Editing The Pen Addict 570/transcript (section)

== Favorite Inks and Preferences ==


'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yep. Yep. What types of inks are you using in your Sailors? Do you tend to mix it up or do you have a few favorites? What are you thinking about inking?

'''Miranda Sanchez:''' Yeah, I tend to mix it up. I have a few different favorite inks. Obviously, again, I'm a big Boonga Box fan. So I really love Melancholic Gray is my absolute favorite ink. I love gray ink. I can't tell you why. It's just very appealing to me. And Melancholic Gray is like one of the most pure grays I've seen. It's not too blue. It's not brown. It's not green or purple. It is gray. And so I'm like, that's the stuff right there. Yeah.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' I actually yell about gray a lot because it is exceedingly hard to get an accurate, like just a gray. So yeah.

'''Miranda Sanchez:''' It's just gray. And so they really nailed it with that one. So I love that. Another one that I always have in a pen is from the Sailor line. I forgot exactly what the name of it is called, but it's 437.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah. The Ink Studio line.

'''Miranda Sanchez:''' Ink Studio line. Yes. It's been like forever since I've like looked at that word, that phrase. But 437 is by far my favorite. It's like this pinkish red and I always have it in a Pelican that I have. So. Nice. I just keep that paired forever. Not just because like I don't really pair inks very much, but it's just one of my favorite colors for sure.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah.

'''Miranda Sanchez:''' But yeah.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Do you ever think about, do you ever consider our archival qualities in ink if you're keeping things?

'''Miranda Sanchez:''' I have. And then I realized I just rather have the pretty colors. Like, and if it's something that I feel is utmost importance, I'll grab a gel pen. But that's kind of where I'm at right now.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah. You and me both. And I was kind of setting you up there because the answer was clearly no, but I'm with you. Like, I'm like, I just like, it's okay. I'll be okay.

'''Miranda Sanchez:''' If all of our journals and our fancy notebooks are getting wet, there's something severely wrong and there's something more wrong than worrying about whether or not the ink stayed, I think. So.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Exactly. I would rather like use this pretty thing now and like, I'll, I'll be okay. I I'm sure of it. I'll be okay. Exactly. 20 years from now. Well, I'll take my enjoyment now, please.

'''Miranda Sanchez:''' Yeah. It's like, you know what? The pens still work. So that's what matters most to me. I think some of the archival stuff, I know. Um, I've heard you guys talk about it a lot too. It can be kind of a pain to clean or there's just other things that can happen. I just don't want to deal with that.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' There's just more variants, right? There's some good ones that you don't even have to care about. Like you just treat them like any other ink, but you know, it's, it's just one more thing to think about. And you know, it's.

'''Miranda Sanchez:''' And does it come in gray? Does it come in melancholic gray, gray?

'''Brad Dowdy:''' I don't know about melancholic gray. There are, there are a couple of, um, like, uh, Deatrimendous, I think has a gray. Um, there's, there's a couple of pigmented grays for sure, but it's, it's still like, you know, it's like, I'll, I'll use, I'll use a permanent ink if I like the color and I'm enjoying it, not necessarily because it's permanent. Right. So that's the way I see it. Do you use any other, uh, types of pens that aren't fountain pens like in your journals? Do you use, um, or pencils or colored pencils, or like you said, you just pick up a gel pen sometimes, or is it, are you like? Say like 90% plus like fountain pen usage.

'''Miranda Sanchez:''' I would say 90% plus fountain pens, just because I have so many that I really love. Like I have two Montblancs that are like, or I actually have a few Montblancs at this point that are like my prize possessions. And I got that Pikachu pen, um, the pilot one.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' That one's on my list to talk about specifically.

'''Miranda Sanchez:''' Okay.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' I have never seen a video game culture collaboration done as well as that particular pen. I don't know what it is. Yes. But it is perfect.

'''Miranda Sanchez:''' I remember seeing the original Lamy Pikachu pen, uh, that I think was a exclusive in China. And I was like, dang, I'm not paying $300 for a Lamy Safari. Like there's, there's no way. And then this rolled in and I was like, but I am paying $600 for the Sterling silver pen. Yeah.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' And my comment at the time when those came out was like, that was underpriced. Like, I know that's the price of that lineup, but they're like, that is, if you're into that thing, that is an insta buy.

