Editing The Pen Addict 323/transcript (section)

== Ask TPA Discussion ==


'''Brad Dowdy:''' We got some really excellent Ask TPA this week, Myke. Great. And it's always excellent. Let's be clear. It's always excellent. But since it's this week, it's the most excellent. So, next week will be the most excellent, too. But this first one's from Lisa. And I thought it was a very timely question. I want to ask an Ask TPA about pen rotation systems. Do you or Myke use any system to rotate pens in and out of use? I'm pretty sure the answer is no. But I think it's a good topic anyway. You are correct, Lisa. On both accounts. I've been thinking about this because now I've got about 30 or 35 pens that I want to use often. But I really don't like to have more than 6 or 7 pens inked. I'm thinking that every month I should clean 3 pens and ink 3 pens while leaving 3 pens inked. So that 6 pens are inked at a time and pens rotate in for 2 months and then out. Do listeners have any good ideas on this? What you're saying you want to set up is actually, I think, very, very perfect. It's simple. It's straightforward. It's the right amount of quantity. It's the right amount of use case. I don't use this system. If I did, I would do exactly what you're talking about. Because I like to have about 6 pens inked up. And if I can rotate through like 3 of them, you know, every couple weeks. I don't even know that I would wait a month depending on how much I use them. And just always kind of have that movement in and out of 3 fresh pens. It keeps me from, number 1, getting too many pens inked up. Because, number 2, I have too many pens inked that I'm not using. So I'll end up with just, you know, 12 pens inked up because I wanted to try something new. So if I had some type of system, I would stick with that 6-pin rotation. There's a couple of links you can check. Number 1, on the pen addict. If you want to get really intense and see how people do it, there's a product called Aeon Timeline that one of our lovely listeners shared her setup, if you will, with this basically a database app that you can get for iOS and Windows and Mac and all those things. We'll put that on the show notes called Aeon Timeline, and there's a good reference on the blog. Also, you should listen to, you should link and go read a site called Too Many Pelicans, which is David Brennan's site. And he talks specifically about how he rotates through his pens and inks on a regular basis. And it's also database-driven that he has. He knows which pen is next up in the rotation and which random ink hasn't been used in a while to be able to pull the pen, match it with the ink of things that haven't been used. So they do really, really good work in trying to figure out, you know, these types of systems. So a lot of people do this. And if you have other systems, we'd love to, you know, hear what you say. Feel free to reach out. But I like the simplicity of a six-pin rotation where three are moving in and out constantly. Just kind of keeps it fresh without getting overwhelmed. That's kind of how I would do it.

'''Myke Hurley:''' I keep something like 20 to 25 pens in use, right? Like they're on my desk, then they're in use. And I use them frequently. Like I said, like I will make sure that every day I use something different to the day before. And in my journal, it's two pens. Two pens every day that weren't used the day before. So I try and get through them a lot and I use them a lot. And then when I want to, I try and not keep more than that. So because I have these two wooden blocks, I keep them all in, right? And then I have like a pen stand or two for some other extra things. But once I get something that I want to put into use, then something or some things have to be relegated into the long-term storage.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' So Anna in the chat room reminded me of the Fountain Pen Companion, which she's involved in. And that's a podcast of the same name. We'll put a link in the show notes where you can track your collection online and see what you have and things like that. So that might be something you should also check out. We'll put that in the show notes. All right. Liz H.R.S. Is looking for a pen or maybe a fountain pen ink resistant to solvents like ethanol. I'm a supply buyer at a college bookstore and was talking to a chem major who hasn't had any luck finding something. Any suggestions? So this topic actually comes up from time to time. And I haven't done a post recently. But I knew I had a post on the blog and it's from my friend Brian, who is one of my main Japanese contacts. He's kept in touch even since this post in 2009. He did a pen solubility test of different markers because he worked in a lab situation and was trying to answer this exact question. And, you know, there's not much in this post, but he did find that some of the gel ink pens really handled all of the different types of chemicals you run into in a lab type of situation. He's like one of the quotes is even the cheapest gel pens resisted alcohol attack, whereas the oil and liquid based inks leave a nice long smear. So some of the good gel ink pens like the Signo DX, it looked like it, you know, was barely even touched by anything that he put on the page. So you can find a few things like that. If you search online, you will find specific lab markers. I haven't tested any of these out, so I don't know. So, you know, I'm sure they're made specifically for this, but they're more in the marking category as opposed to the writing category. Although some of them have fine tips and I'm sure would write fairly well. So I don't know totally what those specifics are behind those. So if anyone has any more suggestions or any links to any reviews, I did a little bit of browsing around, couldn't really find anything, but some of the popular gel ink pens are actually quite resistant to various solvents in a lab situation. So take a look at that link in the show notes, Liz. And, you know, if we have any more suggestions, I will let you know. Fountain pen inks, I didn't even consider. I don't, is there even a thing, you know, maybe some of the crazy noodler stuff might do pretty well, but we'll see. We'll see what kind of feedback we get on that and I'll let you know.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Next one is something I've actually been thinking about recently and haven't moved on it yet, but this might be the impetus I need.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' V2JPT Unlocked says, I use a Write in the Rain notepad daily and write in it with a Sharpie retractable pen. I'm looking to improve my experience writing in the notepad. Any recommendation for a smooth writing felt pen or any that writes smoothly on this kind of paper? So, Myke, this is the water resistant paper. I don't know that it's the Yupo paper like in Field Notes Expedition, but generally pencils,

