The Pen Addict 534/transcript

The Pen Addict Podcast Transcript
Episode:	534
Title:	Every Day I Vote For Pens
Release Date:	October 12th, 2022
Hosts:	Brad Dowdy Myke Hurley
Guests:	No guests this episode
Additional Information
Official page:	Episode 534
Audio File:	Audio Episode 534
Podcast page:	The Pen Addict 534
Length:	5151 min <br />0.85 h <br /> minutes
Previous Transcript	Next Transcript

Myke: From RelayFM, this is The Pen Addict, episode 534. Today's show is brought to you by Squarespace. I'm one of your hosts, I'm Myke Hurley, and I'm joined by your other host, the main host, the man with the plan, Pen Daddy, Brad Dowdy.

Brad: I was not expecting that this morning. I kind of needed that.

Myke: I wasn't expecting it either. Sometimes these things, they just leave my mouth, and I'm not ready for what's going to happen. And I just let the, I kind of do the disconnect between the brain and the mouth, and see what happens.

Introduction

Brad: That's pretty much this entire show, right? This entire show is like a disconnect from our brains to reality. So yeah, we're, we're gonna talk about pens. That's, that's what the show is about. I don't know if you know that, like 534 episodes into it, this is a podcast about pens. And I voted for pens this week, Myke. I mean, I, every day, I vote for pens, like it's just in my nature, right? It's, it's like my move. But last week, we talked about the OKB48, the vote was up. So I thought I would tell everyone what I actually voted for, and what the little voting process is like, if you are so inclined. We have probably like, for all of our many dozens of listeners, we probably have like one or two that might actually click through and vote for this, because it's, you know, it's, it's very, kind of a tricky little thing. You know, it's all, you have to Google translate it, the whole thing. And it's kind of a, kind of a mess. And it's also like standard pens, you know, ballpoints and jelly pens. But you know, that's my passion, right? That's like my number one thing is this type of pen. So just to let everyone know, I went and put in my vote. And it's basically a Google Doc that has, yeah, that I had to translate to make sure I was getting the right things. And obviously, still, some of that doesn't always come through, but I could pretty much get the gist of it. And it's really simple. But I, I've done this before, like I've voted in this several times. And it's always the same. And the very first thing you have to do.

Myke: I'm looking at the form. I can't believe Google doesn't offer translation on the form. Yeah. Oh, actually, I can. In Safari, I can translate it.

Brad: Yeah, that's how I did it. So I just did the Safari translation, which is still not great. When you're using like brand names, right, those tend to get lost, right? As opposed to like the traditional, you know, traditional words. You know, when you start messing with brand names, it gets a little funky. But the weird thing about this is the very first question is, okay, pick five, your five favorite pens from the 48 pens listed. And it's like, is that really what we're going to do here is like, we're just going to go, I'm going to grab my five favorite, I have to look through this whole 48, you know, and I can, I can eliminate it pretty quickly. But for, you know, a lot of people, it's going to be like reading through this thing. It's like, what even is this mess, but I was able to narrow it down to five. So my five in no particular order were the Pentel Energel Euro, which is the needle tip 0.35 millimeter Pentel Energel that I love and want to be the main market Energel. But that's probably never going to happen. The Zebra Sarasa Clip, which is another great gel ink pen. The Uniball Signo DX. The Uniball Jetstream Edge, which is the fancy premium Jetstream, you know, with those aluminum barrels that came out about a year ago, look fantastic. And then the Tombow Monograph Lite. So out of this, like 48. So they had this, this is kind of, they don't necessarily take the exact results from last year to put in the vote for this year, right? Because there's new pens and things like that. But it's kind of, you know, a carryover from the previous year. So there's some favorites in there that I could, I could probably pick like a top 10 out of that list would be a little bit better. And then kind of narrow it down more from there. But I was limited to five. Those are my five. So then you go to the next page. It's like, okay, you have your five favorite pens. Pick your one favorite out of those five that you picked. The problem is they don't narrow it down on the page. It still lists 48 pens. So you got to go find the one. So I picked the Uniball Signo DX, which long-term listeners know this is my favorite gel ink pen. Like it's pretty, you know, pretty far ahead of everything in my mind. So that was my one.

Myke: What kind of voting system is this? This must have a name, right? Like pick five and then pick your favorite. Someone's going to, that must be some kind of voting system. Yeah. Yeah. I see what they're doing. It's like weighting it, right? So here's my, here's the top five and here's my top one.

Brad: I think there needs to be another weight.

Myke: Why can't you just, why is it five and then pick one? Why can't you be like, this is number one, this is number two? Right.