'''Miranda Sanchez:''' Yes. I was shocked and so worried when I first saw it because they listed it as sold out. And I was like, excuse me, I didn't even know about this. How could you sell out already? And it was just, I think them listing the listing without having any sort of like other like coming soon option. And so as soon as it went for sale, I bought it immediately and I have never regretted it. It was, it's, it's going with me to the grave is what I say.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah. Yeah. I'll, I'll, I'll find a link, uh, to that pen and make sure I put it in the show notes for those of you who may not have seen this, but Myke and I definitely talk about this, uh, when it came out and I like, and I'm not a Pokemon fan, but I just like, I couldn't believe my eyes, like how good this, this pen was like, that was totally, totally my jam. So, um, yeah, that's, that's, uh, uh, just a fantastic pen. Do you use any, uh, I, you and, uh, Chelsea, we're gonna, we're gonna get into the podcasting here in just a second. Your, your podcast partner on your, your most recent episode, we're talking about video game stationery. Do you use actually, um, much like absolutely like a video game related product, like a Pokemon pen? Like there's not that much, but there's some pretty cool stuff you can find. Do you use much of that?

'''Miranda Sanchez:''' Um, like aside from my pilot Pikachu fountain pen, I have like a, a zebra Sarasa from the Pokemon center that I got. Um, I also ended up importing the special edition. It was like one of the Pokemon legends, Arceus, Hobonichis that they had at loft. I was at loft. I forget exactly where it was from, but it was like one book. It's like, what is happening here? So I have things like that, but they're more for like the collector appeal rather than actually using them for a specific purpose. Other than just using them like that Pikachu Sarasa. I think I just threw in a purse earlier so I could take it with me at the store in case I had notes. Um, but there's nothing really like that, that I have. I would say like video game stationery that's officially licensed. That's cool. Is really, really rare. Um, some of the coolest stuff I've gotten have been at shows. So I like trade shows. So like the former now basically deceased E3, which is like, was the biggest thing of the year for games media and just games generally. Um, I remember I got like a sticker sheet from this one exclusive Sony game that I really loved. I was like, this is my prized possession and I've used it, but you know, it was, it was really cool and rare to see those sorts of things. So it's, it's kind of a shame that there isn't more of that, but there's a lot of like fan washi tape or stickers, but it's not like I'm going to find a halo infinite master teeth washi tape. That's really cute. Like that just doesn't exist, which is a bummer. And I would buy that. So just throwing that out there.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Product free product idea.

'''Miranda Sanchez:''' Yeah.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' All right. So, so let's bring this into the podcasting, uh, podcasting. You were, you were officially a podcaster. Uh, I'm sure you've been on, on plenty of podcasts in your, in your IGN, uh, tenure, but you have a stationery podcast now. Can you tell me a little bit about words and roses, uh, how it started, why it started and what's it mostly about?

