The Pen Addict 355/transcript

The Pen Addict Podcast Transcript
Episode:	355
Title:	Redlight Project
Release Date:	April 17th, 2019
Hosts:	Brad Dowdy Myke Hurley
Guests:	No guests this episode
Additional Information
Official page:	Episode 355
Audio File:	Audio Episode 355
Podcast page:	The Pen Addict 355
Length:	6262 min <br />1.033 h <br /> minutes
Previous Transcript	Next Transcript

Brad Dowdy: From RelayFM, this is The Pen Addict, episode 355. Today's show is brought to you by Squarespace and Harry's. My name is Myke Hurley. I'm joined by Brad Dowdy. Hi, Brad Dowdy. Hey, Myke Hurley. How are you today? I'm fine and down, your friend. How are you?

Myke Hurley: I'm good. I'm good. I was a little concerned, as I want to do, about, hey, what are we going to talk about today? So, like, the last two weeks, kind of, like, two shows in a row, they kind of write themselves, right? So, you don't have to plan. And today, not that we weren't back to normal last week, but we still had lots of catching up to do from our trip to Atlanta. This week is your normal podcasting week, and I'm going, uh, what are we going to talk about? And then all of a sudden, boom, we have too long of a show. So, that's how we operate. You know this if you're a long-time listener.

Brad Dowdy: You underestimate our professionalism.

Myke Hurley: It is not a joke of how average we are at doing this. I wasn't going to say how good we are, because, you know, that's a little self-congratulatory. But, you know, we do a good job. We put this thing together every week in a magical fashion. We'll just leave it at that.

Discussing Pens

Brad Dowdy: Let's start with what we're using today. So, Brad, what have you got on deck?

Myke Hurley: So, I cleaned out a bunch of pens yesterday from the Atlanta pen show, just so happened. So, I was anxious to get a few new pens into the rotation yesterday and this morning. So, I cleaned out probably, I don't know, eight pens of the 10 or 12 I had at the Atlanta pen show, plus I bought a couple new pens. So, you know, once I get into double digits pens inked up, I want to pare that down, especially after an event like that where I know I'm not going to be using all those. So, I'm into ink cartridges right now, short international ink cartridges or stock ink cartridges, you know, depending on the brand. So, I wanted to get my Sailor Sapporo Mini back into play because the Atlanta pen show always reminds me of that. It was last year that we got this, that I got this pen or two years ago where there was a Sailor, an ex-Sailor distributor was closing out a bunch of products and we made a run on our Sailor Sapporo Minis. I picked one up. It's a beautiful yellow and black and rhodium trim one. It had a broad nib, but that pen, it didn't matter. I just wanted the pen. I had Mark Bacchus grind it that day or that weekend into a Curse of Italic nib. And it's just a great little pen. Like, I talk about how I'm off the Sailor Limited's bandwagon, but they've actually brought a few of the minis back here in the past year. I've shared some pictures with you, I think. You know, they're not as commonplace as the Pro Gears.

Brad Dowdy: No.

Myke Hurley: Limited editions. But I've seen one or two, about as many minis as I've seen as Rialos. You know, two or three at a time, you know, every six or nine months or so. And I popped a Sailor Nano Ceibuku. It's the blue-black pigmented permanent ink cartridge. Or not permanent, I guess, waterproof. I don't know the exact how you would define that. But it's the waterproof blue-black ink cartridge, which I think is really great. It's a little bit brighter than a normal blue-black, but still has some darkness. And I just think that's a good pairing, a good match, because with the Sapporo Mini, you can't fit a converter in it. So that's kind of its deal.

Brad Dowdy: Right. Okay.

Myke Hurley: And then the paper I'm using is, this is gonna, I'm on quite the run with the Sumkin A5 Agenda, which is a two-page-per-week planner that I've been using since the beginning of the year. And I'm pretty much on lockdown with it, Myke. I'm very happy with how I've been using it. But, you know, I've maybe missed like one week or no more than two throughout the year, which is fine. Sometimes you just get, you know, like it's usually if I'm traveling or out of town or something like that, and I haven't used it properly. But I just kind of love this Agenda. It's a soft cover A5.

Brad Dowdy: Can you explain to me the page layout? How does it work?

Myke Hurley: So two-page-per-week. On the left side is your seven days split into horizontal columns, about five grid squares each. And then your right page is just a blank grid. So for notes. So I'm sitting there using this today. So I have my weekly plan stuff on the fixed date side of the calendar. And then like I'm taking podcast notes on the right side of the page. Or I'll take a picture. I need, I keep meaning to take a picture. Like I have a really good page of when we were in at the Atlanta Penn Show. So I had my schedule on the left side. And then I used the right side to kind of write down my ideas for when we interviewed Chris and Jesse. So I'll take a picture of that and put it on Instagram later today. But it's just a super useful layout for me. It's the right amount of specificity and the right amount of openness. So I don't feel, you know, like totally relegated to having to do certain things. But it ends up working really, really well for me. And hey, we're in April and I'm still using the thing. So that's always a win for me. Yeah. And it looks like no end in sight. And plus it fits in my Seed A5 case, which I love. So I carry like three softcover notebooks in that. And it's great.

Pen Choice Discussion

Brad Dowdy: It is no surprise to anyone that I'm using my 1911 King of Pen tangerine, Royal Tangerine. I've been using it constantly since I came back from the show. Every single day, it's the only pen that I'm using right now. I actually don't have a place for it. So I have like some pen stands on my desk or whatever, right? And I have one that I love, which is like a 12, like it's just like a block of wood, 12 holes in it. But it's full up already with 12 sailors. So I'm not sure where to put this one. And will the diameter even work? Yes. Okay, good. Yeah, it actually will fit. There's differing sizes, the holes in this thing. Gotcha. So basically, one of my 12 has to be put into storage and I can't decide which one. Ooh.

Myke Hurley: I think we should all vote on that. I think this is like Twitter poll or Instagram picture poll. Yeah, I don't know what it's going to be. We can make your life difficult and like pick what we know is your favorite.

Brad Dowdy: No, I'm making this decision. When this decision is made, I'm making it. Right now, it's between my like original Pro Gear, just the original orange one. Okay. The 1911 highlighter that I got and one of the ones that I got from Pensachi, which is a Pro Gear Slim tangerine. It's like a bung box edition.

