Editing The Pen Addict 377/transcript

{{Infobox podcast transcript
| name            = The Pen Addict
| number          = 377
| title           = Recreational Use
| date            = September 18th, 2019
| hosts           = [[Brad Dowdy]]<br>
[[Myke Hurley]]
| guests          = 
| link            = [https://www.relay.fm/penaddict/377 Episode 377]
| audiolink       = [https://www.podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/traffic.libsyn.com/thepenaddict/TPA_377.mp3 Audio Episode 377]
| length          = 67
}}

'''Myke Hurley:''' From RelayFM, this is The Pen Addict, episode 377. Today's show is brought to you by Squarespace, Moo, and Backblaze. My name is Myke Hurley and I am joined by Brad Dowdy. Hi Brad Dowdy.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Hey Myke Hurley, how are you today?



== Ask TPA Questions ==


'''Myke Hurley:''' Good, we're finally going to get rid of those, well not rid of, that sounds mean. We're finally going to get to and answer Ask TPA questions today. We've been teasing it for like weeks, we keep pointing them off. Today is an Ask TPA episode.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah, and you can tell that I already love y'all more than Myke does, because Myke was trying to get rid of y'all while I was trying to save y'all and answer all the questions thoroughly and as accurately as possible.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Okay, well then that's your job today, to answer every single question, both thoroughly and accurately, otherwise you've let down the listeners.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah, that's actually not my MO. Thoroughly, maybe, accurately, definitely not.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' I'm back in Memphis again, Brad. Good grief, man. What is up? When are you moving? Just make it permanent or get like a permanent residence or what is going on? What has pushed our recording time back an hour today?

'''Myke Hurley:''' I'm in Memphis, Tennessee, because on Friday, September 20th, is the RelayFM Podcast-a-thon for St. Jude, starting at 4pm Eastern. For six hours, we're going to be broadcasting live on Twitch from the St. Jude campus. So I'm going to put a link in the show notes to a Twitch event, so you'll be able to see exactly what time we'll be broadcasting in your time zone, no matter where you are in the world. But then you'll be able to catch us on twitch.tv slash RelayFM. So you can hit like, you can subscribe and like follow us and you'll understand when we're going to be streaming out because it will get a notification and stuff. But you know what you need to do. You're going to have to be there or be square. It's going to be an incredible day. Brad is going to be, my understanding, as Stephen told me, I didn't know this, Brad is going to be in the chat moderating for the entire time.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Is that right? That's the plan right now. So I booked myself to help mod. Stephen asked me to help mod and I said, well, I'm pretty much, I'll do my part and I can try to be there the whole time. It's only the very, very beginning, you know, depending on when I get back from school and if I've gotten all my work finished getting back from picking up the kids from school. I plan on modding the entire event along with others. So there'll be others.

'''Myke Hurley:''' And why are we doing this? Why are we doing this? Because it's September. And in September, you can join supporters, including RelayFM, around the world during Childhood Cancer Awareness Month to help raise money for the kids of St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. And we do this because St. Jude makes sure that families never receive a bill for anything. You pay for nothing if you are a St. Jude family. They pay for food for you. They put you in housing and then pay for all of the care for your child as they're going through something which is absolutely horrific. They want to take all that stress away from you. And that's what they do. And that is why they are such an incredible organization that we want to support. Every single year, between 180,000 and 240,000 children are diagnosed with cancer worldwide. And St. Jude will not stop until no child dies from cancer. You can donate today at stjude.org slash penaddict to join the fight to end childhood cancer. That is stjude.org slash penaddict. St. Jude's Research Institute I'm absolutely blown away. I just got chills when I opened our fundraising page. It's crazy. So our original goal was $75,000. That was what we wanted to raise. We are currently at $142,935. By the end of today, we may pass the double.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' That's crazy. That's so awesome. I've explained just how excited I am about this whole thing. And to see all the Relay fans and supporters come out in droves for this event, I could not be more proud of a singular community.

'''Myke Hurley:''' It is unbelievable. We want to raise $175,000 now because why not? So help us get there. Because we've done such incredible things.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Why not keep it going? Complete sidebar, somewhat related as I'm walking in to go record the podcast today.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' My wife told me to make sure I picked up the stickers for my son for his baseball team this weekend. I said, what stickers do you mean? And she said, well, they're all wearing the yellow ribbon for Childhood Awareness Month on their helmets for the tournament this weekend. So I'll try to get a picture for y'all.

'''Myke Hurley:''' I would love to see that. Yeah, that's right. So yellow, the gold card, if you're wondering why the RelayFM logo on the pen addict artwork has changed to gold, just because that's the color for Childhood Cancer Awareness Month. Breast cancer has pink. Everybody knows that. And so this is one that we should all start to learn as well. In September, everything goes gold.



== Ink Discussion Begins ==


'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yep. Yep. So very cool. Speaking of going gold, Myke, that was an interesting transition that I could actually pull off because I want to talk to you about sheening ink before we get into all of these ass TPAs.

'''Myke Hurley:''' All right.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' And I'm not going to go down this path too far, but I've been so pleased with what Cult Pens and Diamine have come up with for their sheening inks. It's the iridescent color line. Cult Pens always sends me theirs to test out, and I've been kind of taken by them, smitten, if you will. And one of the reasons in the past I've kind of stayed away from inks that have a heavy, heavy sheen is because they tend to kind of mess up the overall ink properties. Like sometimes those inks don't dry as well or don't dry fast enough or kind of get a little bit sticky or just that they don't seem super healthy for your fountain pens and regular usage. But after using these Diamine inks for months now, I am happy to say that they've been very, very well behaved, essentially just like your basic normal ink, like you would expect, which is what you want when you have some type of specialty ink, like if it's going to exhibit a special property like sheen. And I think it's good enough that you should try it. And I say this knowing that you don't really branch out on ink colors a whole lot, like you have your oranges that you like.

'''Myke Hurley:''' I would say I've been getting better at it this year, I would say. I've been pushing it a little bit more, like I just got all those Monteverde inks, right, and I've been swapping out some stuff. But yeah, I would agree. My ink collection has probably grown as much in the last year as it has in the last five. Right. So it probably is time to start branching out a bit more.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' I say that because I think you might like these. Like there's four of them so far. You can go look at the colors, pick one. They're all named Maureen, Robert, Christine, and Phillip.

'''Myke Hurley:''' I just figured I would get all of them.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Okay. There's that. And there is a nice purple with gold sheet.

'''Myke Hurley:''' They're only £9.50 each on cold pens. So they're not really expensive. Yeah. And Adina really likes trying out new inks as well.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' That's true. That's true. So she can definitely participate in this. But I love them. They're just fun to use, fun to write with. And it's a little bit of a stretch for you. And sometimes it's good to be out of your comfort zone a little bit. Like this would not be something you would normally buy for yourself just on a whim, I don't think. But like you said, the price is so good. And it's essentially local to you at home.