'''Miranda Sanchez:''' Yeah. So that started, I guess, just after the San Francisco pen show last year and we had our pilot was that, but it was offline. So very few people have listened to it, but we got it started because I just wanted to do a stationery podcast where we just kind of pal around and talk about things we like. And I said that on stream once. And then another friend was like, Miranda, you have to talk to Chelsea. I was like, I talked to her literally all the time. What's up? And then she was like, I actually have wanted to do that too, but didn't know who to do it with. And I was like, wow, you're like one of my best friends. How did I not know this? And so we just started this podcast called words and roses, which is a combination of our two usernames. She's those with words and I'm havoc gross. So words and roses came to be. And basically what we do is we used to do it every other week. Right now we're on like a weird schedule just due to my own craziness with work. Um, but we just publish a, about an hour long podcast about stationery. And we really try to focus less on things like, um, stationery and cafe does where they're more about like new releases and news and like a little bit more of the shopping side of stuff. And ours is more on like the use case side of stuff. Um, one reason we try to angle it that way is because one, we're great friends with stationery cafe folks and we don't want to like overstep in the same way. We want them to be complimentary. And also because this, this started going live when stationery and cafe was on hiatus and April was like, do a podcast. I need something to listen to. You guys do it now. And I'm like, okay. Um, and so one thing that I always just try to remind myself and that I try to push on my streams as well as like, we have to use what we have to like to one thing I said, like forever ago, that's always stuck with people, which I like it's like to use your stationery is to love your stationery. If you put that sticker and you keep in a sticker book or tuck it away is like, I'm going to use this someday. That's not, that can be great, but it's even better if you use it because then it becomes something, it becomes part of your memories. It becomes part of your process. And that's even better than just preserving it in its original state. I think, um, and I think we have like that challenge rate of consumerism in this, you know, hobby, which makes sense. We're always acquiring new things. We're sharing new things. There's always something cool on the horizon, but it's always good to like turn back around and look at all the things that we already have to. And so with our podcast, we try to tend to stick more to those sorts of topics. It's like, what are we using our notebooks for? Don't forget to use those memo pads, man. Like you don't need another one probably, but if it's a really special to you, then who are we to tell you? You'll go get it, man. Or like ways to just kind of journal and have fun with what you have and maybe talk about new things every now and then, but ultimately just to talk about like, how do you get into the process and what are other complimentary ways around journaling that we can bring it into our lives and play and have fun. That didn't make the most sense, but I was like, yeah, you know, the vibe.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah. Yeah. But so like to expand on that, I'll share and I'll definitely include this in the show notes. One of the cool things that y'all do is you have a Words and Roses Instagram account and you give prompts each week or each episode, I should say, saying, you know, asking like the community, you know, like the most recent episode was, you know, what's your favorite journaling item recently? And then like you and Chelsea will like answer these for yourselves. And, you know, it's a good, I like a prompt system, right? Like I, a lot of us have trouble coming up with our ideas or trying to force things like, okay, well, I'm gonna sit down and journal between 730 and eight o'clock. Well, you're just putting these like unfair, like restrictions on yourself, right? You're like setting yourself up for failure, but then you can go look at like the Words and Roses Instagram and like have all these prompts. You can go through, if you're just learning about Words and Roses now, you can go through all these prompts and answer them yourself. And I think that's a really cool thing that y'all do. And what made you come up with that idea?

'''Miranda Sanchez:''' We wanted to leave them with like our listeners with something to take away from the show, like other guests than entertainment. I hope it's entertaining. I don't know, man. We're just, we're just hanging out.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Like y'all have fun.

'''Miranda Sanchez:''' Honestly, we set up the show to be zero expectations. We're not getting paid for this. We're doing this on our own time. So, but, but even with that, we still wanted to have like, I call it like a listener service. It's like, thank you for listening. So here's something you can take with you into your life. Like maybe that's fun. Because I often have times where I just don't know what to journal about. And then I just don't journal. And that is kind of a bummer. So I think like having something that's either loose or short, like you can make, maybe like even write just like two paragraphs about, not even two paragraphs, a sentence about, like that's better than nothing. Right. So that's what we try to do and they tend to be kind of random, but I think that's fun.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah. I will, I will call both of y'all out on this most recent episode. You did give me a panic attack by a way of your own stressing about the current calendar dates that we're in and how soon next year's planners are coming out. I was like, you know what? I did not think about that till you just said that. And thank you so much. Cause now that's all I've been thinking about. I like literally wrote a note about separately about that. I was like, oh man, it's almost planner season.

'''Miranda Sanchez:''' I was about to say, August is right around the corner somehow.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' It's ridiculous. It's ridiculous. So another thing you were very much into, and unfortunately our schedules don't align. So I'm not always in your Twitch streams, but talk to me a little bit about your experience with streaming. You've streamed video games, of course, and then you streamed journaling and stationery, which came first. Did video game streaming come first for you?

