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The Pen Addict 645/transcript

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The Pen Addict Podcast Transcript
Episode: 645
Title: Artisanistry
Release Date: December 18th, 2024
Hosts: Brad Dowdy

Myke Hurley

Guests: No guests this episode
Additional Information
Official page: Episode 645
Audio File: Audio Episode 645
Podcast page: The Pen Addict 645
Length: 6868 min <br />1.133 h <br /> minutes
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Introduction and Sponsors[edit]

  • From Relay, this is The Pen Addict, episode 645. This episode is brought to you by Pen Chalet, Ooni Pizza Ovens, and Factor. My name is Myke Hurley, and I'm joined by Brad Dowdy. Hi, Brad. Hey, Myke Hurley. How are you doing? I'm good. I wanted to note, before I forget, this is the last episode of this year. We're going to be off next week, because we're not going to record the show on Christmas Day. However, we are going to record on New Year's Day. So we've got that going for us. We'll see how we feel about that one. I know. I was going to confirm all this. I just realised this all yesterday, when I was writing the show notes. I was like, huh, I think we're off next week. We're off next week, yes. Like, I'm home now, I'm not doing anything except working, like, for the next few days through the weekend, and probably a little bit next week. And I was just thinking, it's like, huh, next week's Christmas, and I don't think we're podcasting. I know we're not podcasting, but then are we podcasting on the first? And yes, yes, we are. That is the plan. We can, hey, look, things can move, but that's the plan, as it stands. Yeah. I'm in. I'm in on that. Like, God, you know, I'm not, I'm not going to be, you know, just coming in from the evening at podcast time. I don't know, man. Maybe you will. It's early for you. It's late in the afternoon for me. Like, you might just be rocking straight through. I don't know what's going on over in the Dowdy household. Rowdy Dowdy, you know? That would be the episode of the year on January 1st. Man, what a way to kick off the year. Just, you know, hair of the dog.
  • This seems like a horrible idea, but we got it. Terrible. I would never do that. All right. Let's, let's continue on the theme of horrible ideas. This is one of my, this is one of my hot takes that we, we discussed last week. And that is the Diamine Ink Vent and the name and color, you know, wanting to be thematically seasonally correct was my stance, right? I wanted a holiday, Christmassy, you know, any kind of like celebratory, wintry vibe for the Diamine Ink Vent. And you're like, well, that's not really what it should be. It just should be, you know, an ink a day. Like, open up the door, get a new ink and, you know, see what's cool about it, right? So, I got to thinking about this more because this is really bothering me. What set this off was day seven, it's called Lemon and Lime. And that just broke my brain. And like, it took me out of the Ink Vent vibe. And that's when we, that's when I brought it up and you're like, no, like, this is perfectly fine. They're not guaranteeing you a holiday themed set of inks. They're guaranteeing you, you know, a new ink every day. And I don't totally disagree with that sentiment, right? Like, I'm not adamant that you're wrong and I'm right. But the further we get down this list and the more holiday themed inks we get, the bigger problem I'm having with the concept of Lemon and Lime ink being in this. So, here's what I did, Myke. We're on, we're through, what, day seven, 17 days, I think. Or I have 17 inks written down. I don't know if there's one from today that I haven't written down yet. Okay. And I'm going to call out these inks to you and I'm going to ask you whether you think this is a holiday themed ink or just an ink, right? Does that make sense? It does. I will make my opening statement before we begin, which is, I'll reiterate from last time. I will make a judgment on whether I think it's holiday themed or not. But I still think the idea that these inks have to be holiday themed because they're in an advent calendar doesn't make any sense to me. Okay. Like, yeah. And my stance is for Diamine, I think it does the way they present the packaging. For other companies that do this, say Colorverse, Enigma, they're creating basically an ink a day for 25 days, right? And my stance is that Diamine is holiday theming the advent ink event calendar. So that's where we differ. So I have already done all of my ratings and I will say at the end, you know, what the, or I could say each one what I think will probably argue over some of them. So here we go. Love it. Day one, Baltic breeze. So the question is, do you think this is a holiday themed ink or a not holiday themed ink? No.
  • Okay. So I went yes. Why? Because of the cold theme. Like, I think cold and snow and ice is thematically on theme. Yeah, but Baltic. Yeah, but. Baltic is a cold area. Not always. A breeze is cold. So it's not cold. It's like, it's like not cold, right? It's like, it's just like a breeze. Like, you would only ever consider something a breeze if it's already warm. Right, but it's not called warm breeze. It's called Baltic. And that feels seasonally cold to me. Like, we can disagree. Like, this is going to be the, this might be, this might be the entire episode is us fighting over this. I just think breeze, a breeze, you would never call cold a breeze. But that's me.
  • Okay, I disagree. Of course.
  • Day two, Wilted Rose.
  • Uh, no. Yeah, I went no on this one too. It's a very pretty color. This is not.
  • I feel like there's ways you could do it, right? Where you could be like. There is.

Discussion on "Wilted Rose" and thematic connections[edit]

  • Rose in snow or something like that. And then that would fall. Right, right, right. It's like the rose died because it's cold, right? Therefore, it's a wilted rose. But I don't think, it died in the Baltic breeze, Myke. It's a follow-up from day one. Yeah. All right. So, day three, noble fur.
  • Can you tell me how fur is spelled? F-I-R. And it's green. Like, some of the, probably some of the color would be on there. Yeah. The easiest. Like, if you're talking about, like, animal fur.
  • I mean, what else are you going to wear in the Baltic breeze, Myke? Yes. You know what? Great, great point. Great point. Yeah. Not fur, though. We don't do fur, right? Let's just say that. No, no, no. Yeah. All jokes around here.
  • All right. Day four. Forest Gato. Do you know what Gato means? I had to look it up. Yes, cake. Okay. I thought it was, but I was like, I wanted to double check. So, Forest Gato. Yeah, it's Black Forest is, I think, what they're going for here. Yeah, it's Black Forest cake. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So, I would say yes, definitely. Okay. So, I put a, I put a kind of a question on there. It's like, that's mid. But I agree that yes, that should be the way. What I'll say is, if you didn't know it already, I would understand why you would question it. Yeah. But I do believe that's on theme. It's very much so, I think. Okay. Day five. Icy Lilac. Sure. See, icy is cold. Breeze, I think we can question. Icy, no, we're good. Yeah. Yeah.
  • Day six. Cranberry. Yeah. Yeah, for sure. For sure. Day seven. Lemon and Lime. No, it's not, is it? It's absolutely not. Why are we doing this? It's absolutely not. And like, we had some people write in to say about some Lemon and Lime cake or some nonsense that they have. But like, no, I'm sorry. Like, you might eat that at Christmas, but like, it ain't it. But my point, again, I'm going to say it again. My point is that it doesn't need to be. But no, Lemon and Lime, this is the whole reason we're having this conversation. Lemon and Lime is not a holiday flavor. Right. Correct. Like, it might be a family tradition for your holiday. It is not a holiday. Even regional. I'll give you regional. But still. I'll give you regional. Sure. Yes. In Key West, Florida, you can have Lemon and Lime. You might have this. But you've got to respect the fact that nobody else knows what that means, you know?