Myke Hurley: Apricot. Is it that apricot?

Brad Dowdy: Sorry, I meant to say apricot. Yeah, it's the Nagasawa one, right? That's what I meant to say.

Myke Hurley: Yeah. So I know which one, knowing, I probably couldn't name all 12, but I could get close and I know which one I would pick if it's even in there.

Brad Dowdy: What is it?

Myke Hurley: There's only one that's really different from the others and you have a steel nib limited edition and that'd be the one I'd kick. The blue and white one with the gold. The Porto Kobe? Yep.

Brad Dowdy: It performs way better than you would expect.

Myke Hurley: Oh, no, no, I'm not doubting that. Yeah, but it's the odd one out. Right. That's the only reason why it pops into my head.

Brad Dowdy: I have thought of it, but I really love the blue and white colors that it has. Like it looks so fun. It's nice and nautical. Like I like it. Where the apricot, I already have like three other orange sailors in this thing, right?

Myke Hurley: I'd have a hard time removing the stock orange pro gear. That's such a classic.

Brad Dowdy: This is why I go back and forth. That's the first one too, right? So like I feel like I'd be betraying it. But right now it's not an issue because it's mostly in my, the king of pen is basically living in my pen well. Right. Because I'm using it constantly. So I really recommend the pen well, by the way. From good may better. I've been using it for a while since like I originally got one. Right. And I have come to really appreciate this product. Yep. So I have, I have one of the walnut ones. I think it's just like a really nice addition to my desk. So I actually really, I really recommend it.

Product Discussion Shift

Myke Hurley: Yeah. It's one of those products that I found that, okay, do I really need this? And then when I actually put it, yeah, the answer is no. But when I put it on my desk, it is constantly in use, right?

Brad Dowdy: Yep. And I have one of the travelers as well that I, cause I backed it on Kickstarter and that's a really great product. I just have less use for it personally. Yeah.

Myke Hurley: That's the one I'm using. This is the travelers is on my desk right now.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. So, uh, and of course I'm using a panel book.

Myke Hurley: Yeah. I mean, our, our general paper usage is pretty consistent. It's actually harder to pick out paper than pen, I think for me and probably for you. And that's okay. It's like, if you find the stuff that works the best for you, that's kind of the point, right?

Brad Dowdy: Yep. That's what it's all about. Yep. Whenever we do this, I always take a look over your Tuesday tool set, uh, again, cause I, I always, I really enjoy those posts. I'm so pleased that you kept that up. I should call it most, most Tuesdays tools, tool set. You know, I think it's fine to have it as a pretty much like every week. Right. But like, I don't think it needs to be 100% every single week. Like I think you could see every week if you wanted to.

Myke Hurley: I'm, I'm resigned to the fact that it can't be. So it just happens.

Brad Dowdy: But that's, but it's fine because you're not always going to have enough to say, but like, I really enjoy them when you publish them. This one I liked for a couple of reasons. One, I love that you put, uh, some pictures of me on your notebook. That's nice. But this is something we didn't mention. Uh, we haven't mentioned, I don't think that knock has a side bound pocket notebook now, like a field note style.

Myke Hurley: Yeah. Yeah. So we might've mentioned it in the post show last week.

Brad Dowdy: I don't remember talking about it.

Notebook Format Change

Myke Hurley: Regardless, we've always been asked to make a side bound. Obviously we made a top bound notebook at first because we enjoy that format. I still think it's my favorite format, but to, you know, to go against, you know, the tradition of just your standard side bound pocket notebook, you know, we had to get a model in there for our customers that, um, you know, wanted to use something like that who weren't fans of the top bound. So we finally made one. It's got a great olive green cover, um, in our style, a very simple, you know, knock logo on the front made in Atlanta on the back and a mega fluorescent orange, uh, dot dash grid on the interior, which is almost an optical illusion, right? Like if I held up this notebook to your face, like three feet away, it almost looks like a blank page, but then you get up close and it's like a laser beam Tron pattern on your page. It's kind of cool.

Brad Dowdy: Um, so that's a definite like addition for people. So I just wanted people to know about it, but it also, uh, reminded me that I didn't talk about using the tutu pen, which you had in Atlanta. I mean, that thing is as stupid as that and as enjoyable as I expected it to be based upon your, like our conversations. It's a silly pen, but it's great. It's, but it's like, I don't understand it, but I like it. It's very strange, but that's, that's a fun little pen.

Myke Hurley: It's, it's fantastic. Like it is such a good, like you should never buy a pen to have a talking point, but I tend to do that because I enjoy the weirdness of pens like these. And like we talked about the Montblock M rollerball, you know, making a hate purchase. Like you should, you shouldn't do those things. Um, let me do those things for you and then I'll bring them for you to try and you can just see how silly they are. And the 22 pen is, is it's complete. Sorry, it's 22 pen is completely silly and ridiculous, but like in the best way possible. Like you said, it's just, it's fantastic and ridiculous at the same time.

Brad Dowdy: Speaking of which, our friend of the show, Alexander Kramer sent this to both of us on Twitter yesterday. You may know Alexander for the creation of the horrific, just upsetting coloring page. Uh, I will put in the, in the show notes again, cause we haven't had that for a while and we haven't spoken about that for a while, but there is a, uh, coloring book with online coloring book of a, just a terrible photo of the two of us. Um, and, uh, Alex has made a, uh, sailor pro gear coloring tool to help you dream up your own weird and wonderful, um, customizations of a pro gear. It's really brilliant.

Myke Hurley: It's freaking amazing. He's done so many like stealth projects like this. So I joke with Alexander a lot and it's, it's a recurring theme. He puts like his heart and soul into all these projects and sends them to me. And, and then I don't respond to him for like a month. I don't feel so guilty about it. It's, it's gotten to become such a joke that he actually calls me out on Instagram all the time. Like when the, uh, the pictures of the black hole came out, like he did a little meme on his, uh, Instagram stories with an email going into the black hole. And that email was to me. So, uh, I really appreciate the humor that, uh, Alexander and I have going. Um, but he does really cool stuff like this all the time that I've seen. And I love this thing. Right. So what, uh, what amazing sailor did you make?

Brad Dowdy: Oh, I've not been able to, I've really been trying. Right. And I'm just, it's not, it's not working. Like I can't seem to get a good, um, a good combination going.