'''Miranda Sanchez:''' Yes. It was video games first since that's kind of mostly what I'm known for. Right. A little bit of context at IGN. I'm also on our weekly Xbox show. So we have a podcast and we have a lot of folks who kindly listen to that as well. It's called Podcast Unlocked. And so there we, it's like plug in what we're doing. And I was like, oh, I'm going to start playing old games that I didn't get to, that I missed. Can you guys make fun of me on the show? So I'm going to go play them. Stuff like that. And so I've been going through a lot of like classic quote unquote games, but they're not, they're not really that old. It's like early 2000s. But yeah, that's where I started with it. It was just video games that I had on my backlog that I wanted to finish. And I was like, why, why don't I just stream it and just have people to hang out with while I do it? So I've been streaming for about three years now. And early on, I was like, guys, I got to show you something. It's not video games. Is that okay? And then I proceeded to spend the next hour just telling all these people who are really into video games about stationery. They're like, wow.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' I've seen this happen before. Like when you, I remember seeing some of this. Yes. I forgot about that, but yes.

'''Miranda Sanchez:''' And they're like, oh, are you going to show us more? Like, how's the pen going? I was like, you guys care. I'm so excited that you care. And so then eventually I was like, what if, what if I just stream stationery? Is that weird? I was like, I'm just going to do people do it on YouTube. Why can't I do it on Twitch? And so I figured out how to do a good top down setting and, and show like my face, but also my hands and doing all that. And then eventually stationery Sunday just became a thing. And I've been doing it for like three years now. And it's just been such a crucial part of my life. Like without streaming stationery, I wouldn't know you. I wouldn't know so many of my now very close friends. And like, it really changed my life. And I'm forever grateful to everyone who ever stopped and said, Hey, did you guys know you can stream stationery? And then other people started streaming stationery. And then like me and April, like, and our friend, Oh, hi, joy, joy. She, um, they, they put together like a workshop and we filmed a workshop on how to stream stationery on Twitch. And I wrote up a guide, like it became such a big deal. And I never expected any of that. And it's been just such a weird and fantastic surprise.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' And to, to give you like all the praise in the world, you've, you've been a big proponent and a big supporter of streaming stationery. Um, and it does it on, on Twitch and it definitely does not go unnoticed. You were like the person behind, Hey Twitch, we should have hashtags. And I'm like, yeah, Miranda says we should have them and we should get them. So like, I would like, I would say, Hey, you know, like my friend Miranda made this and I want y'all to go like vote in this because yeah, I want the hashtags too. But you have been such a huge proponent of the stationery community on Twitch and I love seeing it. And I, I, I'm wondering right now, and I don't have an answer to this question and I'm not gonna put you on the spot. But what I'm thinking about is I think there's just a lot of opportunity out there. And I don't mean that in like a businessy kind of way. I'm in that in like a fun kind of way. Like I want more people to stream stationery and I don't really have a question around that, but I just feel like we're just on the cusp of like having like even more stationery streamers. I don't know. Do you get that feeling out there? I just, I get so much joy from it. It's one of my favorite things I do, uh, every week. And I, I just want more people to be a part of it.

'''Miranda Sanchez:''' I will say it always bums me out that because of time zones, I also miss your streams live. Like sometimes if I have to be at the office really early, I'll see your stream. I'm like, yeah, the one upside of me being up early.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' And then he's logging off to you.

'''Miranda Sanchez:''' Yeah, I'm like, dang it, it's still not early enough. Um, but I, I totally agree. Like there's never enough people streaming stationery. There was, I think at a peak of the pandemic, like we had a stream. We have, we have a stream calendar. We had it like filled out like almost every spot in like us time zone was like filled. Like somebody was streaming and it was incredible. And it's of course like really tapered off as other people have like stopped streaming or taking streaming hiatuses. And it's totally understandable as our lives are kind of shifting back into, um, some older habits, which involve us, you know, going outside more meeting with people and maybe going to the office. So streaming is harder to fit into that. Or if you have families, you have family obligations, but I would really love to see more people streaming. And I do see some people from outside of like our community streaming. And anytime I see them, I'm just like, I'm there. I'm like, Hey, have you, Hey, do you want a community? I have, I feel bad because I have not done this in a while. Um, but I think you're kind of getting to, uh, the Twitch team, right?

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Mm-hmm.

'''Miranda Sanchez:''' Which I, can I talk about that?