  • All right. Number eight. I had to look this one up for context. It's called Marley. M-A-R-L-E-Y. Do you know what Marley means? I don't think I do. No. So, it's a meadow. It's kind of like an ocean side meadow. And it's this purple lavender color. Yeah. No. That doesn't ring to me as holiday themed. Right. Right. Number nine. Wishing tree. Yeah. For sure. Yeah. We'll go with that. Yeah. For sure.
  • Number 10. Chilly nights. Again.
  • Undeniably cold. Yeah. Undeniably cold. Yeah. Undeniably cold. Number 11, Myke. Grotto. Yeah. Yeah. Swiss chanel. Swiss chanel. You know?
  • I actually went with no. Because I can't get the Playboy Mansion Grotto out of my head. Well, that's. And it's orange. It's an orange ink. And so, like, I'm like. Okay. I don't know why it's orange. I'm going to go with. Yeah. I'm going to go with no on this one for my list. I'm going to stick with no. Here's what I'll say. The name. The word. It's undeniably Christmas. You need to get your brain out the gutter. Right. Like Santa's in the grotto. Like, this is a you problem. But orange. I don't. I don't understand.
  • It's a. It's a great color. Okay. It is a really, really good color. Okay. So.
  • All right. Day 12, Myke. Snowglobe. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Easy.
  • Day 13. Lullaby.
  • That's a tough one. I could give you this one. I don't know why. But, but like, there's just something about that that feels right. Like I could give you that one. I think I would take, I would, I would argue for this one. And it actually, it took me a minute to decide myself. But I think, like, especially with you getting ready to have a child, like, Lullaby is going to be like a deal for you. Yeah. Like, especially around the holidays. It's like just the stronger vibe. Yeah. It feels like there's, that's, yeah. Yeah. I would be on board with that, I think. Yep. So, day 14, Mint Twist. Yeah. Yeah. It's literally peppermint, like, white and red stripe. Number 15, Sleigh Ride. I mean, of course. Now you're starting to, now you're starting to come on board to see my problem here. We're getting there, Myke. Number 16, Tundra. Yeah.

Final judgment on holiday-themed inks[edit]

  • And the last one I have, number 17, Winterberry. All right. I have my final judgment. Yes, by the way. I have my final judgment on this whole situation. Three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve. So, you have 12 holiday theme ones. I have 13. Okay.
  • So, about half, right? No, no, no, no. It's only 17. So, you have 12 out of seven. Wait. Why is there only seven? Because we're not, because we're not done with them. Oh. Like, what is happening? Now I have many. I'm not spoiler, I'm not spoiler alerting the rest of them. Very good. Very good. All right. So, what I'm going to say is, all right. Brad was right. No, I still stand by my original point. My original point being, an advent calendar of ink doesn't have to be holiday themed. This one does. But what I am going to say is, Diamine, get your act together and produce all holiday themed inks. If you're going to go this hard into holiday theming, then you can't just not for some of them. Exactly. I am on board. Okay. But my point still stands in the abstract, which is, in theory, just because it is an advent calendar does not mean it has to be holiday themed. Otherwise, all these many advent calendars that you get now wouldn't work, right? Like, how could you have a makeup advent calendar? Was it like all holiday makeup? That doesn't make any sense. In theory, maybe it does. I don't know. You tell me. But it doesn't need to be that. I don't think. Same as like, you get like beer advent calendars. Like, I don't want to drink 25 holiday beers, right? Like, I need a bit more variation in my life. But if you're going to go so hard on it for basically the entire time, then you need to go the whole way. Yeah. So, Myke, I think we're both right in the end here. Yeah. Right? I do too. I think there's room for all of this. And my angst around this was when they just drop something in there so out of character for the rest of the list that it breaks my brain. It takes me out of the immersiveness that my expectations were now broken by Diamine, even though technically, like, it's fine, right? They could have just do whatever you want. Yeah. And they probably should start doing whatever they want because there's only so much peppermint ink you can make, right? Yes. This is why you shouldn't do it. Yeah. After, like, 100 inks, which I think is probably where we're at this year, is this, like, five years of this now? Or 125 inks? Like, you got to start branching out somewhere. So, maybe the lemon-lime was the litmus test. And next year, if we have margarita in there, then we're all good. Can I ask you a question? Sure. I don't know why I said that. Of course I can ask a question. That's what this entire podcast is about. Anyway, these inks that are in the calendar, can you buy them? Yeah. So, what they'll do is kind of almost have, like, a popularity contest at the end, see what people like, and then they'll make, like, four or five of them next year. And you can buy, like, a 50-milliliter bottle of them. Right. I think that's historically what they've done in the past. Okay. I don't know if there's, like, an official vote. Just don't name them.
  • Mm. The name of the ink is the day.
  • I got you. They don't need to be named. Just give me 25 colors. Yeah. Then you'd have to categorize that with a year. And I imagine that just becomes a Sailor Ink Studio situation, which no one understands. But you name them once they've been chosen to be sold separately, right? Yep. So, my official ink dealer is in the Discord. And all of them become available around June. Oh, all 25? Mm-hmm. Yeah, I didn't realize that. I thought there was a favorite list. How many inks does Diamond make? Oh, my God. Oh, I mean, we're... Oh, gosh. I mean... That's too many. Are there even that many colors? Like, I don't know anymore. I think we might have gone a bit too far. Myke, let me tell you about fountain pen inks. I'm not familiar.
  • Brad, I had a great time over the weekend. I was filling all my pens. Like, my favorite ones. Oh, nice. Most of them were empty. I haven't used them in ages. And, like, because I've been so much on my pencil kick that I've kind of, like, I just haven't really tended to fill up my fountain pens. But I have, like, the six or seven pens that are in my Sinclair, right? They're, like, my absolute top favorites. And they've basically just all run out because I haven't used them. Like, you know, they run out and I'll be like, oh, I'll get to that one. And I just never got around to it because I wasn't pressed to do it because I was enjoying using pencils so much. But, oh, what a joy. I don't know if you know, but, like, fountain pens are really good. Yeah. They're really good. I like them. I laugh, but it's funny how many times a year I do the exact same thing. I mean, I know I can say this because I read this sentiment often in refill. You know, you're just like, hey, everyone, I don't know if you know about this. Yeah. Have you heard? Good word. And I'm in, like, the full fountain pen phase right now. So, yeah, I'm just smiling and enjoying myself, which is what it's all about.
