Editing The Pen Addict 298/transcript (section)

== Herbert Pen Company ==


'''Brad Dowdy:''' good and i but i watched people turn them into him too it was hilarious um herbert pen company is someone that's new on my radar just recently they did something for they did a collaboration with papillie plume this huge new orleans mardi gras theme pen and box and like this whole thing that came together it's really kind of amazing um you know like the pen is like too much for me not like in dollars but just like in wildness like okay but i see like okay this is kind of cool it's like i don't want it but it's pretty cool well chet was there and i got to meet him and he's doing some really interesting things these are beautiful two things two things i wanted to point out one he's making clear acrylics with what amounts to ink swirls in them so when he's making the blanks and it's still liquefied for example he's pouring in i don't know organic studio nitrogen or whatever into this clear acrylic and making a swirl of the actual ink color in this acrylic and then it and then it hardens and you know then it turns into a rod and then he can turn the pins so i thought that was cool the second thing i thought that he did was really cool is he's actually making acrylic barrels that fit the pilot vanishing point nib units so he's not making like a retractable pin for the pilot vanishing point he's not doing that he's essentially wrapping the nib unit into this pin it makes it look like a hooded nib it makes it look like a parker 51 nib and you can actually change out the entire nib unit and i was like okay i'm getting one of those put me down on the list you know i said put me down on the list now because when i talk about it i don't want to lose my spot i want to make sure i'm down i want to make sure i'm down first online anywhere so it's actually i look through the instagram feed and i stopped looking after a certain point where it didn't come through i have a picture i will put on instagram later i'm sorry i didn't get it off my phone just yet i'm a little behind on the pictures but it's basically like a standard acrylic barrel and the nib unit of the vanishing point you know fits in there you like unscrew it in the middle you can put the nib unit in and then when you screw it back together it looks like a hooded nib like you would expect from a parker 51 it's really kind of wild i i held this pen like a lot just trying to figure it out like he wasn't selling the one okay i found one i found one okay so it's just an interesting look to a like i already know i like the nib right so it would just be kind of cool and i have extra nib units so you provide the nib unit for him and he works around that and gets it in there to have like a nice tight friction fit and i just thought that was a really neat idea for something unique especially for a nib unit that i like so much and have extras of let me ask you this

'''Myke Hurley:''' question about that why that specific nib unit because it's different like it's a fantastic rider

'''Brad Dowdy:''' it gives you it gives you that hooded nib result in a custom acrylic pen okay so that's why that's pretty much why yeah it's certainly you know he could do everything else and fit yovo and and bock nib units and they're just like everyone else but i appreciate him doing something differently and it gives you a different aesthetic right so it's a completely different aesthetic and that's what i picked it up i was like oh this is cool i thought it was just like a hooded nib and he's like no it's a vanishing point nib unit like the entire thing in there and you can even fit up he'll even make the barrel so it'll fit the entire con 70 converter which is the biggest converter that pilot offers so it's a it's a really neat thing that he's doing so uh i'm on the list for that

'''Myke Hurley:''' the blanks the acrylics are beautiful some of them are just beautiful like really really yeah

'''Brad Dowdy:''' yep yep they're fantastic and if you have multiple vanishing point nib units as sandra mentions in the chat room you can switch out these nib units it's not like it's glued in there fixed in there right like i you know i have a stub and i have extra fine like i could if i wanted to change them out i could it just slides right in there friction fit so you can pull it out so that's super cool i i really enjoyed that i got down on the list for that um he's already six months out pretty much any custom pen makers like six months out these days it seems like so that's good though

'''Myke Hurley:''' but it's frustrating at the same time yeah i want it to be really really busy except when i want one

'''Brad Dowdy:''' yep exactly right i was like well just put me down and then we'll we'll we'll sort it all out so i'm on the list for that one and um yeah it's uh it's not the only list i'm on mike oh okay all right i want

