Jump to content

The Pen Addict 674/transcript

From Stationery Wiki
The Pen Addict Podcast Transcript
Episode: 674
Title: Get Your Own Letterpress Machine
Release Date: July 16th, 2025
Hosts: Brad Dowdy

Myke Hurley

Guests: No guests this episode
Additional Information
Official page: Episode 674
Audio File: Audio Episode 674
Podcast page: The Pen Addict 674
Length: 6565 min <br />1.083 h <br /> minutes
Previous Transcript Next Transcript


  • From Relay, this is The Pen Addict, episode 674. Today's show is brought to you by Squarespace, Pen Chalet, and Factor. My name is Myke Hurley, and I have the pleasure of being joined by Brad Dowdy. Hi, Brad. It is a joyous day, Myke Hurley. Not sad, Brad, this week. He's happy, Brad. Not sad. I'm rarely sad, so we can't do sad. That can't be a bit. Can't be a bit. Sad, Brad, is not an enjoyable bit. No, no one wants that. No one wants that, so yeah. Do you know what people do want, Brad? What? They want stationery, and that's what they want. We got it. I think we have it.

Discussion of Current Pen Usage[edit]

  • We're going to talk about what we're using first, which you snuck this in on me, but I am prepared, because I have one particular thing. I guess I'm going first here. I have one particular thing I want to talk about here in just a second. It's the second thing on my list that is going to be a problem, so that's a teaser, but y'all won't have to wait long.
  • Number one, still, this is a year-long, what are we using today? My Hachimanjia Life A5 Notebook. The iris color, I think that's what it's called. Ayame, I believe that's iris. It's purple, pink. I'm only about halfway through, maybe, which I was hoping to have this filled by the end of the year, and maybe I still can. It's been a little slow going in the summertime. I haven't used it as much, but it's basically just my junk journal, notes, stickers, drawings, ink testing.
  • I've done a lot of podcast prep in here. I'll do some review stuff in here. I just did a review this week that we'll talk later, where I did the handwritten part in there. It's just kind of the notebook that lives on my desk. It's probably my main notebook. The thing that has surprised me the most, Myke, and this is probably going to be a new problem for me. A friend of the show, Jacob, aka Fudefin, also from Tokyo Inklings Podcast, sent me a care package, which we talked about when I had the Zento signature. He included in that a pack of the Graffalo refills for Bible-sized notebooks. The Bible-sized notebook is kind of a traditional Japanese planner size. The plotter has a Bible size. A lot of the other brands in that ring binder market use a Bible size. And so he just sent me the pack of paper. So this will technically fit my plotter. My plotter is called the Narrow. So this page is a little bit wider. And it's still a narrow page.
  • But, you know, I just took it. Oh, cool. Other paper to test. Something to try for my plotter.
  • I got to apologize to Graffalo. I did not recognize your game, Graffalo. Yeah, that's pretty much what I said when I used this paper. So I swear I've used Graffalo in the past, maybe even reviewed some. I did not remember the quality that this paper has for fountain pen inks. That's all I've used on it so far. I haven't done a full reckoning of the page with other inks and things like that. But the way it handles fountain pen ink is as good, if not better, than any paper I've tested in quite some time. And, again, we all have our particular tastes and feels, you know, of paper, like I'm a bank paper person. Like a lot of people don't like bank paper. This is more, this feels more, I don't know, general use. But the way it is showing shading and sheen and just regular writing, like without any effort, without throwing a lot of ink on the page, no feathering, no bleeding, barely any ghosting at all. So it's definitely better than like the plotter paper. And I like the plotter paper, but it does have some hangups with some fountain pens and nibs. This is a rock star level paper. And I'm going to have to continue to test it and see if this paper that is in these refill packs is in some of their notebooks. Because Graffalo makes notebooks as well. That's what I've known them for. Like they make smaller notebook products. I did know they made this product with these refills for different planners and ring binders. So I'm going to have to look and see, is this the same paper you can get into the, in the other Graffalo notebooks. So seriously impressed with this paper. And I use it all the time. So this is their own paper? Like, right? Like this is Graffalo make their own formulation? Or they have, they're using something other people aren't using? It's a good question. I need to look into that a little bit more to see, you know, what the, the parent company type of situation is. Like you can say Midori and, you know, be design fill. And then they have different brands underneath and who uses what paper under that. I don't know exactly the Graffalo setup for that.
  • So yeah, this will be a learning experience to me, but I'll probably dig into this a little bit. Like the site, like the main website, um, it's called, uh, I'll put it in the link. It's Kobe, H-A-K-O-B-E-H-A.com. And then that page takes you to the shop page of the link that I put in here. So it's, it's just a little bit, I don't, I haven't quite sussed out the, uh, organizational hierarchy, but, um, whatever this paper is, I'm in, count me in. Okay.
  • I've been using, I re-inked up my Pilot Custom 743 Verdigris. What a great color. This is, it's such a good pen. This was a, this was like a North America limited edition. I don't know if it was last year or two years ago. I don't know how long it's been out, but it's still kind of available, right? Like this wasn't a super limited option. It was widely available. It's still available. And I got this one with the FA nib, which is kind of a bouncy springy nib. And it puts down a lot of ink, but it gives you like a really, really great line. It fits my writing style well. And I inked this up, uh, once I got back from my trip, because I had the Mont Blanc Enzo Ferrari ink and that kind of purplish red ink fits this pen really well. So like, this was a very complimentary, um, ink. When I was thinking about what pen I wanted to ink the Ferrari ink up with, this was the first one that came into mind and then I couldn't really beat it, right? Like I said, oh, this will be perfect for the 743 with this nib and the barrel color. And then I started thinking about what other pens this would go in and I couldn't find anything better. So that's kind of, um, been my jam right now, uh, is that pen nib and ink. It's a great combination.
  • Um, it's great. And these papers that I'm using the Hachimanjia Life and the Graffalo, I'm using the Graffalo for show notes today. If I have any, uh, you know, it's my little side paper. Um, and then I just have a couple other things that I'm queued up to be testing. The Kuru Toga wood, which we've talked about a couple of times. We talked about it when I unboxed Jacob's stuff. I actually want to do a proper review of that one because it's been a, one, it's been a while since I've reviewed a Kuru Toga. Two, this is an interesting barrel. And three, I don't think I've reviewed a Kuru Toga that has the give in the tip. Um, there's the terminology for it, but like they basically have, it's, the tip is always kind of moved in the Kuru Toga based on the mechanism. And it's not something that I noticed, but other people have noticed. And this is supposedly, and they've made some other models, um, with this feature. So that's just something I want to play around with. And then I'm also playing around with the, uh, Jetstream light touch blue black refill. So it's just stuff I'm playing around with, with the, so that is, that is basically the active pile on my desk, um, you know, of, of what I'm using. So, uh, what, what do you have going on on your desk? Uh, so no, there's two things I wanted to mention today that are specific. Uh, one, I'm using the Leuchtturm Drigophil number two pencil, which we'll get to later on the show. So I was, uh, uh, influenced to use one because I have, I bought like three of them, uh, three or four of them in different colors. Um, and I originally bought them, um, because they were matching up with the, some, close enough to the pocket notebooks we were making. Actually, I bought four. I bought three for that reason and a one to actually use. Um, so like three of them were kind of like