  • Let me tell you a way where you can find something new to smile about. That is by going to our wonderful sponsors over at Pen Chalet, who are an incredible partner for us here at the Pen Addict Podcast. Pen Chalet sell authentic, amazing roller balls, fountain pens, ballpoints, mechanical pencils. They do inks. They have carrying cases. They do refills and pen holders, fountain pen converters, basically everything. Just go to Pen Chalet. They have your favorite brands, and they have fast and reliable customer service. They also have discounts. Every couple of weeks, you're going to find new discounts and also new products. They're always adding new stuff and doing the best they can on their prices because Pen Chalet believes in the lowest prices possible and the highest quality products, and they offer a 100% satisfaction guarantee for them. They sell internationally with great shipping rates, and you'll get free shipping on orders of over $75 in the United States. So, go to penchalet.com slash penaddict, and you'll get 10% off anything at Pen Chalet, and you will see this week's exclusive offers for listeners of the show, which Ron said to me, and I will quote, is a bunch of blowout inventory reduction items for the end of the year for your listeners. So, I couldn't even get past the homepage. Yeah. So, I'm just pulling this up now. All right. Right. Okay.
  • When Ron says blowout, he doesn't just mean like quantity, right? He means price. Price. Yep.
  • This very first thing on this list is the Pelican Classic M205 Rose Quartz. If this is here in two weeks' time when Ron advertises again, I'm going to be mad at y'all because this price, this is the price from 15 years ago for the standard- Get out of town. Are you kidding me? The standard black 205. Wow. Like, this just does not, just doesn't happen. He also has the green demonstrator in here, the M800, which is a good price. That is a very different price, but- Yeah. Very different price, but for that product, it's really good. An incredible price still, right? Yeah. Like, that is an incredible price for that product, too, but it's very different to the M205 just in general. All right. So, they have Colorverse inks. So, I didn't get ahead of you this time, so I'm not totally prepared, so I'm just scrolling. So, the Colorverse inks, the big boxes, right, with the big bottle, the 65, and then the small 15s are a lot off. Like, these are, these are like the big capacity inks that Colorverse does, and everyone really likes the Colorverse. Colorverse inks, and that's a really, really good way to get a bunch of them. They have a ton of pen storage here, zip cases. Some good Cafeco deals. I haven't made it there yet. So, we got Y Studio deals. Ooh, the Bennu Viper. That was a popular one this year with the snake print. That's a really good one.
  • Lamy Rollerballs. Lamy Safari Rollerballs. Wow. All right. I'm still going. We're going to just keep going here. Lamy LX pens.
  • Novalor Schukels.
  • Those are a really good deal. Gosh. Lamy Ideos. I'm still going. I'm just, I'm just... Oh, the Kaweco Perkyos, which the infrared was the limited edition red one that I love. I have that pen. Lamy CP1 Ballpoint. Kaweco Original. Okay. Oh, here's one. Okay. See, you got to keep scrolling at pen chalet. Like, I'm not even done.
  • This is crazy. Kaweco AL Sport Piston. So, the first one that came out, the aluminum barrel one. So, you can get... It came in two different forms. It came in, you could just buy the pen or you could buy the little tin gift set with the blue ink. That's the one I got. These prices are crazy. Like, crazy, crazy, crazy on that one. So, that's a really good one if you've been holding off on that. Okay. I'm done. I'm done. Great deals. Thank you, Ron. Wow. P-E-N-C-H-A-L-E-T dot com slash penaddict. Our thanks to Penchalet for their continued support of this show. Okay. I want to drop in something before we do the shout out of the week. Whoa. I'm precedented.
  • Okay. Do you want me to do the shout out of the week? No, no. We can do it. We can do it. Okay. So, there's this product out there called the Bit. It's from Bennu. And I don't think we, did we talk about the Bennu Daily Mate before? I don't think we did. I think I just talked about it on stream. So, the Bennu, creator of some of my favorite pens and just really crazy designs, has made, this came out a couple weeks ago, has come out with a set of pens, Myke, for each day of the week. Bold. Bold.
  • It's bold.
  • Okay.
  • So, there's seven days. If you had to order one day of the week's pen, what day of the week would you want to have a pen for?
  • Of these or in general? Of these. Of these. Like, you know, and I'm not really, in general, like, if you had a Monday pen, like, what day of the week would you want a dedicated pen for? Sure. So, for me, in general, it would be Wednesday for two reasons. One, it's just something to look forward to for the middle of the week, like it's your hump day pen, but also pen addict day, you know? So, that makes the most sense to me. Have my pen for Wednesday. That was really smart. I was thinking maybe, gosh, I was probably thinking, like, Tuesday. Okay. Because I don't want it for Monday. Like, because I feel like I would be too, like, Monday can be stressful. Like, yes, you need a pen to calm you down, but I don't want to be dedicated to the Monday pen on Monday because Monday can be a hot mess. Yeah. But Tuesday is where a lot of the work gets done, but in a more comfortable way. And I think I'd kind of want the Tuesday pen. So, let's see. That would be, okay, so that would be Lively Tuesday for me for the Bennu, okay, which is this really pretty blue and red. I mean, all the pens are pretty, so I believe they have the name, the day on there, which is crazy. So, yours would be Easy Wednesday. Oh, that's a pretty nice one. That's like this. Oh, that's pretty sick. All of these are really good looking. So, anyway, or you could just buy the set. You can buy a seven-day set of pens, Myke, with days of the week. Honestly, I mean, I know that's a pretty expensive proposition. I feel like, to me, the only reason to buy these is to buy all of them. Kind of. And you get a pretty decent price. Like, do they have the whole set on here? Because I thought you got, like, a decent price break if you just bought the whole set. You probably did. Because, number one, for Bennu pens, these are relatively cheaper than some of the other ones, right? These are $120. And I thought they got down to, like, $90, like, if you bought the whole set. And, like, what I was saying is you could just go in with a bunch of friends if y'all just wanted to fight over the days and get a really nice pen for a pretty good price. Well, you could, like, go in with seven friends and everybody lives one day off from each other. So, everyone's got a pen every day. But, like, I have the Monday pen on Tuesday. And you have the Tuesday pen on Wednesday or something like that. And we all just rotate. Yeah. Yeah. I think I'm in. What do you think of that? Yeah. I think I'm in. What are you going to do, Brad? I don't want to ruin everything here. So, we're going to do the shout-out of the week after the next ad. We can just go into more news here. It just doesn't feel right, right? It doesn't feel right. Unless we do come right out of the ad, right into the shout-out. Okay. So, you do that. I'm going to talk about some news here for a second. A couple of news items broke last week or this week. Number one, Schneider, the pen company, has bought Bach, the nib maker.
  • And this was just brought to my attention yesterday.