Brad: I think there needs to be a different, broader weighting in it, but I don't know enough about this. Ranked choice voting. Yeah. I don't, I don't exactly know, but I, I, I do wish there, I don't know how they end up with 48 pens in this type of system. Like are all these, like is literally every pen getting a vote? Cause only about a thousand, between like thousand, 1200 and 1500 votes get registered. Is every pen getting voted for in this list? I, I would think not. Right. So, um, it's, it's interesting to me. So I then, you know, so I then waited my, my one from the five, but I feel like there's some kind of intermediate step that's missing here. Yeah. Or a, or a bigger step that needs to happen first to break it down. Almost like a 10, five, one type of situation just to get the weighting a little bit better and a more representative list. Right. Like a top, the top 20, how accurate is this top 20? I don't know. I don't know. It's interesting. So, so that's it. Like, that's how you pick. So you pick five and then you pick your one favorite from the five. And then the last page has a couple of fill in the blanks. It's like, what is the reason you like the pen you chose? And then you have to type in, I was like, do they, are they taking these into consideration? Like why? I don't know that they are. Right. So I just put in, it has the best 0.38 millimeter line consistency. And then it says, the next question is, what do you want from a ball pen? And it's like, I was like, why do we need to answer these little questions? I'm not sure how this balances out any like voting that you're doing on these pens.

Myke: Market research.

Brad: I guess so. I guess so. And then the last one is actually the most valid question is what pen isn't listed that you would like to see next time. Right. So that's how they can build the list from, you know, some of the ones that are missing. And I put in the Caran d'Ache 849 ballpoint because like it would never, I don't know that that pen would crack my top 20. It would probably be in my like 15 to 20 range, but this list has things like the Lamy Safari ballpoint and some really like the Tombow air press pens. It's got some really strange pens. And I think like the, the Caran d'Aches it's, it's not a strange pen, but it's like one of those middle tier kind of expensive pens that I happen to love that I think is a great quality, but it doesn't, it's never going to get the play of like a, you know, Signo DX that's $2 and 50 cents. You know, it's like a $25 pen or $30 pen, uh, kind of like the Safaris or some of these other ones, but like, it deserves to be in like, if you're making a list out of 48 pens, yeah, the 849 needs to be on there looking at some of these other ones. So that was kind of my experience with the vote. If anyone is interested in how this thing, uh, works, it's really short and quick. I'm just not sure it's great. Like, and it, it hasn't changed for years. Like I've been doing this for years and it's, it's the same setup every year. And I was, but I, I don't know. It seems like there's a better way, but I don't know that I have an answer. Like, I think there should be more waiting for a broader spectrum of pens here. Um, but who knows, who knows? They, they, I guess they know what they're doing. They, they end results end up shaking out pretty well. Right. Like I've never had a real problem with, with the results. And, you know, there's some weird things jumping in the top 10 from time to time. But, uh, overall, I think it, it, I, it's a pretty top heavy category anyway. Right. Like the best pens are going to be the best pens just year after year. And, um, it's every now and then you'll get something like the zebra blend sneaking up in there. But, uh, yeah, I, I think it's pretty good. So that was, uh, that was my look at the, uh, OKB 48 vote. So there you go. So you got something in the mail, uh, was a little, little bit delayed from, from last week. Is that where we were at?

Myke: Yeah. Yeah. That's what happened. Canalea Punicaea. Punicaea? The pen we spoke about last week. Canalea obviously sponsored the show and they sent me this pen, uh, for review. They don't know this yet, but I will be buying this one from them. Um, because I adore it. I got the My Lele version, which is quickly becoming for me. Like, I think it's the Canalea to buy. I think. That's very much a you thing. Like, that's perfect for you. Yeah. I, I'm, I don't know if I necessarily recommend it for everyone to just do it, but I would recommend everyone to look at it. And if they get a chance to, to hold it, um, I think it's just, this is where they put the little silver band around the cap. I, I don't, it just adds something to me that I really enjoy. Like, I am a person who quite a lot of the time holds the cap when they write. Like, I hold the pen caps when I write because I never post. Same. And the added weight on the cap just feels very satisfying to me.

Brad: Um. Yeah. It's, it's fantastic. I think the, the look and the, the aesthetics of it are just, uh, just amazing with, with the band. Like, it's not my style. Like, we've talked about this a million times, right? Like, I, I like a lighter weight and things like that, but that doesn't mean I, like the, the aesthetic of it is, is awesome.

Myke: And the medallion is matching Argentium silver. So that looks good. And the, you know, the, the nib is silver in this one too. Um, and so like the whole thing just works really well together. Yeah.

Brad: And the, the, the base colors, the base colors of the pen compliment like all the hardware really, really well.

Myke: At some point I need to get one with a clip just to see what that's like. I'm just intrigued.

Brad: I did that. I did that. I did that same thing. I was like, I need to switch up what I usually get. I usually get the classic flush. And I was like, let me try this with the clip. And I was like, okay, yeah, it's good. And I went right back to the flush. Like it's great.

Myke: It's probably how I would go to, but I'm just intrigued. I'll say like, you know, now I've seen it, I expected it to be the case, but I think this might be their best resin design. Um, yeah, it's pretty cool. The, the, the amount of color variation is wild. It did make it one of the hardest choices I've made in a long time as to what ink to put in this pen. Like I could not work it out. Like I was thinking of putting in the Ibisu gold and I may still do that. I didn't go with that in the end. Mine has a lot of gold in it, but I didn't do it because I don't know. I don't love that ink. Like I think it's fine, but I don't love it.

Brad: You get, you get tired of it pretty quickly. Like, yeah. Like a whole converter. I'm the same way.