Myke Hurley: Yeah. So the one thing, if I could have one improvement to this, Alexander, if you're listening, when I remove the cap, I want the, I want it to go to the side because I want to see that color. Like if I've made the cap a different color than the barrel, I want to see them all together. So like I can have the cap on in the color, then I can remove the cap to see the section in the nib.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah.

Myke Hurley: But I kind of want to see them in side by side. So I can see the beauty that I've created. Like I have like a fuchsia lime green light blue thing going on right now. And, and light orange. It's pretty dope. Like I'm all about this pen right now, but I want to see the cap adjacent to the, the beautiful barrel that I've created, but otherwise it's killer. And I've been fidgeting with this a bunch.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. I'm not surprised. I've been playing with, but I really, I just really haven't, uh, I really haven't gotten around it.

Myke Hurley: Yeah. Yeah. So it's amazing. Um, anecdotally I had an amazing moment question mark yesterday, I think. Um, so my wife was going to get her haircut and her stylist was, she's been going to for years. So, you know, they are all into each other's business, you know, as you do when you're sitting there for an hour or two, getting your hair done, you know, this about your beard, Myke, you know, you, you, you make good, you make good friends with your stylist. So, um, and I've, I've had my hair cut by her too. And she knows kind of like just what I do for a living, you know, those things just come up. And just randomly they were talking about kids and whatever. And then the stylist goes, Oh, did you know, John Tesh listens to the pen addict? Like she says this to my wife and Mary Beth is like, what? She's like, yeah. She's like, I've been, you know, discovering podcasts and I'm listening to podcasts, but also, you know, happened to catch on the radio. So John Tesh is like a U S nationally syndicated, syndicated radio host. He's, he's actually a lot of things. Um, and she said she heard on the radio, him shout out the pen addict that that's one of the pod podcasts that he listens to. And I'm like, eh, there's no way she, she misheard or something like that. But Mary Beth was like, no, the way she presented the question makes me think like she, she was really telling the truth. So I've got a, I've got a call out to the John Tesh fans out there and to John, John Tesh Twitter account, which I don't believe he manages. It definitely looks very corporate, uh, social media manager managed. Like there's no at replies to anybody, you know, it's just an outward going Twitter experience. But, uh, I've sent him a tweet and if he's a listener, I just want to know, like, cause it would be kind of cool. Like John Tesh for us older Americans was known as the host of a show called entertainment tonight in like the early nineties and was just kind of an institution really before the internet. Like this is pre internet, pre E news, pre TMZ days. He was the, uh, he was the guy. So, um, I think it would be kind of funny. So John Tesh, if you're listening, get at me.

Brad Dowdy: This is completely lost on me, but I am excited by how excited Brad is.

Brad Dowdy: He was, he was texting me about it all night last night.

Myke Hurley: Well, cause I want to find out if it's true. And if it's a radio show, I can't go back and listen to verify it. Right? Like if you said it on a podcast, I could find the episode and go see it, but it's a radio show, um, that I don't even know what it it's on or about or anything like that. But, um, it's, it's so random that someone would say this, that I kind of believe it. Like it doesn't sound true at all. Right. But it's so random. It seems almost accurate. So we'll see what happens. I just think it's funny. Regardless. I have a fun little story to tell whether it's true or not.

Break Announcement

Brad Dowdy: Exactly. All right. Should we take our first break? I like this. I like this method that you've, you've done here of like, oh, wouldn't it be great if someone could get in touch with him by putting a message in the show, right? Like there's no, this is the clearest way that if John Tesh is a listener to the pen addict, he'll hear this.

Myke Hurley: Well, it's got to be in the show title. We got to add it to the show title too, right? Oh my God. John Tesh, are you listening?

Brad Dowdy: Oh my God. Right? Today's episode is brought to you by Squarespace. Make your next move with Squarespace because they'll let you easily create a website for your next idea or project. Squarespace let you grab a unique domain name so you can give your website the branding that it wants. And award-winning templates are available to you so you can make it look exactly how you want and customize it to your heart's content and so much more. Squarespace is an all-in-one platform that will let you do anything you need. Whatever type of website you want to build, whatever functionality you need, they have it for you. There's nothing to install or patch or upgrade. They have it covered and they back it up with 24-7 customer support. Make a blog, a portfolio, a store, a site for a business, a site for a wedding, a band, a restaurant. No matter what type of website you want to make, Squarespace has the tools. Their plans start at just $12 a month, but you can start a trial today with no credit card required. Go to squarespace.com slash penaddict. And when you sign up, use the offer code penaddict to get 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain and show your support for this show. Once again, that is squarespace.com slash penaddict and the code penaddict for 10% off your first purchase. Our thanks to Squarespace for their support of this show. Squarespace, make your next move, make your next website.

Myke Hurley: So that's my move, right? I need to make a website. John Tesh, are you listening? Dot com. Dot com.

Brad Dowdy: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Myke Hurley: This is like serial season four. Mm-hmm. Over here. Yeah. Yeah. We got some work to do. Mm-hmm. All right. So.

Topic Shift - TWSBI Eco

Myke Hurley: Hard transition. Orange TWSBI eco. Let's talk about it. Um, we mentioned it last week that the translucent, translucent orange eco is coming to the TWSBI eco lineup, which I love. They've done green, pink, and blue so far, I think.

Brad Dowdy: Mm-hmm.

Myke Hurley: Um, but, and so translucent orange is coming and it looks like it's going to be, you know, world release. And the reason I bring this up is because I bought the solid orange Japan only release of this very same pen.