prop pencils really. Um, but I've had those like kicking around. And so I brought one of those over to the desk, the, um, the, the recording desk rather than my kind of main working desk. I brought over the yellow one because it matches with the sidekick notepad, a sidekick pocket that I'm using. I'm using the yellow lined one. Um, I'm using the lined one on my desk because, uh, it's where I actually go through it most. And it's like the, the kind of the notebook area that is least important to me is like on this recording desk. It's where like I'm going through every time I'm recording, I'm going through a page, tearing it out and getting rid of because the lined is my least favorite personally. Right. Um, I'm a dot grid guy, uh, but we sold out dot grid and I don't have any. So, so I have like one and I want to keep that for me, uh, for like, I don't know what I want to use it for, but I don't want to use it up yet. Um, so I want to keep that cause I don't know when we're going to restock on those. Like I, I hope soon, but it is complicated to restock it. We kind of have to ship it with other stuff. And so this is like a logistical challenge that we did not, I did not foresee when we started this product of like, to ship it on a boat, we'd either have to order an ungodly amount of them or we have to pack it up with other stuff because, um, sea freight is by physical size, not by weight. And air freight is by weight, not by size. And air freight is more expensive. And so I don't want to put them on a plane realistically cause it's going to cost too much money. Um, so put them on a boat, but I put them on a boat. I've got to fill a pallet and then I've got to fill like a crate. And so like it would take a lot of these notebooks to fill the crate cause it's so much smaller. So yeah, but this will work out. We just, we know what the plan is now. It's just about when are we going to do it? And it's just going to be later in the year most likely, but I've, I've been, I always have a sidekick notepad on my desk for big notes, you know, calls and big stuff on it right out. But what I've actually liked about keeping the pocket notebook on my desk is to have it at hand for writing down small things while I'm recording. So like if there's a point that I want to make that's in response to something someone said, but they're not finished, I'm like noting them down on my pocket notebook and then I'm like holding onto it and I'm like reading my notes out as we go. And I like that, um, as a way to try and stop me from interrupting people. I do have a habit of interrupting people. Um, I think all podcasters have this habit though, to be honest. It's a learned skill. Yeah. It's like, you know, it's one of these things that you do it during normal conversation, but there's like a way to do it in, in recorded conversation, which is helpful. But, you know, you got to keep the conversation going. And sometimes that does unfortunately mean you've got to, uh, uh, talk over people. And also the, the thing with podcasters, especially those that are at it, as you know, you can fix the interruption. And so like, I think it kind of encourages you and me and Jason are so bad with this, interrupting each other because we both are podcast editors as well as like hosts. And so like, we just know that it will get fixed in the edit, which means we're constantly talking over each other. Um, but I've got this notebook on my desk to try and stop me from, from doing that. And I've actually really liked it. It's just like, you know, I'll write down a couple of words and it will remind me of a point that I want to make. And then I'll make that point later on. So if you've been hearing me on my shows recently, especially on connected sayings, that's something like, I want to go back to something you said a few minutes ago. It's because I'm, I'm, I'm writing my little notes down on my notebook. Um, so yeah, that's what I got on my desk today. That's, uh, different and for different reasons rather than the usual stuff, which I kind of always have kicking around. Yes. I want to go back to something you said a minute ago. No, please, please do. And I, I did, I did write it down. Um, is, is SKNP the official abbreviation of the sidekick pocket notebook? No, that is the sidekick notepad. Sidekick pocket is SKPK. I have a four letter of all of them, by the way, that's, um, we have TTS, TTSJ for the theme system journal. We have SKFF for sidekick free form, SKPL for sidekick planner, SKPK for sidekick pocket, uh, SKNP for sidekick notepad. Nice. So yeah, SKNP is. The names are too long to write down all the time, you know? Yeah. Well, like in the show doc today, there's SKNP. I'm like, sweet. Yep. Yep. That's just for me. That's just for me. And this, there is not, do not try and pick apart that system because it isn't a system. It's what do I feel like it should be, you know? Yeah. It's a feel, you know, that's how we run businesses.
  • SKPK doesn't make sense. Right. But to me, like for pocket, in theory, it should be SKPO if it's following psychic planner. Sure. Or psychic, for me, it's like, what is the next letter? If it's, uh, the way that I do it, it's weird. It's what is, in my mind, the most dominant second letter in each word. Sure. Yeah. And obviously it has to be different to the other products. If they overlap, then, you know, got to change it. Oh yeah. So like, we'll talk about this when we talk about our upcoming sponsor, um, Squarespace. When I, I manually create SKUs, right? I don't like in Squarespace, you can auto generate a SKU when I create a product and I'll just put a bunch of random numbers out there. So like, I have to put in, I want a SKU that tells me what the product is without having to look at the product. So yeah. So I have like, when I did the, the, the ink throwers, I had the contour, the mini contour and the slim. So, you know, I'll just do little abbreviations on the end of them for whatever makes sense to me, not what fits in a logical SKU creation system. I guess similarly, uh, in my notes for years, whenever I want to kind of record Squarespace, I write SQSP. That's what they've been for years for me. Squarespace, you know, let's talk about SQSP. This episode is brought to you by our friends over at Squarespace, the all in one website platform that is designed to help you stand out and succeed online. Whether you're just starting or scaling a business, Squarespace gives you everything you need to claim your domain, showcase your offerings to a professional website, grow your brand and get paid all in one place. You had Brad mentioned a moment ago about setting up his website and he has a store right on, on, on the pen addict. You can go there anytime. That's all powered by Squarespace's commerce platform. It's an incredibly powerful system. It's got everything you need and it's got all of the functionality that you want for building an online store for physical or digital goods. But that's not the only way, uh, that you can get paid to Squarespace. You can also offer your services and get paid. They have integrations and tools to do all of this from consultations to events and experiences. You can showcase your offerings of a customizable website that is designed to attract clients and grow your business. Think built-in appointment scheduling, email marketing tools, and more. Plus you can keep everything cohesive of on-brand invoices and get paid easily of online payments. You can also manage content releases of Squarespace. Like for example, you can upload video content, organize a video library and showcase your content on beautiful video pages, which you can then sell access to by adding a paywall to that content, which is perfect for online courses, exclusive tutorials and premium workshops. Don't just take my word for how great Squarespace is. Go and try it for yourself by going to squarespace.com slash penaddict. You can sign up for a free trial there and you can build your entire website as part of the trial. You can see just how easy it is to get what you want with Squarespace. And then when you're ready to launch your product to the world, then let people see your website. Use the offer code penaddict and you'll save 10% of your first purchase of a website or domain. That is squarespace.com slash penaddict and the code penaddict to get 10% of your first purchase and show your support for the show. Our thanks to Squarespace for their support of the penaddict and all of Relay. All right, Myke, we got our shout out of the week. Shout out of the week.