Ink Issues

Myke: And it quickly becomes just like a weird brown, which is like no one after. And so like, you know, I was looking at this pen and I kind of couldn't, I could not come to a decision. And so I asked Idina and she recommended Hiroshizuku Murasaki Shikibu, which is a purple ink, which I have not used before. Like she owns it and I'd never used it. And so I was like, yeah, go on then. This kind of, the way that I treated it with this pen was I couldn't find something to match. So I just went with something very contrasty. Like there is not really any purple in this pen. Like there's a lot of red and blue in mine that intersects. So it has a kind of purple look to it, but it's not purple. And so I just figured I'm just going to go with something wild and kind of out there for it. It's a good choice.

Brad: It's a really bright purple. So yeah, I can see it definitely favoring the pen for sure.

Myke: And yeah, frankly, like I'm in love with it.

Brad: Yeah. That's great.

Myke: Super good. Super, super good pen.

Brad: Really, really, I think they did a great job with that one. And like I said last week, I think they're on a, they're on quite the run here recently. So, all right. I want to talk about a couple of new pens from Diplomat. One just came into my view yesterday when I was on stream. The question was, hey, Brad, have you seen Diplomat's new eyedropper? And I'm like, no. Um, and let me see that because Diplomat and eyedropper pens, that's not something that kind of works in my brain. Like when I think about Diplomat, I think about metal pens and I generally don't think about eyedropper systems in metal pens. So I was like, let's, let's see this. So, so we went and looked at it on Instagram. So we'll have a link in the show notes, uh, here to go check this out. Well, first we saw like the flat images, um, like in the, the retail images. And I was like, it just looks kind of average, right? Like I like the Diplomat arrow. Diplomat's interesting design wise. They, there's no middle ground. I don't, I don't think in their designs, they're either kind of like standard traditional or they're like in the arrow and Zeppelin mold where they're kind of like very, very modern, like ultra modern designs. And I, I prefer Diplomat's kind of ultra modern designs. Like I talk about the arrow all the time as one of my favorite pens and it's just fantastic. So this is a metal barrel.

Brad: Eyedropper pen. So I went and looked at this little video and tried to figure out what they were doing and what they've done. I think is pretty unique. I mean, maybe someone's done it before they say no one's done it before. And I haven't seen this before, but if you take a classic Japanese eyedropper, like in the Opus pens that a lot of people, um, are very fond of, you just basically unscrew the grip section and get literally an eyedropper and fill it up with ink and drop it into the barrel and it has a seal off mechanism, right? So the ink's just not like dumping out when you're not using them. Well, this mechanism is engaged when you put the cap on and then disengaged when you take the cap off to write. So the ink actually flows down there and it's kind of smart, right? Okay.

Myke: So here's the thing.

Brad: Yep.

Myke: You're explaining this and I am watching a YouTube video, which I'll put in the show note. I'm watching the video and I'm hearing you explain it. And I still don't know what's going on. I cannot work out what is happening. Like they're just pouring the ink randomly into the thing and then pushing down the grip section. What is that? I don't understand. I don't get it. I can't get my head.

Brad: So we'll have to put in a link to like an Opus, like an Opus 88, an Opus 88 or an Opus 88 halo, right? If you go look up that picture, you'll see there's essentially a piston rod in the barrel. Um, in the Opus, you can see it because they're translucent. In this barrel, you cannot see it. So there's a rod inside the barrel. And the only purpose of that rod is to shut off the ink flow to the feed. Okay. So it's not like a piston filler. It's not anything like that. You don't, it's not a filling system per se, but it's a more of a shutoff mechanism. Um, so you're able to think of it like a vac filler without the ability to fill it, right? It just seals it off. When you screw down that vac filler, it seals off the, the ink vessel from the feed. And therefore the ink will not flow further that direction. So with the Opus, you know, it's basically a post in the back that you unscrew from the back of the pen and then screw it back in. What this one's doing is it has almost like an inner sleeve that's pushed by the cap going onto the barrel that tightens the seal. And then when you take the cap off to write the seal opens, so you're not having to do the extra manual step, like on an Opus opening the back of the pen to get the ink to flow, to flow. So like you, I watched this like a dozen times and I'm kind of fascinated by the whole thing. I really just straight up. I do not care for the design of this pen. I really have a real problem with the, I will come back to the design in a second.

Myke: So when you eye drop the ink in, where is it going? In the barrel. Because it looks like it just, where, I don't understand.

Brad: So it's going around that piston rod. Okay. Just think of a cylinder with a rod in the center, right? The rod in the center is designed as the seal off. So the ink is going all around that.

Myke: All right. So when you screw it in, it like kind of stops the ink from? Going down the feed. Yes. So how does it fill the mechanism when you're writing then?

Brad: So it's, it's basically the, opens the gap from the seal off, right? So it's no longer sealed. So the ink can flow past the stopper.

Myke: But when you put the cap on, it pushes the grip section down, which then closes the. Yeah. Exactly. The kind of the thing.

Brad: Like everyone should go watch this little video. It's interesting.

Myke: I feel like I understand it more now. It's still really weird. And I agree with you. This is a super ugly pen. Like it does not look. I didn't say that. Well, I think it's. I don't like it. I don't. I don't like diplomat design. We spoke about it so much. I've never found a diplomat pen that I think looks good. Like they are just so not my taste. Yeah. And this one is really so much a function over form. Like. Right. It is built purely so they can do this thing. And I think that the design is hurt from that. Like even the ink window is like really uninspired. That's my biggest problem.

