rooms.

Brad Dowdy: Yes, definitely.

Ana Reinert: So I believe in that room is also where, like, Jonathan, is Jonathan Brooks going to be in that room? And.

Brad Dowdy: He was there last year.

Ana Reinert: Karis Pens.

Brad Dowdy: And Sean Newton was in there too.

Pen Shows

Ana Reinert: Sean Newton. Yeah.

Brad Dowdy: He's not coming. Sean's not coming this year, I know. No. Okay. But that was definitely the cool kids room last year.

Myke Hurley: Well, if it means that he's going to get to my pen quicker, then he can stay where he is.

Ana Reinert: And I think that's also where the ink testing station was last year. Yes. And it'll be there this year as well.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, because they have room for, like, a table in the center of that room.

Ana Reinert: Yes.

Brad Dowdy: So that was really good.

Ana Reinert: You can buy inks there and then test, or test inks and then buy inks. And then there'll be more inks across the hall because I think the Andersons will be where they were last year, right? Yep. And Knock will be there. And who else is in that? Yeah.

Brad Dowdy: Franklin Kristoff.

Ink Testing

Ana Reinert: In your room. Franklin Kristoff. So you can line up for your Franklin Kristoff?

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. So that room gets pretty busy in the morning because usually we have some stuff for Knock. Like, right when you walk into the original first room on the left, you run right smack into our table. So we'll be in there. We'll have some stuff, some show-specific stuff. Franklin Kristoff's in there with show-specific stuff.

Ana Reinert: So that room will be crazy first thing in the morning. Yeah.

Brad Dowdy: Total Office Products, who puts on the show, always has great tables. Usually Myke Masuyama's in that room. Oh, yeah. Usually across from us. I don't know where he's going to be this year, but he's generally right across the aisle from us. So that room gets packed. You want to hit that one up early as well or just wait until the kind of the crowd disperses later in the afternoon because it does get busy. We're very busy. All three days of the show go very, very well for us. And Myke, what's your schedule like? I already feel tired.

Myke Hurley: You know? I can feel it already. You know? So, like, basically, my schedule is to follow Brad around. I follow Brad. I do whatever Brad tells me to do. I get given a T-shirt and put behind a table. And then I have to learn a bunch of confusing product names and go for it. That's what I do.

Brad Dowdy: We'll have some new ones to confuse you with. So, yeah, Myke will be hanging out at the NOC table. I won't have any new T-shirt designs for you this year. That's one thing we didn't get to. But we'll do that in the future because our T-shirts always do well. We like them. And, yeah, so I'm going to put Myke to work. Earn his keep.

Myke Hurley: That's what I do. That's what I do. What I really like about the positioning of NOC's table is it's also a pretty good, like, come and say hi spot because there's, like, a little space off to the side where you can talk to people and then still leave space for people that want to buy the product. So, it's worked out really well for us in the past. And then I'll be, like, doing what I always do, which is, like, trying to scramble at one point to set out a document for the show, for the actual podcast. So, that's always fun. I'm looking forward to it. It's one of my favorite weekends of the year. And I kind of wish that it was next week. So, I'm getting pretty excited now. Yeah.

Ana Reinert: I have a lot more coloring books to produce. So, maybe not next week.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, I don't need it. Definitely not next week. So, we are not on that list of wanting it next week because we still have things to make for NOC. We're going to have a few new releases. A few will be show-only releases. Some will be eventually stocked releases, but they'll be launched at this show. So, a few items people have been asking for. Yeah, it'll be cool. And we're going to be right down to the wire to get everything produced. I'm being asked in the chat room if there's going to be a new Blue Label product. There is not, but there's going to be some new materials of existing products. There's going to be new paper goods. There's going to be new accessories. There's going to be several new things. And I tell you what, it's not going to come together until the morning of the show. So, we're going to be running sideways.

Myke Hurley: So, basically, NOC will have some stuff that you won't have bought before, but it's not going to be a limited edition.