'''Myke Hurley:''' It's probably a bad idea to buy it right now because I'm away. But I'm going to buy it right now because otherwise I'm going to forget. And then I'll just deal with the re-delivery when I get home.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah. Yeah. So I want you to try one out. Like they are all really cool inks to use. And I've found great enjoyment in them. And I wanted to share that with you. And I think you might just kind of like it for something different.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Well, I've ordered all four of the cold pens, iridescent inks. Christine, Maureen, Philip, and Robert. And I love those names so much. They're so British. It's absolutely fantastic.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' It's hilarious. So the story is, which we probably spoke about the first time that I reviewed the inks, is they put it out to their customers. Say, hey, help us name these new inks. And they thought it would be some silly like, you know, emoji style name. Inky face. Yeah. Yeah. And then somehow they came up with Maureen and Robert. And now they're just totally running with it. And it's brilliant. Like it came out so well. Just the naming convention alone. And now they've just taken that and run with it. That's lovely.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Oh, the theme system sold out.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Nice. So I have that in my notes to work on for next week to go through the website between now. I just put that in my notes this morning, actually, when I was building this document, knowing that we wouldn't have time for it today, is to take the time between this episode and next episode to go through the site and get my notebook set up. So, you know, maybe a bad idea seeing that no one can buy them again. But, hey, you can't be too sad about that. No.

'''Myke Hurley:''' If you want to buy one, go put your name into the...

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Give us another list.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Yeah. Actually, if you go to the themesystem.com as well, I'm setting up a mailing list there, which would be a more permanent mailing list. Yeah, that's a good idea. Because, you know, the Comp Bureau one is, right, so they emailed everyone. And I think the list resets now. So it's people that bought it don't get the same email over and over again. Correct. But if you do want the same email over and over again, then go to the theme system website. And you can sign up for an email mailing list. And I'll be contacting people with updates and information about that over time. Cool, cool.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' And I have not listened to the latest Cortex, but it is in the queue. I'm assuming y'all talked about it there.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Yeah. Spoilers. The next episode, we go into a lot of detail. And maybe, possibly, there's a rumor we might be giving out actual numbers of how many we ordered. Nice. Nice. That's a rumor going around town.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Cool, cool, cool. I like it. All right. We got loads to get to today. And we do not have loads of time to get to all of it. So let's see what we can do about hammering these.



== Sponsor Segment ==


'''Myke Hurley:''' All right. Today's episode is brought to you by Squarespace. Make your next move with Squarespace because they let you easily create a website for your next idea of a unique domain name, award-winning templates, and so much more. Maybe you want to create an online store. Maybe you want to create a portfolio or blog. I was just talking about the theme system website. I built all of that on Squarespace. It was so easy to do because they're an all-in-one platform. They had all of the functionality that I wanted. And they're going to have all of the functionality that you want, too. And they have a bunch of great applications. Their analytics app is awesome. So you can see how many people are coming to your site and learn about stuff there. They also have their standard Squarespace app where you can add content and even rearrange content blocks and redesign your website all from the app now as well. There's nothing to install or patch or worry about with Squarespace. No upgrades needed. They take care of all of that stuff so you don't have to. But they also have 24-7 customer support on hand in case you need it. Squarespace plans start at just $12 a month. But you can start a trial today with no credit card required. Just go to squarespace.com slash penaddict. And then use the offer code penaddict when you sign up to get 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain and to show your support for this show. Once again, thank you so much to Squarespace. That's squarespace.com slash penaddict. And the code penaddict for 10% off. Squarespace. Make your next move. Make your next website.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' All right. Let's do it. It's a lot. Let's go.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Hashtag ask TPA time. First one comes from Sgrst who asks, I guess you've covered this many times before. But since I have a whole new batch of cards this month, credit cards, what is the best pen to sign the back of a credit card?

'''Brad Dowdy:''' I actually did that this week. I keep a specific pen for that or a specific style of pen. But before I tell you what it is, I should tell you that someone tried to steal our credit cards this week, which is why I had to sign on the back of a new one. So it's been a fun week with the credit bureaus and credit companies at the penaddict household. But everything's taken care of. No damage done. Other than about, I guess this is like the third round of new cards in about a week. To answer your question, I signed it with the Sharpie Ultra Fine permanent marker. Like that's pretty much the only answer. I did this one in brown because that's what I had handy. I'll usually do it in black. I also keep an orange one available in the Ultra Fine model. That is the singular answer for this. No other answer will be accepted from the community. Thank you.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Wow. Okay. Just to put a full stop on this, can you give us the full brand of the pen again? I just want to like make sure everybody completely is aware that this is the last time it's ever spoken about, I guess.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' No, no. We can talk about it all the time. It's the Sharpie permanent marker Ultra Fine. So you have to have the fine tip to write in that little tiny window that they give you on the back of your cards. This isn't the Ultra Fine.

'''Myke Hurley:''' This isn't their pen, is it?

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Nope. It's a permanent marker.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Okay.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah. It's basically, it's the same ink.

'''Myke Hurley:''' And a lot of colors. 41 colors.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah. They've expanded this lineup. They're really good at drawing. I mean, people use, you gotta, the paper you use matters, obviously, but Sharpies are great art markers for specific cases. They're such good colors.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Quinn writes in and says, hi, Brad and Myke. I'm not a Twitter user, so I'm doing this old school. I sent an email. I've been on a quest on and off for years, and I'm at my wit's end. Uh, I need the pen addict community's help. I'm an academic, and I do a lot of writing by hand. When I'm editing my work, I often print it out and take a red or orange or purple pen to it. I normally use a high-tech C slim refill loaded into my shown design pen, or a plain old high-tech C in the plastic barrel. I hate that plastic barrel. Both work great, but I have always wished I could use a fountain pen, and so every few months I make some new attempt to do so. The problem is my department's paper. Every ink I've tried, Sailor Nano inks, KWZ Iron Gault inks, they feather terribly no matter what the nibs. Sailor Medium, Pilot Fine, even the latest edition of Pilot Extra Fine. No matter what, I get a feathery blob that is just way too thick for line edits. We print a lot in my department, so it's a good thing we use eco-friendly recycled paper, but boy is it bad for liquid ink. So pen addicts, where can I turn? The only ink I have found that does work is the Sailor Kiwa Guru, but I need a colored ink that will really pop off the page, so Sailor's also is out. Is there a hope, or is it time to accept, so long as I am using my workplace paper, I need to stick with my admittedly wonderful micro gel ink pens?

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah, so we get this question quite frequently. Usually my stock answers involve some of the inks that they've tried already, like the Sailor Nano, KWZ Iron Gault. Usually basic Pilot Blue or Pilot Black or Lamy Blue or Black work pretty well, but Quinn needs something that pops off the page. You know, KWZ Iron Gault is where I would have sent you. Yeah, Platinum Classics has similar colors and iron gall properties that might be worth trying out. You know, outside of that, it's really, you're going to have to decide whether you want to just stick with black or blue and do something like Noodler's X Feather or Bernanke Black or something like that. Yeah, I feel like that's not going to work though, right?

'''Myke Hurley:''' Because with the marking up, as Quinn was saying, that you kind of need something colorful to make it work. But yeah, it's a shame.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' So about the only other choice that you haven't tried that you didn't list, but I don't have high confidence in based on the other things you have tried and don't work, are the Platinum Classics. You can at least get some nice reds and greens and yellows out of those shades and purples. And use like the fine, and I would stick with the Pilot EF nib, like the finest nib you can get away with, you know, just to, you want to limit the amount of ink that's hitting the page. And it just may be an out of luck type of situation. Just feel that way. Yeah, or, you know, you can buy, you know, your own ream of good paper and stick it into the most important printer that you know is going to work. And that way, you know, you can just be a little sneaky, you know, invest in some stealth paper purchases and use that for your specific work. Although that's a hassle, you know, but you can get, you know, the HP 32 pound. And if you know what you could do, Brad, Kukuyo makes it.