Brad: That's my biggest visual design problem. It's in the wrong spot. It's in the wrong spot.

Myke: It's in the wrong spot. But like it's just a cut out. Like it doesn't really appear to be any.

Myke: Design element to it. Right. Like so I think of like the spoke pen. Right. And you. I know. I think the aluminium is much thicker in your pen. But like it's sloped. Right. The ink window or whatever you call that. The cut outs. Yeah. All the spoke pens. It's kind of got that slope in it. Which makes it look like it's more intentional. Right. This kind of just looks like they made the pen. And we're like oh we should cut a hole in the side.

Brad: Mm-hmm.

Myke: You know.

Brad: Yeah. Like the. I might get in trouble for this. But it's it's very visionary-esque in design. Right. It's it's pretty basic.

Myke: I 100% agree with you. Oh my god. You've nailed what it was reminding me of. But I couldn't work it out.

Design Critique

Brad: It's pretty basic. But it's also like $300. You know. Woo. For this pen. As opposed to like something. I mean. With this design is normally like $50. Right.

Myke: You're paying for the development. You're paying for the mechanism. The system. You know. Right. And if you like it. If you think this is cool. Maybe it will work out for you. But it is not for me.

Brad: So this is one of those things. I would very much like to see version two of. Right. Sure. This is I'm interested. I am interested in this. Right. If this works like the technical part. Which I don't see any reason looking at this video for the thousandth time. Technically. I think it's going to work really well. So. I just slap this in an arrow somehow. Or do something different. With this. But. Yeah. This is very much. I want to see version two of this. Um. Ahead of time. Um. One funny thing. I don't know. If you'll notice this. And we're not going to go through reading this. But. They basically did a Google Translate. Uh. Copy paste. Into the. Into the. Uh. Instagram field. Which I have a real problem with. That you didn't take the care to. To correctly. Um. Translate. The. The text in there. If you start reading it. Just read it to yourself. You'll. You'll see all of the. The translate errors. That came through. Um. It's very problematic. Oh. That is weird. And that. That's what it looks like to me. It's like. They took like. The Google Translate. Without cleaning it up. And just put it in the field here. So.

Myke: I found. No more risk of running out of fuel.

Brad: Yeah. I found it very off-putting.

Myke: Please let me run out of fuel.

Brad: Yeah. So. How odd. Anyway. Yeah. So. It's an. It's an odd pin. But I. I think there's something to the design. Like. I. I appreciate the design. But there is something there. That. Um. I would like to see. Again. The next step. Like. I'm fine waiting. And seeing on this. So. Um. We'll. We'll see if it. We'll see. Once people start getting them. If the. Technical aspects hold up. And then we might see. Well. Maybe Diplomat will do something. A little bit more interesting. With the design of it. Like. If I'm going to pay that kind of price. For the technology. Give it. Uh. Give me a little. Little better design in there. Yeah. Like. Myke. The Diplomat Arrow Matrix.

Myke: No.

Brad: So. I was more. I put this in here. There's really hardly anything to talk about this pen. To be perfectly honest. But I put it in here. Because. I couldn't remember what you thought about the arrows. And you already answered me. That you don't really care for them.

Myke: This is actually an E-Locks.

Brad: Yes. I still call it the arrow. Just because it's the same general. Design. Yeah. I. So this is the.

Myke: I can't. I can't. I. No. No. It doesn't do it for me.

Brad: Okay. I. I thought the same thing. Right. Like. I thought the same thing. Then I hit that second link. Did you see the. The movement. Yeah. Like. I still don't think this is for you. And I actually. I don't think it's for me. But it's like. Okay. I get this.

Myke: I like the like. Matrix style design. Like. I actually kind of enjoy that. I think it's fun. But. I don't like the shape. Of Diplomat pens. Like the arrow style pen. I especially don't like it when it's capped. I don't know why. People show images of that. I think it looks really bad. I don't like the finial. I don't like the clip. And I don't like how large they print Diplomat on the side. I just. Yeah. Just really don't do it for me. I hear you. It's like. Very reminiscent of cross.

Myke: For me.

Brad: I get that. I don't discount that. But that's why I really didn't have anything to say about this pen. Other than. I wanted to ask you. I couldn't remember your stance on the arrow. As a pen that I really enjoy. And I couldn't remember. I think Myke doesn't like it. And yeah. You've confirmed. You don't like it. I've never used one. I've never used one.

Myke: Right. And so. I want to. So I can at least. Have an opinion there. But the visual. Of the Diplomat pens. It's never been your thing. Really don't do it for me. It's not my style.

Brad: Or.

Myke: Makes sense. I mean. I like more ostentatious design. Sure. In general. And these are very. Like. Straight laced. Even when they're Matrix themed.

Brad: I don't disagree. Yeah. I see what you're saying. Yeah.

Myke: I'm kind of surprised. I'm with you. I'm with you. I'm with you. I'm with you. I'm with you. I'm with you. I don't think you can do that. I don't think you can just do that. I don't think. I don't think.