  • And, I mean, I don't have much to say about it other than, okay, yes, it happened. But what's interesting is Schneider doesn't really have, at least in the rest of the world market, maybe in Germany, they might have some fountain pen presence. They certainly don't have any medium to high-end fountain pen presence, right? They might have a... Absolutely not, no. They might have a, like, a school-level fountain pen, you know, like a $10 to $20 pen that may be available in Germany or something like that, like a school-age pen. Yeah, I'm looking on Colt pens, because there's obviously, you know, like a European-based brand. And all of their fountain pens and Colt pens, they're like 12 to 20 pounds. Yeah. And they definitely look like they're aimed at school more than anything else. Exactly. So, like, all the Schneider pens I've reviewed over the years have been ballpoints or fineliners or, you know, your standard, you know, off-the-store-shelf type of stuff. Like, that's Schneider's core market, right? It's off-the-shelf school pens, back-to-school supplies, things like that. So, it seems to me like they're just getting into it for box business, not necessarily Schneider's. Like, are they... Do I see Schneider expanding their business into, like, fancier fountain pens? I don't. I see them as just, like, an acquisition. Now, it's part of the family.
  • There is one statement here, though, that makes me wonder. So, let me read this real quick. It says, But to me, that sounds like they wanted a better way to make their, like, nibs for their $10 pens. Like, this box, like, Bach makes some good stuff. Bach makes really great, like, elite nibs for a lot of different companies. So, it just, it seems weird on the surface, but I guess as a, like, sub-company of Schneider as a whole, it does make sense as now they'll have a lot of opportunities to work with other manufacturers and makers to continue manufacturing and making products. So, interesting. I don't expect... I expect no changes from Bach. They've actually gotten in a really good place over the last few years. Years ago, we used to have a real problem. I mean, maybe that's why this happened in general, though, right? Like, Bach have built themselves up, and now the ownership of, like, time to sell and retire. Yeah. So, one of the things, one of the statements in here, the Peter Bach AG family has not been operationally active in the business for years. There you go. They wanted to sell. So, they were looking to sell. They were looking to sell. So, yeah. So, I hope this works out. I hope nothing changes with Bach, because, like, five years ago, you know, they were having some serious QC issues, and I would just actively avoid them, and now, like, they're quite joyful to write with. Like, Bach nibs right out the gate are just really, really nice.
  • Now, they're equivalent to Yovo, where, in the past, I thought they were behind them, as far as quality goes. So, anyway, interesting news. So, that's some news. This one is bigger news for many reasons. Number one, did you know Retro 51 had a parent company called Right Side Holdings? I mean, I didn't know, but I'm not surprised. It was actually a different name before, but it's basically the group, the group, the three guys that bought Retro 51. This is their company. So, no real change in that. So, and they've done some smaller acquisitions in the past,

Acquisition of Farney's Pens by Retro 51's parent company[edit]

  • and, you know, just, you know, adding on to just, like, the regular business of Retro 51 and just in the writing instrument side of things. And now, this company, the guys that bought Retro 51, have acquired Farney's Pens in Washington, D.C., which is a 96-year-old brick-and-mortar shop in the heart of downtown D.C. People were telling me, you know, it's, like, a few blocks away from the capital. So, very old-school, classic, well-loved, well-known brand. And I think, if I'm not mistaken, they've been up for sale for a little bit. It seems like I'd heard some rumblings, you know, last year or something that they were up for sale. So, it's cool to see this company, like, the Retro 51. I'm just going to call them the Retro 51 company for now for ease of following the story. To see them expanding, to feel like they've been doing well enough with Retro 51 and seeing where they've grown that business from the original acquisition. What, I guess we're, like, three, four years on now, maybe, from the original acquisition. I think it was 21 when they did that. And then, to require a classic brick-and-mortar, and then, Myke, to install Drew Brown, formerly of Goulet Pens, to be the president of Farney's Pens. That's a smart move. In Washington, D.C. That's a smart move. That's a good move for, like, 20 reasons. That's great. Yep. So, they have... I'm impressed by that decision, Brad, I've got to say. So, one of the comments I got, along to your thought process there, which I am in complete agreement with, is that it is nice to see a company have their finger on the pulse of the community... Yes. ...when making business decisions. Yes. And to see this match, which no one would have saw coming... No.
  • And then, looking at this in a logical sense, you're just going, yes, this is perfect. Like, this is perfection. Because it's also, like, you're not saying this, but I want to make it clear. Drew clearly has the expertise to do this job, right? Like, that... More than most. So, would have been a great decision, even if there wasn't the whole Goulet drama, right? That, like, maybe you would headhunt him, you know? Right, right. But that... But, like, just... On top of that, you're right. Like, the community loves him and wants to see him succeed. And this will be great for kick-starting this new kind of chapter of Farnie Spence. Yeah, and that's what I see happening. Right? Yeah. I think Farnie's is going to change. Farnie's is now going to become a player, even though they were, you know, a popular brick-and-mortar shop in the location. And they had online sales, right? But now, I think they're actually... Drew gives them this opportunity to become, like, a real force in the marketplace. And, like, I can't think of anyone better to do that than to be a front person. And I like that they just, like, straight-up president, you know? Like, he's going to run stuff. And it's going to be fun to watch. It's going to be super interesting to see, you know, how they operate. And now, like, Farnie's is going to be a talking point in our community more than people who are visiting DC or people who are picking up. So, they have a famous Retro 51 release that they've done for, I don't know, 10 or 20 years where they do the Cherry Blossom release every year. That's how I am most familiar with Farnie's is because of the Retro 51 releases. You might have one, right? Oh, I do. It seems like you might have ordered one years ago. Yeah, I've ordered a couple. I've ordered a couple from them. So, they're always a great release. That's always, like, a big deal. That's when we would talk about them. But that's when we would, like... That would be the only time we'd ever talk about them, right? Yeah. And now, like, this just has SMART written all over it. So, I wish everyone in this the best. And I just mean that genuinely. I think this is going to be... This is good for the community. It's good for stationery. It's good just to have a modern touch into these places that people really don't... I mean, Farnie's has been around for, like, almost 100 years. And, like, we don't want that to go away, right? But to have, like, this kind of sea change at the head of the shop when the previous owners are ready to be done with it is just kind of brilliant. So, I'm very interested and very happy to see how this all shakes out. It's an interesting acquisition, right? Because you would think to yourself, like, do you really... Like, is that what you want? Like, a brick-and-mortar store? But considering Farnie's age, I mean, I don't know. But I'm assuming the building is owned.
  • Yeah, I have no clue. Right? That would be my assumption. Like, if a company has been around for 100 years, they probably own the building. I'm going to assume. That would be my... My assumption would be that. And if that is true, I mean, that's just a good investment. Like... Right, right. You know? And one thing I did learn yesterday, so shout out Evan for mentioning this to me. Farnie's actually has a warehouse location off-site where they do their online shipping. Which having that system... At least a bare-bone system. Like, I don't know how much online retail they do. But to at least have a place for that separate from the store. Like, you're in a pretty good setup, right? To come in and make some changes and go for it. Yeah.