Shoutout to Hemingway Jones[edit]

  • Hemingway Jones. I can't believe I haven't shouted out Hemingway Jones before. What a great name. Not his real name, just for the record. It doesn't matter, but it's a great name. So Hemingway Jones, stationery content creator, mostly on YouTube and Instagram, things of that nature. So I'm actually only started talking to him recently because we're going to be on the same panel at the Atlas Stationers sidewalk sale this summer here in about a month. So what reminded me to give him the shout out of the week is he just posted an Instagram reel sharing the love, Myke, of the one and only Lamy Safari. So definitely go give this a look. The Lamy Safari is the goat. You know, this is someone who uses, you know, all kinds of pens, lots of pens, you know, from Montblancs to like your basic pens. Kind of like we all can use a wide range of pens, but there's just something about that Lamy Safari and Hemingway Jones gets it. So maybe I'll bring my Lamy Safari and get him to autograph it when I see him at Atlas Stationers here in a few weeks, which we'll be talking about that later. That's going to be a fun event.
  • All right. All right. You mentioned you broke out your Leuchtturm Dregorafell mechanical pencil because I put it in the show notes. I finally got my review up on it. I've had it for a while. Not as long as you. I have no clue. Okay. Dregorafell. I'll just go no. Like, is that how you say it? No. But that's how I said it. That's how you say it. Yeah. I mean, that's how I said it. I don't want to say like this is the official anything. So, yeah.
  • It's one of those words. It's a tough one. And Leuchtturm is, I can handle that, but Dregorafell. Dregorafell. Kind of sounds like dreadful, which is not this pen at all. It is not. It is not. So, this is really just kind of the epitome of a product that is like a do as I say, not as I do type of deal. It's like, it's good for me. I don't know that this pencil is going to be good for a lot of people, to be honest. It's an odd setup. I like small, narrow pens and pencils. This fits that. It's got a weird grip section. You have to kind of grip it a little bit back. It's got what my least favorite part, but I'll deal with it, is the twist mechanism to extend and retract the lead. I don't like that for mechanical pencils. It doesn't give me enough control or the right feel. All that said, I enjoy using it, right? So, you have all of this whole list of stuff, but if you simplify it down to, do I want to pick up this pencil and use it? That answer is yes. And that's not going to change. It's thoroughly enjoyable to use. It just has a lot of little things in its design that I don't get down with.
  • Is that fair? I completely agree. Okay. Like, you, is it fair to say you would prefer, if you had to choose one of the pencils, you would prefer the Studio Neat pencil?
  • The Mark III? The Mark III over the Dregorfell. Which would you choose? The Mark III is a better mechanical pencil in basically every single way, as is the spoke.
  • Yeah. Oh, yeah. Like, I don't, like, that's not even the same category, right? Yeah. Like, that's kind of like a delineation I was trying to make, but maybe didn't quite get there. Like, this pencil is almost in a different category.
  • But I find it so enjoyable at the same time, right? It's not what anyone would consider to be a traditional mechanical pencil, despite having kind of a vintage look. That's, like, what the whole Dregorfell design element is. Like, that's their, the design ethos of this subcategory in Leuchtturm's catalog is brilliant. Like, I love everything about it. I just don't know that this is a technically great product. But if you're, like, the dictionary definition of a mechanical pencil. And that's okay. Like, I'm saying that's okay, because I love it. But, like, I just don't know how many other people will. It's odd. It's odd. In a good way. I just love the design, though. It's, I think the best thing that they did, and I wasn't sure what the case is when they launched the pen, is that these barrels are aluminum. If this was a plastic pen, I think we'd probably be having, or pencil would be having a different conversation. Yeah. Yeah. I think it'd be. And they very much could have done that, right? This shape would have worked. But it's a full metal pen and pencil that I think that's what makes the difference. Everything about this just feels great. Just a little, the pencil's just a little bit weird, so. The thing about this pencil, what makes it so good, is it's, the design is killer. Like, yeah. Again, I agree with you. I don't think it's that comfortable to hold.
  • The grip section's super slippery. Like, I feel like I'm wrestling an eel every time I use this thing. The system of advancing the lead is, I don't know, it just feels like a neat trick. Right? Like, it just doesn't really feel like it's helpful. It's the retraction that's the problem. Yeah.
  • It's just not comfortable. No. It's like one of those, the way I describe it, like with the way that you turn it, it's like, you know, sometimes you'll get like a bottle and it's like, oh, this takes too many turns to put the cap on. It's kind of like that. And I agree with you. It's like, it takes two turns for me to get the amount of lead that I want, but it's also more than I want. One is not enough, two is too much. But you can't balance it like you can on some other pencils. Yeah. Not easily, anyway. Not easily. You could kind of do it, but like, it's not a very easy thing to do. But these things just look incredible. Nothing looks like this. The color options that they have. It's not even just that they have so many colors. It is the actual colors that they have chosen are so good. Like, so good. They're like, I have like a beautiful yellow one, a blue one. I have a sage green one, which is my favorite. Like, it's fantastic. And it's just, it's got a look that nothing else looks like this. And the, I would agree with the aluminum barrel goes a long way.
  • That makes it really comfortable to, so it makes it feel good to hold, actually. Like, it feels like a substantial thing. So it at least feels like, it feels like, I think, a product that is more expensive than it actually is. When you hold it, like, to me, it's fairly priced. To me.
  • Everybody is there a difference on that. It's not unfairly priced. Yeah.
  • I don't know if I'm going to get a fairly priced. These are very expensive relative products. It is. I think it's fairly priced considering this is very clearly a design product. I don't disagree. You pay more for design like this. Like, you just do. Whoever you like it or not. I agree. You know? I agree. And the fact that they are using, like, non-standard colors, even though that's not a cost thing, but that they're just, like, saying, this is what we're doing. Like, I am fine with it. I am fine with the price. Obviously, I wouldn't have bought it. But, like, I also try to, like, step away from me when I'm thinking about this product. And you look at that, and someone who, like, doesn't know anything about this is going to, like, go, oh, my. Like, no. I think it comes only in a .7. Yeah. Which I love. I'm good with that. I'm good with that. For this pencil. So, I think this is going to be a travel pencil. Right? This is not my desk pencil. I'm going to use a spoke or a rotary or a wooden pencil. Like, all of that at the desk. Like, I could throw this in my backpack and I would be thrilled. Like, this is kind of a perfect pencil for that. It'll get destroyed and dinged up. I think it'll look great. So, we'll see. We'll see. I'm going to keep using it. I enjoy it. I got to decide if I'm going to switch out the lead. It's really firm. Which is okay, again, for, like, a travel pencil. Like, you know, if you're going to use it in different situations. But I might try to mix in something else. Who knows what lead this is. It's not a bad lead. Like, I've had some stock leads that are bad. I'm looking at you rotating. But this is not a bad one. I just feel it's very firm. Like, I almost want a darker, softer lead. But we'll see. We'll see. I'm messing around with it. I'm on their website now. And they made one with monocle. Where the entire nose cone is metal.
  • Okay. Yeah. I think I had the pen one. Or I at least had the. And I think I gave it away. And then I bought the monocle notebook collab. And also for a giveaway.
  • They might. Do they charge a little bit more for those? I can't remember. They did for the notebooks. I'm looking in pounds. But it's five pounds more expensive for the monocle version. That's a lot. They're also using a metal mechanism. The twisty guy. That's also made of metal. So they are using more premium materials. And it's a partnership. So I understand that one's a little bit more expensive. But that also looks really nice. I just think this is a pencil that is fun to use. Because it looks so good. Like so, so good. And like yeah. I pick it up. And then I pick up the Mark III. And I'm like the Mark III is better. Basically every way. Including that it also has an eraser. Which is not like a. That's not a make or break for me. But it is nice to have. Yeah. Yes. But the Dragaphale is just like a.
  • It's a design piece. And I think it's like unmatched. And how good it looks. Yeah. I do not disagree with that. I think it's great. I think it's great. Speaking of design pieces, Myke. This popped back up in my feeds. And we had talked about this a couple months ago. But Pilot has made these fluorescent Colito barrels. And I have not bought one yet. And then they put this image out. Of these built up Colitos. It's just the barrel. Like if you're not familiar with this. Pilot probably makes the best like. Multi pen. Gel ink. Multi pen. Fine tip.
  • You know system. I guess you have to buy you know barrels. And different inserts for it. You know compared to like the other companies. This is my favorite. But because the tips of the pens are great. They use the high tech C model for this. I just want these neon barrels. I really don't have anything to say. Other than I want this. And I wish they'd stop tempting me with this. And now I need to go find them. Because I didn't last time. I was just like oh. You know this looks great. Like when you see things from like Pilot Japan. Or Pilot Korea. Which are some of my favorite follows.
  • I was just like yeah. I'm just going to wait. And I'll eventually get the chance to get them. But these are just sick. I want them. And then you know. The images are with a bunch of other like juices. And you know this Rex grip. Which isn't a very good pen. But like the Coleto barrel. Just give me the Coleto barrel. It's good looking. I need it. I need it. So. It's really good looking. Anyway. That was more of a reminder for me. Okay. To figure these out. Because I've been holding off. I need a new Coleto. So that's one of the things. When you have a lot of pens like me. The high tech C refills. If you don't use them frequently. They kind of air gap in them. You know. It's not a feature.
  • And they kind of suck after. You know. If you don't use them for a couple years. So like I need some new refills. But I've already got like 10 Coleto barrels. Probably. I could go round them up. But like I need the neon ones Myke. I make it happen.
  • I'll try.
  • I don't know how. But they're beautiful. I do love them. They look great. Yeah. All right. This episode is brought to you by Pen Chalet. Pen Chalet have authentic amazing products. From your favorite brands. Whether you're looking for a new rollerball. Or a fountain pen. Maybe you want a new mechanical pencil. Maybe you want to pick up something. From Lamy, Pilot, Monteverde. Say like a fake. The list goes on and on and on for days. Pen Chalet are an authorized dealer. Of so many fantastic brands. And they are adding new products. Every single month. You'll go and find new things. Over at Pen Chalet. With great discounts. You'll find every couple of weeks. You'll find some new discounts. Over at Pen Chalet. They want to give you. The best products they can. The best prices they can. And with fast and reliable. Customer service as well. They do free shipping. On orders of over $75 in the US. And Pen Chalet sell internationally. With great shipping rates. Pen Chalet has low prices. On high quality pens. And they offer a 100% satisfaction guarantee. So take yourself over to penchalet.com. And you'll be able to get 10% off anything at Pen Chalet. Thanks to the code that they give listeners of this show. You'll also get to see some exclusive offers. Because you are a Pen Addict listener. The first one Myke. Is going to fit into. A question we have later. We're going to tackle a bunch of ass TPA today. But the Schaefer Pop fountain pen. Is a really good entry level fountain pen. And the price of this. Is. In the experimental range. Right. Where you just buy it. And go. Oh is this okay. So I have actually reviewed this pen. They did. Star Wars collaboration. A few years ago. And I have the Darth Vader model. And I did a review of it. And it's the same pen. It was a very enjoyable writing experience. From Schaefer in this pen. So this is the exact same pen. Just at an insanely cheaper price. Than what I paid for.
  • For Luke's father's pen.
  • Spoils. Yes.
  • Sorry. Can you imagine if you have now spoiled Star Wars to someone. That would be so funny. I'm sure I did.