Brad: I should just call it the bullet journal.

Myke: Yeah. Maybe.

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Horror Stories

Brad: You know what time of year it is, Myke?

Brad: Spooky season.

Brad: Spooky season. It's horror story season here.

Myke: We haven't done this in a really long time. Yeah.

Brad: And this came up on stream this week. It's like, oh, I've got a horror story I want to share. And it's like, oh, yeah, we should get people's horror stories. So if you're not familiar, if you're newer to the Penaddict podcast, we just started getting people's, you know, just like terrible pen experiences, you know, catastrophes. You know, there's been some great stories over the years.

Myke: We have featured them on four episodes, believe it or not. Okay. Episode 329, 336, 366, and 381. That was the last time we did this. Wow. We were on a run there.

Brad: That was all within a year. Wow. Yeah. That's a lot.

Myke: Because we got loads of them. That's why when we first asked. Yeah.

Brad: Yeah. And then I think they started to get like, well, I think, you know, everyone's kind of done the, hey, I dropped the ink catastrophe situation. So we're open for some new stories this year, right?

Myke: So I've got a link in the show notes to the Stationery Wiki. The wonderful contributors to the Stationery Wiki have compiled a few things. They have compiled every story. They've abbreviated every story. And also the five Hall of Fame stories. These are the ones that we consider to be so bad. They make it into the Horror Story Hall of Fame. So what we would like you to do is think about, or if you have a story of something terrible that's happened to you, stationery related, something that happened to pen, ink, notebook, some kind of embarrassing situation, some kind of horrible destruction that has occurred. But we want you to send it in to us. Usually these stories tend to be longer. So email, right?

Brad: Yeah. Email.

Myke: Email. Hello at penaddict.com. Hello at penaddict.com. And send in your horror stories. And hopefully we can feature some during the spooky season.

Listener Questions

Brad: Yeah. And you can just put like horror story in the title. It doesn't have to be super official. But yeah, definitely let me know that it's a horror story if you're going to send it to me. And we'll check some out. We may not read them all, you know, but if we have some fun ones. We got a really, really short and to the point one, Myke, to kind of kick this off. This is from Frimpy. The entirety of the letter said, my daughter's three-year-old got hold of their mid-range Monteverde pen and stabbed the case with the nib of the pen.

Myke: Oh.

Brad: So the important part isn't just the sentence. We got pictures. Oh, no. Pictures are sometimes very important to the horror story. We will have this linked in the show notes.

Brad: It's amazingly horrible.

Myke: Brad, can we hold the judging of this?

Brad: Yeah. We can hold any judgment on this.

Myke: I would like to revisit this one if we have more.

Brad: In the context of other stories.

Myke: Because I'll say this is pretty bad. So I would like to maybe judge this one later. But this is rough.

Brad: Yeah. So if you can imagine, we'll have a link to the pictures. You can imagine what happens if your kid gets a hold of your pen and decides that it is now a drumstick or something that they're just going to bang around. So yeah, it's pretty amazing in a bad kind of way. So yeah, there's a quick example. We have definitely had some long stories of love and loss throughout these horror stories. Or we've had some more shorter ink-tastrophe type situations. So anything you want to send in, send them my way. And I would love to read them on a show in the near future. From the stream also came up a list of topics. So you popped in the stream yesterday. And I was thinking, let's kind of refresh my topic list for the podcast. And there's some longer form, some things I really need to think about and put some time into working on the topics from the viewers that give me some ideas and some bigger pictures of things to work on. And then we got some shorter kind of quick-fire ones that I actually really like to discuss on the show. Just like this one from Hello Addie. Basically, it's really simple. What are your top five go-to entrusted inks that you continue to grab time after time? And I thought that's a really good question because I do this, right? Like, I might have, you know, 150 bottles of ink or whatever, you know, obscene number I have. But I tend to go for the same group over and over and over again. What are those inks? And I don't know if you kind of do the same thing, too. And I think a lot of listeners will do this, have this similar thing, right? There's always the one that you're going to go to because, you know, it's either a color you like, it's going to perform well, you know, it's good for the type of paper you use, it's great for the nib you use, whatever. And it's just over and over and over. And I think a lot of people could probably pick out, you know, my handful of inks. But my list looks like this. Number one was pretty easy. It's Pilot Orochizuku Shinkai, right? It's my favorite blue-black ink. Like, the Orochizuku inks work very, very well for me in all types of pens. I don't just use them in my pallets. I'll use them in anything. And it's just fantastic. Second one was, like, the first three were pretty easy for me. Akramon number 28, Huff Quartier Grown, the bright yellow-green. I currently have it inked up. It's funny, out of this list, out of these first few, I think that's the only one I have inked up right now. Oh, no, I've got some of these other ones inked up. It's just a really bright green. And I'm generally not a green person, but this is just the right shade of green. And it's definitely in that top five most used go-to trusted inks. Number three, Robert Oster Fire on Fire. That's the orange ink that I made with Robert Oster that I sell on the Pen Addict. And I love that ink. That's definitely my most used orange. I just, I mean, it's, I guess it's obvious because I made it. I should like it, but still, like, I have a lot of oranges. And this is the one that I use the most. I was kind of hemming and hawing on this next one because I already have one blue-black on here. But you know what? It's kind of my thing. Like, the blue-black inks are kind of my thing. Platinum Mount Fuji blue-black I use all the time. I think I have it inked up more than Shinkai, if I'm being perfectly honest. Because I have cartridges of it, and I just pop them in my Nakayas. That's what it's in right now. So, out of my top five list, that's two black inks. I mean, blue-black inks out of that list. And it's kind of different than Shinkai. And I use them a little bit differently. But I still, it's just, it's an easy choice to pick that ink. And that's kind of what this whole list is, right? What are the inks that are just so easy to use and grab and fill? The last one kind of surprised me. And the more I thought about it, the more I tend to reach for it. Because it's a basic ink that, you know, when I have all this choice of color, sometimes I just want a more basic ink, even counting these two blue-black inks. Platinum Carbon Black. It's just good, right? Sometimes I just want a black ink, especially with my extra fine nibs. I love how Carbon Black looks. So, I will tend to use Carbon Black. Again, it's kind of a cartridge thing, too. I really like cartridges. You know, not all of these come in cartridges. But, you know, three of the five do. And I tend to just kind of grab and go sometimes, especially with that. So, I felt pretty happy with this list. It's like, you know, these five inks I could just use all the time. And I'm always picking. I was trying to think of a purple, but I couldn't quite narrow it down. So, that would be the only kind of addition, I think, for my just like favorite trusted ink. So, yeah, that's the deal. What about you?