'''Myke Hurley:''' This is, look, I know this is terrible for the environment, but like find a photocopier and photocopy what comes out of what you're given from the printer onto good paper. Would that work? Wow. I don't even know if that would work.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah, I think you just, at that point, you're just getting into the printer, copier paper trays and putting your stealth move in there. So, yeah, it's a tough situation. It's the universal pen addicts problem, right? It is workplace. Workplace supplies are the pen addicts demise.

'''Myke Hurley:''' That's good, man. You should put that on like a sticker or something. That's like a... I just came up with that off the top of my head. I think you should keep that one. You got to write that one down. It's good. All right. That's very good. Get on that chat room. There you go. It comes from Brian. I wanted to thank you for your blog as it has, I'm assuming they're talking to me here. It's a strong influence on my own pen addiction. The problem is, despite my amassing several pens that are each in their own way interesting, I find myself reaching for what I consider workhorse pens. They just appeal to me more. Others go neglected, even though they are perfectly fine writers made out of beautiful materials. There are certainly folk out there who would enjoy these pens, which are hardly used. Can you suggest a strategy or forum to go about thinning the herd?

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah, so the strategy is the tough part or could be the easy part. You know, you've... Brian has started on this path thinking, well, I don't use these pens as much as my most favorite pens. So there should be a way for me to parcel these off and, you know, maybe sell them to someone else or trade them for something else I like. You know, the Pen Addict Slack room is good for that. You can email me for an invite. There's a good sell trade channel on there. There's Fountain Pen Swap on Reddit, I believe is the Reddit name, which is very popular. It's also, you know, they do a good job of moderating it and have, you know, decent, you know, protection as much as you can online. Like, you can't guarantee any transactions online, no matter how, you know, protected they seem to be. But that seems to get good recommendations on there. And I would just bounce around, you know, Reddit and then maybe FP Geeks. And they have a sell trade message board or classifieds board. I forget the name. There's also the Virtual Pen Show on Instagram, which will take and sell your pens for you, I believe is how it works. So you'll have to look into the details. But we'll put some links into the show notes to a couple of these resources. But, like, step one is the hardest part that I have trouble with, you know, my perpetual I'm going to sell my pens statement that, you know, I get yelled at about all the time. And rightfully so. It's just I never can break down and sit down and, like, commit to just going full Marie Kondo on my collection and selling off the ones that don't get as much use, you know. So that's get past step one and then you can work on step two.



== Topic Shift ==


'''Myke Hurley:''' Which pens spark joy? Okay.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' That's right.

'''Myke Hurley:''' I'm asking you which.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Oh, so I actually did that a little bit this morning. Like, I'm going through. Well, I need to clean, like, the handful of pens I have inked up because they've been inked up for a while and it's just time for new pens. So I sat there this morning and I found a sailor pen that I haven't used in a while. And it's the Imperial Black, the one that's all black, rhodium trim and has the metal section on it. And I bet I haven't used that in six, eight months. And it's just a glorious pen. So we just we have that one inked up with Sailor Yamadori this morning. That's what I'm using for show notes. And it's glorious. It sparks joy. It would not be it would not be sold.

'''Myke Hurley:''' This question comes from Zach. I've been listening to the show for a bit, but I've just really started getting into pens and I'm looking for a fountain pen and plan a recommendation. I'm a student in college, so I want something that will not be too out of place, but isn't crazy formal either. For pens, I really like a smooth writing experience with no scratchy feeling and thick, dark and wide lines. I push my pens really hard on the page and hold my pens in three fingers where it rests on my finger, my ring finger, my middle and index fingers. And I hold it then with my thumb kind of loops over the top. That's difficult to conceptualize, but I think I understand what Zach's saying.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' I'm mimicking it right now.

'''Myke Hurley:''' I think I got it. As a student, I write on a variety of papers, so I need something that will be able to hold up to that too. So far, my favorite pens have been the Signo Uniball 207.7 millimeters and the G2.7 millimeters. If you can give paper or planner an ink recommendation too, that would be insanely helpful. Thank you guys for the amazing work. I want to say Twisby here, Bold or Stubnib, because that's a similar route to me. I think Zach actually has pretty similar preferences to me because they're using 0.7 millimeter gelling pens. So I recommend going for a Bold to start with for a fountain pen or a good medium and maybe looking at Twisby as a pen brand that's going to give you, I think, good results and not be too expensive and also doesn't look too stuffy. I get that's what Zach's going for here.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' That's actually a good answer. And I would actually just expand on that to go with the 580 if your grip's a little bit off. The Eco and the Eco-T little molded grip areas may not work as well. 580's got a round grip, so your grip should fit. It's also wider, not than other Twisbys, but than other pens. So if you have that many fingers on the pen while you're riding, that extra barrel diameter helps. It also has some of the sturdiest, firmest steel nibs on the market. So like Zach says, they press really hard on the page, which is always a scary thing, which is why when we get into the planter section, you know, as much as nice as something with, you know, a thin page like a, you know, with the Tomoe pages. That's just not going to look good when you press that hard. The pressure marks will go through to the page behind it, and that will be an annoyance. So you want to look at something like Leuchtturm and Rodeo. Rodeo would probably handle the thicker, wider nibs and more ink better than Leuchtturm. I use Leuchtturm, and I use broad inks in it, or excuse me, broad nibs in it with fountain pen inks, and it's pretty okay. I think Rodeo would be better in this situation. And then you'll just have to figure out what planter style layout you have, like Rodeo has a bunch. Second from that, I'd probably try Midori for a planter layout with a good paper that's going to be able to handle the wet inks and the pressure that you write with.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Do not recommend Hobonichi's. The Tomoe River paper is going to be too much of a jump, I think, for what you're looking for right now.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah, and I think the Jibun Techo from Kukuyo would be good, but I don't know anyone that's tested their new paper out yet. So I want to hold off and test that for myself. I have some coming. They switched their paper this year, and I want to test it out to see. So we'll see. We'll see.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Kind of a slight continuation from 24 hours, 100 miles. My 2SP580 Extra Fine is my favorite nib. For as fine as it is, it's not scratchy and allows me to take great notes. What are your favorite Extra Fine nibs under the $150 price range? Or how is the stock Platinum Ultra Extra Fine as well while we're at it?