  • Where... And Retro's based in Texas? Texas. Yeah. Outside of Dallas. So that's smart anyway. Because now you have a East Coast shipping location. Because they could ship anything from there, right? True. I gotta say... And we said it at the time, right? When Retro got bought, we were unsure. We didn't know... I didn't know... Who these owners were, really. Like, it was a bit like, what is happening here? It came out of the blue. But then they proved that they were the right people for the business. Because Retro has grown strength to strength, right? Like, in this time. Like, they are an even more, at least seeming to me, successful company than they were pre-acquisition. And then I see a decision like this. And it's like, oh, these are just smart people.
  • Like... Yeah. And they mean it. They want to be in this for the right reasons. And they care. So I think this is very, very positive. Very positive. Yeah. Like, I think the Retro 51 question was, like, we don't know these people. Are they going to do right by the brand? Yes. Of, you know, the expectations of what... Which we cared about so much, right? A lot of people cared about. And you know what? Not only did they do that, they've exceeded expectations. Yes. And they have kept the core of what Retro 51 is and made it even better. So, yeah. Shout out to Adam, Jeff, and Joe. Like, all just doing a great job. Yeah. And everybody over there. Like, they're doing great. And they don't need us to say it, but I feel it anyway. So, yeah. This will be good. So, this will be good. So, given that I'm going to have a lot of spots to fill in the guest hosting opportunities, you know, we'll see if we can get Mr. Brown, new president of Farniepins. Oh, Brad, that would be so good. This is an official invitation to Drew. I haven't texted him yet to say. Drew, please do it. Get past the holidays. But we'll see if we can get Drew on in a couple months once he gets settled in. It's perfect because you would have had him on anyway, I'm sure. But now you get to talk about fantastic news, not sad news. Exactly. So, I think it's wonderful. So, I'll look forward to that when I'm on parental leave because I'm putting it out there into the universe now. So, hoping it will happen.
  • Yep. Good stuff. All right. Speaking of good stuff, Myke. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You got me. This episode is brought to you by Ooni Pizza Ovens. Ooni is the world's number one pizza oven company. They let you make restaurant-quality pizza in your own home. Ooni Pizza Ovens can reach up to 950 degrees Fahrenheit, cooking pizza in as little as 60 seconds. This high temperature is what separates the pizza you make in an Ooni to what you make in a conventional oven. Their ovens are quick to heat up. You'll be ready to go in 20 minutes, which is enough time to get your toppings ready. Do you love authentic wood-fired flavor? How about the convenience of cooking with gas? Whether you like to cook with wood, charcoal, gas, or even electricity, there is an Ooni oven that fits your needs, your lifestyle, and your preferences. Ooni designed ovens like the wood pellet-fueled Fire A12 and the multi-fueled Car A12G for maximum portability. It's made for those who like to cook on the go, who like to go camping, getting out in the wilderness. But if you want the convenience of gas but love the flavor of wood-fired cooking and want that option, Ooni's Karu line has you covered. Right out of the box, it will cook with wood or charcoal, and you can add an optional gas burner for increased flexibility. And you also have the Ooni Electric Volt 12 pizza oven, which is the one that I own, lets me make pizza indoors and outdoors. I love that flexibility too, and it's great. I love being able to do this, and I think that you'll love it too. These are just some of the ovens that Ooni make. They make so many for all different needs. You know, if you want an oven where you can cook two 12-inch pieces side by side, Ooni make that as well. Their ovens start at just $299 with free shipping to the US, the UK, and the EU. They also make all the accessories that you're going to need, cast-iron cookware, pizza peels, thermometers, loads of other accessories. Like, they've got everything you could possibly wish for, including groceries, actually. Whenever we get our pizza ready, we buy all our groceries from Ooni, because I figure they've done all the hard work, you know? Like, they've gone ahead and done the thing, and so we can benefit from that. We buy our dough from them. We have some dough. It's in the freezer. It's just sitting there waiting for our next time when we're going to break it out. Listeners of this show can get 10% off their purchase of an Ooni pizza oven by going to Ooni.com, O-O-N-I.com, and using the code PENADDICT2024 at checkout. Ooni pizza ovens are the very best way to bring restaurant-quality pizza to your home. Go to O-O-N-I, Ooni.com, and use the code PENADDICT2024 for 10% off. Our thanks to Ooni pizza ovens for the support of this show. All right, Myke, we got our shout-out of the week. Shout-out of the week. Foodayfan now on YouTube. So our friend Jacob, who has probably had more shout-outs of the week than anyone because he's awesome, has started a YouTube channel at Foodayfan, so I have a link in the show notes. He may have been posting stuff on there before, but I know he just mentioned recently with his most recent videos, like, hey, I kind of like this YouTube thing.
  • So go check out Jacob's channel. The most recent video was from Jacob's Tono and Lem's Christmas party video.
  • And by Tono and Lem's Christmas party, he means PEN show, right? So this was a pretty cool video of an event that was held actually at the space where the Tokyo International PEN show was held like a month ago. And, you know, they bring it together. A lot of ink makers, a lot of fountain pen makers, a lot of glass-dip pen makers. One of the things I found interesting watching the video, Myke, for the glass-dip pen pens, which we saw, like, here. I saw, like, at Stationery Fest and at San Francisco PEN show, like, the crush of people in line to get there. At this show, at the Tono and Lem's Christmas party, you queue at those people, at the maker's table, to get a ticket. And then if you win the lottery of the ticket that you've already queued for, then you get to queue up to buy your PEN.
  • So just throwing that out there for kind of, you know, people talking about queues now at U.S. PEN shows and having to wait in line to see some of these PENs and some of this stuff selling out, we could tack on a lottery system onto that, too. So, and I think it's just part of the deal now. Like, glass pens are not the easiest thing to make, so they do have limited quantities. So I found that interesting. So, anyway, that's our shout-out of the week. And I just wanted to continue on another topic. This is only, like, a three, three-and-a-half-minute video, and I got a lot out of it, clearly, because I want to have this whole other little topic here. That I picked up on Jacob's video, getting new users hooked on fountain pens. So he had this segment while he was taking video of the show on the Wagner Pen Club. And they are a long-established pen club in Japan.
  • And I think they have a lot of memories. Is it Wagner or Wagner? I'm sure we've had this conversation before. I think it's Wagner, but I don't know. But Jacob's also German, so he says it like Wagner. So, like, you know, who can actually say. So we'll go with Wagner. Just because that's how Jacob says it.