Myke: So, that Mount Fuji Blue Black was a limited edition, right?

Brad: Yeah. But I just bought a bunch of it. Oh, smart man. You know, it was limited when it came out. And then they kind of did like a broader release. I don't think it's necessarily hard to find. I bet you could still find it if you look. But I bought two bottles and like two packs of cartridges. So, I have plenty.

Myke: Okay. So, I saw this question and did not read your list. Mm-hmm. Right? Because I was just like, oh, we'll talk about it. And now hearing you talk about it, I'm genuinely surprised about the amount of overlap in our list. I am too. I would not have assumed that there would really be any. Same. But there is. So, mine is Robert Osterfire on Fire, which is your orange. Obviously, I'll go for an orange. I think it's my... I would say Mont Blanc Lucky Orange is my favorite orange color. Yeah, that's a good one. But it is a messy ink. Like a lot of Mont Blanc's are.

Brad: It's a fussy ink.

Myke: It gets crusty. Yep. It's a very fussy ink. Have you ever seen that before? Oh, yeah. On that particular one. I've had a few inches to do that. And that does that. So, for like color and performance and reliability, I'd go with Fire on Fire. Then Robert Osterfire on Ice.

Brad: Yeah, that's a classic.

Myke: That's like the one that we all kind of... That's where everybody discovered Robert Oster, basically, right?

Brad: Yeah, that's the OG.

Myke: It's like the blue ink with the red sheen. It's just a great blue because it's got a bit of character in it. And then also it became the meme for your ink name. Because it's fire on everything. Then Akamon 28, which is also on your list. I'm surprised, yeah. What do you use that in? My 3776 with the stack nib and my Wicked Witch program. Oh, yeah.

Brad: Yeah, yeah. That's great. That's perfect.

Myke: I think that's my best ink pen pairing. No doubt. I love that. That was a smart idea. Like, I feel like I really like knocked that one out of the park, right? That like the Wicked Witch of the West ink. Like the pen is just all purple and then the ink is green. Yep. So they're kind of like orange, blue, green. They're like my typical colors. Then I've always enjoyed a pink. Califolio Andronople was like that was there for a long time. But that's been replaced for me now with Sailor Ink Studio 731.

Brad: Okay.

Myke: I think is the most exciting pink. It's wild. It's like pink with like a bit of a like warm sheen. Like an orange or yellow sheen if you're in enough. Love it. And then also Sailor Ink Studio 770, which is I think not only just a good yellow. I think is the only yellow worth using because it's a yellow ink that you can actually see. Because most yellow inks that I've tried and I have I own like four yellow inks because I wanted I've been I was trying a bunch of yellow inks for my Canalea Halea color silhouette. And I was always underwhelmed that the yellow inks would like fade into the paper basically. Like I bought a couple of Robo Oster ones and they were either too light or if they got too dark they became browny like kind of amber-y which I didn't enjoy. But this is an incredibly vivid ink. It's 770. Yeah. So I really love it.

Brad: So that reminds me I have like this one's probably close to making my list but it's yellow so I don't use it that much. But the Daikokuten, the Pilot Orozhuzuku 101st Anniversary Edition ink that I that's my yellow. And it's not that far off from 770 I don't think.

Myke: I own this and I really like it.

Brad: I think it's a little golden, more golden or something.

Myke: But I prefer 770.

Brad: Yep. Yep. I get that.

Myke: This is a great ink but I'm also again like for me I don't like to rely on inks that are limited editions.

Brad: I agree with that. Like yeah. So like the idea of this is like well is this my top five top five list of inks? And it's like maybe. It's like I don't know. I don't know. Like my top five recommendations like I'm not putting Carbon Black on my you know if I was going to recommend my top five just general ink recommendations Carbon Black wouldn't make the list. Mount Fuji wouldn't make the list for the limited edition aspect of it. I still don't think. With the other ones?