'''Myke Hurley:''' to find out about that but let me take a break first there's a teaser that's a teaser today's show is brought to you in part by our friends at squarespace use the offer code ink at checkout and you will get yourself 10 of your first purchase make your next move with squarespace and let me tell you why you should because they give you all of the tools that you need to get your next project online no matter what type of website you're looking to build squarespace has everything you need you can get a unique domain name with them you can take advantage and customize beautiful award-winning templates you can have everything set up without needing to install patch upgrade anything it's all available on the web is they have apps they have everything there's statistics they have online store functionality if you need it and 24 7 customer support in case you need any help no matter what type of website you want to build squarespace have got you covered they are the all-in-one platform to help you get your next idea online their plans start at just 12 a month you can sign up for a trial today with no credit card required just go to squarespace.com and then when you decide to sign up for a plan use the offer code ink ink at checkout and you'll get yourself 10 off your first purchase and show your support for this show we thank squarespace for their continued support of the pen addict and relay fm squarespace make your next move make your next website so one of the next places

'''Brad Dowdy:''' i stopped and one of the next people i got to meet after only talking to them online and never seeing their work in person even though i own one of his pens is the woodshed pen company this is mike allen i backed his kickstarter earlier in the year i don't know if you remember this pen mike i didn't put the link to my pen in there but it's kind of that rose and violet cracked ice acrylic pen that i got off kickstarter really fantastic this yeah yeah i remember this yeah so he was there um he too's doing his own acrylic acrylics and making his own pens and we talked for a while it's at the night of the i think it was the night of the the pen show after dark it was one of the evenings you know we got to we got to stand and talk there for a little bit and you know i just loved hearing his story and hearing what he's working on and hearing what he's doing and why he's doing it and i almost ended up with another one of his pens i kept going back to this one particular one he's doing some alumalite uh casting and had some really neat neat barrels i don't know how i would explain their difference between a standard acrylic but they seem to be more i don't know like a thicker not in thickness but like a richer color or richer depth instead of like you know some of the acrylics have some clarity in it these seem to be you know more thick and rich and i really liked how they came out i almost ended up with one of those but i held off um i didn't want to blow the budget too much because i actually did buy a couple pens at this show um but yeah he's just a really nice guy he does good work and you know i just enjoyed talking to him so i wanted to make sure you know that the word got out that all these people are coming to this show and you get to see all these things in person that you may have only gotten to see online and i had more people tell me that they this was their first show they're so glad they're here and they get to hold the things that they've only seen online and figure out if it's good for them so it's nice to see all these new makers making it to the show so it was very cool another one of those is good made better which is dan keller the maker of the pinwell he and his wife were there and i spent a lot of time with him he's a very interesting guy and what i like and appreciate about dan so much he is super inquisitive about everything like he's very new to this market like

'''Myke Hurley:''' last year dan is a great emailer dan sends me great emails he's a good dude he's nice i really like him

'''Brad Dowdy:''' yeah and he's even nicer in person if that's possible um so just hanging out with him and his wife and just you know just talking in general things not necessarily about you know the products or anything like that just talking in general to him was really cool because he's still you know sorting it all out figuring out what he wants to do what he wants to be in the marketplace um he's really you know the effort you can see like in his products look fantastic i know the maryland pinwells maryland flag pinwells were gone almost immediately um it seems like they were i saw him on his table the first day and i don't remember seeing him after that and he was showing me off some new products he's playing around with and just an all-around good guy that like you can't help but support and you know check out his wares and and things like that and it was just cool watching him yeah i think this is his second show like i said they did denver last year was their first show and that was around the launch of the pinwell product and he's already come out with a new product from them he's doing all kinds of different materials and and things like that the pay it forward table which you know i'm a huge supporter of what they're doing what oscar rodriguez is doing they were adjacent to me like we were we were table table buddies table neighbors in the cool kids room and it was awesome to see all of the people come up and all of the volunteers work that table and tell the attendees like what pay it forward was all about and seeing the crowds they have and the enthusiasm of not just all of the volunteers working the table but the attendees who came to the table and were able to get their kids you know something cool to get them started in fountain pens or get their spouse who wasn't really interested in fountain pens into fountain pens or people who are just beginners in this whole thing give them something you know to take with them from the show at no charge just to kind of learn about what we do and what all this is about and why we enjoy you know pens and paper and and things like that so it was super cool to see just all the activity around pay it forward table it was fantastic and i appreciate all of the table hosts watching my table when i ran off from time to time which i did so we had we had a good thing going it was a uh it was a good it was a good setup uh hopefully for all of us hopefully for them i didn't get to talk with oscar about how the show actually ended up but i imagine uh based on what i saw it was fantastic now the other list i'm on mike for pen making was not someone who had a table at the show but it was friend of the show friend of the slack room chewbacca from red dragon pens i got to see his pens in person he was at the show brian was at the show and i was like all right put me down put me on the list i i like his craftsmanship of the pens i like his barrel designs i like the little unique things that he does so uh he's already sent me an email brian if you're listening i'll get back to you on that email i may have already replied i don't know i'm a little space cadet yes yesterday trying to catch up on all the things but brian's work looks really really nice really nice excuse me and so i'm definitely going to work with him to put a pen together for me and as i talk about all these people this is all the new people right like have you ever met any single one of these people at the show besides oscar no at any atlanta dc no and like here i am spending 20 i don't know how many minutes talking about all of this new fresh ideas at the pen show yeah it's wicked it's great because