  • And, like I said, this is a long-established, large pen club. And each year, or maybe multiple times a year, they work with some of the biggest manufacturers in Japan, like Sailor and Platinum, to make club-exclusive pens. And it's a pretty common thing to do. And it's a very popular item. And they're really, really cool pens. But it's really, it was interesting to see him going through this video, showing off all these Wagner pens, and, like, these just beautiful platinums. Like, yes, I'll have this one. I'll have that one. And then Wagner also makes a point to have a huge, massive batch of inexpensive pens to sell to people who are new to fountain pens, right? So they're this big fountain pen club. And not that they're trying to, like, garner new users, but, you know, directly. But it's just along the lines of, I know Jacob and CY and a lot of others in the Japanese market have talked about how inks and glass-dip nib pens were, like, a big, big thing and still are. And a lot of those people don't use fountain pens, right? They're just using glass-dip nib pens and inks. And this is a way to kind of, like, bridge that gap, to have, like, a $10 fountain pen at a table for someone to just pick up and try. And, you know, take home and then maybe discover something new. And I thought it was just a real interesting concept that this very, this club that makes these very unique, expensive, sought-after, beautiful pens is just ready for someone who's brand new to come in and maybe checking out these pens for the first time and to go away with, like, a $10 fountain pen they can take home and test. So my point in bringing all this up is I noticed a lot of this on the U.S. side
  • this past year in the few shows that I went to that we were starting to get more new user content, if you will, at a show where there's always been, hey, here's how you do a fountain pen show, right? Like, fountain pen show 101. Let me take you around the show and show you what the show is about. And then there'd be some, you know, new fountain pen user 101 classes. But now we're starting to see, like, Lisa Van Es is, like, at the forefront of this at shows. She will actually take half of one of her tables that she's paid for to be a vendor at. And, like, in Atlanta, she took half that table and had it staffed and said, basically said, sit down and I will show you how to ink up a fountain pen. And then I'll show you how to clean a fountain pen. And I'll show you the difference between a cartridge and a converter, literally at the table on the show floor. And then we'll do classes outside of that, like, twice a day for new fountain pen users. And I think we're just really still seeing an influx of new users, which is great. It's great for the community as a whole for its long-term health to have this continuation of support for new users, ramp up the interest, continue to see them educated. And, yeah, it's fantastic. So I thought that was cool to see the Wagner table have this. Like, it caught me off guard, right? That's why I'm mentioning it is because it caught me off guard. You know, it's like, you know, here's this $500 sailor and here's this $400 platinum pen. And here's this box of $10 pens you can also buy and check this out. Maybe you'll like fountain pens. So it was really cool. So, yeah, I like it. Yeah, last item. I implore you to go watch this video on the Tone on Lim's Christmas party. And I'm not going to spoil what he bought. But he described one of the items that he bought as completely unnecessary but irresistible. And I just felt that deep in my soul as, like, literally everything we do here. And what he bought, like, I would have totally bought the same thing. I have the same pen. I would have bought the same. It's an accessory. I would have bought the same accessory. Completely unnecessary but irresistible. And I feel like that is, you know, 90% of what we do. That's the point, right? That's the point. So I thought that was a really good video. Again, it's like three and a half minutes long. Go watch the video. And thank you, Jacob, for doing these videos. It's really cool. Like, I literally got so much out of this one video. And I appreciate the insight. It's fantastic. So there we go. All right. I had a small topic that I added into the notes yesterday when I was thinking about the bit click. As you do. And if you're not familiar with the bit click, as you do. Yeah. As I do specifically. I wrote about it for Pen Addict members this week. So that's why it was on the top of my head. But it was really on the top of my head because I picked up a couple of them when I was on my vacation to Atlanta last week. So I have one right here. You can hear me clicking it. Sure. And I just love this pen, right, for what it represents and the style and design and all this stuff. And I use this pen pretty regularly before I grab these, you know, on my trip to Atlanta at the hotel we're staying at.
  • You know, I had the loaner pen in the Pen Addict shop, which I think it's currently sold out. But I'll get some next year. But it's just a good pen to have laying around when you need something to pick up and write, right? It's not going to change the world. It's not going to change what you think about writing. You know, it might make you hate ballpoints even more. Like, it's not an amazing writer. But I just like it, right?

Discussion on inexpensive basic stationery items[edit]

  • And it's like less than a dollar probably if you're buying these pens. Like, they're super cheap, super inexpensive. And I was wondering what other stationery goods fall in the category of, like, ultra cheap basic stationery items. And, you know, like, just having a big love for those things. And I came up with a couple of things. One is standard printer paper. Like, your big ream, like, your 500-count brick of paper. Like, that was, like, the coolest thing when I was younger because it was just freedom, right? Like, a huge batch of paper. You could do whatever you wanted with. Infinite paper is what it felt like. Infinite paper. Cut it, ink it, destroy it. You know, write small, write big. Do everything, anything you want with. And, like, the price per sheet is just, like, minuscule, right? So, that's, like, one of those things. Like, kind of, like, to this day, I always have, like, a ream of paper around. Now it's a little bit fancier paper. It's the Kikuyo business paper. But literally right behind me, I could reach into the cabinet and grab, like, some sheets out of a ream of paper that I just love.
  • Secondly, I love binder clips. Like, that's something that I just want around. Like, maybe I don't use them every day. But I feel naked if I don't have binder clips around. Which is, if you're not familiar with a binder clip, it's just kind of the heavy-duty springy clips. But they can be tiny and hold, you know, like, five or ten pages. Or they can be big, chunky ones that, you know, you could probably throw through a glass window. Like, some of these things are sturdy industrial strength type of things. And the last one I came up with was a pen. And it's, I'm just calling it the sign pen category. S-I-G-N pen. Yep. Even though there is a pen called the Pentel Sign Pen. It's basically what I'm talking about is, like, it's not quite a marker tip. But it has some of those marker capabilities. Kind of typically plastic, right? Yeah. Yeah. Plastic barrel. Sometimes plastic tip. Sometimes felt tip pen. Yeah. But it's kind of in between. It's kind of like if a rollerball pen was a marker type of pen. And it's something I really, really enjoy just for big writing, marking, notating things.
  • You know, it can be just basic black or it can get, like, a purple and orange one. It's just like a marker but better for me. It's just, you know, again, an inexpensive, cheap product that I like having around. And we'll always have around just because they're fun. So, I posed the question to you and you came up with a great answer. Like, I didn't even think about this, but it's a really brilliant answer. So, what did you have for your extremely basic stuff? Mine is, it's a combo. These things go together. Post-it notes and a regular black Sharpie. Yeah.
  • I've been using it more and more. And this is actually in part because I have lots of post-it notes now. I bought post-it notes for the Relay 10 show. I don't remember why, but I needed post-it notes for something. So, I bought a bunch. And I had them.
  • Like, I'm trying to, I'm racking my brain now. Like, why did I need them? Couldn't tell you, but I did. And I needed them for something. And so, I bought a lot. So, I've just had them. And I found them to be really interesting and helpful for me recently with, like, one of the things that I deal with, right, is, like, lots of prototypes and, like, revisions of products at Cortex Brand. And this is just a very easy way for me to just label an item, to just write on a post-it note what it is, when it was made, and just stick the post-it note on it. Like, and I find that to just be super helpful. It's very simple. But also, just the combo of them together, like, just a good black Sharpie and a post-it note. It's just good times. Ah, that's good. Like, you can, that's one of those items you just think about using and, like, yeah, this is going to be good. And then you start doing the work, and it's like, yeah, you start thinking about the work, and you're like, ah, work sucks, but look at this Sharpie. Yeah, this is great. This is great.
