Editing The Pen Addict 491/transcript (section)

== Pen Shows and Community ==


'''Annabelle Hiller:''' Yeah. And then there's also the Hamburg pen show, I think is around that time as well. And the Pelican Hub is around that time as well. So the fall, autumn... Yeah. I'm in. I'm in. That's usually quite a busy time period for us. It's really cool.

'''Brad:''' Yep. Yep. All right. So let's, let's take it into some stuff that you're using or more specifically some stuff that you're showing on Instagram. So there's a certain set of nibs that you've shown on Instagram and I'm going to put a link in the show notes to this. And I imagine since you've posted this picture, it's become a little bit problematic for you.

'''Brad:''' Yeah. So just, just for listeners who have not clicked through the link yet, which you will, I'm the front picture. There's three, three images here on Instagram. The front picture is five, very custom nibs and I'll let you take it from there.

'''Annabelle Hiller:''' Yeah, correct. That's what they are. They are, the nibs, I made them, they're kind of fun. So I, I've actually given them a name finally, because for months I called them just the foldies, which, I mean, that's kind of describes them, but it's not as pretentious as I want them to sound. Um, so, okay, so here's, here's what happened. Um, I obviously for years and years and years, people have been really into stacked nibs. Um, and I kept thinking what a shame it is that people take a nib and then they take a second nib and cut that in half and just put it on top of the other, like in my mind, design wise, there had to be a way to just make a nib that doesn't, that has kind of this stacked layered thing to it without taking two perfectly fine nibs and just, you know, um, welding them on top of each other. So I kept thinking, I kept drawing, making prototypes out of paper and whatever. And I arrived at those things. Um, these ones. And so the reason that these ones are silver is because I'm technically still a broke student, um, and silver is much cheaper than gold.

'''Annabelle Hiller:''' Um, so yeah, that, that's the idea. I wanted to recreate this kind of layered effect, um, on a nib, but it being made of one sheet of metal. Um, and then I kind of wanted to see what happens. Turns out silver is actually really, really cool because sterling silver on its own would be technically too soft, um, to use unless you really, really like work hard on it. But because you have the two layers on top of each other and they're all welded to the same point, that just kind of makes them a bit sturdier, but they're still quite soft. Um, the only thing I'm still unsure about is how well it holds up over time being, uh, touching ink, right? I don't know how the ink affects the metal, um, over a long period of time. That's something I'm still testing. Um, but regardless of that, it's, it's kind of inevitable that I really, really, really want to get into custom nibs because there's so much cool stuff you could do. Um, and I think that's kind of, that's something that we deserve and don't get much from the pen world. I think, um, like if you look at Mont Blanc, you can get the craziest design pens, but you always get the same nib. Um, and I think we really, really, really crave a unique nib experience. And whenever something new comes out, we're like, yes, give me that. Let me try that. Let me experience something new. So that's kind of what I'm chasing right now. Um, I've also made some gold versions of it as well. Oh, and I haven't even said the name yet. So I call them, okay, hold onto something. So you don't faint from the pretentiousness. I call them the harmonic nib series. That might not mean much to you. However, if you have studied music, um, basically my friend drew said, Hey, do you have a name yet? And I said, no, what do I do? And he's like, well, is there any way that you can incorporate a music term with something that kind of overlays itself or whatever? And I said, Oh my God, you're a genius. That's exactly what this is. So a harmonic series, um, refers to, okay, how to explain this? Uh, let me, let me Eli five this for you. Um, so any note will have a kind of bass sine wave to it, right? You know, you kind of know what that looks like. That's like goes up and down. Um, and so the reason that your voice sounds like your voice and my voice sounds like my voice, even though we might talk at the same pitch or whatever is because your sine wave will kind of, um, it will have this thing called overtones where you take the same note and it kind of shortens it and lengthens it. And Oh God, how to explain this? Ah, I'm sorry. Um, so every voice or everything doesn't just resonate on the sine wave, but there'll be something called overtones, which is that bass tone, but maybe twice as fast or three times as fast or four times as fast, um, frequency wise. And depending on how many overtones your particular voice has, that is what makes it sound like your voice. Does that make sense? Yep. Really? Yeah. It's really, it's kind of, it's kind of hard to explain. I wish I had some visuals to Google it. It's cool. It's a cool science acoustic stuff. Um, like if you, for example, look at a string and you pull it, um, and you like slow it down, slow down that footage, you see that the string itself will not just swing like in its entirety, but there will also be some knots in between there. So it'll also swing within itself in its half and in its third and in its fourths and fifths and so on and so forth. And that's what you, and those knots create overtones. And so depending on which overtones are activated with any individual thing, that'll make it sound the way it does. Um, and so there's kind of like overlay idea. I ended up choosing as the name for these as in the harmonic nip series overtones, you call it harmonic series. That's it. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Wait, hang on.