== Nib Size Discussion ==


'''Brad Dowdy:''' I would scratch that Ultra Extra Fine off your wish list right now. Why is that? It's awesome. It's too fine. It is levels under an Extra Fine nib. Even Platinum's Extra Fine, which is what my answer would be to this question. It's Platinum's Extra Fine. Platinum's Extra Fine, I might be wrong, which is normal. It's around a 0.3 millimeter tip size. The UEF is 0.1. It's extreme. So unless you have a crazy light hand, that's a nib like very few people get along with. It's very specific. I'd want you to be very careful if you purchase that nib without trying it first. So I would go with something like the Platinum EF nib, which I think is fantastic. The Pilot makes some of their pens now in that price range. Some of the Gold nib pens with the Extra Fine nib. Also, the Pilot's Fine nibs are pretty fine as well. They're close to the TWSBI 580 in fineness. So Pilot Fine, Platinum Fine, Platinum Extra Fine, and then maybe Pilot Extra Fine if you can find them. They are in a few models in that $120 to $140 price range. The $95, the $74, I don't know if it comes in Extra Fine, but it comes in Fine. So just be looking around at those. Those are what I would go with as opposed to the Platinum UEF. And I will say the Platinum nibs and these Gold nibs are going to be softer than your 580 Extra Fine. So just be prepared for that. TWSBI is a very firm nib, which I love. I think it's great, but there's a difference in writing with them.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Okay. I've never gotten near them, and I can't imagine I ever would either.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' There's no need. Like, I don't even enjoy them, and I like writing small. Like, I'm using my Sailor needlepoint that I had ground down, and it's amazing. And the Platinum UEF is probably around the same size, but the Sailor nib is firmer, and that's where the Platinum nib kind of gets you. It's a little bit softer.

'''Myke Hurley:''' All right. Randall Mark asks, would Noodler's Apache Sunset and a small Sailor Pro gear be the real Slim Shady?

'''Brad Dowdy:''' What's this week's sponsor, Myke?

'''Myke Hurley:''' Backblaze! Thank you so much to Backblaze for their support of this week's episode. The unlimited cloud backup for Macs and PCs that starts at just $6 a month with no gimmicks and no add-ons. It's a five-year anniversary of my worst data disaster. A month before RelayFM started, I knocked a pint of Coke, I think, into my laptop, destroyed it. And I was not backing up properly with that machine. I did not have a cloud backup in place, and I was a fool. And I took my laptop out of commission a month before I was starting my new company. And I know I lost some data. I kept a lot of stuff in, like, Dropbox or whatever, but I didn't have everything in there, right? But that's the problem with data disasters.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Sometimes you don't know exactly what you've lost. That is, like, the scariest part, right? Like, you've lost something, but what was it? Are you ever going to know until you try and find it? Nobody wants to live that way. That's a horrible way to live. I am urging everybody to sign up for Backblaze. Because it will back up all of your documents, your music, photos, videos, maybe your drawings. No matter what the projects are, everything that is important to you can be backed up with Backblaze. Sometimes you need to access a file on the go. And once you've got everything backed up, you can use their mobile apps to access all of your data anywhere in the world. Backblaze have backed up 750 petabytes of data and counting. That is the equivalent of 750 million gigabytes. These folk know their stuff. I use Backblaze now. I love Backblaze. It's so easy. I just have it sitting on my iMac and it's just backing everything up for me. It backs up all the stuff I have on Dropbox. It backs up everything that's on my desktop. I never have to worry about losing a file ever again. Go to backblaze.com slash penaddict and you can try it out for 15 days. It's a fully featured 15-day free trial. And let them know that you heard about them on the Penaddict. So that's backblaze.com slash penaddict to sign up today. Trust me. Please go and check it out. Backblaze has saved me from many more data disasters. Make sure they're doing it for you too. And thank you for their support of the show.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' I'm a little concerned about this next question, Myke. Are we going to get run off of our own show? It's possibly.

'''Myke Hurley:''' So Seth says, my question is for Adina. I'm slowly coming to terms with the idea of buying an expensive pen after years of recreational use of Twisbees. Islamis and the like. I like that recreational use. My one previous fancy pen purchase was a Waterman Kareen. It's a beautiful gold nibbed pen, but was an underwhelming writing experience. That is my experience of all Waterman pens.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' That's fair. That's fair.

'''Myke Hurley:''' I see my next purchase going in one of two ways. Either a canalea, I wonder why, or a high quality Japanese pen such as a Sailor. The canalea designs truly speak to me and Hawaii has been a special place in my life since I met my wife there many years ago. But I've been hearing for years Brad and Myke going on and on about the Sailor writing experience. So my question to you is, since you just bought a canalea and a high quality Japanese pen, which direction would you recommend? So that's for Adina. Seth does follow up with Brad and Myke. I'd love to hear your thoughts as well. I know you both love these pen companies. How does the writing experience compare? All things being equal, I'd go for the canalea, but I am missing something having never tried a higher end Japanese gold nib pen. Thank you for your help and keep up the great work. I look forward to my commute home every Wednesday. So I asked Adina for her answer for this and then we can answer too. So she wrote this down for me today. So this is Adina's answer. From my very limited experience of pens, at least compared to Myke and Brad, I would recommend going with the canalea. I personally think that a pen that means a lot to you will bring you much more emotional value than a slightly better writing experience. Hawaii has a special place in my heart too. And my canalea has this magic about it that feels like it's transporting me back there every time I stare at it. So it makes me happy to write with it because of that. Sailor and Platinum obviously make great nibs. Moving from a Twisbee and all of those and all to one of those won't be a mind-blowing experience, Adina says. If you do end up getting a canalea and you're still wondering whether you're missing out on the writing experience, you could maybe send it to someone like Masayama for a nib tuning. Look at that. That's something other people do in this world and he'll know what to do with it. I love that answer. All right. So I... Okay. So given this question without the middle part of the tie to Hawaii, I would say to go with a sailor pen first. Every time. Yeah. Because the Japanese experience is completely different. They are without a shadow of a doubt, no matter how good other nibs are, no matter how good how they write, you can't beat Japanese gold nib pens. You just can't do that. You just can't. I'm sorry.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' You just can't. But... And if that's the price point you're shopping in, you can get a 1911 large. You can get the standard pro gear. You can get the full-size big sailor nib. But every time I'm going to pick that. Like, Seth just has to try to figure out, one, how is he going to use this pen the most? Like, if he's writing a lot and it really matters, like, not that you're not going to get a good writing experience with Ken Alayda. It would be great. But the sailor is going to be that pen for you. Now, if you are going into the emotions of it and the meaningfulness of it to you personally, I get the argument. But if you put those two pens in front of me, you know, as, like, your first big purchase, and if you're not, you know, dead set on one or the other, I'm going to pick sailor. Like, every time.

'''Myke Hurley:''' I understand, but I actually, I agree with Adina. So, if you're going to be spending that kind of money, right, you're looking at maybe $400. I think that having a pen that when you look at, just looking at makes you feel good, that is a, I think, when you're jumping into that world, is a more meaningful experience and a better way to spend your money. That's where I'm going with this one.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' So, that's the question that only Seth can answer. Yes. Right. But I believe. So, we didn't make it easy. We didn't make it easy.

'''Myke Hurley:''' No. I mean, well, it's two to one, I guess, depending on how you want to look at it. But, like, I am in agreement with the experience being, like, superior. The writing experience will be superior. But I think that the Canalea pen will provide a level of happiness that you'll feel that you'll be very, very happy with.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yep. Yep. So, that's something to consider. So, that's how Seth should kind of think about going into this, you know, and have that memory. And that means a lot when you have pens that mean something to you. Like, I talk about that all the time. It's like, you know, someone, you know, gave me this pen or I worked hard for this pen and found it. And those, you attach more meaning to those things, right? So, yeah, that's great.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Yeah. And, yeah, I just think that when you're making that jump to that level, for me personally, and I found this myself, meaning is maybe more than experience. Because it's not like you're going to get a bad one, right? That's not what we're saying. But there's just a difference. But I think that having something that means something to you is going to help more.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yep. Definitely a no wrong answer question.