  • All right, cool. Well, I just wanted to get that out there. You know, nothing much more to say than that, other than, like, sometimes, like, the really inexpensive basic stuff puts in the work. And I really, really. Sometimes it's just the simple things. Yeah. I really appreciate that stuff. So, yeah, very cool.
  • This episode is brought to you by our friends over at Factor. I don't know about you, but sometimes when the days get shorter, it feels like my to-do list gets longer. It is that time of year. But the good news is you can power through your busy days. In fact, there's no prep, no mess meals. From breakfast all the way to dinner and anything in between, Factor has easy, nutritious options to keep you filled and feeling your best. Whether you like routine or you enjoy mixing things up, you can choose from 35 different delicious meals every week and over 60 additional convenience options that you can add to your box. Stuff like keto cookies, pressed juices, and smoothies. So don't let the shorter days slow you down. Stay energized for America's number one ready-to-eat meal delivery service. You choose from six menu preferences to help you manage your calories, maximize your protein intake, avoid meat, or simply eat well-balanced. And because Factor's meals are chef-prepared and dietician-approved, you know they're going to support your goals, and it's cheaper than takeout or dining out. You can find guilt-free comfort foods like homestyle chicken and gravy, and loaded mashed potato pork chops, feel-good options like sweet potato and chickpea curry, and globally inspired flavors like Peruvian shrimp and red pepper collie grits. Weekly menus offer ways to treat yourself to a restaurant-like meal experience with gourmet plus dishes that feature premium proteins and seasonal sides like broccolini, leeks, and asparagus. So you can stay on your A-game with quality ingredients that you can trust, in fact, as fresh, never-frozen meals. Use your time more efficiently in these darker months and let Factor take care of the shopping, the prepping, the cooking, and the cleaning, and taking them off your daily list of things to do. Brad, I know you're a big fan of those Factor meals, right? Yeah, we were just talking about quality and simplicity. It doesn't get easier and better than with Factor. This is a really perfect time of season for me to have Factor at the house because the holiday season, we're all running around a little bit more than we normally are. So having the ability to just have a meal ready in two minutes that's just like perfectly sized, really good quality, it's so easy for me to use, and I'll be using the heck out of them over the next couple of weeks just because they're good and easy. So go to factomeals.com slash penaddict50 and use the code penaddict50 and you'll get 50% of your first month and also 20% of your next month. That's the code penaddict50 at factomeals.com slash penaddict50. You'll get 50% of your first month and 20% of your next month while your subscription is active. A thanks to Factor for the support of this show and Relay. Do you want to finish out with some RSTPA questions, Brad? Yeah, let's do it. Let's do a couple. We'll head off into the next year. Wow, that's scary to say. Evan asks, I wanted to get your thoughts on pens as fidget instruments. I know that personally I'm attracted to pens that have interesting, complex, and at times over-engineered mechanisms, both out of appreciation of the engineering and because I enjoy playing with those mechanisms when I'm not actively writing. Whether it's a bolt-action pen or something precision-machine like the CW&T pen type B or a magnetic capping system or something even more complicated like the automatic shutoff valve in the Diplomat Nexus, I enjoy being able to mess with these mechanisms. What are your thoughts? How much of a factor in your own buying decision is the fidget factor of a pen versus how weak the mechanisms work for their intended purposes? Hmm. So to directly answer the question, how much of a factor in your own buying decisions is the fidget factor of a pen zero? I don't rate that, but I think it's because I am a fidgeter and I'm already covered. Like I'm literally holding a fidget toy in my hand that I keep in my desk, right? That's not a pen, right? Because I don't want to be clicking it. I don't want to be doing a little noise and typically when I want to be fidgeting, which is while I'm recording, I have to make little noise. Yes. But I do put a lot of stock into the engineering of a good mechanism and that might be a reason that I choose a pen because I think that it's engineered really interestingly. Yes. So now like the engineering of the pen is something like I will fawn over. Like, oh, look at this tolerance on, you know, the pen type B, you know, look how sturdy this click is. But I'm actually not going to fidget with that other than like when I'm showing it off or, you know, breaking out the pen to use for the first time today. I was like, oh, yeah, look at this. This is great. And then I'll just get on with the actual function of writing and not worry about the fidgeting parts as much. But like when I describe pens or like when I review pens, I will I will discuss those bits. But that's never a driving factor. That's like it's like a bonus. Right. It's like a bonus feature. It's a little little hidden fun there. You get to have with the pen so that, you know, it makes maybe makes it more special to you in the end. But it's usually not involved in the buying decision. So Rob asks, is it OK to visit a nibmeister and ask them to copy a grind from another nib? I've got a sig nib on a Franklin Kristoff pen that I love and I'd like to get another one on a non Franklin Kristoff pen at the Philly Pen Show. Or do nibmeisters only do specific grinds? If so, any suggestions for what is close to a sig that stub italic grind, isn't it, sig, that another nibmeister might do?