Myke: I still don't think a top five ink makes sense. I think the most you could do is top five ink brands. Yeah.

Ink Preferences

Brad: Yeah. It's just there's too it's too wide. Well because it's also color is like very subjective. It is. It is. So yeah it's definitely a brand thing. Yeah. But I do like this you know thinking about this is like I really reach for this group of inks just over and over and over again. It's like I try. I'll go look at all the inks I have on my shelf and I'll try to pick something different. It's like nah let me just use Shinkai because I know it's amazing.

Myke: So my main takeaway from this process because I was like looking through what I'm currently inked or whatever is basically you've got to get your hands on some Sailor Ink Studio if you've never before. Yeah. Sailor Ink Studio colors are amazing. So good. They did a really good job.

Brad: Yeah. Yep. I there yeah I forget the one that I keep that's been like perpetually on my shop shopping list. It's one of the purpley one of the kind of there's a blurble one that I need to get. I need to figure out that number. So I'll work on that.

Myke: Problem is they're horribly named. They are. Because there's so many I know when I did it so many of them but it makes it really complicated. Yeah.

Brad: There's only one that people recognize and it's 123 which it's the most popular and has the easiest name to remember. Is that the gray one? Yeah. It's it's gray pink green like a very very wild shading and sheening. Yeah. It's the standout like color. Like I don't know that it's not even close to the most usable but it's the oh this is very different. Yeah. It's like super different from anything else.

Myke: I guess they're kind of lucky that they had a weird ink phone number one two three. Right. Yeah. I yeah.

Brad: I don't know that that was on purpose. I think it just kind of happened that way which is great. That's great. So something random that I ran across this week when I was just you know browsing around stationary sites. We haven't done like a full planner deep dive. We talked about it you know a week or two ago when I was talking about what I'm going to use for for next year. I happen to see this Midori diary pop up on JetPens. It's called the Habino and it's an A6 size. And I don't know if people have asked for this format before but I was looking at this like oh what is this? This is very nice very interesting. It looks like you know a Hobonichi Techo like the A6 size the smaller size. And then I was like oh my gosh it's 768 pages. And I was like what is the layout here?

Myke: For a second I thought you were going to say it's 768 dollars. I was like why? Why is it?

Myke: Yeah.

Brad: I mean maybe.

Myke: It turns out it's not actually a planner. It's a customized life plan. And like every day you open the book and it tells you what you're going to do. 768 dollars.

Brad: Yeah.

Brad: So it is expensive. It is 63 dollars.

Myke: That's a steal now.

Brad: I'm trying to think if anyone has ever asked for like two page per day layouts. But that's what this is. So that's why it's so big. Right. We talk about one page per day planners as being you know like a pretty sizable. This is literally two pages per day.

Myke: This feels like it's made for the non-trademark bullet journal crowd. Right. More space feels like that's what you want. So you can do all the doodles and the like write the weather. So like your daily. This sounds like I'm being disparaging. I'm not. It's like. No, no, no. It's like a whole thing. Right. And you put a lot of work into it visually. The more space you have for that the better I guess.

Brad: Yeah. So I don't know if this layout is unique. I just haven't seen it before. So I wanted to bring that to people's attention. If you're looking for something like you literally open it up, your two page spread is one day. Like the one image is like June 25th. It crosses both pages and it's only a six size. So it's still like small ish. But that's still that's a lot of space. But yeah, it's like if you if you run out of space on your day page a day planner, here's a two page per day. And I thought it just really caught my eye as something interesting if people are looking for that. So who knows? Who knows? So it was good stuff. So last thing, Myke, I snuck this in at the bottom. I did a thing. I did a thing. It's it's already kind of vanished quickly. The first round of it has vanished. But I did a thing. I launched kind of a collaboration pen with Montegrappa. It's called the Venetia Rio de la Toleta fountain pen. And it's not a collaboration that I got to design like all of it. But I got to pick like a specific like limited edition color for the pen addict shop. So I just wanted to bring this up. We've already sold the first batch of them to pen addict members. There's going to be another batch of 25 pens. This is a very limited limited run. There's only 100 pens and I'm bringing them in 25 at a time just because they're very expensive. What do you think about this material? I mean, I'm going to put you on the spot. Not that you're going to say it's terrible like to me. But yeah.

Myke: I had it in my mind to buy one. But then the canalea came into my life. I'm sorry. Yeah, exactly. To make a choice. No. Because that's similar. I'm doing the same thing.

Myke: I like the material a lot, a lot. Like I don't understand what's going on here. Right? Because like it has a lot of color and a lot of texture, but it doesn't look like, say, the canalea. You know what I mean?

Brad: It's weird. All the lines are very straight, which you don't normally see.

Myke: It has a kind of a look of like if you melted a bunch of crayons or something, it would look like it.