Transition to Penider Avatar and Cap Colors[edit]

  • Speaking of movie themes. Penider Avatar. You know. Unrelated to the movie. I'm sure. These. These twin tank touchdown pens. Good ink capacity. Fun pen. Great design. I like the clip on these. They're very cool. I like these. These designs. And then Monteverde. Has been getting after it. There's something in the water. In the Monteverde design department. They've been cranking out a bunch of new pens recently. So this is the. Kind of their entry level. Piston filling.
  • Mechanism. Pen. And they're doing like different cap colors. So this honey yellow one is. Is really cool. Really good looking. And then finally. Conklin has recently built. Several pens with. Jonathan Brooks material. And primary manipulation. So we have some of these. On our page. Over at Pen Chalet. Really really great price. I can't believe it. Yeah. Yeah. So they're really cool. So go check those out. And yeah. And then actually. The list keeps going. This week. Lots of. Lots of inks. Lots of other pens to check out. So yeah. Go check out everything. Over at PenChalet.com. P-E-N-C-H-A-L-E-T dot com. Slash Pen Addict. Our thanks to Pen Chalet. For their support. Of this show. And Relay. All right Myke. We got our shout out. No sorry.
  • Almost got you. Almost got you. No. I did that on purpose. I did that on purpose. Someone's trying to throw you off. Yeah. We got some ass TPA. We got some ass TPA. We've been slacking.
  • We've got loads. I lost my voice. We've got loads. Let me start out with a question here from Chris. Who wants to know. Or wants to say. I've been listening to podcasts for a long time. And I want to take the plunge into fountain pens. I do not know of any pen shows near where I live. How would I go about getting started on the hobby? I just want to say. If you have met. If you've been listening to this podcast for a long time. And now you're getting into fountain pens. Chris you have great restraint.
  • Mm-hmm.
  • There are people that listen. I've met people. That listen to the podcast that aren't into fountain pens. Oh yeah. Yeah me too. Yeah. For sure. A lot of people say that I just like the vibe. Yeah. Yeah. It's good vibes here. Except for all the Star Wars spoilers. Oh true. True. Sorry about that. We'll tag this episode. Spoilers. Spoilers. From 1977. Spoilers for some of them.
  • So Chris if you're listening to the podcast. You're already in a good place.
  • Even though we don't do beginner stuff. Like on the regular. Like I could always use like a beginner refresh.
  • Episode. I always talk about how I have to think about products. From you know someone who's just starting in the hobby today. And so I try to do a good job at that. So.
  • How do you go about it? So there's a couple of articles on the pen addict. That have been guest posts.
  • So I'll link those in the show notes for you Chris. You can go check those out. It's basically you know. What are you looking for. When you're buying your first fountain pen. You know how to buy something. You know that's going to fit your style. And your use case. So there's a couple of links there. And I also have a JetPens beginner's guide to fountain pens. Which is kind of more of a how-to on the basics. Or you know what do nib sizes mean. And things like that. So those are good resources. After that. I think like talking to people in the community. Like you could do like the pen addict slack. You know is one thing you'd have to email me. I can get you an invite for that. And this community is just like very welcoming to newcomers. I found.
  • And you can ask like literally any question. And you will have people lining up to help you. Right. Like I it's crazy. It's like you know. Hey I'm new at fountain pens. And every everyone is going to be like raising their hands. Oh me me. Let me let me help. Let me try. Let me try. And it's just really cool to see that. So you know. If you're on Instagram or YouTube. Or any type of social media. And you see someone talking about their fountain pens. Ask them. Like they would love to answer your questions. Right. And even emailing me. And say hey. Okay. I got your answer. And here's this one specific. I looked at all the things you gave me. And here's this one specific question. I like. I can't figure out. Email me. Hello at penhonic.com. I'm super glad to help. It's one of my favorite things to do. It's actually what I always say is my favorite thing to do. Like when I'm out at pen shows. Or even online. And just. Just yeah. Just you know. Dig into the community. Ask questions. People are super friendly. And we love talking about our favorite pens. And pencils. And ink. And how things work. And because we've all been there before. And we've all had help from other people before. And everyone likes to share that. And pass that along. So yeah. I think that's kind of my best advice.
  • I would say. As a piece of advice. To just like. Especially if you're new to fountain pens. There are so many cheap fountain pens. That you should get started on. Like. Look at the disposable kind of ones. And then you know. You move up to like. Basically the route that we took. Like a. Prera. Or a.
  • Kukuyo. Right. Is that the one? The one with the smiley face on it? Yeah. Kukuno. Kukuno. Pilot. Yeah. There's just such great starting points. And then just move. Just keep going up from there. If you want to. And you may find a spot. Where you kind of top out. Like a Twizbee Eco. Or something like that. And that might be all you want. But that. That would be my recommendation. Like. There are so many.
  • Quote unquote. Disposable. Pens. As well. Because they are. They are relatively cheap. Considering how good they are. And then you start getting into. Diminishing returns territory. The higher you go. Which is just. Yeah. The way that all of these hobbies go. But. That would be my recommendation. Don't jump in with like. A Metropolitan.
  • Or.
  • Something like that. Or Safari. Like. I would not start with a Safari. Yeah. Like. As much as. You've already heard me in this episode. Praise the Safari. Do not buy that pen first. Because there are just. There's just other. Cheaper stuff. That you should start out with first. You know.
  • Yeah. Yep. So yeah. It's. It's really easy to. Like. Not spend very much money. To get started. In this hobby. Which is great. And then you can just live there forever. Right. That's great.

Question on Fountain Pen Friendly Post-it Notes[edit]