== Topic Shift - Notebooks ==


'''Myke Hurley:''' All right. So, the next question comes from Fip. And Fip asks, Brad, I'd love to know your answer to my question. I think it would make a good RSTPA. I'm a high school teacher, and I bring an A4 letter-sized pad of paper to class to take notes. I want something fountain pen-friendly because I like to use my vanishing point on my Sailor 1911 tangerine. I've been using rhodia pads for a while. I like them, but the glossiness of the paper makes for more smudging in the heat of mid-class note-taking. Is there a similar top staple-bound pad that is fountain pen-friendly, but has less glossiness and therefore a quicker dry time? I'm thinking of something like Apica's or Midori's paper quality. I need this particular format because I keep the pad in an A4 folio that has a slot for a top staple-bound pad.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' That top staple-bound is such a kicker. Yeah, yeah. That's why the Rodeo one's so popular. Like, Life and Midori both make A4-sized pads, but they're all side-bound. Gosh, I don't know that I have a great answer off the top of my head. Something maybe exists. Maybe Life actually might make one. I'd have to dig through their catalog a little bit. It's certainly not the most popular, but I know they do do some top-bound stuff. I'd have to look and see if they do a top-bound A4. That's my only guess off the top of my head just because they already have A4 as a regular size. So that's kind of the way to go.

'''Myke Hurley:''' I'm looking through Japans.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah. Morriman also does A4, but it's a landscape size, landscape layout. Like, the spiral is make it on the left-hand side, on the long side, I believe. So we'll have to see. Like, that's an answer I do not know off the top of my head.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Life doesn't seem to make the notebook you're looking for there.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. I'll do a little bit of digging. I'll see if I can come up with something else.

'''Myke Hurley:''' All right. Tiny Messy Kitchen asks, Any idea why my brand-new Micron pen won't work on a legal pad, paper, or printer paper? I've had this issue of all of my pens in my office and can't figure out what is making them dry out.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' That is not something I've ever run across. And then the picture that they included, this is a pen problem. That is not a paper problem. Like, does this happen on multiple pens?

'''Myke Hurley:''' It says all of my pens in my office and can't figure out what's making them dry out.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' I'm looking at this output. Maybe it's the paper. I mean, you just need to... I don't normally have this issue with microns, and I use them religiously. I have never seen any paper look like this where the paper's been the cause. This looks like the pen is the cause on this paper. But unless something... It's got some weird coating and weird finish on this one particular paper. I just think it's probably a pen problem. But if it's all the pens, then I guess we've got to boot that paper. But I have never not had a micron work right out the gate. Now, I've ruined them over time because they're very fragile, but not as far as what the ink flow is or should be.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Could it be an environment problem?

'''Brad Dowdy:''' For the micron, I wouldn't think so. Because the way that plastic tip works, the ink is kind of always present. And I don't know that, say, hot, cold, or humidity would change that. It could change the paper more than the pen. So, you know, that could be a thing. But I don't know. The output on this picture makes it look like a pen problem to me, specifically to that one pen. If it's multiple pens, well, then that could be a paper issue and you just have to try something else. But microns don't normally have an issue like that.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Greg Co3 says, How did you open yourself up to trying different nib sizes on pens? Did you just buy one you thought was interesting and force yourself to use it for a while to see if it grew on you? Or did it just seem to happen? Can I answer this? Yeah, go ahead. So, for me, the majority of experimentation that I've done with different nib sizes is when I find a pen that I really like or a pen brand that I really like, like Sailor, for example. And then I see a model of pen that is very interesting to me, but the nib sizes are limited. And then I'll be like, well, I really like this pen, so I'll try a different nib size because I know I already like this company's nibs. So, I have quite a wide selection. I have a fine pen, medium, broad. I have a medium fine. I have a couple of zoom nibs and a music nib in Sailor pens now because I keep finding pens that I like and the nib sizes might be limited. So, I just give it a go. Try something else.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' So, mine's kind of the same thing in that I bought too many pens to try too many different things. And I've actually gone back to the beginning, it seems like. So, I started out. The only reason I decided I could use a fountain pen was because, you know, enough people told me that I could get the super fine writing that I wanted in a fountain pen. And it turns out you can. So, that led into the exploration of all the sizes. Well, if I like that, maybe I'll like all these other sizes. Turns out I don't really like the middle range of nib sizes like medium and broad and traditional, you know, German nibs.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Those sizes don't really work for me. I like the stub nibs and I like the extra fine and fine and even to medium Japanese nibs. But it did take a little while to figure that out and, you know, too much money spent on things that I didn't really like. So, I tried to mimic my handwriting style in non-fountain pens as best as I could. And the results were that, hey, it is, you know, the extra fines and the stub nibs that work the best for me. But it was just a matter of, like Myke said, you know, you end up really wanting a pen. It's only got a certain nib option. And trying it, most of the time, I regretted that decision. Like, I ended up not liking it. So, I'd sell the pen or get the nib modified. So, you know, it's basically that's how I learned what I liked. But it was through trial and error and forcing myself to use things and then realizing that my handwriting doesn't look as good with certain nib types. And then eliminating them from my collection. So, you know, I don't know if that's a great answer to your question. But, yeah, it's basically through trial and error and dollars, unfortunately.

'''Myke Hurley:''' All right. The next question comes from Even Supposing. Once the Kickstarter gets fulfilled and you get more set up, do you think you'll bring the spoke pen to the pen show circuit? I'd love to be able to see one and pick one up in person. And also, when are you going to make a spoke fountain pen?

'''Brad Dowdy:''' So, we got to get through this project first. So, quick update. Brian put out on Monday. We're still having, like, manufacturing ups and downs. So, we're getting there. Hopefully, you know, we can get this thing wrapped up in the next few weeks or maybe month or so. But we're close to getting it wrapped up. And we cannot wait because so many people are on the list to get these pens. We've been happy with the results. And just, you know, I know the people who are waiting are just super frustrated while everyone's enjoying their awesome spoke pen. So, we'll get there. We're almost there.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Oh, what? You mean like this?

'''Myke Hurley:''' Yeah.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Wonderful. Wonderful.

'''Myke Hurley:''' One of mine has joined my permanent, like, travel kit. So, I have the original Sapello, the blue label one. Oh, wow. Remember that guy?

'''Brad Dowdy:''' That's super rare. Yeah.

'''Myke Hurley:''' That is, like, that was the first ever show special I think you did. That was years ago at Atlanta. Yep. Yep. I have that. And I have the, this is cool. I have the Pen Addict Retro 51. Nice. Pen Addict Sharpie. And my orange spoke pen. Yeah. With a couple of field notes.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah. You need to take a picture of this. Is this, have you? You may have already. I haven't seen it.

