Editing The Pen Addict 247/transcript (section)

== Aurora Optima ==


'''Myke Hurley:''' So you have the what the red demonstrator, right? It's like 780 bucks or something.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' It's less. It's they're like, or I think I paid like around five for it. So like the MSRP is like that, but the price they're allowed to sell them for in the US is like around 500 ish.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Okay. So there are places that you can get them from for a better price. Almost.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Oh, almost everywhere. Okay. Everywhere in the US that sells Optima sells them in that price range.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Hmm.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' So, yeah. So they have a bunch of awesome pens coming out. Like one of the reasons Aurora was in the country was to talk about their new Flex nib pen, which we're going to have a review. Susan's doing the review on that one. She has the pen right now. Um, that review is going to be coming out soon. Um, so they brought their nib Meister into New York. They had an event in New York before they flew out to LA. Um, and they, you know, had him do like a demonstration and talked about, you know, how involved the nib making is and how it's like a completely hands-on process. Um, from, from start to finish to, to get the quality. And that's really like Aurora is really known for like their materials, which we're going to talk about in a minute and their nibs. So they make just beautiful stuff. So the Flex nibs coming soon. Um, you'll probably see a bunch of reviews coming out like in the coming weeks. They're about to hit the market here in the next week or so. Um, they look pretty cool. The Optima Rosa red is actually like, I'm trying not to buy that one because I want my demonstrate. I like my demonstrator better, but this one's really pretty. Like the color of red in this Russell red is the color of the ends of my demonstrator. Yeah. So it's, and which I of course love that. And it's a beautiful, beautiful, um, material. And a lot of their materials are like historic for the company. Like she was telling me, they use, still use materials and designs that they were using like in the thirties and forties. Um, the same, same patterns and same colors because they're just so well known. So, um, but I'm not going to buy the Rosa because I have the demonstrator. I'm probably not going to buy the Flex because I'm saving up for what's called the 88 Nebulosa. Did you get a look at this pen?

'''Myke Hurley:''' Yeah, I took a look at it.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Not interested?

'''Myke Hurley:''' It's not for me.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Not for you? This is one of the best looking pens I've seen in years. Why do you say that? This is, I just love purple. Like it even, it's even gold or it might even be rose gold. The depth of this purple. I am just a huge purple fan.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Have you seen this pen?

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Not in person. Also, and that's what I'm about to say. The last year's model was called the Soleil. S-O-L-E. And it was that yellow acrylic. I've almost bought that pen like five times and I'm glad I didn't because I want this one.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Yeah, I feel like maybe if I saw this, I might like just go head over heels. Right. But like, just the images of it, it's not my complete bag. Now, I am looking at one on the Nibsmith. The Aura 88 sat in black. Mm-hmm. Whoa. Yeah. That's my bag right there.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah. We reviewed that one, I believe, on the pen. I think Jeff reviewed that one last year. But this Nebulosa, like that's insta-buy for me. Like I'm getting this pen.

'''Myke Hurley:''' So, I'm just about to start a new note in my Apple Notes, which is pen show shopping list. Mm-hmm. And I think I'm going to be leaving a pen show with an Aurora of some kind.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' I almost bought the full demonstrator in LA. Like I saw it. It was brand new. It's a great price right in there in that $500 range. I almost bought that one because it actually looks really, really different than my red one, even though the red one's just the finials. Yeah. This one's like pure, clear finials and everything. And it just looks really, really nice. I almost bought that one, but I held out because I spent too much money elsewhere. But anyway, I'm all about this Nebulosa. It's hard not to consider the Rosa, but yeah, I can't go too crazy because this year has already started off with a bang, which is just one of those things.

'''Myke Hurley:''' A bang for the wallet. Yeah. Yeah.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' And I got Little Rock coming up next week. Oh, wow. So y'all better come out and see me in Little Rock. That's going to be a fun show. Hype Man. Hype Man. Hype Man. Hype Man's going to be on it for that show. It's going to be fun. This is going to be a fun show, and I can't wait. And everyone that was at Baltimore last week looked like they had a blast. That looked like a really, really fun show. So yeah, pen show season is off to a roaring start.

'''Myke Hurley:''' It's firmly here, isn't it?

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah. So let's tell all of our pen show promoters once again what website they should use to do their pen show websites with.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Squarespace. Use the offer code INK at checkout to get 10% off your first purchase. Make your next move with Squarespace. They let you easily create a website for your next idea with a unique domain, award-winning templates, and more. As Brad said, if you are a pen show promoter, Squarespace is perfect for you because you can create a page really easily. You have 24-7 support in case you have any questions. You can put maps in there. Maybe you want to sell some merchandise. You can use their online store functionality to do it. You can talk about upcoming things with the blog functionality that they have. Squarespace is the all-in-one platform that lets you create any kind of website that you're looking for, especially if you're trying to create a website for an event like a pen show. There's nothing to install, no patches to worry about, no upgrades needed. They let you easily grab the domain name that you're looking for and take advantage of beautiful templates that have responsive design to show off your great ideas. Squarespace plans start at just $12 a month. You can sign up for a free trial with no credit card required by going to squarespace.com. And then when you decide to sign up, use the offer code INK, I-N-K, to get 10% of your first purchase and show your support for The Pen Addict. We thank Squarespace for their support of this show and RelayFM. Squarespace, make your next move, make your next website.

'''Guest:''' So you should... I'm sorry, I scrolled back through the chat room and my Optima is in the Shoptima. The Pen Addict is the greatest thing I've ever read. I mean, I feel like it's almost too good to be the title at this point.

'''Myke Hurley:''' We'll have to see how we feel about that. Listeners will know. It's making me cry.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Oh my goodness. All right, before we get into this next thing, I forgot to put this one little tidbit in the show notes as I tear up here from laughter. The Lanier Kickstarter, I'm sending out the surveys this afternoon. So everyone who's been wondering about that, that should be hitting your respective inboxes this afternoon. So I just want to throw that out there because that is on my list for today. All right. So a few products that I wanted to hit real quick. One we didn't get a chance to talk about last week. And I wanted to for a couple of reasons. It's the Baron Fig Infinity. Did you see this? This is the Vanguard size, which is my preferred Baron Fig size.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Wait, is that the pocket one or the big one?

'''Brad Dowdy:''' It's the medium one.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Medium one. It's the soft bound. I don't think I've ever had or touched one of these, so I don't know how big it is.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' So it's a soft bound cover and it comes in two sizes, like a five by seven and then something a little bit bigger.

'''Myke Hurley:''' All right.