'''Brad Dowdy:''' ballpoint pens, and then alcohol based markers are what work on these types of pads. That's why the Sharpie has been working for him. The other things I would try that I don't have tested out specifically myself is there some multi-surface pens that might work for this. One of them in particular that seems to get a lot of play and it's not a felt tip, but the Pilot multi-ball seems to write on a lot of surfaces. And the type of ink I think should work on that paper. It's not something I tested out. And then for more of the felt tip, the oil-based drawing pens that Uni makes and Pilot makes, like, they don't work on regular paper at all, but they might work on that type of waterproof paper. I'll have to test this out myself because I haven't done it, but that's kind of where I'm leaning for. And JetPens has a really good, like, multi-surface pen page. We're going to link into the show notes. And some of the non-marker pens, you know, just like the look like traditional writing pens, those are the ones I'd test out first and see if they work out for what you need.

'''Myke Hurley:''' So... What about a Fisher Space Pen?

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah. I mean, that's a ballpoint. So... Yep. Any ballpoint is going to work just fine. Okay. And Right in the Rain's pens use Fisher Space Pen, but he was looking for something more like a Sharpie marker style. So that felt tip pen. So I think some of those oil-based Uniball and Pentel pens may work, or Pilot pens. So I'd be interested to see that myself. And I've been thinking about testing this out myself. Right in the Rain's made some really neat-looking notebooks here recently. I want to get one to try out. So we'll see. Okay.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Around Square says, I've been a listener for years, but never heard any mention of pen spinning. Brad and Myke, do either of you dabble in this art? I do not, but I find it fascinating. And the way pen spinning has always been, you know, in my mindset is these huge modification pens that aren't really pens. So like traditional basic pen spinning, you know, you can use any pen, but like the real pen spinners who are into this have all this like weighted system modification. It's more of a spinning baton, hand baton than a traditional pen that you'd want to write with. But I think it would be cool. Like ever since the beginning of the pen, I've had people reaching out for pen spinning.

'''Myke Hurley:''' They do tricks with a pen in their hands, right?

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yep. It's super cool. Yeah. But I've never gotten into it. But I think it's fun to watch and I'll go, wow, that's crazy. But it's weird seeing all these highly modified pens and stuff. But like I said, ever since the day one of the pen addict, I've always been asked about pen spinning and I've just never gotten into it. But I think it's very cool. So maybe one of these days we'll have a pen spin off, Myke, you and me.

'''Myke Hurley:''' I think it will go for a real long.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Mm. Yeah. Two seconds. F Nordstrom. Online ink samples will look very different depending on the screen you're viewing on due to manufacturer, color settings, etc. This is almost never discussed in the pen community. Is it a non-issue? What's your thoughts? I think it's an absolute issue with no solution.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Yep.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' So it's absolutely an issue that cannot be solved because you cannot dictate everyone's monitor settings. You cannot dictate everyone's photography settings. So you just have to look at a lot of samples and do the best you can. So it's 100% an issue that has a 0% chance of being fixed. You know, I understand the premise of the question. And is there a universal, perfect setting to view ink samples in? And you just can't. There's nothing that's going to beat seeing it in person. A computer screen, the photography, the editing. There's so many variables that you only hope you can see someone's take what someone has as the most consistent, perfect setup that you think is the most real. And that's going to be as probably as close as you're going to get to your eyes and your computer settings. I don't see any way this can ever be fixed. Do you have any thoughts on this?