'''Myke Hurley:''' I haven't. I haven't.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' But I'll do that. So, to answer the question, when I got back from San Francisco, Brian's question to me was, do you think spoke pen would do good if we took it to a pen show? And I think my answer was yes to specific pen shows. Like, San Francisco would be a good show. So, it's a definite maybe. Like, certainly no plans right now. That's getting way ahead of ourselves. I could see it being an option down the line sometime. And when are you going to make a spoke fountain pen? We got to get through this first. And then we have at least two other things in the hopper that we're going to try to bring to fruition before we get to a fountain pen. And that's a whole different level of, what's the word, maintenance that I don't know that we're ready for yet. There's a lot that goes into just stocking and inventorying fountain pen parts and not to mention making a good one that I think would be a good for the market. So, that's less likely than us showing up at a pen show with spoke pens and stuff to sell. But not impossible. We have designs all the time, but we have other designs that we want to do before we even think about doing a fountain pen.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Interesting. So, you mean different designs of possibly gel ink pens?

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah. Yeah. And other things.



== Accessory Focus ==


'''Brad Dowdy:''' On the accessory side of things as opposed to the pen side of things.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Right. Oh.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Okay. Okay. Fine. Yeah. Fine. Interesting. All right. Yeah. Something to look out for, I guess. Emile asks, I've always liked Sharpies on markers. I've gotten into huge trouble when I wrote in a blue marker for the entirety of my fifth grade class. Emile, I'm so with you on this one. I love Emile. I wrote in like a pink gel ink pen. One of those Pilot V5s, I think. I found them in like pink and purple. Oh, no. What's the disposable fountain pen that they make? Who? Is it Pilot? Yeah.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Varsity. I mean, they make the Varsity. Yeah. I don't think it's called that.

'''Myke Hurley:''' In the UK. But like they're plastic and they're just disposable. And I could get them in a bunch of colors. And I used to write in pink and purple pen. I used to get in so much trouble for that. I wrote my English coursework in it. And then they photocopied it and sent it to the exam board. Right. So it'd be in black and white. I just love that color so much, says Emile. Even the scoldings and the F grades couldn't stop me. You go for it, Emile. You stick it to them. Anyway, I recently bought some Secura Microns and they're amazing. Archival ink, good colors, and they work superbly with watercolors. So I tried to write with them and here lies the rub. None of the markers and Sharpies have the ergonomic shapes my fountain pens have. Are there any pens like Secura with a proper grip section and little bulkier bodies? Don't say Parker 5th generation because F that, apparently.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah. Do you remember the Parker 5th? No. We talked about this years and years. This is probably like five years ago in our seven-year journey. It's the really expensive Parker barrel where you buy that fake fountain pen nib where the plastic tip drawing pens nib sticks out.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Oh, my God. I remember this look.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Oh, my God. This pen. So Emile is super accurate, right, in that statement. Did one of us try this? We got one for review. I think I got one for review and I don't even think I could bring myself to do it. I either sent it to Jeff or we didn't review it. I can't even remember if it's even on the site right now. It's been so long ago. Yes, it is. It is. Did Jeff do it or did I do it? I might have done it now that I think about that.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Sebastian Morissette?

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Okay. Yeah. I didn't think I did it. So Sebastian from Canada. Yeah. He's still around. Yeah. He heard us talking about it and he said, let me write this for you because it's not good.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah. It's just like it's it's just a bad idea. Like it's just a bad idea. Like I don't know what they were thinking at the time. But then again, like Montblanc sells fine liner refills for their three, four, five thousand dollar barrels. Right. So people buy those types of things. This was just not a good idea. So to answer Emile's question, there's not a great answer. Like the standard art and drawing pens all generally have the same secure pigment micron shape. Right. The cheap plastic barrel with very little grip room and certainly not the most comfortable thing to write with. The Copic SP multi liner is your biggest upgrade. And I don't just mean in barrel. I mean in price. They are ridiculously expensive, albeit refillable. They're like 10 bucks a pop. And you get an aluminum barrel and you get a wider diameter, which will help you if like the the microns too thin. That's also not only is it not a well designed barrel, it's not a wide barrel. So you're kind of getting the double whammy in that grip section. The Copic is at least wider.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Outside of that, you could hack in the Montblanc fineliners, but then you run into the colors issue. Like I think Montblanc, it might only come in black. I don't know if it comes in blue at all. And that fits into other pen barrels that fit that refill shape. I can't recall it off hand, but like I know a bunch of Kickstarters have used that refill. Like Prometheus did a whole pen around just that specific refill. So you can find some pen barrels that'll fit that Montblanc fineliner, but you're not going to get your oranges and purples and really cool colors with that either. So it's not a great market for what you're looking for. And I'm kind of with Emil, like I would love to have a better barrel for some of my drawing pens that I enjoy so much because they just are traditionally poor. And, you know, it's just hard because, you know, people have made other pen barrels for other refills. Well, these drawing pen refills don't work like your standard pen refill. So it's a challenge. I enjoy the Copic the most just because it's a little bit wider, a little bit nicer. But I admit that it is ridiculously expensive. They've raised the prices over the past three years by like 50%. So that's that.



== Break Transition ==


'''Myke Hurley:''' All right. Let's take our final break. And we still have some more questions to round out today's show. Today's episode is brought to you by Moo, an online print and design company specializing in customizable business cards, postcards, stickers and more for your business. You can order a free sample pack from Moo if you've never tried out their products before. You go to Moo.com, M-O-O.com. So you can see what their products look like. You can hold them in your hands and you can actually see like, oh, yeah, I want to make business cards just like this one. Moo offer a full suite of products. They also do postcards, invitations, letterhead, stickers, flyers. You can seamlessly promote yourself and your brand with Moo's incredible products. And you will stand out because they have beautiful finishes and specials that you can do. Gold foil, silver foil, spot gloss, raised spot gloss, I should say, letterpress. So much more. The little touches that are going to make your cards and your stationery stand out from the crowd. Moo also have templates for business cards. So if you're not sure what to do, you don't have a design of your own. They're inspired by their most creative customers. So you can actually design it all on Moo.com yourself. They also have luxurious hardcover notebooks that feature Swiss binding. Every page lays flat and they're made of premium paper that is protected by a tough tactile cover. And I will say myself, they are absolutely perfect for pen addicts. They are wonderful, wonderful notebooks. I love their hardcover notebooks. Like I love many Moo products. I have been using Moo for my business cards for as long as I can remember because they make just excellent quality products. And I wouldn't say that because they make paper products if I didn't believe it. And I genuinely do. So go to Moo.com, M-O-O.com and use the code PRINTMOO, all one word, P-R-I-N-T-M-O-O. And you will get 15% off any order of over $50 or more. That is Moo.com and the code PRINTMOO for $15 off of any order of $50 or more. So it's 15% off any order of over $50 or more with the code PRINTMOO at Moo.com. Thanks to Moo for their support of this show and all of RelayFM.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' All right, let's keep it cranking. We got a bunch more to go, but I think we can get there, Myke.

'''Myke Hurley:''' All right, this comes from Carl. I'm turning 40 years old this fall. Happy birthday, Carl. And I thought I'd buy myself a birthday present. My plan for last year was to buy the Pilot Anniversary pen, which according to my plan would be a pen similar to the M90 or Mayu, but Pilot and Hover plans. Now that my plans and Pilot's plans do not match up, I love this, I'm thinking of finding a vintage Pilot M90 or Mayu. Is it Mayu, M-Y-U, Mayu?