Myke Hurley: And it brings up the ideas of the FOMO that we talk about, the fear of missing out, where I didn't, I didn't jump through hoops to get the orange cap one, but I had a friend who was getting one and said, hey, do you want in? So it was just as easy for him to order two. And I said, yeah, absolutely. I'm in. But the point of this is seeing the orange translucent model, even if you like the orange solid model, it's always okay to say no. It's always okay to miss out on the things because there's always something new and different coming down the pipeline that will be just as good or better or, you know, equivalent to what you think you're missing out on. So it was just, again, another thing to drive home the point, which my original point was back talking about Sailor Apricot inks and how it went away and there was a run on it and FOMO happened and prices went through the roof. And then like four years later, they relaunched it, right? You're never going to really miss missing out on the thing. So that's just a point I wanted to take a second to mention when we talk about the FOMO stuff. Like that's why, you know, I don't have to have all the Sailor pins, you know, there'll be one day that really speaks to me and I'll get it. It's okay to miss out on the things and it's okay to say no on stuff. So not a big, big topic, but I'll be adding this one to the collection. I'll still be buying, I'll still be buying this one because it'll be regular. It'll be like 20 something dollars, right? That's how much these pins are. I think I paid 65 for my big orange one. You would expect it would be. Which I love because yeah, it was a pain, you know, it was a pain in the butt to get. So anyway, that was just, that was just my mini FOMO rant that it's okay to say no because things like this happen all the time where you can get good enough or better. If you just say no now and wait for something really great later when you have the opportunity to buy it. But hey, it's also okay to say yes to. It's okay to say yes to. Speaking of saying yes, this is the big topic of the day, Myke. And there was a specific reason why I wanted to write this, but it's a general guideline that I had in my head about backing Kickstarter projects. So we talk about Kickstarter a lot on this podcast for many obvious reasons. One, I'm a fan of just people making things and want to support them. And two, we use the platform for things like the Pin Addict and Knock and, you know, various other things like that. So I'm a huge Kickstarter supporter. But there are people who are either one, scared of it or two, avoid it completely. And both of those are valid, valid choices to make, right? There's reasons why you should be scared of Kickstarter. So I was actually out walking Toby, my dog, the other day. Actually, yesterday is when I thought of this. Because I just got in two different messages about two different projects on Kickstarter that I wasn't familiar with. And the question I had in my head was, how do I discuss these projects in a meaningful, somewhat rational way? And how do you get to a decision-making point if you're not an experienced Kickstarter backer or an experienced Kickstarter backer, either way? And I think it's as simple to me, and maybe it's an oversimplification, but for Kickstarter projects for me, when I look at them, and I'm speaking from someone who is a super backer, you know, I've backed over a hundred projects. So I've been around the Kickstarter block. But I think it's as simple as a stoplight system with projects. You know, you have your green lights, which are, you know, go, you know, just go for it, back the project. You know, it's a very easy choice to make. I think it's yellow. You know, proceed with caution, you know, take a look and decide on things. And then there's red, which we've certainly run across our, just in our realm alone, a huge amount of high-risk products, right? Or products you should avoid. And over the years, I think these simple definitions have just added, I think it's easy to pick out pretty much any project I've backed and put them in one of these buckets, right? So I've got a bunch of examples, if you would allow me to give them. What do you think?

Brad Dowdy: I think you should, because I've read it and it's perfect.

Myke Hurley: Yeah. So, and I'm doing this with current, mostly current projects, because a lot of them I've missed over our past few weeks of travel and pen show recaps. You know, one of the things I do like to cover on the show is the interesting Kickstarter projects that are always good topics of conversation. So in the green section are two active projects from two friends of mine. And number one, that's why they're in the green, because I know them, they're experienced Kickstarter makers. They've delivered and executed on many, many projects before. And the first one's the Big Eye Design, TI Ultra. And the second one is the Tactile Turn Back, B-A-K. So first up, they've done this before, right? This is not their first rodeo. They have their own business.

Brad Dowdy: So Brad says, like all these people are my friends, so he knows that. And it's like, that's true. And you can't be friends with everyone. But the idea of doing it before is like a key thing. And I always look at this, like if I'm, if I'm like come to a project and I'm like, I don't know, like I look at the profile. And if I see like 10 or like, like with the TI Ultra, 27 created projects, right? And then I can look back and see like what funded, what didn't, is what funded kind of like this one. And then if I look at something like the TI Ultra, I can be like, oh, look at all of these pens that they've made that are funded 385%, 14,000%, right? I'm like, okay, this company knows how to make a pen, right? And you can read the comments, right? You can go back and look at it all, yeah. And see like, how late were they? Were there any like issues? How did they deal with them? So, see, it is very public, which is great about Kickstarter that you have these profiles and all this history is kept and that like all the comments are kept and the updates that are public or whatever are kept. So, you can do your due diligence really easily on a, on a, on a creator.

Myke Hurley: Right. And the first time I backed a big eye design or the first few times, or the first few times I backed a tactile turn, I didn't really know the person, but I felt that I could get enough information from the campaign to feel comfortable giving my money without being guaranteed a product because that's Kickstarter. There's no guarantees on Kickstarter, you know? So, you're basically, you know, giving companies a loan to, in return, get something of benefit. Um, so yeah, like, and even these green light projects, projects that I would put in that category, sometimes they're going to go wrong. That's Kickstarter, right? You know, um, it's just going to happen, but companies that have been established usually know how to handle these issues. You know, like we talked, you talked to, uh, Tom and Dan at Studio Neat, you know, pretty much any project they do is in a green light situation for me. Like I'm going to back them without much questions, but you know what stuff happens. And it's how those, uh, companies communicate the issues that they run into during the projects. We've had stuff happen on our projects, you know? So it's just getting a feel for that. You got to do your research and your homework when you're going through Kickstarter because those questions come up when you hit these yellow light companies.

Myke Hurley: There is a project out there now called page one, and they've been active on Twitter. They've been, um, in my email inbox, they've been chatting with me and they're like, Hey, would you share this project? And I don't just blindly share things that people ask me to write. That's not my motive. I just, I choose, you know, what feels right to share, but I asked around about this project and, you know, um, and got some, some replies on, Hey, what do you think about this project? Just from a product standpoint, not the company behind it standpoint. And what page one is, it's a writer's notebook that will help you organize your writing projects, right? They have sections for characters. There's a plot section, setting section, scene section, submission section, research ideas. So there's all these predefined sections in there, right? So this is out of my realm, you know, my realm is, is the notebook technically good, right? Is the binding good? Is the paper quality?

Brad Dowdy: You're not answering, will this help me write, uh, the next Harry Potter? Like there's absolutely no way of knowing that, but you can look at it and be like, I can see the way that they're doing this is going to result in a bad product, right? Like it's possible for you to see it. I'd be like, I know enough about how notebooks are made to know that if you go down that route, it's not going to be good. I'm not saying that about this product, but like just in general, you can, you can judge things that way.