'''Myke Hurley:''' No, because like this is even a problem with like jewelry. So I when I bought my watch, right, I'd seen the pictures online and felt like I knew how it looked. And then I went into the store and the face of my watch is like a creamy white. But in the store, the lighting made it look silver. So we had to go outside for me to check that it was the one that I wanted. Right. So like this is the problem, right? Like there's no such thing as like a consistent lighting environment. And that is a huge thing. Let alone the fact that like most of the colors that you see in ink samples on websites are done with like getting like a cotton swab or something and spreading the ink on a piece of paper. But that's not how you use the ink either. So like you might see a bunch of like color variation and shading and stuff, but that might not come out in your fine tipped Sailor Pro gear. So like, but this isn't a fact that nobody's doing anything wrong, but it is an example of how it is almost impossible to fix this situation. Right.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Right. So yeah.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Which is why we never bring it up because there's no, there's no solution that we can provide. I don't think.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah. And we all see things differently and we all have different settings on everything from, you know, the type of pen we use to the lighting and the photography to the computer. So I agree with the premise of the question that it's never discussed as being, okay, what's the universal setting for ink? Because it's an unsolvable problem. I mean, and no one's going to put that much time and effort. Into solving it for others. People, I've seen people put time and effort to solving it for themselves in their setup and to provide you with the best picture that they think is correct. But that's just one data point. So, you know, I, I would love it to be, you know, some perfect way to, to do this, but there's just never going to be anything's going to be using the ink with your own eyes and the own use case that you use in it on your own paper and the, in the specific room lighting. So it's tough. I mean, I'd like to be there to be the answer, but there never will be for this. Nope. Last one. Jenny from Alt Haven. What do you do with all the handwritten reviews you have done over the years? Did you keep them or trash them? I keep them. Every single one of them. Huh. Or most, every single one of them. I have countless notebooks that have been filled that just sit on the shelves filled with reviews, like a bunch of, when I use the, like the Done paper idea journal, which is one of my favorites. I, you know, just keep those up on the shelf, you know, filled. I have what amounts to a mill, a manila folder that looks like a giant bear is laying in because it, it closes at like a pretty much 45 degree angle, if not greater of just individual sheets that I stuff the loose sheets in. So I don't have like a perfect archive of everything that I've done, but I do keep the things, the sheets of paper that I've reviewed and just kind of stack them up. I don't know why, you know, I thought this would be funny one day if I just went in there and got people's addresses and just sent them a random review sheet of paper in the mail. I thought that would be a fun, fun thing just to, you know, clear some of this stuff out, but that seems like a big project too. It's a little intimidating, but yeah, I keep them all. So, and, but I don't have any like really, you know, like archive storage system. They're just stacked in a closet and some of the notebooks or who knows where and, you know, but I, it felt, it always felt weird to me to throw those away, even though there's no real reason to keep them either. So that's what I do.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Yeah. This is like, you won't get rid of those until you have to move.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yep.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Exactly. When you move one day and you're like, I'm not taking this with me. Yeah. I'll keep them. I'll keep them. That's what I did with a lot of my used notebooks, right? When we were getting ready to move, it was like, I am not, I am not taking a box of used paper with me. So then we just recycled them all.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yep. Yep. I would probably, I would probably keep these to my, my shagrin. I'm not even more fundamental than me. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

'''Myke Hurley:''' We'll see. If you would like to submit a question to be answered on a future episode of the Pen Addict, just send out a tweet with the hashtag AskTPA or you can hit Brad up by email, which is... Hello at PenAddict.com. And you could also hit them up in the Slack too, right? But, but tweets are the best because they go into a sheet that we can collect for later on. So that, that's the, the definitely the best way to send in your feedback is over to tweet with the hashtag AskTPA. Once again, thank you if you've become a RelayFM member and you can find links in our show notes today to join if you would like to. And our show notes are at relay.fm slash PenAddict slash 323 or in your podcast app of choice. If you want to find Brad online, you can go to PenAddict.com, Noc.co, Twitch.tv slash PenAddict. Brad is PenAddict on Instagram and Dowdy is on Twitter, D-O-W-D-Y-I-S-M. I am at iMike, I-M-Y-K-E. I want to thank again our friends at Blue Apron and Pen Chalet for the support of this show. And would you doggone believe it, I'm going to miss out on my hour just. Maybe next time I'll become man of the hour. But for this entire episode, it's been Brad Dowdy. So until next time, say goodbye, Brad. Goodbye, Brad, man of the hour champion. Even planned. Even planned. .

[[Category:Podcast Transcripts]]
[[Category:The Pen Addict Podcast Transcript]]