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah, sure. I mean, I call it Mew or Mayu. Yeah, Mayu is better. I think I don't know what it actually should be.

'''Myke Hurley:''' If they made a follow-up, they could call it the Mew2. As a background to my questions, you also need to know that I live in a small town in a country far, far away outside Uppsala in Sweden. I have no idea if I said that correctly. There are two or three stores that sell pens of good quality in Sweden, but the selection is limited. So my question, is it a good idea to buy vintage pens over the internet? No. Do you know of any store, preferably in the European Union, that sells vintage pens over the internet? No. What is the difference between the M90 and the Mayu, or the Mayu?

'''Brad Dowdy:''' All right, so I'm going to rewind to those first two. It's generally tough to buy vintage over the internet because of quality. If you can get a recommendation for someone who restores pens, I wouldn't hesitate to buy a vintage pen over the internet. That would be fine. I just don't know anyone in the EU right off the top of my head that I could point you to, but I definitely have resources over there where we could get you. If you're looking for a specific pen, I can get you in touch with some different people over there. I just don't know any vintage restorers I can recommend just right off the top of my head. So your next question is, what's the difference between the M90 and the Mayu? The Mayu is the original that came out in the 1970s. The M90 was their pilot 90th anniversary edition from 10 years ago where they remade the Mu. So it's the one with the little blue jewel on the cap where the original did not have that. So that's the difference is the Mu is the original 1970 models of the pen, and the M90 is from the 2000s. So those are the difference.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Okay. So we move on for further questions. Should I give up on my dream to buy an M90 and buy a Canel Air instead? What have we done? Not really. Not really.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' I mean, either, like, yeah, I mean, you can still find an M90. Like, you can find both of these pens if you look hard enough. And these are more reasonable to buy. If we narrow down the buy a vintage pen over the internet question and to buy an M90 or a Mu over the internet, I'd be much more willing to take that leap as opposed to, like, a Parker Vacumatic that I don't know if the vacuum is going to work, right? Like, these are cartridge converter pens that are much simpler to maintain.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Then you just have a Parker attic if the vacuum doesn't work.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Right.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Wow, you're on fire today. Sorry. Sorry. Sorry. Should I buy a Sailor Pro gear that I can buy in Sweden? But the selection is still limited.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' I mean, if you can actually try one in person, I would do that. And then you can make that decision, you know, if you like the Sailor, you know. So, I would try it. And then even if you do like it, maybe you could find a different color online and buy it. So, yeah, I don't have any, you know, total, you know, definitive answer to that. Like, I think if that's something you could try before you buy, you should do that.



== New Topic Suggestion ==


'''Myke Hurley:''' Do you have a completely different suggestion for a good birthday present for me?

'''Brad Dowdy:''' So, going through this entire email, I think you need to find an M90. Like, that's my answer to you, Carl. I will be very clear in reading this out and going through the whole email. I think you should focus on finding an M90 and buying it. I think you will enjoy it. I think that's what you really want. I think it is reasonable to find one within the span of three to six months if you just, you know, keep your eyes peeled in certain areas, maybe even eBay, you know, to find one. And, you know, I think you will just get the most enjoyment out of locating that pen, even if you don't get it on your birthday, but say, this is my plan. This is the pen I'm going to get. And you'll be the most happy with that.

'''Myke Hurley:''' That's a great answer. I hope that you're able to find an M90, though, at some point, Carl. It's a wonderful pen. It is. They are not easy. They're not easy to come by, though. This question comes from Sydney. I'm happy to inform you that I listened to the episode as soon as it dropped and writing this as I listen again. Let me submit down. You remember this? Let me submit my joy and fire off these questions. I do not remember this.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' This was like two. This was like the last time we did Ask TPA, like two or three weeks ago. And I'd been holding Sydney's mail like throughout the summer.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Oh, yeah.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' And it was just like the rapid fire list of questions. And I was like, I don't know if they'll even listen to this show because it's been so long since they sent the email. And like an hour after the show dropped. I was like, I listened.



== Listener Questions Begin ==


'''Myke Hurley:''' Question one. Can you please get Myke and Anna to go crazy and talk about stickers? Definitely. We should do that at some point. Yeah, that won't be an issue. That will not be an issue. Is it possible to identify stationary even when there isn't a visible logo?

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yes. Yes. Email me a picture and we can start from there.

'''Myke Hurley:''' It's like how people can recognize cars by seeing the taillights. Mm-hmm. Right? Like it's possible. Three. Do you know of anyone who possesses the skill and how do you acquire it? Brad possesses it. I do for some stuff. The other way is just to spend a lot of time looking at pictures and handling things. Four. How do you find artists on a place like Twitter? Go to Instagram or but always hashtags.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah. Or other artists who you enjoy who they follow. That's how I find them. Yeah. Good. Good. So I mostly I'd say I follow a heavy percentage of the people I follow are artists on Twitter. That's one of the things I enjoy. And if I find an artist like I really like, I'll pop into who they follow and start scrolling through and pick out a few names from there and follow from that. So that's how I do it.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Five. How do you write for a long time about your hand getting super hot and achy?

'''Brad Dowdy:''' You don't. There you go. It's going to happen. You just have to take a break. Like my hands cramp when I write pages at a time. Be careful with that. They just do. Yeah. It's not good. So it's posture, right? Yep. What that is is posture and pressure. And that's something you can train yourself. And there's books on that. You'll have to find some of the traditional handwriting books that talk about posture. We've linked to some in the past and on the show. But that's what causes those problems is hand pressure and posture. And I've just never taken the time to learn that those things to do those things correctly. And it would be a lot better.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Question seven. How do you feel when you see a cool pen in a movie?

'''Brad Dowdy:''' I get excited. I was like, oh, there's a pen. I wonder what that is. Can I tell what it is real quick? Like to answer the questions two and three above identifying the stationary when you can't see the logo. We do that a lot for pens and pictures and movies. You skipped number six, though. I know I did.

'''Myke Hurley:''' I'm going back to it now. No, question number six. Is it normal to get ideas for new products even when you don't think you can act on them? Yes.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' I spent all morning doing just that. Oh, good.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Okay. Question number eight. Could you bring back Lee from Art Snacks on the show?

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Sure. He's awesome. I haven't talked to Lee in a while. We need to do that. He's a good friend and I would be glad to.

'''Myke Hurley:''' And question number nine. How do you become a good writer?

'''Brad Dowdy:''' You don't. You just write. Yeah.

'''Myke Hurley:''' You forget about worrying.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' That's what you do. Because I will never be a good writer in the professional technical sense of what the good writer definition would be. But the great thing about it is there is no definition. You just have to put the words on the page and hopefully they're moderately coherent, readable, and that you enjoy doing it. And then you're a good writer.

'''Myke Hurley:''' All right. Next question comes from Evan Max. If you could design a pen themed around your favorite character from books, movies, television, or video games, what would it look like and who would you have make it? Would you adapt a current model like the cross Star Wars pens or go completely new?

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Do you want me to go first?

'''Myke Hurley:''' No, I already know mine.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' All right. I bet I can guess yours too. Yeah. Go ahead.