Myke Hurley: Yeah. And you can judge about how the companies talk about these things, what words they use, how they describe the product. Do they understand the print process by the words that they're using? And like everything I see on this project looks great, but that's, this is a yellow light because they're not at that experience, right? They don't have a big background and you don't know, is the product going to work for you? So like I asked Sarah who writes for the pen addict, who is a published author. She's written, you know, she's a fiction writer. She's written a novel. I'm reading it right now. And I said, would you, what, what are your thoughts on this? Well, she says every writer has their own structure. So I don't know how useful this would be. That said, I would put it through once for a project. You know, writers always have all kinds of projects they're working on. She's like, that said, you know, the layout looks good and I would be interested in using it, you know, it may not be for me in the end. It may not be for everybody because you're pigeonholed into a system and writers, I think out of most people are probably the least likely to want to be pigeonholed, right? Don't tell me how to organize my stuff. But if you're needing help with that, maybe this is a perfect thing. So there's enough questions about usage, not necessarily about production that, okay, maybe it's something you have to think about. But the tutu pen is a perfect example, right? Brand new manufacturer, super strange product. This one, like I read about, I talked to the maker, I did all kinds of things before deciding to back it. And, you know, I felt comfortable enough that I'm at least going to get my product delivered, right? So it's expensive for what it is. It's strange. It's weird. It's coming from Japan. There's lots of, you know, little flags that go up. So maybe like you could talk yourself in or out of this, right? So I think that's a perfect example.

Brad Dowdy: Looking at that, you can also be like, this doesn't really seem like there's anything technically difficult, right? Like that doesn't look like it's not doing something wild, right? Like it really is just a piece of shaped acrylic.

New Product Discussion

Myke Hurley: As weird as it is, it shouldn't be any type of technical challenge. Exactly. Which is what brings us to the next one. And it's the Vitae dual nib fountain pen that we talked about, I don't know, December, January timeframe. This was one where I had conversations with the maker trying to figure out what his goals were. I mean, I'm obviously in a position where I can get in touch with people and get a response. You know, not everyone may be able to do that, you know, if they're not being active in their own comment section on Kickstarter. But I was compelled enough to reach out to them blindly and say, let's just talk about what's happening here, right? Let's figure out what you're trying to accomplish, how you're going about it. And here's the questions I have, because I'm interested enough to ask you these questions and I'm going to consider backing it. And in the end, I felt the answers were good enough for me to back it, but not enough other people were. There were too many red flags for people. And I get it. Like, if there's a project I get seeing the red flags on, the Vitae was one, just because it's very cutting edge and weird enough to where people could relate it to other failed projects, right? It was an interesting idea. I thought it was a worthwhile idea. But it wasn't maybe like, not changing your writing style, but it just, I guess people felt like there was too much risk involved in that. And I can't remember the price off the top of my head. I'll have to go back and look. But I think it was under $100 or $125, something like that. But regardless, like I felt after talking to this person that, okay, I'm going to support this. And what's good about Kickstarter is if it doesn't go through, if the project does not succeed, you're not out any money, right? It's done in the beginning. It's other platforms like Indiegogo. Your money is spent the moment you back the project, which, you know, there's good pros and cons about all those things. So I don't know, with the yellow light Kickstarter projects, there's lots of questions, right? You know, there's pros, there's a much bigger list of pros and cons. There's more questioning. Is it worth it? You know, what would happen if my money up and vanishes? So those are the things you have to consider. And what really made me want to write this article, Myke, was this red light project that I see and that I was linked to. And it's called the Indiegraph Fountain Pen. So I don't know anything about this project. I haven't talked to anyone. They haven't emailed me or anything like that. I was sent the link. When you make a project for a niche audience like pen users, you better nail the terminology or I think you don't know what you're doing.

Myke Hurley: And we've seen this in previous projects and we've called out previous projects. Obviously, we all know about the scribble pen and the Visionaire. The Indiegraph, I don't think is that level. But when you tell me that this pen is for use with Indian ink, not India ink, that's a major red flag. I will grant them that it could be lost in translation. Okay? This product is out of Spain. Maybe there's a translation issue. But Indian ink is Krishna ink, fountain pen ink. India ink is an art ink that will destroy your fountain pens, as we all learned from the Scribble project, which is why I can't understand to this day why so many people back the, I mean, excuse me, the Visionaire project, because the maker was using India ink for his videos.

Brad Dowdy: People don't know. That's why. Right. And I know what you mean. Like with the knowledge that you have, it's like this seems bonkers. Yes.

Myke Hurley: No, no. That project jumped outside of our realm and it was off to the races. Right?

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. But I would say even a lot of people in our realm, like I didn't really know what the issue was of that until you explained it to me.

Myke Hurley: Right. Right. Well, and so it's a comfort level with the creators. Right? You got to be comfortable that the creator is going to deliver a quality product and, you know, your money is going to be well spent. This pen, I can look past the Indian ink mention and say, okay, we have some translation issues. I can work my way around that. And the reason they wanted to make this pen, and I quote, it occurred to us that the important thing was to keep the nib moist and prevent the ink from drying. So their entire reasoning to make this pen is to make a water-filled cap that's the waters in a membrane, a breathable membrane inside the cap that will keep your pen moist so the nib does not dry out when you're using your India ink.

Myke Hurley: I can't in any good conscience say this is a good idea. I can't say for a fact it's an awful idea, but common sense says it's an awful idea. Moisture in the nib is not how you want, I mean, in the cap is not how you want to keep your nibs from drying out. You want to seal the air out of them, right? Like Platinum does with the 3776 and the slip and seal mechanism. The cap gets locked in, mostly airtight. Right? And what they're saying, the reason behind this pen is, it defies common sense to me. Now, other people may read it and go, oh my God, my India ink pens dry out all the time. And, you know, this would be a great product for me to have. Well, that's not why your India ink pens are drying out. They're drying out because it's a very extreme ink, right? It's a super dry, very aggressive art ink. And to add this weird water membrane that's essentially serving to create humidity in the cap is not an idea I can get behind, right? So it's...

Brad Dowdy: Let me ask you. Do you know this doesn't work or do you feel like it doesn't work?

Myke Hurley: I feel like it doesn't work. Okay.

Brad Dowdy: Okay. Okay.

Myke Hurley: So, but I don't know. It's questionable enough that I would be scared to spend money on it. That's for sure. Like what they're describing is a refillable water reservoir for a cap. So your nib doesn't dry out. It's crazy. Like I... Who has ever needed this? Like I understand the problem they're trying to solve. But I don't think this is actually a real solution. I think you'll run into more challenges having basically a humidity cap around a steel nib. So I don't know. It's very strange to me. So I don't know. But this is what made me... It's like I appreciate you trying something.