  • Joe wants to know. Does anyone make a post-it style. Removable pad. That is fountain pen friendly. The name brand is terrible. And doesn't do well with ink. Does anyone make one. That is fountain ink friendly. Sometimes. I just need that quick. Removable notepad. Or sticky memo pad. To use at work. And in life. I can use an index card sometimes. But a post-it note. Is the right solution. Often. I just want one. That is better for the pens. That I like to use. We have a lot of questions today. That I love. And they're on themes. That continually. Pop up. We'll have another one here. And actually. The very next question. That.
  • It's a small enough category. That it never seems. To get solved. But we all have. Our particular use cases. That we want solved. In this case. A sticky note. So.
  • I don't have a perfect answer. For this one. What I will say. Is Midori. As a brand. Does the most. In this area. The caveat. Is. You must like cats.
  • So. Most of their stuff. Is themed. Right. So. Cats. Dogs. Flowers. Trees. Forests. All these things like that. There's not just. A plain sticky note. What they do offer. And what is sitting on my desk. And I'm staring at it right now. Is. A pad block. That's not sticky. So. That's another option. For your not. For your. That might solve. Like. The times you want to use index cards. So. I do use their blocks. And the blocks come in blank. And grid. I don't think they come in dots. Is it just blank and grid? I'll have to look at them. So. Those are fantastic. The sticky notes. Are. Good for fountain pens. There's other companies. Out there. That also make. Some random sticky notes. Almost all of them. Are like character based. Or theme based. There's not a lot. Of just plain standard sticky notes. And I haven't tested. Many other ones. In the Midori ones. I know those are good. But you can. You can take a gamble on some. But look at what Midori has. If you don't like the sticky notes. Look at their note blocks. And I. Like I said. That's literally. I'm staring at one on my desk right now. It's fantastic. Fantastic. It just doesn't have the sticky note part. So.
  • That's kind of like the. The main one. I think there is one. That when I was looking. At answers for this. There's one I want to try. And I don't know that I can recommend this one. Yet. But. There's a chance. The Kunisawa sticky note. Number one. Is insanely expensive. For what it is. It's 1075. For 80 sheets. It's also a recycled paper. And I found. Recently. Like in. And Myke can attest to this. Some of these recycled papers. Are really good for fountain pens. And I'm looking at the imagery. On jet pens. And they don't show the back of the page. But you can kind of tell. By the front of the page. This might have a chance. So. If you want to take more of a risk. Like an expensive risk. And see if these are good. I just haven't tested them yet. But I've added them to my cart. Because I think they're compelling enough. I don't know. I don't know. I can't. I look at the texture of this paper. And that does not look to me. Like it would be a good time. I agree. I agree. But I've literally just tested one. A recycled paper. Not this paper. This week. That blew my mind. It felt like newsprint. And wow. Did it work good. So. I mean. I know that recycled paper is getting better. Right. That's what I'm using. And the book and notebooks. I have in front of me. But. There just looks like a lot of inconsistent. Flex in these pages. And so I'd be fascinated to see how that actually works. Yeah. But like. I like. Embigging this image. Like even before stream. Like the marker line looks clean. Yeah. Like it just looks clean. So. I don't know. Like. I'd be fascinated to know. I'm not going to say these are good. But I've added these to the cart. Because I think these are interesting. So I'm going to get these. And we'll report back. That will be a good follow up. Quality. This is a product that I've. That is on my long list of things to look into. Of like making like a decent quality.
  • Sticky note. With a good quality paper. And not like. Like for me. It's like you know. Like the paper I use. Which is like. I don't know. It's like fountain pen agnostic or something. Like it just. Right. It doesn't give you a good experience. Like an outstanding experience. Or a bad one. It's just like. Good. Yeah. It works. You know. Yeah. And that. That might be enough. For me. For me personally though. Like. I don't think you can beat post-it note. And sharpie combo. Like that is like the ultimate combo. For me. Yeah. Tyson says. Can you talk a little bit about personal letter stationery? I remember my gran always having smaller sheets than a 8.5 by 11. Of really nice lined paper with a name and address on it with matching envelopes. Where do you get it? How much does it cost? What is good? I love this question. We get this one a lot. And. If you think like the sticky note category is tough. This one is pretty tough. Because you're not going to get everything you want. In this. Kind of like the sticky notes. Right. You can get. You can go. To. A shop. A stationery shop. And get some nice letterpress.
  • Printed with your address. Or a logo. Or anything on there. But you're probably going to be pretty limited on paper choice. Yeah. You know. As far as like quality with fountain pens. Right. And that's what we're talking about here. Like if you. If you don't. Use fountain pens. And you just want to use standard pens. Knock yourself out. You're not going to have. You just have to decide whether you want a smooth paper. Or a laid paper. Right. A lot of people are familiar with. Like the texture of a laid paper. As like a fancy paper option for letters. It's not really great for fountain pens. Right. Because the nib will kind of bounce on there. You can get some good quality ones. But it's just a feel thing. So if you don't care about fountain pens. Right. Like I would look at a local stationer. And they could print you up something nice. And you're going to have a good time. Where.
  • Us. Fountain pen users get into trouble. Is. Fountain pen friendly. Letter stationery.
  • And. There's some good stuff out there. But it leans more plain. Right. So like I always recommend the Claire Fontaine. Triumph. They have notepads. And matching.
  • Envelopes. Right. But it's just a plain white sheet. Right. You can embellish this sheet yourself. Stickers. Stamps. Get your own stamp. Put it on there. Do something like that. The quality. Of paper. For fountain pens. And ink. Is spectacular. Like this is just one. An amazing writing paper. Yep. Right. But it's blank. And white. Like it looks like a piece of copy paper. Uh. Luckily it performs. Um. Way way way better than that. And there's other companies that will do this. Letter pad. Envelope combo. Life is a popular one. Um. They have a. You know. Letter sets. Midori is a popular one with letter sets. If you want a more.
  • Character filled. Kind of like um. I was mentioning with the post-it notes. Midori does. Fabulous. Pad. Letter pads. With like. Flowers. Or just some kind of different designs on there. And then do matching envelopes on top. So like if you. May not have. Your. Address. Or your name. Pre. Pre-printed on the page. You could get. A. Letter sheet. And envelope combo. That looks special. Right. Like Midori has a lot of those. I've. Used a lot of those products. Those are really really good. Um. Really great papers. So. You know. There's. Again. Not a really really perfect answer for this. There's not a one stop shopping for this. And depending on like. If. You want to use a fountain pen or not. Um. Yeah. There's. There's a few options. But there's just like. You know. There's not. As they say. The killer app. For sticky notes. Or for letter writing paper. I don't think. I guess maybe with paper. You'd be better.