'''Brad:''' Yeah, it's really, I actually, as soon as you said it, I was like, okay, that's perfect. And then with the explanation, okay, it's really perfect. And yeah, I think that's out. That's outstanding. I think that's, that's really cool. So what, what is your, like, what is your hope for these nibs? Like, do you want to make these as like a thing, like, you know, going forward? Like what's, what's

'''Annabelle Hiller:''' the plan here? Um, okay. So something that I'm working on right now, it's very recent. It's very chaotic. I don't know what's going to happen, but a month ago I went to the Dutch Chamber of Commerce and signed up my own company. I'm very excited and I'm very stressed.

'''Brad:''' Yeah. Yeah. That's a big deal.

'''Annabelle Hiller:''' But yeah, so I'm basically starting my own business and here's hoping I want to make a batch of these in the future. I was hoping early December, but that's clearly not happening. Um, and so I would love, so the idea of the company is to just make different stuff, custom nibs, custom roll stoppers, just anything that would allow me to put in my creativity, make cool nibs, um, make more pens. Definitely like the symphony can't have been the last one. Um, there has to be more. Um, but yeah, so my idea is that that will just be a, like a series, the harmonic nib series. Um, and to then also, so I think the first batch I would just do one to look kind of fundamental and basic. And then once I've sold that first batch from a business perspective, so I can afford more tools, um, I would love to just make more custom nibs, be it these, be it just normal nibs, be it new designs that I come up with. And for the first 10, so that's the idea. I want to make first 10 pieces. Um, and they're going to be in pens that I won't turn, but my friend Tone will turn. Um, I don't know if you've ever heard of them, but my friend's Giants pens, they're the only Dutch pen maker, um, that I know of. And they'll saw some of my best friends. Um, so they're going to make the pens for me that I can put the nibs into. Um, and that's kind of, that's kind of my idea and my goal to make more stuff.

'''Brad:''' I love it. I love it. I'm super excited for you. And I know it's nerve wracking, but you got this. It's going to be great. And I know you have the, like the full support of the community and, you know, one of the things you mentioned before, just about our basic expectations for nibs in general for our fountain pens, it's like, you know what, it, it kind of is lacking. And I love to see this creativity come out, especially from, you know, someone I know, like, like yourself, who I know, like really, really believes in this stuff. I think it's just fantastic.

'''Brad:''' Thank you. It's nerve wracking. It is. You got this. You got this. Thank you. All right. So now we go to further nerve wracking questions, because I put something in the show notes. I'm going to, I'm going to get you out of here. We've been like an hour. I don't want to take too much of your time, but I have to get to this question and I don't normally do gotcha questions, but I think this is going to be fun. So I put it in the show notes. Top secret fun question is all, you know, about what I'm about to ask you, but let's just say I might know people who might know you and they mentioned that I might should ask you about your F1 fascination and a particular, a particular notebook that you keep relating to Formula One. Can you explain this to me?

'''Annabelle Hiller:''' Oh yeah, for sure. Okay. Okay. So I don't...

'''Brad:''' See, easy question. Easy, easy. Top secret fun question.

'''Annabelle Hiller:''' Yeah. I don't mind it at all. Okay. I reckon your audience is mainly American, right? Is it?

'''Brad:''' Yeah. I mean, we're pretty worldwide, but yes, mainly.