Editing The Pen Addict 438/transcript (section)

== Beginner Kits ==


'''Brad Dowdy:''' I'm not wearing a kilt. Build out a kit for someone who's just starting to show interest in the hobby, budget of $50. So, I was thinking, you know, we always have the beginner pin question, but this, I thought the idea was someone who is a little, maybe just past the beginner phase, where they've kind of got the hook set, and now you've got to reel them in. So, I went pretty basic on this category. I'll go first, and then Anna will follow, then Myke on this category. I went pretty basic, and I'm kind of realizing as I went back through some of these answers, this is a lot of stuff I want.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' So, like, this is a very Brad answer. So, it's, of course, the TWSBI Eco, but specifically the cement gray one, which I think is the big underrated Eco of the year. They have all these bright ones. There's a reason it's underrated.

'''Anna Reinert:''' It looks like they forgot to paint it.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' It's amazing. It's the best looking TWSBI Eco of the year. I love it. It's the best.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Yeah.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Number one. But to Anna's point, maybe that's why it's still available. So, that's why I put that on there. So, you can still find it.

'''Myke Hurley:''' The most utilitarian looking pen I think I've ever seen. You have to be into that, right? Yeah. We clearly both are, but it is very, like, it's boring.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' So, the idea is, like, you may not always be able to buy the person the pink pen without knowing them, like, the depths of their love for the thing. So, the cement is pretty basic, but then it's got that clear barrel, and you can put this purple ink in it. Like, I put Monteverde Rose Noir ink in it, but you can pick, like, these Monteverde inks are really great. I think Anna will vouch for that. Yes. And there's, like, 50 colors you can choose, and you get that big color swatch in the middle of the Eco, and paired with the Clairefontaine Triumph pad, which is the most ridiculously priced, high-quality writing pad out there for $5 for 50 sheets of the Clairefontaine Triumph. It's really good. I think it's kind of a good setup for a beginner where you kind of get the one-of-each type of thing.

'''Anna Reinert:''' Well, you heard my comment on the cement gray.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Fair, fair.

'''Anna Reinert:''' And, you know, one of the things is that on a lot of websites, the color doesn't, like, it's very hard for the photographers to get the color balance right because it is the most neutral shade of gray. So, sometimes it looks like the photograph is black and white.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Mm-hmm. And let's be clear real quick. Sorry to cut you off, Anna, but I want to set this up for the rest of the show. This show started, the gift guide started, because Anna and I fight over the choices. This whole idea of a gift guide episode started because Anna came at me, bro, during our first gift guide episode.

'''Anna Reinert:''' It was a rebuttal.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah, with the rebuttal. So, this is going to be how the show is going to go. We're going to fight the whole way, and that's kind of the best part of it. So, all right, what you got?

'''Anna Reinert:''' It's all in good humor.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yes, absolutely.

'''Anna Reinert:''' So, what I did was thinking about, again, a beginner who may already have purchased a pen or two that might just, like, want the next step, you know, again, to get the hooks into them. So, I went with an ink sampler kit idea. Ink Journal has an ink sample box. It's, like, one of those, like, ammo, plastic ammo boxes that has 10 assorted samples in it. So, it's just sort of like a random assortment of ink samples, which I thought it was a great sort of get into different kinds of ink. It's a great way to just try out a bunch of inks if you haven't kind of delved into that side of the hobby yet. And then, of course, if you're going to have all those inks, you're going to need a color ring.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Yes, you do.

'''Anna Reinert:''' Like, I feel like there should be a bell every time I self-promote.

'''Myke Hurley:''' You know what? I, this is so funny. We had the exact same thought. I have a bell, but I don't have it here at home except my studio. But when I, as we were getting into this conversation, I'd forgotten. And I got up to go see if my bell was here because I was going to institute the anytime one of the three of us talks about one of the products we make to ring the bell. So, today, we will ring the bell just by saying there's the bell, but there is no bell.

'''Anna Reinert:''' Because then, of course, the next step would be to select one of the daily grind nib rubber stamps that we create, which is an assortment of sort of familiar to most people looking nibs.

'''Anna Reinert:''' But we tried not to, like, you know, break any, I guess, copyrights. I don't know if you can copyright the shape of a nib, but you know what I'm saying. I think you can do.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' I'm sure you'd hear from Montblanc.

'''Myke Hurley:''' There is a phrase, I guess, called trade dress. It might come under.

'''Anna Reinert:''' Yeah. So, we went, we've created, so far, there are, what, six sort of standard nibs, and then we have three fantasy nibs.

'''Anna Reinert:''' So, the fantasy nibs aren't in the daily grind set, but we also have them. So, if you know someone who is particularly fond of octopi, octopuses, we have one named Squidney. Nice. That looks like an octopus, which is one of my favorites.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' I love these stamps. I'm staring at my stamp. I have an ink pad right here. And then I also, I got a shipment from you the other day with a little tester sample nib on there. So, yes, I love these things. Highly, highly recommend it. Very fun. So, they're even in my list later, but we're going to talk about that.

'''Anna Reinert:''' Yeah. There may be a few that are currently listed out of stock, but I got notification today that my new order is on the way. So, give it a couple of days, and they should all be up on the site. And then my last thing is that if you're going to be playing with ink to get one of the bamboo-style dip nibs that are available on eBay, these are capped. So, they are a little less fragile. And the nib, while it says it's glass, is actually plastic. So, while you can still drop it and chip the tip, which I have done, it's a little less fragile. The barrel is really nice, closing kind of thing. They're very popular amongst the staff at the well-pointed desk.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Nice. All right, Myke, what you got?

'''Myke Hurley:''' Completely different, out of left field. And I really tried today to pick not my usuals, but I'm going with a Rotaring 600 mechanical pencil and a Rodeo web notebook.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' I thought that was really smart, actually. Thank you. I saw your answer. I was like, yeah, that's a good, that's a pencil that not everyone's going to buy for themselves, right? But if you have the right person that's into that type of thing, right? It still has to fit this category of, like, not everyone's going to like that 600 style. But if you have that person in your life, that might blow their mind.

'''Myke Hurley:''' I feel like the 600, so the web notebook I just picked because it's like a nice notebook, but like it's as nice a notebook as any other notebook. But I like them. And I find the Rodeo paper to be really versatile and it works with lots of different types. And also the web notebook has that Moleskine-like look so people would see it but immediately understand why it is better. You know, like the cover is padded, like it's softer, it feels nice, even though it's still hardcover. And the paper is so much better and it's still got the elastic and all that stuff. So, like, I think that that's a really good step up for someone who's new. And the reason I paired it with the Rotaring is because I feel like the Rotaring 600, it works like a mechanical pencil, but it doesn't feel like any mechanical pencil you've used up until that point. And I think that if you are so inclined, you will immediately understand why it is better. And so I think it's a real good product for somebody who is newer to this because I think that it will give them a real kind of like, oh, kind of feeling. So I think it's a good one.