  • Better pressed to get like a stamp.
  • Yeah. Get a nice. Like. You could take this. The Clairefontaine Triumph. Is a blank slate. Right. You take that. And then you can have a stamp. Um. You can even add some. Some other stuff to there. Get your own letter press machine. Yeah.
  • Ka-chunk. I actually didn't realize. Our next. Our next question. Is kind of also in this category too. Which is great. Yep. So this is a question. With a bonus. I'll ask you the question first. And then we'll come back. To the bonus question. Question from Tomas. Are there any fountain pen friendly. Postcards you can recommend.
  • There's. You know. No. Not really. Not. Not in a.
  • Universal. Type of way. Oh. Go here. And buy this postcard. Right. Like. I've definitely found. I use a lot of postcards. I've found several. That are fountain pen friendly. But. I will say this. And this is not a fair answer. To your question. But I will say this. About my postcard usage. And. Fountain pen friendliness. I. This is an area. I do not care. Right. Because. The area is small. The card's likely going to get destroyed. Um. And. That's part of the. It's a feature. I think. So. It's not that I'm.
  • I'm. Specifically looking for fountain pen friendly. Or not fountain pen friendly. I care less about the postcard. Um. Being fountain pen. Fountain pen friendly. Because. Of what it is. And what I'm trying to do with it. Right. It is less important to me. Than a letter. Or even a sticky note. That it's. That a postcard's fountain pen friendly. That said. Like. I've just lucked into. Many that are. That are fountain pen friendly. Like. This is something you just got to buy and test. Like. The ones. When I was in London. You know. Was it last year? Was our 10th anniversary last year? Yeah. Um. You know. The British Museum ones. Awesome. Like. Totally fountain pen friendly. Then you just go buy somewhere from somewhere else. They're not fountain pen friendly. But. You know what? It's a cool design in the postcard. And. I'm going to send it through the post. And. It's probably going to get. Dirty. And wet. And. I just don't. Don't worry about it too much. But there's like. Nowhere I can go point you to say. Hey. Buy this card. Because it's fountain pen friendly.
  • There's a bonus question from Tomas. Do you worry about posties reading your postcards? I've been trying to write more letters to people lately. But sometimes a letter seems a bit much. I have note cards too. But I like the idea of postcards. They are small. And I have a cool picture to go with it. But the fact that it can be read. Holds me back. Do you care? Or do you just not write much on the card? I don't care. But I understand the concept.
  • The fact. That. If you think about. The volume. That is scanning. In front of these people's eyes. During the day. That they're going to go. Oh. Let me grab this one. And read it. It's like. You know. Sure. Go ahead. Like. I'm not. You know. I'm. I'm doubt they are. I'm sure there's some lone wolves out there. That are. But. Like. I. It doesn't register with me.
  • If someone's going to read it. Again. Also. I'm not writing anything personal. Right. Like. I'm writing. Song lyrics. I'm writing doodles. You know. I'm also. Like. If I was doing something personal. Maybe I'd have to think about this a little bit more. But. Even then. Like. I don't know. I like. How personal can you get in like. You know. A hundred words. That are going to fit on the back of the postcard. And. You know. Maybe I'll just start writing. You know. To the letter. Carriers. In the. If they're going to read it. And it's like. Hey. What's up. Hope you're having a good day. Hope it's not too hot out there today. Um. You know. Uh. And. Enjoy your route. And. Have a good day. So maybe I'll just write some to the letter carriers themselves. What do you think?
  • Oh. Oh. I see what you're saying. Yeah. Like. Hey nosy. Tell me if they're going to read it. Hey nosy.
  • Yeah. So yeah. I don't worry about it. I mean. It's like. You know.
  • Yeah. I. I don't know. It just hasn't really come up. Uh. For me yet. But I. I get it. Like. I get it.
  • I. Would.
  • Never write something personal on a postcard. Basically. Yeah. Like. Or just keep it very surface level. Like. Which is. I think most of the time. That is. Like a postcard. Right. It's just like. Wish you were here. Kind of stuff. You know. Yeah. And that's why. But Tomo says. You know. Maybe I'll just write a letter. If it's. If it's going to be personal. Yes. So. The. The kind of the key for the. The postcard is. They're. They're. I don't want to say they're impersonal. They're actually very personal. That you've taken the time to do this. But it's really. Just more. Like. Quick. Yeah. Quick hit. Surface level. Silliness. Or. You know. Hey. This trip's going great. I wanted to send you a postcard from. You know. From. From the coast. Or whatever. Kind of thing. So yeah. I don't worry about. This episode of the pen addict. Is brought to you by Factor. Summer is finally here. More sun. More light. More time. To do all of the things. That make summer so special. But here's what you don't want to be doing. Spending hours. Cooking inside. And that's where Factor comes in. Factor's chef crafted. Dietitian approved meals. Are ready. In just two minutes. Taking the hassle. Out of eating well. Factor meals arrive fresh. And ready to eat. Perfect for any active lifestyle. Over summer. And beyond. With 45 weekly menu options. You can pick gourmet meals. That fit your summer gains and goals. Choose from options. Like calorie smart. Protein plus. Keto. And more. Factor powers your day. Sun up to sun down. With nutritious breakfasts. On the go lunches. Premium dinners. And guilt free snacks. And desserts. Factor has your whole day covered. Enjoy more this summer. Get Factor. If you want all the flavor. And none of the fuss. Brad. Do you enjoy flavor. And no fuss. I do. Good. I do. Big. Big flavor. Guy over here. Big factor guy. Over here. It's ease of use. Myke. Ease of use and quality. Like those are the things I'll pay for. And so factor brings that directly to my doorstep. Into my fridge. And then into the microwave. Right when I need it. And want it. And you know what? Right now. Being that I'm home a lot. And not traveling a lot. I need some factor in my life. They're just perfect for. You know. This work at home environment that I'm in. Or for a quick lunch environment. If you have to go into the office. You don't have to think about. What you're going to eat. Having a great lunch. And it's just so easy. And so good. So yeah. I'm a big fan of Factor. You can go get started today. At factormeals.com. Slash penaddict50off. And use the code penaddict50off. To get 50% off. Plus free shipping. On your first box. That's code penaddict50off. At F-A-C-T-O-R-M-E-A-L-S.com. Slash penaddict50off. To get 50% off. Plus free shipping. One last time. That's factormeals.com. Slash penaddict50off. This link is in the show notes. Our thanks to Factor. For their support of this show. And relay.

