Editing The Pen Addict 467/transcript (section)

== Stationery for Vacation ==


'''Brad:''' It's always an important packing item. Not as important as a microphone. I'm going to go ahead and jump in on that. We're just going to cut you off right there.

'''Myke:''' Not as important as the actual microphone I needed today.

'''Brad:''' But secondarily, secondarily, I did consider what I was packing because my sister and my niece are like super into this type of stuff.

'''Myke:'''  Right.

'''Brad:''' So my sister is an artist and bookbinder by trade.

'''Brad:''' You know, her daughter is going into graphic design. So they like all this stuff. So I wanted to make sure that my sister got to see my Misubi journal that I talk about so much because of the craftsmanship and the materials and the quality. And it's something that I talk about all the time. It's something I use all the time. So I wanted to get that in her hands. And like we sat down and, you know, she looked at the book. Then we went through the website and talked about Daryl's, you know, mission with Misubi and, you know, all the cool things that he does and all the different fabrics and all that. And how he puts the notebooks together. So I wanted to make sure to bring that. So I brought my iridescent indigo bank paper model. Right. So that was mandatory. That was definitely going to be on the list. And she's in. She's like, so do you want to make something like this? I'm like, I don't know about that. But I thought you should see it because it's right up your alley. It's very, very cool. Then I also brought spoke pens because they have not got to see what Brian has been making. And I've been helping Brian with as far as like the spoke stuff goes. Right. So I got to show them the Icon fountain pen, the traditional spoke pen with the Signo DX, the roadie and the model four pencil. And everyone I handed over to my sister, she's like, oh, I like this one. She's like, oh, I like this one. So I gave her all of those. She's got a, she has an Icon now, a spoke pen. I didn't give her the roadie because the only roadie I brought was my Joy Division etched barrel roadie, which I put a link in the show notes to. But it was funny. Just so you know that my sister and I are on the same wavelength. She was actually wearing her Joy Division t-shirt at the time I was showing her that pen. So we are two peas in a pod as far as that goes.

'''Myke:'''  Family for sure.

'''Brad:''' But her favorite thing of the spoke items that I gave her was the model four pencil with the inverted brass grip, which was my pencil. But I gave that to her and I'll get another one. The orange with the brass inverted grip. I didn't, I have a picture of that. I didn't put it in the show notes, but I can get one. She was fascinated by that whole thing. She loved it. She loved the 0.5 core, core, the graphite, not the core.

'''Brad:''' So yeah, like it was, it was cool to show her like the stuff that I like from other people like Musubi and then the spoke pens that I'm involved with and able to give. Uh, them, some of those to take home with them was cool. Uh, now I need to get them a stack of notebooks. Like I purposely didn't bring a ton of notebooks to give them, but I always usually bring them like a box of stationery just to take home. And, uh, this year I'm going to, I decided to mail it just because we were like packed tight except for the microphone.

'''Myke:'''  It must feel pretty nice in these kinds of situations though, that the stuff that you're giving is stuff that you've made rather than stuff that you've collected. That must just be a nice like change that's happened over time. Yeah.

'''Brad:''' Yeah. Yeah. It's super cool to be able to share that with someone who like kind of gets it like in a, you know, to a certain degree and like to see their reaction to the things and that you've made and, and how they, you know, interact with those things. And what are their thoughts that, you know, it's always fun. Even like, if it wasn't like my sister sitting here going to a pen show and someone figuring out like a pen case or a pen for them. And then like explaining it in words, Oh, I would use it this way. And it's like, that's really cool to like, you know, you can only see so much in your head, right. When you make things or I make things like you have your kind of predetermined ideas on what you're going to do with them. And to get that other feedback is like super valuable to see it in other people's hands and have them tell you this and that, like how that, how they would use it or what their thoughts are, you know, all that kind of stuff. So it's very cool. Love it. Um, I did bring some new pens that I just inked up last week that I'm working on testing and reviewing. Um, the Leonardo Memento Zero Mango with black trim. Myke, this is a heck of a pen. I, I'm very confident in the Leonardo ranking in the top five fountain pens category from 100 to $200. I put it number two. Um, I wouldn't argue with people who would want to put it at number one. I think even it's, it just feels that good to write with. I, it's hard to explain why I enjoy this pen so much and why I think other people will enjoy it so much. And even though this is like my third one, it just, you, you get that pen, you ink it up, you start writing with it. And it's just like perfect for me. And it's designed in such a way that I think a lot of people will have the same experience because it's not odd. It's not, it doesn't have, Oh, but here's this one thing you have to pay attention to or worry about or figure out what the pen, right? It's just, it's very classic, but in a modern updated refined way. And it's just a pure joy for me to write with. I inked it up with another new product that I'm going to use in this pen probably for a while. Birmingham pens. I've been playing around with some of their inks. I have antique sepia ink in this pen. You know, this is a bright orange pen. It screams for orange ink. So I was determined not to put in orange ink because, you know, you've got to be different. And this kind of matches the, the brownish undertones of the pen. And it's kind of a perfect, perfect match.

'''Myke:'''  What nib do you have in the Memento Zero?

'''Brad:''' So this one is the black plated extra fine.

'''Myke:'''  But what material?

'''Brad:''' And it's a, it's a steel, steel. Okay. I always get these with steel. And it's just a nail and it's awesome.

'''Brad:''' Like I, it's kind of, it's the perfect writing nib for me. Right. It's firm. It's fine. It, it's flow is like right there, like medium flow. It's not too dry. It's not too wet. It's just, it's right on the money. You know, that helps with, you know, all the positive things that I have to say about it because it just worked awesome. Right out the box. Like the, the fit and finish and feel of it on the page. It's just like, uh, this is what, this is what a fountain pen should feel like. Right? Like we can talk about like the Leonardo Memento Zero and compare it to say like the pilot vanishing point. Is there about the same price? And you get a gold nib and you have this cool mechanism, but there's a lot more questions and discussion. You have to have around a vanishing point. If you're going to recommend that to somebody or something like the Leonardo Memento Zero is straightforward and top of the class.

'''Myke:'''  I feel like I should have one of these. I mean, cause I, I still don't think I get it. You know?

'''Brad:''' Yeah. That's, I mean, that's fair. Like I understand that.

'''Myke:'''  But I guess it's not, I mean like, you know, I don't know how fair it is to say I don't get it considering I've never actually used one.

'''Brad:''' Um, well, here's the, here's the thing. Like if you, the moment you pick one up, you're not going to say, Oh my gosh.

'''Myke:'''  Right.

'''Brad:''' You know, like that feeling, like I know how you do that. Right. It's not, it's not that it's not going to give you that. So you can't like these types of things that we talk about that I say, I like them so much. You can't work yourself up thinking that this is going to like change my life type of type of pen. Like I've never felt anything like this before. It is amazing. Right.

'''Myke:'''  It's not, I'm not going to get that kind of experience because that's not what it's aiming for anyway. But it's that real solid kind of, you know, how much are they? A hundred and ninety nine dollar pen. Like it's that kind of solid. Yeah. That's what this is. Yeah.