Myke Hurley: But you're not giving me a good enough reason to jump. Like to take a chance, right? I appreciate that you want to do something different or try to do something. But when there's a multitude of factors within your campaign that I can just look and read and shake my head about, I'm going to be pretty hesitant. So that's where like the red flags come up. So, you know, it's not that simple. You know, there's... I'm sure red flag projects that I've like balked at have turned out well. I'm sure there's green light projects that have, you know, gone into the ditch and not turned out well. But I think just in general, if you can look at a few of these factors and, you know, help you make some decisions in kind of the way you think about Kickstarter, you know, that's how I look at it. You know, and, you know, if you ever have any questions, reach out to me because maybe I've done some of the research too. But I appreciate that people share these things with me because there's so many questions around Kickstarter to this day that people want to spend their money as wisely as possible. So it's a challenge.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah.

Project Success Scenario

Brad Dowdy: I like your system, though. Like, because here's the thing as well. Let's imagine like a red light project can succeed. Like this project sure could work. Like this could work for all we know. You know, like it could surprise us. Yeah. But then it's a real thing that you can just buy. Like that's the great thing about this type of stuff is like, you know, actually have to back the campaign most of the time to get the product unless it's like explicitly said that that's what is happening. Right. Most companies, they're using Kickstarter as a way to kickstart a business. So like if something doesn't if you like the look of something, but you're hesitant at spending your money, just keep your eye on the campaign after it funds and see what happens. And then they will sell the product to you later on, maybe for a slightly different price, maybe in some slight revisions. But you will be able to buy it. So it's the same FOMO conversation. Yeah, you don't have to be in the because you don't have to basically you don't have to take the risk because there is risk. We have both lost money in the past on Kickstarters. It's a it can be a little bit of a gamble and irrespective of what people like to put the copy and paste of legal text that people like to put into failed campaigns, Kickstarter projects into the comments. Just go look at this, by the way. It's mind boggling to me. You cannot get your money back. If the money's gone, it's gone. Have you ever seen this? People copy and paste this thing out of terms and conditions in the hope that it will get them a refund. And I understand that people want their money back. Like I get it. But it's a fundamental misunderstanding of what's happened to your money. Like the money has been spent on attempting to make the thing. There is no money.

Myke Hurley: Right. Right. It would take a rare campaign founder to.

Brad Dowdy: Well, it would have to be like a class action lawsuit. I haven't come across any of those so far. Right. Right. But yeah, it is, you know, again, like I'm not trying to laugh at people that have lost money. I'm not trying to laugh at failed campaigns.

Myke Hurley: Oh, God.

Brad Dowdy: But like, it's just really, I don't know. There's like some kind of like macabre that I get, like macabre humor I see from it when I'm just watching like 50 people in a row or copy and pasting this chunk of terms and conditions in the hope that it means I get their refund.

Myke Hurley: It's like, yeah, more power to you. Right. Right. Yeah. That's not that's not how Kickstarter works. So that's why you have to look at things like this. And I've, you know, backed enough campaigns over the years. You see kind of repeated patterns. Right. If the creator doesn't really know what they're talking about, like the back of their hand, that's an immediate question mark for me. Right. So, you know, there's lots of little things you can check out. And, you know, as always, you know, be cautious with your money, especially on something like Kickstarter. But I'm just a huge Kickstarter fan and, you know, have made seen a lot of great companies grow out of Kickstarter. And I've made a lot of great friends from those companies. So, you know, there's there's more way more good than bad. But there are things you can do to, you know, mitigate your risk when you're looking at new projects.

Sponsor Break

Brad Dowdy: OK. Should we take a break? Let's do it. All right. This episode is also brought to you by Harry's. Harry's, their founders were tired of paying too much money for razors because they were overpriced and overdesigned. They knew that a great shave doesn't come from gimmicks like vibrating razor heads or handles that look like spaceships. These are just tactics that large brands use and have used over time to raise prices. So Harry's decided to put their focus on what actually matters. They combine a simple, clean design with quality, durable blades and sell them to you at a fair price. Harry's bought a world class blade factory in Germany that's been making quality blades for over 95 years. This allows them to sell their cartridges for just $2 each, which is half the price of their big brand competitors. And all of Harry's blades come with a 100 percent satisfaction guarantee. So if you don't love your shave, let them know and they'll give you a full refund. Brad Dowdy, do you love your shave?

Myke Hurley: I love my shave. Did you see me at the Atlanta Penn Show? I mean, hello. I saw your razor in the bathroom. It was really cool. I mean, my neck was clean and smooth. The edge of my beard was pristine. I mean, how can you go wrong with any Harry's razor product? I just, it's not possible.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, they are really amazing stuff. I mean, I'm walking proof, Myke. Yes, you are. You really are. Walking handsome proof. People love Harry's so much that they've received over 20,000 five-star reviews at Trustpilot and Google. And you can get a $13 value trial set that comes with everything you need for a close, comfortable shave, including a weighted ergonomic handle, five blade razors with lubricating strip and trimmer blade, rich leathering shave gel, and a travel blade cover. And listeners of this show can redeem their trial set right now at harrys.com slash penaddict. So go to harrys.com slash penaddict to redeem your offer and let them know that we sent you to help support the show. Our thanks to Harry's for their support of The Pen Addict and Relay FM.

Myke Hurley: Myke, we have so much Ask TPA this week that I had to delete some that we already answered from last week.

Brad Dowdy: I'm just doing my best here for you, man. I don't know what you want from me.

Myke Hurley: I hear you. I hear you. No, but I did add a few. I had some emails that I haven't been getting to because I've been holding them for Ask TPA, and I think today's the day we catch up on this. So the first one is from Chris May. I'm trying to understand pocket fountain pens. Are they simply pens that fit in your pocket, or do they tend to have a way to reduce ink from getting in the cap? Definitely number one, not at all number two. So I don't really know a way to reduce ink from getting in the cap. You know, maybe we can get that on Kickstarter somehow with some humidity cap on there. I don't know if that would work. Just stop it. Stop it right now. Pressurized air system in the cap. Brad. Brad. I'm just thinking out loud, Myke. Maybe we can do. I don't know of a way to reduce ink from getting in the cap. So, Chris, it's legitimately just small-sized pens that easily fit into a pocket. There's no way to prevent the banging and the possible ink splatter that you will get from just actually using the pens. Not that I know of anyway. So, yeah, it's small-sized pens that fit in small places.