Brad Dowdy: Some will be. Some will be. Okay, let's not. It won't be limited edition, but it's going to be available at pen shows only. How about that? That works perfectly. We're essentially going to have a pen show only product. Be there or be square. Yeah, but it won't be just at this show. There'll be other shows we do. And then we'll see how they go. We have not added Velcro to any cases. And we will have some.

Brad Dowdy: Taking a very thin stance on that one. And our larger notebook cases will be ready at the end of the year. So, that's maybe something we'll talk about in future episodes for sure. It's funny.

Myke Hurley: I've been getting this year more than any other year. I've been getting tweets and stuff from people. And they're like, oh, hey, you going to be doing any listening meetups and stuff while you're in Atlanta? And my response is like, I will just be at the pen show.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, Atlanta is a listener meetup. The entire event.

Myke Hurley: Like, if you want to come down and say hi. I mean, I don't know who I'm saying this to because obviously you're all pen addict listeners. But like, this is what I just say to people like, just come to the pen show. Because my funny thing about Atlanta is this will be like my third time, right? And all I see is the airport, the hotel, the Waffle House, maybe one restaurant and the knock shop. That's all I ever see. Yep. I just, it's like I'm kind of like whisked in and whisked back out again.

Brad Dowdy: Mm-hmm. Yep. Yeah.

Ana Reinert: I tell people the same thing. I make one pit stop from the airport to the hotel. I stop at Eat Sleep Knit.

Brad Dowdy: Mm-hmm. Yep.

Ana Reinert: On my way. One yarn shop and that's it.

Brad Dowdy: Yep. Yeah. I will, like, I stay at the hotel for this event. I mean, you know, there's no other way for me to function. I'll pick up Myke at the airport usually and we'll have either picked up the knock stuff already or we'll swing by, pick everything up, go to the hotel, and then I usually won't leave the hotel again until Monday morning. So, but it's good. It goes by fast. It's exhausting, but it's the most fun I have all year. Yep. It's totally worth it.

Myke Hurley: So, I'll just say, like, in case you hadn't already worked this out already, if you're on the fence about making this trip for any reason, get off that fence. Like, you have enough time from when we're talking about it now to get your travel sorted, to get your accommodation sorted. Like, just do it because, like, I guarantee that you will have a good time. Like, I guarantee it because it's awesome. Everybody absolutely loves the Penn Show.

Myke Hurley: And if you are still thinking about it and you're just like, oh, I'm not sure I've made my mind up, just make your mind up. It's going to be the right decision.

Brad Dowdy: I can't say it any better than that, Myke. And I think that's a wrap for this week. We appreciate you coming on, Anna, for celebrating this episode 250 with us. Thank you so much.

Ana Reinert: Thank you for letting me be a part of what is an awesome community and a wonderful show.

Brad Dowdy: Well, hey, you're a huge part of it. Yep. And you make it easy because you're amazing. Thanks. So.

Ana Reinert: Thank you.

Brad Dowdy: We will see you soon, live and in person in, like, three weeks.

Ana Reinert: Absolutely. High fives all around.

Myke Hurley: All around. If you want to keep up with everybody online, you can go to wellappointeddesk.com or at wellapptdesk on Twitter to see Anna. You can find Brad at penaddict.com. And he is dowdy as I'm on Twitter. And he is penaddict on Instagram. I am at imyke, I-M-Y-K-E. You can find our show notes for this week's episode at relay.fm slash penaddict slash 250 for episode 250. Thanks again to our sponsors this week, Penchele, Blue Apron, and Harry's. But most of all, and I say this every time, but on episode 250, I mean it even more. Thank you all for listening. We could not do this show without you, because if we did it and you weren't here, then there would be no show for anybody to listen to. It's like, it's a literal thing. If you're not here listening, then there's no show for anybody to listen to. So we appreciate it. And I never would have expected that we would have gotten to episode 250, but we did. So I guess here's to episode 500?

Brad Dowdy: Absolutely.

Myke Hurley: Until next time. Say goodbye, everybody. Goodbye, everybody.

Ana Reinert: Goodbye, everybody.