Harmony's Question on Gel Ink in D1 Refills[edit]

  • All right. Our next question comes in from Harmony. Who says. I have a pocket ballpoint pen. That uses a Schmidt Mini 635 refill. But I don't love it. Ideally. I'd replace it with a gel refill. But I can't figure out. If there is a compatible one. Is there such a thing. As a gel refill. That would work here. Or even. A better performing ballpoint refill. Like the Jetstream that would fit. And we also have a question from Alan. Who says. I recently picked up a rotary multi pen. With the gravity mechanism. Which is absolutely cool. Now I need to figure out. What refills to put in it. But I don't know standard pens. The multi pen. Takes standard. D1 refills. I almost exclusively use fountain pens. I like things smooth. With great colors. Especially blues and greens. Do I go that way with refills. Or should I go the opposite. To make the multi pen. Complement to the fountain pens. What do I need? We love all of our D1 refill questions. Here at the pen addict. So Harmony. That's what you have. So the Schmidt Mini 635. It's called a D1 refill. And just you know. Regular stationery nomenclature. And Alan. That's also what fits. The Rotaring multi pen. Which I agree is excellent. So.
  • Taking. The gel. Question. From Harmony's question. The reason why you don't see. Many gel. Refills. They're out there. Which I will get to.
  • In a D1 size. Is because. Of the way. Gel ink. Is formulated. You burn through. Ink. And given the size. Of a D1 refill. You will not be happy. With the price. You have to pay. For a Zebra. D1. Gel ink. Refill. And how long. It will last you. I cannot believe. How fast. Those refill. Go from. A hundred. To zero. They. I cannot. Recommend them. In any way. Shape. Or form. Despite the fact. That they're gel ink. And they look cool. They are. One of the. Like. Least value. Products. Out there. Because.
  • That's how D1 refills are. Right. They're made to be small. And fit in these smaller pens. Or. In a multi pen. That takes multiple refills. Right. You need a small capacity. Gel ink. Is not made for that. Because. It just burns through. And refills. You'll notice that. If you use any. Larger. Capacity. Standard pens. Like a pilot. G2. Pentel inner gel. Like you obviously. Get a lot more writing. Out of that. But those refills. Do. Like run out quicker. Than you would think. So.
  • What you do want. And I think. Is kind of the answer. That Harmony was alluding to. And it's probably the right answer. For Alan. Jetstream. The Uniball Jetstream. Makes the best D1 refill. In my book. It's ballpoint ink. But it's smooth. The lines are very. Very clean.
  • Unlike some ballpoint inks. Especially in the D1 category. They can get a little bit skippy. The Jetstream. Is the best D1 refill. And I don't think. It's particularly close. Like I've used some other ones. That are nice. Like the Kaveka ones. I find to be nice. I don't know who makes them. If Schmidt makes them. But like Harmony saying. She doesn't like the Schmidt Mini. 635.
  • But yeah. It's. It's kind of the Jetstream. Or nothing for me. At this point. In the D1 game. I would certainly avoid gel.
  • It's just not worth the money.
  • As much as you'll enjoy them. For the 30 seconds. You write with them. You're going to need to replace it. Way way too often. And then. With the Jetstream. They do also offer colors. You know. A blue. Red. Black. I don't know if they have the green D1. I think they might. I didn't double check that. Before. Before the show. But Jetstream. Ballpoint ink colors. Have the most color richness.
  • Ballpoint. Standard oil based ballpoint colors. Like green. Are super difficult to. Get any kind of depth of color. In there. They tend to be washed out. Even the red sometimes. The Jetstream red. Is great. And the green. Is pretty good. Like it's better than a standard. It's not like. A crazy crazy green. But you can tell a difference. Between a Jetstream green. And a standard ballpoint green. In the ink formulation. So. Color wise. That's the way I'd go. I don't think we really have.
  • Outside of those. Zebra gel. Refills. That I don't recommend. They. They do. With the gel. They can do things. Easier. Like oranges. And purples. And greens. But ballpoints. Don't really have that option. Right now. In the D1 refills. So.
  • D1. I'm sticking with Jetstream. And running with that. And you're not going to find. Much better.

Robert's Question on Nib Feel and Pen Design[edit]