Brad Dowdy: Next question comes from Vitallo. What are good Parker-style gel refills? I'd like to use them in a Parker Jota. I really like the Uniball Signo 207, but those refills don't fit. I'd also like a 0.5mm if possible.

Myke Hurley: Yeah, this has always been a challenge. Parker gels are actually pretty good, but the smallest is 0.7. It's still worth a try, maybe. Monteverde does a Parker-sized 0.5 gel refill in several different colors. That's the most common and the highest quality one that people use for those style of refills. It's hard to get a really perfect Parker-style gel refill, and Monteverde probably comes the closest.

Brad Dowdy: Eatnix asks, I'm interested in a new gold nib pen. I want a nib that's on the softer side. I have and love a Sailor, but they're not soft enough for me. I'm not a big fan of the Lamy 2000s looks, and the Pilot Vanishing Point wasn't my style either. I have and love a Franklin Christoph Gold Sig that's nearly perfect for me, but I want something new. Any ideas?

Myke Hurley: Yeah, this is actually a really tough question, which is why I wanted in here. Two things come to mind. Platinum does soft nibs, so like they're soft-medium. I would pass on the soft-fine. I can't remember how fine Eatnix writes. I'm familiar with her pen choices, but I can't remember her writing style. But Platinum does a soft-medium that is pretty good. And then, like, the next thing that I can think of is Pelican's nibs are generally soft. They're very wide. You know, a Pelican 600 medium nib is very wide, but they're soft. The gold is soft. And then if you really kind of want to break the bank, the Aurora Flex nib, that's not really a flex. It's kind of a soft writing nib. It's fantastic. I'm very impressed with that nib just from a writing perspective, but not a flex perspective. It's going to be closer to that Franklin Kristoff Gold Sig nib. So the Pilot Falcon nib, you're getting into kind of a flex issue there. That's a real soft nib, but it's made around flex. But depending on your writing style, that might work. So I'd be looking at probably Platinum Soft Medium first for just, like, basic writing. And then I'd maybe jump all the way to something like Aurora's Flex nib. But that's a price point that is in a whole different arena.

Myke Hurley: It's a freaking great nib, though.

Topic Shift

Brad Dowdy: Electric Penguin asks, what pens go longest without drying up? The 255ATAL and USB Mini. Are they good because they have O-rings in them? The Kaweco AL Sport? Is it because the cap threads are so accurate? Like, are these good examples of pens that don't dry up very easily? Or do you know what it is? Is there anything specific?

Myke Hurley: We've covered this, Myke. It's the IndieGraph.

Brad Dowdy: My God, Brad Dowdy. Humidity.

Myke Hurley: I mean, humidity, Myke. That's going to keep it. Keep it locked down.

Myke Hurley: But the answer was in that discussion. It's the Platinum 3776. They actually market the caps of their fountain pens as having a slip and seal mechanism. And it's no joke. It legit works. Like, keep your pen inked for a year, uncap it, and it will write. It's crazy. They work really, really well. So that's the pen that goes the longest without drying up. The Twisbees, I don't have too much of a problem with. They get a little dried out.

Myke Hurley: Kaweco AL Sports tend to dry out more than the Twisbees. But if you want to have more of a guarantee, you want something where you get that additional mechanism in the cap, and Platinum does that best. And they do that from the low end to the high end of their line. You don't have to go to the gold nib 3776. You can get that in, like, the Procyon and the... Oh, what's the one above the Preppy that I'm forgetting? Anyway, but pretty much any of Platinum's fountain pens use this mechanism in their cap, and it keeps the nibs ready to go, like, months later. If you don't use them for months, they're really good.

Brad Dowdy: Our next question comes from Gregco3. I have a tactile turn glider, and I really like it in the refill options, but I find I'm gripping it down pretty low on the pen, onto basically the nose cone. Do you know of any similar machined retractable pens that have shorter nose cones?

Myke Hurley: This is tough. I thought about this. I looked at all mine. You know, they all have somewhat of a taper. Tactile turns maybe starts a little bit higher than some.

Myke Hurley: I'm going to open this up to the listeners and let me know for the machine pen options. I obviously use, and we're going to talk about this in a minute, the pen type B. You know, that's a dead straight barrel, but it's also a crazy expensive pen and just uses the Pilot Hi-Tech C refill and the gliders and pens like that. The Keras Customs retracts, and the other models are fitting the Pilot G2 refills. So I don't own a machine pen. The last one I had was the Sunderland MK1, but he's not making them anymore. It actually has a flare out at the end of the grip section as opposed to a taper. So that's an option. If you can find them, the TI2 Tech Liner is pretty straight. If you like the Uniball Signo 307, there is the spoke pen that I'm making that has a straight section that uses the Signo DX, but that's going to be probably the fall before you can get one of those. So the same refill options as the glider, that's tough. It's all pens that don't exist or are coming or may not fit the refill option that you like. So I'll think about this a little more and see if I can come up with something more specific. But there's things out there if you want to switch refill types that are still equivalent refill types. So something to think about. I will continue to look at this one. Same with this next question, Myke, so I'll take this one. This one's from Robert. I'm in the market for an upgraded metal high-tech C barrel. Years ago, there seemed to be a Kickstarter glut of them and now dried up a little. I have a TI Arto, but find it really uncomfortable for my hand and grip. It's got sharp threads. The pen type A and B are not ideal as I generally clip them in my shirt pocket at work. Does the Render K still support standard high-tech C refill? It looks like only the Cavalier. Thanks. This is a very accurate commentary, Robert. This market has dried up for the Pilot high-tech C because it's a very specific refill. And it's not the best gel ink refill. It's not anymore.

Brad Dowdy: It was for a while, but not anymore.

