Editing The Pen Addict 471/transcript (section)

== Shone Design Ultem Pen Discussion ==


'''Myke:''' Yeah. So, our good friend Ian Shone of Shone Design. Long time friend of the show. Long time personal friend of mine. Long time awesome, awesome pen maker. Very innovative pen maker. He has a great, great design eye and great thought process in his designs. He made his first kind of full-length fountain pen. So, he's been known for like the pocket pens, right? The ballpoint pocket pen that launched him. And then the pocket six fountain pen. That has done very well. So, this is the first kind of traditionally full-length barrel pen. And he chose a material called Ultem, which we have discussed before. It's a medical-grade plastic. Very durable. It comes in this amber, translucent amber color. And it's able to be machined well enough for fountain pen barrels, right? Think of it as your, like, an acrylic option, right? Instead of your acrylic plastics, it's Ultem, right? And it's just very, I don't know, it's a firm material, right? But it's strong and durable. So, what Ian decided to do was take this material, machine pens from this material, but make kind of the ultimate eyedropper pen. So, he is, I forget his exact quote, he has aggressively O-ringed this pen. If you're not familiar with O-rings, they're basically like a little rubber ring that seals off different sections of different materials. In this case, it's a pen.

'''Brad:''' If you look at the images, you can see them. They're like little red lines, right? They're the O-rings.

'''Myke:''' Yep. So, I see there's like four in the barrel and one in the cap. And what this does is allows you to fill the barrel of the Ultem pen with ink without using a converter and also not use silicone grease. So, eyedropping of fountain pens is a popular pastime for many, many fountain pen users and many writers because you get a much larger capacity of ink in the barrel. So, people enjoy that who write a lot. And I traditionally, like I will eyedropper a pen here and there, but I generally just don't like putting silicone grease on the threads. I don't like it on my fingers. Like, I'm way obsessing over something that's really not that big a deal, to be perfectly honest. But I just prefer, like, you know what? I'm just going to throw a converter in here and be done. I don't need the huge ink capacity like I'm about to get in the Sailor King of Pen converter. You know, in general, in general terms, I don't worry about how much ink I have because, you know, I'll just change out using another ink. Like, this pen is awesome.

'''Brad:''' Can I ask you a question? Yeah. The color? Yeah. Is that the color of Ultem or is that just the color that's been chosen?

'''Myke:''' Nope. It's the color of Ultem. So, I have a second Ultem pen from a different maker called Kasama. It's the same kind of amber-ish orange color. Like, not everyone likes the color. Like, that's the color it comes in.

'''Brad:''' Can it be changed? Not that I've seen it. Okay. They're all this kind of color.

'''Myke:''' So, that's kind of the thing, Myke, is this is why it's the ultimate eyedropper is it's stain-proof.

'''Brad:''' Yes.

'''Myke:''' So, the ink is not going to stain the barrel. Yeah. Ian ran weeks-long tests with Noodler's Baystate Blue, historically the most staining ink on the market, right? You put it in your pen and you empty out the ink and your pen is now blue. And it didn't leave a mark in this barrel. So, again, it's really, really good for eyedropping. What I'm finding the most interesting about this pen so far in my limited use, again, I just inked it up yesterday. It is lightweight. Very lightweight, actually. But it feels like an awesome pocket portable pen. Like, I want to do everything with this pen, right? It's, you know, where you have, at least I have, like, pens that stay on the desk and, you know, don't, you know, they might move around the house or something like that. This one, I'd be happy, like, standing up from the desk, throwing in my pocket and just doing whatever. And I have this awesome pen at hand that's not going to leak. It's got cool ink capacity. I love the light feel of it, right? Not everyone's going to like the lightness of it. So, you'll have to check on the page, the product page for the weight. It is very, very light. But, you know, I like a smaller, lighter pen to begin with is my style. So, it fits my hand so, so well. I wasn't sure if I was going to like this pen or I should say love this pen. I knew I would probably like it, but I actually love it, I guess is a better way to say it. I've been sloshing the ink around in the barrel this whole time we've been talking. I love looking at it on my desk. I filled it with an interesting ink, Platinum Classic Citrus Black, which is just kind of this cool setup that I now have in this pen. I am short of words for how much I like this pen.

'''Myke:''' It's a little bit hard to explain. And that's kind of what I was saying earlier about how I can feel without even having it at hand. I know what a Canalea pen feels like in my hand. And sometimes I miss having that. That's how I feel about this Ultem pen. It feels different than my other pens. And I want to grab it and continue to learn about why I like this so much because it's going to be one of those pens that when I don't have it in use, I'm going to be going, oh, yeah, I know how that pen felt and how it made me feel. And then how I wrote with it and how much I enjoyed it that, hey, I want to ink it up again and use it again. And not every pen feels that way. So the recently purchased Mr. Cypress G10 fountain pen, that black and blue swirl G10 fountain pen, I thought I was going to feel the same way about it as I do about this Shown Ultem. But it's just okay, right? It just feels regular and normal and fine, right? And therefore, I don't reach for it as much as I do some of the other pens that make me have a different reaction when I actually have them in hand or I'm writing with them. And, you know, there's groups of pens that give me that feeling. And those are the ones that end up lasting the longest in the library. And, you know, like I'm not disappointed in the Mr. Cypress G10, but it feels normal to me. And like, that's cool, except I'm a guy who has a hundred other normal pens, right? But some of these other pens, like this Ultem or, you know, I'm looking at a Leonardo Mento Zero in Mango, they're special. They make me feel a little bit different. And I think that's kind of the goal when we're looking at products to buy and to purchase is how they make you feel, not just, oh, I have a thing. At least that's how I look at it.