  • Robert asks. You've been talking about. Nib feel. As part of pen. Or pen maker identity. And I've been grumpy. About my Aurora Optima. For decades. I really like the size. And shape of the Optima. But the nibs. Are all nails. They work fine. But I don't enjoy them. Like I want to. I'm not even sure. How to explain. What I want. If I do try to get them tweaked. Adjusted. Or ground. Is this an Aurora thing. That I should just live with.
  • It's an Aurora thing. I don't know that you should just live with it though.
  • Aurora nibs. Are nails.
  • Because that's how they design. Their own nibs. To put into these pens. What is Robert saying? Nails. So the way. An Aurora nib is designed. And this is something like. If you and I are at a pen show together. Which is actually. A question. Maybe a little bit later. I don't know if we'll get to it. I would have to show you in person. It's hard to tell online. The reason why I like them. Is because they're nails. And if you look at an Aurora nib. They're thicker. Than equivalent nibs. From other companies. Like a Pelican.
  • You know. Or a Sailor Platinum nib. Those gold nibs. Have a thinness to them. Aurora's nibs. Are almost like a double layer. Like platinum nib. Right. They're so thick.
  • Relatively speaking. Like you may not be able to just see it. Like on a whim. But if you look closely. And compare them to a couple nibs. Different by makers. They're so thick. They don't have as much give. As you would expect. From a gold nib. To me that's a feature. Right. But for Robert. He hates this. And I don't know that you can necessarily fix this. Without a lot of money. You could get it.
  • You could probably get some flex added to this. And I don't mean flex. Like a little bit of bounce. I don't know if you can get like the side shape down. This would be an interesting question. To bring to a nibmeister. Like if you had an Aurora nib. And I hated the feel of the nail. Is there anything we could do. To alleviate that. Alleviate that feel. There probably is. And it would probably be expensive. Right. You're talking about ways to add. Some type of bounce to a nib. Which is either like slits. Or shaving the edges. Like there's ways to do it. I don't know that this nib is going to benefit from that. Right. But I don't want to say. Oh you should just live with it. What I am saying is. Aurora's nibs are made a certain way. That may not fit some people. And how they like a nib to feel. Like an Aurora nib versus a Pelican nib. Are like diametrically opposed. Like in some instances. Right. The Pelican nib is softer. Bouncier and smoother. The Aurora nib is nail. And fine. And those types of things. Like I don't work well with Pelican nibs. Like it doesn't benefit my handwriting as much as an Aurora nib. Where Robert might be the opposite. So I think it's a question worth asking. And maybe I'll ask that myself when I go to the DC Pen Show here in a few weeks. Because now I'm curious if you could actually. If it would be worth what it would cost. To modify this nib. To modify Aurora nibs. Because they're very specific nibs. So.
  • This is a good question. Because Robert is completely right about this. But I don't have a great answer on. If it's fixable per se. Without just selling these pens. And getting another brand. Right. It's an Aurora feature. If you will. How they design their nibs. Alright. And Chris asks. I'm about a year. Into being into fountain pens. But I've run into one issue. That I wanted to ask you about. I'm a union member. And my union's color is red. So I want a fountain pen. With a red body. My Kaveco Sport is great. But it's red. Is too orange for me. The Lamy Safari is too glossy. And I worry. I scratch it constantly. Any suggestions. For a true red fountain pen. Maybe with a matte finish. To avoid scratches. Red is an insanely difficult. Fountain pen barrel. To match.
  • To get. To get the right shade of red. Like Chris is asking. Like the. The Kaveco Sport. It's a very. Very. Vibrant red. It doesn't have any depth. But they do make. They do make one called. Deep red. In the AL Sport. I don't know if that's something. That would be. Like the right answer. It's like that same. It's the same format. Right. As the Kaveco Sport. But a much deeper color. In an aluminum barrel. Barrel. I won't say this is like. A brick red. But it is much redder. I think. Than the orange. Leaning Sport.
  • Otherwise. Like I think. God. That Lamy. Is such a. Is a pretty good one. And. I don't want to tell you. To just like. Deal with the scratches. But like. That's kind of a feature. Of the Safari. Like. It's going to take a beating. And it's going to keep on working. And it'll probably look good. With scratches and dings on it. But I get that you don't want to do that. Like I've very much been in that case. Where I was like. Oh. I don't want to ding or dend up this pen. But the Lamy Safari. Is one I don't care about. Like. I'm just going to like. Take it anywhere. The Kaveco Sport. Plastic. And the Lamy Safari. Are two of my. I least care about. What the barrel looks like. Because. I just enjoy. What the pen is. So much. Outside of that. You're. The reds are tough. Like. I couldn't find anything good. Besides this AL Sport. Which is darker. And. I don't know. You could probably wait a few months. And Lamy might just make a red mat. For the lineup. You never know what Lamy is going to do. Red mat. Safari. Seems like that's right up their alley. At some point. But I. I don't know of any other. Any other. Options. Right now. Besides. The current. Glossy red mat. This AL Sport. Deep red. Looks pretty good. If that's a better color match. Which.
  • Yeah. Outside of that. Like red. Red is tough.
  • I'm googling around. And I found a. TWSBI Eco. Called Russo. It was a special edition though. That's a quite nice red. But obviously. The TWSBI Ecos. Are just. Cap and. Yeah. Demonstrator barrel. Yeah. That would be red. So. Yep. Yeah. Like. I love red. I love red pens. And I love white pens. There's just not. A lot of options for this. Yeah. Matthew wants to know. Could there be a top five.
  • A5 notebook. Post. Or. List made. There are so many. It's hard to navigate. Yeah. Paper list. Paper. Top five list update. I just wrote yes. To this answer. I've been playing with a lot. Of. Different papers.
  • And. I want to. If this goes into the broader. Top five update. Which I'm just dabbling on. Working on now.
  • And. Thinking about how I'm going to present this. And. And papers. Are going to be at the top of the list. I get a lot of questions about papers. Because. There's so. Many. Choices. And options. And. Just like. A pen. Like. Not. Not every pen. Is a universal. Fit for everyone. Just like. Not every paper. Is going to be a universal. Fit. For what you're trying to do. From a writing perspective. And an ink perspective. Or a graphite perspective. Right. So. I'm thinking about how to present this. Is just like. In the past. I've just done. Like. Paper brands. Like. Top five paper brands. You know. Your. Midori's. Maramon's. Kukuyo's. Things of that nature.
  • Rodia. Where you can just go buy something. And you're going to be happy. Right. But. I think we're getting into. Just an even broader. Paper environment now. Where there's so many specific. Features that paper offer. Papers offer. Or can offer. And so many different feels. On. On output. Um. And the differentiation. Of that output. Between pages. Is. You know. More confusing than ever. And I think it's a fun. It's a fun task. To tackle. Like. I don't know that I'm going to have some. All encompassing paper database. Like. That seems like. Um. I wouldn't keep my sanity. Through that. But I think there is. Some room. To run. A little bit. And expand. A little bit. Beyond. Just. Hey. This brand. Is not going to do you wrong. Like. I think that's a valid information. Like. Hey. Go buy Midori. Like. You're probably going to be happy. But I think there's room. To expand on that. A little bit more. Into different features. And. How many options there are. For paper these days. Because it is confusing. It's very confusing.
  • We've got a ton of great questions today. But we're always looking for more. If you would like to send in a question. For us to answer. In a future episode of the show. Just go to. Penaddictfeedback.com. You can also send in your follow up. And feedback in general. About the show there too. If you want to find Brad online. Until next week's episode. I've got a bunch of places. You can do that. You can always go to. Penaddict.com. And twitch.tv. Slash penaddict. That's where you'll find Brad. Posting and streaming. All week long. And you'll find him on social media. He's penaddict. You can find Brad's products. Over at spokedesign.com. You can find me. Here on relay. You can find me. At my blog. Theenthusiast.net. And my products. Over at cortexbrand.com. Thank you so much. To our wonderful sponsors. Of this week's episode. Factor. Pench LA. And Squarespace. But most of all. Thank you for listening. And we'll be back next week. Until then. Say goodbye Brad. Goodbye Brad.
Retrieved from "https://stationery.wiki/index.php?title=The_Pen_Addict_674/transcript&oldid=12145"