Myke Hurley: Yeah, because it hit that very engineering, artistic, drafting style. And there were a lot of colors. Yeah, and there are a lot of colors, but it's actually not the best rider by any stretch of the imagination. All these other refills are much better riders. So the high-tech C barrel kind of vanished. The Cavalier is the only regular market barrel that they use. It's a very skinny barrel. I don't know if you like that. It's very quality. I like it a lot. The Render K does not fit the high-tech C refill anymore. They modified it over to the Pilot G2 style because it fits more things. I have one of the original Render Ks with the high-tech C refill. If you're interested in it, shoot me an email because I'm not using it. I use my pen type Bs more than that pen, so I'd be willing to part with it if you're interested. But there's not a lot of options for high-tech C in machine-slash-metal barrels, especially with clips on them. So it's weird how that market went, but I think it was probably the right path for most of these manufacturers to go.

Listener Question

Brad Dowdy: And we have a question from Tim, which is, I just got a space pen. The refill in it rattles against the body, something fierce when I'm writing. It's pretty clear that the refill wasn't flush. It's slightly more narrow than the pen itself. So the question, is this a normal space pen thing, or do I have a bum? Sounds like a bum. Yeah, I have one right here. Let me rattle it against the microphone and see what happens.

Myke Hurley: So, Tim, we do need some clarification on the model. Like, if you're using the standard bullet, I use that pen all the time. It never rattles.

Brad Dowdy: I can't even imagine how the standard bullet could rattle. It's so, like, perfectly built.

Myke Hurley: It is really fixed in place, yeah. There's plenty of other space pen models. There's some retractable models, which that's going to be more of a chance because you actually have to have that gap, that clearance gap for the tip of the refill to move in and out. So if it's one of those models, it's maybe more of a possibility. But it sounds to me more like an issue as opposed to a normal thing. Like, it should not be happening. For all the space pens I've ever used, I've never seen or had to mention an issue with tip of the wiggle. So...

Topic Shift - Pen Choice

Brad Dowdy: And we have a two-part question. One is for me, one is for you. So this comes from Nick. Nick wants to know, Brad, if you could use just one pencil or mechanical pencil from now on and had to give up all others, which one would you keep? The lead never breaks or runs out, and the mechanical pencil has to be used with one lead of your choice.

Myke Hurley: This is an exceedingly brutal question, and that's the point, right? I think I could pick... I almost think I could pick a pen more easily than I could pick a mechanical pencil, and I'm going to go with the most obvious answer, even though I'm not thrilled with it. It's the Rotring 600. It's the mechanical pencil that all other mechanical pencils are measured against. It will last forever. I mean, it's the cockroach, you know, nuclear bomb mechanical pencil. It's going to live on in perpetuity, and it's great looking. It feels great. It works great.

Myke Hurley: It kind of has to be the answer. I feel like if I pick something else, like the pencils that I like are the Uni Shift Pike Block, the Spoke Pencil, the Pentel Carry. If I picked any one of those, I feel like I wouldn't be being truthful with myself, and I think the answer is the Rotring 600. So yours, we're on the same path here, and this is an amazing question, I think. So Myke, if you could only listen to one podcast from now on and had to give up all others, which one would you keep? The podcast cannot be one you have any involvement in creating. The one you keep will never stop releasing episodes and will update with a new episode weekly forever. Love this question.

Brad Dowdy: It's going to be one of the McElroy shows. Absolutely. So it's either My Brother, My Brother and Me, The Adventure Zone, or Wonderful. Now, I'm assuming that I get to listen to the back catalogue of this show. I think that's fair. That, like, so... I think probably... Probably The Adventure Zone. Okay. Because it can transport me to another world. Like, it's between The Adventure Zone and Wonderful, because Wonderful, which is a show that Griffin and Rachel McElroy, they're a married couple, do. So it's just sweet and lovely and nice and makes me feel good. But The Adventure Zone is like this... Like, the first kind of arc of The Adventure Zone is like one of my favorite stories I've ever heard. So I'd probably go with The Adventure Zone.

Myke Hurley: And it's actually been important to you in a recent way, right? Because now you're very much into this world.

Brad Dowdy: Oh, yeah. I started playing Dungeons & Dragons. Finally. After years.

Myke Hurley: Yeah, I started playing D&D. Yeah. Good for you. Good for you. So that's all the Ask TPA. So let's let Myke pimp out his Dungeons & Dragons play. Tell us where we can find all of your lovely D&D action.

Brad Dowdy: You can go to Twitch. Twitch.tv slash playingforfunfm. As well as a bunch of video games that me and Tiff stream. We have been streaming a bit of D&D recently. We're just keeping them as video on demand there for now. It's actually going to be produced and released as a podcast later on this year on The Incomparable. It's going to be a season of a show that they do called Total Party Kill. So you don't have to go and watch the literally 10 hours of video footage that we have put through so far. Because plus the first session, the video is going to expire soon, I think. If it hasn't already. But that's...

Myke Hurley: I think they give two weeks, I think.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, actually, maybe. Yeah, well, yeah. There's... I think it's 30 days. It depends on where you are in the system. You're a partner, right? Or affiliate? I am an affiliate. Affiliate, yeah. So you get 30 days now. 30. That's right. That's right. So our first session is only going to be there for a week more. They'll be uploaded to YouTube at some point in the future. But we want to actually turn it into the show that it's going to be. Because that's going to be a lot of fun. So I'm playing that with a bunch of friends. And so that's been really great. But we stream all the time on Twitch every single Friday, pretty much. Some video game. I'm doing some Minecraft stuff at the moment now, which has been a lot of fun to rediscover Minecraft again. Brad is on Twitch, too. Twitch.tv slash Pen Addict, where you can find a bunch of unboxing stuff. And that's my favorite kind of stuff that Brad does. I like the unboxings.

Myke Hurley: Yeah. It's fun. I need to put... I need to upload that to YouTube, which that will be... I'll probably do that today when we get done. So last week's unboxing went really, really well. Had a good audience. And it's something I wish I could do every week. But I don't quite get all the things. But I might have enough to knock one out tomorrow. So it should be fun. And then the Sea of Thieves update comes in about two weeks. They're going to have fishing. So you can come watch me fish on Twitch. We need to play it. Once that update comes out, me and you have got to go on Sea of Thieves together. We'll do it. Because I can sit there and fish in a video game for hours at a time and not be bored.

Brad Dowdy: I just like steering the ship. Yeah. Just like sailing around. Thanks so much to Harry's and Squarespace for their support of this show. You can find our show notes at Relay.fm slash penaddict slash 355. We'll be back next week. Until then, say goodbye, Brad. Goodbye, Brad.