'''Myke Hurley:''' I want a set of seven pens based around the seven evil X's from Scott Pilgrim.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Easy peasy, right? Yep. So who's going to make it and what's it going to look like?

'''Myke Hurley:''' Jonathan Brooks. All beautiful acrylics. That's what I want. I think that's a move. Yeah.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Right. He's got two. So I didn't put a lot of thought on this because I could spend a lot of time on this. And then I started, you know, thinking about video games first. And he did a set for our friend Casey, not Liz, Casey Kagawa around the destiny, the three classes in destiny. So I thought that was cool. Jonathan did that. I'm sorry. So Jonathan actually did that for Casey just based on colors. Right. So I was like, I don't think I could do a video game, but like my favorite movie of all time is train spotting. And like, what if I did a character pen for some of the characters in there? Like I could have, you know, a Mark Renton pen. I can have a Diane pen. I would skip the spud pen that might not go as I would intend. And like maybe do a sick boy pen or maybe, maybe a Begbie pen. He might, he might be good, but I don't know. Like I could pick out their colors, you know, kind of how they were represented in the movie and just kind of do like a story around them. But that would just be like, for me, like it wouldn't be any kind of commercial thing. It'd just be like a cool thing, you know, have my Renton pen and Diane and sick boy and Begbie all just kind of hanging out. And I would totally get Jonathan to do it. I don't know who else I would get to do that because they would have to be some kind of weird combination of an idea of like around like clothing and ideas and colors and music. And like, how do you translate into the pen, that into a pen? And then, well, that's what Jonathan does very well.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Yeah, he is the best at that. Yeah. All right. Next question comes from Groovy Times. What is the best finer nibbed $150 pen, Vanishing Point or Sapporo Mini? I've never owned a Sailor or a gold nib pen and these are my two on the shortlist.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' If those are my only two choices, I pick Vanishing Point.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' If I can expand the list, I'd add Platinum at least to test, right? The 3776. I just think the Sapporo Mini, as much as I personally enjoy that pen, if this is your first gold nib pen, even though the Vanishing Point is a very particular type of pen, I still kind of would pick that over the Mini. I feel just like that's a better representation of what a $150 fountain pen is, if that's a fair thing to say. What do you think?

'''Myke Hurley:''' I think the Sapporo Mini is too particular.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah. And the Vanishing Point is one of the most particular pens there is, right? Yeah, but still. The Sapporo Mini just doesn't fit to me. I don't know. No. That seems like a strange choice. And I adore it. It's one of my favorite Sailors, but I'm not going to pick it in that category. Almost ever.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Yeah. Yeah.



== Fountain Pen Sounds ==


'''Myke Hurley:''' Laboz asks, did it take a while for you to get used to general fountain pen sounds when you started using them? At first, I thought that my Lamy Safari and TOSB Go by fine nibs were scratchy, but no, it's just the sound of writing. I wasn't expecting quite so much noise.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' I love this question so much.

'''Myke Hurley:''' It's very valid. Fountain pens make a lot of noise and you have to get used to that, right?

'''Brad Dowdy:''' I was not expecting that. Yeah. Like when you write with a platinum fountain pen nib, it sounds like a pencil. There is a scratch scratch, but it's dead smooth and super clean. Sometimes it's squeaky. It makes a noise.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Like all different pens make different sounds too.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Pilots, pilot nibs are squeaky to me. Like pilots have a squeak.

'''Myke Hurley:''' I don't even get started on titanium nibs. Yeah. I hate that actually.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' It took me a while. I was like, kind of like Laboz is saying, it's like, is this supposed to be happening? Why is this one different from the other one? Are all of these broken? And that's just kind of like a feature of the nib. Like you can tell now like that I'm more experienced with fountain pens and have used a lot. Like I could do a blind test and tell the difference by the sound that they make and the feel on the page. Right. There, a lot of them are different. Like Lamy, that one, that one sticks on the page a little bit. It's, you know, it's a little bit sticky, kind of like a platinum. So yeah, I just thought this was a good question because it's a real thing. Like fountain pen nibs do make sounds when you write with them and it's just something like hopefully you'll get used to and enjoy it. Like it becomes a pleasant feedback because you do get the feedback while the experience is still exceptional.



== Ink Color Preference ==


'''Myke Hurley:''' All right. Evan Max again asks, do you have ink colors that you prefer how they look when they're wet over when they're dry? Personally, I love the shade of the purple that the Ackerman Park Pop Purple goes down on the page, but I find it kind of boring after it dries.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah, that's a thing. And I get it. It tends to happen with some of the bright blues that I like, right? Because they're super bright when they're still wet on the page. And then they kind of get muted a little bit. Nothing that's caused me to say, oh, well, I can't use this ink anymore. But that's definitely just like the sounds of nibs on a page. You know, trying to get a real representation of what ink looks like when you're writing with a specific nib and when it's dried on the page is a hard thing, right? So it can be an issue. I don't find it to be a deal breaker for me. At least I haven't seen that yet in any inks that I've used.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Chris Ball asks, does Maraman make a standard A5 notebook without the ring binding? I love their paper, but just want a regular sewn or glued binding.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah, they do a staple bound top staple bound A5 notebook. Did I say, did I get all that out? Yes. They don't do a lot of them, but they do a top bound staple one that is actually really enjoyable. I forget the specific name of it. It has a little bit. I think it might have a different name than some of the other ones. But it is available.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Are we going to answer this next question?

'''Brad Dowdy:''' There is no answer, so we can ask it. I don't know the answer.

'''Myke Hurley:''' How is the Urushi Lami Safari coming along?

'''Brad Dowdy:''' I have no idea. Yep. You don't ask the magician what their secrets are.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Yep. We wait until it's delivered. Yep. And MHKid asks, are either of you going to be at a Pelican Hub on Friday?

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Got a little something else going on this Friday.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Bit busy. It's from 4 to 10 p.m. Eastern. At twitch.tv slash RelayFM. We will be doing the podcast of farm for St. Jude. Make sure you tune in. Please do. And again, stjude.org slash penaddict is the way to give money to St. Jude. And thank you to everybody that has done that.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' But everyone going to a Pelican Hub, let me hear all about it. Send me an email. Send me a note on Twitter. Tag me in your Instagram photos. It is Friday in your city, anywhere around the world. You know, hopefully you've done your homework by now. We have a lot of Hubmasters in our chat and in our community that are putting on these events. Out of the kindness of their hearts, Pelican does a great job at supporting and supplying materials for all of these events. And it's just a great all-around get-together. So y'all have fun Friday night celebrating all the Pelican and Fountain Pen awesomeness you can get into.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Thank you so much to everybody that has sent in an Ask TPA question. You can tweet out with the hashtag AskTPA for those. Or you can email hello at penaddict.com. And there are ways to get your questions for future consideration on the show. Thank you so much to everybody that has done that. Thanks to Squarespace, Backblaze, and Move for the support of this episode. You can find Brad online. He's at Dowdyism on Twitter, penaddict on Instagram, and go to penaddict.com as well. I am iMike, I-M-Y-K-E, and we hope to see some of you in the chat on Friday for the podcast-a-thon. Until then, say goodbye, Brad. Goodbye, Brad.

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