'''Myke Hurley:''' it's like there's all this new stuff all these new amazing things happening at not what has been considered to be one of the big pen shows right right right right right exactly so yeah it's kind

'''Brad Dowdy:''' of amazing and i i'll apologize right now i am certain i am leaving somebody out um if i leave you out uh please don't fret and please know that i love you too um except except tony who wants credit for manning the not co booth and uh he actually he actually did he uh i i would trust him with anything at the not co booth except the money so yeah he did a great job he did a great job i would be remiss if i didn't mention some of my old friends at the show and um i'm gonna say you know i wrote this in two sections in the show doc we had the new people which was the uh the part i just went through i did title this old people the this next little bit but that's not because they're old even though one of them is it's because you know they're not like brand new to the scene they're people i've seen and know and met but i love them so much i wanted to give them some shout outs and one of them is of course the wonderful jonathan brooks carolina pen company how can you not love the guy and love everything that he does he was showing off his new harushi work at the bar on thursday night um it looks fantastic some of the new designs he has some of the new finishes he has some of the new artwork he has it's really really cool and then i went over to his table on friday and i saw this double ended pin mike which i put in the instagram i don't know how i didn't buy this i guess i just wasn't ready to spend the money like i'm gonna end up with a double ended pin two nibs on each side eye dropper fill on both sections um i'm gonna end up with a pin like this especially because the colors are crazy

'''Myke Hurley:''' it's like purple green and fluorescent yellow yeah i think a double ended crazy pin like this is in my future too because i think it's really i really like it um i nearly bought one at the london show um from twist but yeah and this is something that i will eventually get on my list yeah so he actually