'''Brad:''' Yeah, there's an interesting point about this pen. If like one of the reasons that you like it, I know you compared it to G10 because it's the material, right? One of the reasons you like it is the Ultem, right? As well as the construction, but it's like the Ultem that you like, like the way that material feels. Right. It's limiting. Yeah. Yeah, it is. Right? Like this can't be in its current state, like a new pen material en masse because then every pen is going to be the same color. And that's not what people want.

'''Myke:''' And it's also cost prohibitive as well. Yeah, I know. It is not inexpensive.

'''Brad:''' It seems to have been expensive and difficult to work with, right? Yes, right.

'''Myke:''' So, yeah. Like, but like part of this whole thing we do and part of the reasons why we're on episode 471 is I just have this never ending discovery process in my brain. And even if you give me something today that I saw 10 years ago, like I can figure out why I like it and what kind of evokes those memories from all these years ago. And is it the same? And how does it line up? And what's better? What's worse? And like that's something like I kind of can't help doing. So, a lot of this, as weird as it sounds, it comes on feel right now. And, you know, there's some products like I just like they could be just genuinely awesome and perfect for you. But they may not be perfect for me. And that's what's cool about this whole thing is like, you know, a lot of people are going to love the Sailor Go USA and rightfully so. You know, I'm. Yeah, Go USA. Like, I'm just not like super into it. I think, you know what, that pen. Gosh, why did you put that?

'''Brad:''' No, I'm so pleased I brought it up. This has now been a thread throughout the entire episode.

'''Myke:''' If, I'll tell you this, if you and I showed up at the San Francisco pen show and someone had that pen on a table, we would both absolutely like it.

'''Brad:''' Oh, for sure.

'''Myke:''' I think it's just like the, that the imagery of it is just like, ah, it's like. The patriotism. It's tense. It's tense.

'''Brad:''' It's difficult to accept that sometimes.

'''Myke:''' Right, right. So, anyway, yeah, this, but the, the shown design Ultim is like one of those unique products that is a hundred percent not for everyone.

'''Brad:''' You know what it is, Brad? I think it's maybe just doesn't feel authentic.

'''Myke:''' I don't, I would, can you define that a little bit better in that, in that way?

'''Brad:''' There is something about it that I, we can't. Wait, what are you talking about? What are you talking about? Go USA.

'''Myke:''' Okay, yeah, okay. I was on the shown design, yes. Sorry.

'''Brad:''' I've gone back to it. Like, the, there is something about the Go USA that feels inauthentic because it's, at least for the market, I think it's the marketing materials that we've seen, right? Mm-hmm. It's just like, hey, here's the flag. Go USA.

'''Myke:''' Yeah, it's the timing and the presentation.

'''Brad:''' And it's also complicated. And I know, and I actually think part of the problem here is they want this to be the Olympic pen, but they can't legally say that. Right. So, like, we were just making fun of Apple, right? Because they put out this big press release of all of their bans that they did. And they're just like, to celebrate sports around the world. And it's like, it's because they can't, they don't have the right, they haven't paid to say Olympics, right? Right. And I think that might be part of the problem. This is an Olympics-focused pen, which is why they've released it now. But you can't say that. So, you kind of just have to be like, flag. And that doesn't, it just, there's just something about it. It feels like it's, like, wasted.

'''Myke:''' It's a try hard.

'''Brad:''' Yeah. Or not hard enough.

'''Myke:''' Or not hard enough. Yeah. Like, independently, this pen on a table with no marketing, I would pick this up and go, ooh, check this out. Like, I wouldn't buy it because it's, like, it's kind of not, like, everything that I want in a pen. But, like, oh, yeah, that's kind of cool. Like, I get it. But, like, right now, it's just yelling at me. And it's bothersome. And it makes me feel bad.

'''Myke:''' Sorry.

'''Brad:''' It just does. This episode of The Pen Addicts is brought to you by Squarespace, the all-in-one platform to help you build your online presence and run your business. From websites and online stores to marketing tools and analytics, Squarespace have got you covered. Because they combine cutting-edge design with world-class engineering to make it easier than ever to establish your home online and make your ideas a reality. Squarespace has literally everything that you're going to need to build a beautiful and modern website. They have professionally designed templates that you can customize to make your own with drag-and-drop tools. You can get the look and feel just how you want. You can even, you know, choose what products you want to sell if you want to have an online store. It's so easy in just a few clicks. All of their sites are optimized for mobile. So it's going to look fantastic on every single device, no matter where your visitors are looking from. You get free unlimited hosting, top-of-the-line security, 24-7 customer support, dependable resources. You can get SEO and email marketing tools. You can register a domain name. You don't need to worry about patching or upgrading anything. It really is so easy and so awesome. You can use Squarespace to turn your big idea into a new website, showcase your work with their incredible portfolio designs, publish a blog post, promote your business, announce an upcoming event, and so much more. Over the 10 years that I've been your Squarespace customer, I think I've done pretty much all of those things. Continue to for the next 10 years because I really love what they do. Go to squarespace.com slash penaddict and you can sign up for a free trial with no credit card required. And then when you're ready to launch, use the offer code penaddict and you will save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain. That's squarespace.com slash penaddict. And then when you decide to sign up, use the offer code penaddict to get 10% off your first purchase and show your support for the show. Our thanks to Squarespace for the continued support of the penaddict from RelayFM.