Editing The Pen Addict 276/transcript (section)

== Listener Emails ==


'''Brad Dowdy:''' We've got some lengthy ones. Yeah. This is, this was all email stuff. So a lot of them are big, but I'm gonna hit this first one from Eric. He says, I'm thinking about getting my first shimmer, shimmer ink, like Emerald of Chavor. Is there anything extra I need to think about as far as storage, cleaning more often, et cetera. I tend to be more like Myke and leave the same ink in a pen for a long time and don't want to ruin anything by leaving one of these inks in a pen. Hashtag be like Myke. Yeah. I'm super glad that's a thing. Like, you know, I'm terrible with my pen. So I'm like Myke. That seems fair. Also, also have introductory pens like Lamy Safari Metropolitan and have some Gen How models on order. Are these intro pens okay for the intro level pen? Do I have to worry about clogging or anything? So number one on the pens. Yeah. Perfect. Lamy Safari Metropolitan, some Gen Hows to play with, figure out what you want. Absolutely perfect for entry level pens. Shimmer inks. You absolutely need to think about what you're doing with it. If you load a shimmer ink, let's just take Emerald of Chavor because that's what you brought up. You need to make sure you use it regularly. The longer it sits, the harder it's going to be to clean. The longer it sits, the worse it's going to write because those sparkles will clog. So if you ink a pen with a sparkle ink or shimmer ink, and this goes for any of them, you have to use it regularly. And by regularly, I mean more than once a day, I would imagine. Because as soon as that sits, it's going to start to clog. And if it starts sitting for days, those particles will just be tough to clean out. I don't believe anything is going to ruin your pens or anything like that, but they're going to make your life difficult when it comes to cleaning and maintaining your pens. So you have to be more considered. You have to think about what you're doing. You have to think about how you're going to use it. Unless you're going to use it regularly, I would hesitate to ink it up or even purchase it. But if you're going to commit to it and use it on a regular basis, and then I say go for it. Just be aware of those few extra things.

'''Myke Hurley:''' And I would say that you're probably using the right pens. Like putting these inks into less expensive pens, if you just want to kind of try it out and play around, it's the right thing to do. Because if it does start to get clogged up, you can replace the pen for not so much money as if you put it in like a Lamy 2000, which you shouldn't do.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yep. Yeah. Yeah. I wouldn't do that. And like the chat room is reminding us, you know, when you set that pen down and you don't use it for several hours or a day, you want to kind of roll that ink around and get the particles re-spread around.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Give it a gentle shake to make sure you get the shimmer coming through.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yep. Because you're buying it for a reason, right? You want that shimmer to come through and it will come through, but you have to make sure it's mixed appropriately. So yeah.

'''Myke Hurley:''' The same as when you're filling it, make sure you shake the ink bottle before you fill it. Because otherwise all the shimmer just lays on the bottom of the bottle.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. So Nicholas says he really likes sending postcards, but tend to only buy them when I travel. Any suggestions on where to shop for postcards online, specifically with themes that are not geographically focused. So there's lots of places you can get cool postcards. But the coolest I've found, and we've talked about them on the show probably a year or two ago, is from Friends of Type. They sell a 100 postcard box of keep, it's called Keep Fresh, Stay Rad. And it has all of these great categories of postcards. A couple of them are NSFW from their wording. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. But that's only like five or 10 of them. But they have just like crazy artwork, neat sayings, some really friendly stuff, some fun stuff, some lovey stuff, some crude stuff. So there's a little bit, there's a section for everyone in this kit of 100. And it runs like 20 bucks. And...

'''Myke Hurley:''' It's currently sold out.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah, there's other places you can get it though. So shop around. You can pick those up. Just look for them. Postcards are the easiest way to get writing. And they're just kind of a cool thing to have around. And those are really, really nice. I've received several of those postcards from that set. So it's very cool.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' All right. Last one. Zach wants to know, I'd love to hear your thoughts on the Uniball Airpen, specifically their marketing claim, that it writes like a fountain pen without leaking.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' So... I have never heard of this pen before. So we have discussed this pen.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' And... Have we? Yeah. Because I've reviewed it. We've talked about it. This was probably over a year ago. It's been around for about a year, maybe a little bit longer. It's kind of like a marker pen. So... So... The very first thought I had with their shot across the bow on fountain pens is that Uniball does not manufacture a fountain pen. So they feel they can take this shot. So the marketing says, this pen writes like a fountain pen without leaking. So... That's crap. Um... That doesn't mean anything. Like, it's so inaccurate. It writes like a marker that spreads all across the page. I mean, is what the marketing should say. Like, it's not a good pen unless you need a marker. That's what it is. So to... For the brand to use marketing like that is just really weird. Because it's inaccurate and just not... It doesn't really tell the tale of what this pen can do. It doesn't really relate anything to fountain pens. It's just strange. So... This is what the kids today, Brad, would call thirsty. Thirsty. That's a new one on me.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Does... Thirsty. Yeah. I don't... It's because they're like...