'''Brad Dowdy:''' had two of them and they were equally as nice like i it was hard time deciding like which one i like but i still didn't end up with one sorry jonathan um maybe next time i see you or maybe it'll be gone i don't know but you know one of these days i'm gonna have to end up with something like that because the material and the design is just really cool the second person who is a legitimately old person just in age but not in heart is mr paul arano he really embraces the youth movement he sees at these pin shows and tries to bring everyone in to learn about vintage pins like we had him at the the pin mixer in san francisco he did he had a rough day friday getting into the show so we didn't have him friday night but it didn't matter because he just pulls people in to his aura he just likes to talk about pens and this year like he's before i even saw his setup he pulled me aside and we talked for like 20 minutes on his new vintage pencil kick that he's on so he's been buying tons of vintage pencils brings them to the show he's been buying all kinds of vintage pencil sharpeners and restoring them he had a bunch of them at the show you'll see pictures on my instagram feed from all the things that he brought and he's just so passionate about everything he talks about so it's really cool so uh johnny gamber from the erasable podcast and from pencil revolution online he's a baltimore native so when johnny came to the show i made him made a point to bring johnny over and and introduce him to paul and so they got to meet each other and because paul's getting into the stuff and you know johnny johnny is is the pencil master online so i wanted to make sure they talked and then i know the crew from the byob podcast sat down and interviewed paul so look for that interview coming up soon in their podcast feed i haven't heard it yet but i know once it gets edited it will be out there for everyone to listen to so well i'll put i'll make sure once that drops we'll link it in the show notes and talk about it but i'm sure it's fantastic paul is a great guy he um he loves to talk so he he's one of those guys you ask him one question and then you know like an hour later you're still you're still going and you haven't asked a second question so it's pretty amazing and yes there will be uh some some special uh words from mr paul arano either in the the main podcast or it might have its own little little tidbit and for those of you who are there know exactly what this is for those of you who don't i will not ruin the surprise all right so like i said i have probably left out all kinds of people and all kinds of details but bert oser from bertram zinkwell deserves all the credit for pulling off almost a perfect show like we it wasn't without difficulties right friday was a slow day for a lot of people because of the weather you can't control that but bert handled it well you know we had some confusion with the room setup bert's right there in the trenches telling you what's going on you know anything we wanted for the after hours events bert handled he did an amazing job at the show and along with atlanta along with san francisco along with chicago this should be the model for all pen shows it has the right mix of vendors it has the right mix of attendees it has the right size it has the right location and most importantly what this show has and i figured out after going from between la and this show in the span of two weeks i realized what baltimore had and all those other shows had that i just listed that a show like la doesn't have and it has character this pen show has character la is a fine show it's a pen show you go to the show you shop you buy things you mingle with friends and then you leave there's no character to the la pen show baltimore you could feel just like it in the air like a vibe you know it was more than going to buy stuff it was an event it was friends and friendship and stories oh by the way there's also a pen show where you can go buy stuff and then share stuff with those friends these shows that do well have character and those are the shows that are going to see succeed long term and grow not that these other shows are going away but people are going to want to go to these shows that give you more than just the pen show it's really cool you can feel it when you're there i had several people mention that wow this is just fun you know just being around the show even sitting at the hotel bar the hotel restaurant it's fun like it has a good vibe to it it has feel and i realized that's what the difference is between this show and in la there's just you know la had different things this year with construction and stuff going on but i'm comparing it to previous la shows they were generally the same too there's no character to a show like la so you know it this was a fantastic event and it will be a mandatory event for my calendar or for nox calendar you know as long as there's no conflicts baltimore is where i want to be it's where i want to spend my money and effort and time to get to because i know the experience is going to be fantastic so thanks to everyone who made it that way especially bert and all of the friends in the community and and everyone who gave it that character and gave it that feel and gave it that vibe you know it's hard to put in words but it's just a really good show and i think you know all of those pieces are why oh last thing i wrote one more thing one more thing mike if you want a good feel or a good a good vibe you got to go to this instagram feed it's called posting.life this my friend john who didn't think i knew his name when he showed up on friday or whenever he showed up he's like oh you remember me i'm like yeah i remember you he was at dc he took a lot of people pictures and just continually posted them uh over the last few days so we'll have a link in the show notes to his instagram feed it's hilarious and just like i look at the pictures and i remember like oh man that was so cool or you know there's some silly pictures and fun pictures and just random pictures but that gives you a good feel of the show so you know definitely check out that that feed uh he did a great job with it so yeah um it's it's it's going to be hard to top this one right there's a lot of shows right at the top of the list you know the ones that i mentioned and if you can crack that that threshold you're doing something right so yeah it was great show but you got another and we're not done yet so little rock is fantastic in its own right it's i mean i'll say it right now and this isn't being unfair to little rock but it's not going to reach those the heights of the list i made before just because it's small right this is a smaller pen show but i've never enjoyed myself just being at a pen show as much as this because i didn't have to work so i finally got to be last year i finally got to just be there at the pen show and i had a blast telling stories and talking to people i learned so much at a smaller show like this you can actually spend time with vendors and this one not only is anna going to be there this year but matt armstrong is going to be there so and dan smith uh the nib smith who we just talked about is going to be there so you know we're going to have a big time we're going to make uh lisa vaness's hair turn gray quickly because uh we'll be at her shop antagonizing her we'll be at her shop for her um huge show party she has every year i think it's friday night then i'm hosting a party at the at the hotel on saturday night and last year i was surprised like how crowded it was and how many people were actually there to come to the show and staying for multiple days they have a ton of classes a ton of unique classes that a lot of other shows that don't have if you're in the area you should try to make it to arkansas because this is a fun show um i i'm i'm driving so i like i'm i'm feeling okay about that decision right now by the time i'm done with the show and driving home ask me again about that decision um but i'm really really looking forward to arkansas because i can actually get spend some time talking pens instead of like uh you know just kind of like i feel like i'm a little bit working the whole time when i'm there with knock and and things like that so i'll just get to uh i'll get to hang out at this show and i'll be there the entire weekend it's really fun i had a blast last year so you're done for pen with pen shows today just for today tomorrow that's a different story