Brad: It's a very streaky design. So what happened was I bought a pink model of this pen at the San Francisco Pen Show. And I didn't really know much about it. I was just taken by, well, one, I love Montegrappa. Two, I love the pen shape. Three, I love the pen material. And it was this really bright pink. And we talked about it on the show before. And like I just, I've been loving it. And so I was, when I bought it from a shop called Flax Pen to Paper out of LA. And they were at the San Francisco Pen Show. And they were telling me about this pen. I was like, yeah, it was, you know, limited to like 50 units. And I was just like really taken aback by this whole design and color and beauty of it. And so being that Montegrappa is carried in the U.S. by our friends at Kenro Industries, I went over to Kenro at the same show. And it's like, I could do 50 limited edition pens. Would Montegrappa ever work with me to like, you know, make something for the pen attic shop? And, you know, I told this story in refill. And they were like, well, you know, let us think about it. That's not something we normally do, right? You know, they're normally like retail first and, you know, working with, you know, like essentially a blogger, podcaster person like me, even though like we're really good friends. Like, you know, that's not always like in company's best interest, right? And I get that. Like, I totally understand that. So I went back to them later. They called me over later. He's like, what do you think about this? And it turns out, so that pink pen that I bought was something that the Flax Pen to Paper shop had picked up from Montegrappa. And there were five different colors that Montegrappa made 50 of. And would I like to pick one of those colors exclusive for me? And then this was one of my choices, the Rio de la Taleta. And I was like, yes, please. Like, it was a real easy decision. I was like, yes, let's do that. So that's how it came about. So, you know, there's going to be some more. So the first 25 were put on sale this week and sold out very, very quickly. I'm selling them at a very good price. I'm doing this. Like, it's really kind of like I explain it to the members. It's kind of like a glorified group buy, right? I'm not making a lot of money from this because it's very expensive. And I'm just wanting to pass that on to pass on, you know, the deal I can get to members so they can have a cool pen. So I'm going to get the next 25 in. So stay tuned for that here in the next few weeks. But I'm very happy with how this pen turned out, very happy with the response to it. And now I just have to get to shipping this first batch, which I have not done yet because I've been a little bit under the weather here the past couple of days. So we need another day to get into the shipping department and finish up this project. But there will be more. And you're going to see me using this pen a lot. So I'm very, very happy with it turned out. And I was glad to be able to pick up this Montegrappa for the pen attic shop. It was pretty neat to be able to do.

Myke: I hope this is the start of many. Yeah, you never know. Eventually, you decide to make money on them, though. That would be my suggestion. I'm bad at capitalism. Hey, Brad, you do you, right? But like, I would recommend. I pick and choose my spots. Okay, that's fine. That's fine. And sometimes I know this feeling. I've done it. Sometimes you just want to do a thing because you think it would be fun to do it. Right. So like me and Gray did a thing a while back where we did a poster print and we signed them. And we lost money on it by the time that we had it done. And then I had them all reprinted because I wasn't, well, happy with like the way they were printed. The color wasn't right. So we did it again. And then we had to buy a bunch of packing materials so we could ship them correctly. Like it was like a whole thing. But I wanted to do it. So it was just fun to do it. So I understand that. But like, you know, just I just want you to keep that in mind. Yeah.

Brad: If I didn't have two other projects in the hopper, like it might have been a little bit different. But it's like, I just want to do this because it's because I can like, and it's a fun thing to do. It's be a nice thing to do. It's like, I want the band.

Myke: I mean, are you selling yours cheaper than the other vendors are selling theirs?

Brad: Oh, yeah.

Myke: And they let you do that?

Brad: That was the only reason why I took the, why I was able to do this to begin with. I'm surprised they let you do it, honestly.

Myke: Yep. I'm pleased.

Brad: I am pleased too.

Myke: It's weird.

Brad: It's weird. It is. It's weird. Right?

Myke: Like if I'm one of the other vendors, I'm like, well, what's this Brad Doughty doing?

Brad: Well, maybe they don't know. That's why we're keeping this on the download. Don't tell anybody, Myke.

Myke: Oh, we're keeping it on the download by talking about it on the show. That makes sense. That makes sense. I get you. I get you. This part. It's very expensive. Oh, yeah. This part's all being edited out, right? When I actually put in this show. Oh, absolutely. Is this the show? No, no, no, no. We'll go back to the show now. And this part never happened anyway, so it's not a problem. All right. Get us out of here. Thanks for listening to this week's episode of The Pen Addict. If you want to find our show notes, you can go to relay.fm slash penaddict slash 534, or you can find them in your podcast app of choice. Thank you to our sponsor, Squarespace, for the support of this week's episode. If you want to find Brad online, go to penaddict.com. He is at Dowdyism on Twitter, penaddict on Instagram, and streaming multiple times a week, three times, at twitch.tv slash penaddict. Don't forget, Tim, if you have a horror story, please let us know. You can send them in by emailing to hallow at penaddict.com with horror story in the subject line. We want to hear the terrible things that have happened with you and your stationery for a spooky episode sometime, hopefully, in October. It would make the most sense, but who could tell? You know what I mean? Who could know? If you want to find me online... Schedules never stopped us before. Exactly. I'm at imike, I-M-Y-K-E, and you can buy yourself a theme system journal by going to cortexmerch.com. It's not a time of year, nearly. We'll be back next week. Until then, say goodbye, Brad. Goodbye, Brad.