Ethical considerations in nib customization[edit]

  • So this is a really good question. I would love to hear some feedback from anyone if they agree or disagree with the answer I'm going to give. I'm going to say it's not OK to visit a different nibmeister and ask them to copy another nibmeister signature nib. And I'm not not saying like signatures and sig. I'm saying like a lot of nibmeisters have their own, whether it's a creation, a unique creation of their own, which I'll admit that there's not a ton of right. There's only so much you can do. Yeah. But there's variations of standards that are specific to nibmeisters. And my preference would be to respect the nibmeister that you're going to for their craftsmanship and their artisanship, artistry, I should say, for their work as opposed to sitting down and say, hey, you're pretty good. But like, you're so good, I want you to copy this other person's work. And I'm not saying that's what Rob is directly saying, like in that aggressive of a direct statement. No, Rob clearly is like wants a certain thing, but is conflicted. Otherwise, I wouldn't have asked this question. Right. So what you do is you learn why you like the sig nib. Okay. I'm just taking this for an example. What is that feature about this nib that you like? So one of the things, and I'll relate this to me. So the sig is one of my favorite nibs because I like a soft cursive italic grind, which is a very traditional grind. Um, so a cursive italic is can have very sharp edges. So I oftentimes will go to a nib grinder and say, I want a cursive italic, but I want it with softer edges. Right now. That's not exactly what there's more work in the sig that makes it the sig. There's a little bit more shaping and there's a little bit more layout. So I'm not saying a soft cursive italic is going to mimic a sig. It's not the rush. Should it? It's not the recipe, but you're going to get in a writing experience that will be comparable. Just like I could go get a stub nib from anyone. Right. But if I wanted a stub nib with a little more, you know, softness or a little more shape, I might go to Gina, a custom nib studio and get their journal or grind, which is a take on a stub nib. Um, and they're specific the way they have decided to manipulate the nib to meet, you know, this, this design and this, this line that they want on the page. So it's a conversation. Um, you can have this conversation with any nib grinder in general terms in discussing what you like, but you go to a nib grinder because you respect their artists, artists. And I keep, I keep messing that word up. Artistry. Their artistry. Yeah. I keep, I keep wanting to say it like artisanal, but artistry. Artisanistry. Um, so yeah, like, you know, that it's a, it's a respect of the craft. Right. And that's kind of the way I see it. And, you know, some, some people might disagree with me and say, Hey, I, why shouldn't I take this nib that I really like that? I can't really get from the original source and take it to someone else and say, Hey, can you make this do something exactly like this? Like, I don't technically have a problem with that, but the way this craft is, it would feel a little bit off putting. If I was the, the secondary nib grinder to try to mimic. And I think some, so I think some nib grinders would actually turn you down to be, if I'm being honest. Cause this is the thing of like inherent in this question is like, what is this thing? Right. Like what is nib grinding and like, how do people see it? And there would be some people who would see it as a trade, right? Like, you know, they, they are, uh, an electrician or a plumber or something, right? They're, they're coming in, they're doing a job and that's the job, right? Like that's what needs to be done. But there would be other people who would see it as art, right? As, as a craft. And I'm not saying one is right. I'm just kind of stating what I think actually makes the difference because I think the person who sees this work as a craft would find it maybe a little bit more disrespectful that you were asking, not even because of the copying, but that you were sitting down with them, the nib meister, right? Which definitely sounds crafty when you say it like that and saying, I don't want what you're going to do. Give me what somebody else does. And I think that, that can be a bit thorny, um, in that, in that scenario. Yeah. So this is a brilliant question, right? And I don't know that there's a black and white answer, but you know, I hope we've given you some context to think about just any, not Rob specifically, just in general, how I think about these things, how Myke thinks about these things. Um, maybe I need to get a nib grinder on and ask them that question directly. Like, well, I think different people would give you a different answer. A hundred percent. I genuinely do. Like, I don't think everyone would feel the same. I think the best way to approach this is the approach that you gave at the beginning, which you've now gotten so far away from that. I want to read, which is that don't go and ask for that grind, go there and explain what you're looking for. Because that's how these things go. But anyway, explain what you're looking for. And you can say, I have other pens that are like this. Don't get, don't show them the one you're talking about. Right. And it's just about being respectful of this person. And there is a level of, I mean, I don't know, it's complicated because you're trying to anticipate what that person may or may not want. But I think you will still be able to get what you want. But that may also be able to do it in a way that is respectful of their work. Right. Cool question. Really great question. Really great question. But yeah, I'm sorry. This isn't an easier thing. Really? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Sure. Like, we can't just say to you, yeah, just go do it. Because it's frustrating. Like, I understand it, right? Like, Rob wants one specific thing and he can't do it. But he knows someone can do it. And he's got the example for them. But I think the right thing to do is to kind of be a little bit more abstract about it. Yep. And Richard asks, I have a question for you. What makes sheening ink sheen? I use diamine absinthe and a Karas Customs pen. I have noticed that after writing for about three quarters of the page of an A5 notebook, that the ink no longer sheens as noticeably as compared to when I started. Is my experience unique? And can you explain what is going on?
  • Okay, so your experience is not unique. What's happening is when you pick up a pen and start writing, your feed is generally what's called flooded already. Okay, so there's ink in the feed sitting there in that nib overnight waiting for you to pick up that pen. So you get a little bit more wetter writing from the jump. And then as you keep writing, you get a more moderated ink flow from the nib. Now you're just getting more of like a direct path from the converter through the feed out the nib instead of having more pooled ink there. And the way sheening works is you have to have a certain volume of ink to sit up on the page and dry to show that sheen. So a wetter ink is going to show the sheen more. And the more you use the pen, even though it looks like it's flowing completely great, the color will change by the time you get to the bottom of the page. And you're actually writing with a drier pen because it's not having the time to pool in the feed, which is kind of how that sheen happens. Sheen happens from having a wet ink, drying in the air and creating this chemical change, right? But there has to be ink on the page for it to do that. By the time you've gotten down past half the page, you're now writing at probably, to be honest, a more expected version of this nib and ink combination, the more normal version. And it's a little bit drier. It just is. So it's not going to sheen as much as when you start. But it's because the ink is pooled from sitting in rest and you're applying just a fraction more ink in your first few lines of the page than you are in the last few lines of the page.
  • Good answer.
  • Is it just chemical reaction that is making the sheen happen? I mean, it's something in the ink, like not all ink sheen, right? So you could have a super wet ink that's not going to sheen, but it's something. Yeah.
  • Shimmerings, there's an actual particulate, right, that they're putting in there. Like it's like a glitter, basically, we'll call it. So I wondered, is it a similar thing for sheening? I would guess there is because there's levels, right? You can have light, moderate, and heavy sheen. So there is certain levels of whatever. Hey, while I'm thinking, you know, now we're having a retailer guest, a nib grinder guest. Maybe we need an ink maker guest while you're gone. I'm just going to get rid of you. How's that sound? That's totally fine. I appreciate that as we're doing the show, you're planning the show. It's good. No, I'm not making fun of you. I appreciate this level of thinking because, you know, I may be gone for like two months. So you got a lot of work on your plate. I'm just realizing how soon this is going to be in panicking. And it could be at any time, right? Once we come back from the break, like realistically, it's any time. So you got to be ready. Drop of a hat, my friend. And the only work I've done on this has been literally live on this show today. You know what? It's got to start somewhere, you know? And like if this is where it starts, that's good. That's good for all of us. Yeah. If you have recommendations for people that Brad should have on the show, contact him on social media. He's pen addict. You'll find him. You'll find me too. I'm on Blue Sky and Mastodon and Threads. You're on all of them, but more active on one or the other? How would you describe it? Not particularly. I probably look at Mastodon the most.
  • You know, I'll see any message that I get tagged in. You know, I'm checking, you know, at least daily in all of these, but I'm probably more active on Mastodon. But like for me, active is like posting like once a day. Yeah. You can find Brad at penaddict.com and at spokedesign.com. You can find me here on Relay and also at cortexbrand.com.
  • As a follow-up for people paying attention, we have not launched our new products yet, and I don't know when it's going to be. So, you know, you know how it goes. Sometimes it seems like everything's fine, and then there's a delay. And now it's like, well, now we're delayed. And is it worth like three days before Christmas? Probably not. So, next year now, I think, is probably going to be the time for that. Is that how it seems like it's going? Thank you to our sponsors this week. That is Factor, Uni, and Penchalet. I would like to wish all of our listeners a very happy holidays. As we mentioned earlier, we'll be back now on January 1st. So, I guess I'll just give a happy new year, too. We can see it again on the next episode. But I hope that everybody has a good holiday break. And we'll be back next time. Until then, say goodbye, Brad. Goodbye, Brad.
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