Editing The Pen Addict 676/transcript

{{Infobox podcast transcript
| name            = The Pen Addict
| number          = 676
| title           = A Giant Sized Pen Show
| date            = July 30th, 2025
| hosts           = [[Brad Dowdy]]<br>
[[Myke Hurley]]
| guests          = 
| link            = [https://www.relay.fm/penaddict/676 Episode 676]
| audiolink       = [https://www.podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/mgln.ai/e/613/clrtpod.com/m/traffic.libsyn.com/secure/thepenaddict/The_Pen_Addict_676.mp3 Audio Episode 676]
| length          = 61
}}

== Podcast Introduction and Host Greetings ==

* From Relay, this is The Pen Addict, episode 676. Today's show is brought to you by Pen Chalet. My name is Myke Hurley and I have the pleasure of being joined by DC Brad Dowdy. Hi Brad.

== Pre-Travel Preparations and Anxieties ==

* Discombobulated, completely not ready, but extremely ready, right, as an anxious traveller, like I've been packing for days, right, either mentally, or physically, but I leave tomorrow as we're recording this podcast, which means everything has to be finalised today, right? There's no screwing around tomorrow. I have all the time in the world tomorrow, but we have to be ready to just walk out the door tomorrow. So I'm in the full discombobulation stage where my desk area is like just piles of stuff. Like I've kind of separated some of the things like I need to bring while balancing, not bringing too much, while looking for the right things to bring that I want to bring or to show and tell. So yeah, like I'm so stoked. I'm so ready. This is going to be a big show. I am getting myself overly hyped for this, but we'll talk about it later in the show because I don't know what happened in the stationery world, Myke, but the amount of new releases I've seen just since we've recorded last makes me think like this is like the beginning of the year in stationery. And I'm usually not seeing so many product launches happening, even if they're like existing products and stuff. So we're going to talk a lot about that today before we even get into DC. So good show. Good show ahead. Yeah, I know how you feel about the travel. Like when I leave for St. Jude this year, it's like the longest it's been since since I've done any kind of international travel since COVID. But even then, like, you know, COVID was like the outlier. But for me to not have traveled anywhere for what will essentially be 10 months at that point is like crazy. Yeah. I don't know. I don't even know how to do it anymore. Yeah, it's going to be weird for sure. Who knows? You know what I mean? I know. I think mine expires next year. I need to probably go ahead and get on that. Who knows? I have a piece of follow up though before we do get into the plethora of new products that we have today. All right. David wrote and said, further to your discussion about fountain friendly post-it notes, I found that MDM for mother, D for David paper makes, actually let me do that correctly, Myke Delta paper makes really good ones. Search for MDA7 sticky memo pad. They come in a range of rulings, including my favorite dot grid. So I wanted to talk about this because this product is the number one product that I mentioned in this show. But there's a reason for the confusion. MD is Midori. That is a paper brand or a paper style that Midori makes. So the Midori sticky notes that I referred to in that episode are the Midori MD A7 sticky memo pads. Right. Thank you. So Midori and MD, and I'm bringing this up because it is confusing, right? Midori has a lot of brands, a lot of sub brands that are under a larger brand called design film. And spoiler alert, I guess, I think this is public ish. I feel like I've heard someone say this out in public before. So they're going to go under a rebrand this fall. And hopefully with that rebrand, that makes, gives us some clarification in who owns what and what papers what. And, you know, eliminate some of the confusion on the Midori, the MD, the cotton, like all the different sizes, shapes, specs of all these products. So the MD, MD is Midori. So, and Midori makes the best sticky memo pads. So it's a, it's a good bit of clarification. Do they operate independently? Like, can you get products that say Midori on them and products that say MD on them? That's a good question. I don't even know. Because I use, I use the MD paper. Yeah. Like I'm on the, the MD website and it can link out to the Midori website, which is a different website. Right. Yeah. Because you can buy Midori cotton, which is not Midori MD. Yeah. See that, that is, they're essentially like linked, but separate brands, which is really confusing. Because all of the MD products just say MD on them. Like they don't have, don't seem to have Midori on them. Right. And the MD is the main lineup. That's the primary lineup. Very confusing. So hopefully they get that corrected this year. They're going to go under a rebrand this fall. I believe it's this fall. It's before the end of the year. So. Everyone in the discord is really confused. So I think we did the right job there. I think we made it. MD is Midori. Just know MD is Midori. And it's, and MD is the good stuff. There's no bad Midori anyway. So. Yeah.

== Memo Pad Discussion and Listener Question ==

* Let's move on. So shout out David for wrecking the show right from the jump. But this was an important question. Like, like, that's why I put it in here. It's like, Hey, I want to tell you about the best memo pad. I'm like, well, yeah, we already talked about it, but no one knows what to call it. I don't know if there's a sticky pad in this Kickstarter, Myke, but I had a friend send this to me and I'm kind of interested in what's happening here. So this, it's called the Bell and Union, the ephemeria collection, which I don't like. Ephemeria is, is not a word. I don't like it. I mean, that is literally how the Kickstarter campaign begins. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Ephemera. That's a hard word to say. Yeah. But it's ephemeria, Myke. So anyway. This to me is like, it's like such a Kickstarter branding. You know what I mean? Or it's like. Yes. Like, I mean, I don't mean this, but this looks like a great like idea for a sexual products. The design is really nice. I'm not sure how much thought went into it for ephemeria to be your, you know what I mean? You know what I mean? Yeah, I did. Well, to, to your point, I didn't even notice that name until today. And I've been looking at this for like two days. Well, because when you actually just glance at it, it says ephemera. Like, that's what it says to your mind, but it's not actually what they're calling it. They describe in the, in the campaign that it's a coined word, right? Yeah, yeah. Like they're making this up. I just don't think it's a very good one. Like, I mean, I don't, you know, it's not. It's a portmanteau of ephemera and nostalgia, like you're saying. Sure. Okay. Yeah. Sure. Anyway, I didn't even notice that until today. So, uh, yeah, the, the paper names are confusing this week, but I like, this throws me back. This is like a, not quite an OG type of Kickstarter because this is actually a shop, right? Uh, I believe in Texas. I want to say Austin or San Antonio. Yeah. Um, uh, Bell and Union, but they're going, they're going to Kickstarter to launch like a stationery collection. An own brand, like an own brand stationery stuff. Which I think is pretty sick. Like I haven't, I mean, there's lots of different ways to do Kickstarters and we've done, you know, things to help us support travel, you know, at knock, we've done things to help us product launch. And I think this is like that product launch one where it looks like a lot of like design elements have gone into this. And like, it's a real station made and some stuff is just like, this is what we want it to look like kind of thing. Yeah. It's a combo. And it's a real cohesive kit. That's like large, right? Like I want, I want the labels. I want the adhesive labels. Like that's what I want. Like I, the notebook, I'm sure the notebook's great and fine. I want the adhesive labels. Cause I like that kind of vintage looking stationery. This is like a vintage looking stationery thing. Yeah. We've done a bad job explaining this so far. So it's essentially a line of stationery, like across the board from notebooks to letter writing kits to pads, like a whole, a whole brand essentially that would be, I'm assuming sold in the Bell and Union store or probably on their website. And at the moment they have like a lot of designs and they have some ideas and they've got a lot of like little tweaks and like nice details. It's kind of got like the letter writing kits have a fun motel kind of vibe, right? Like there's a bunch of different ones and you can imagine they're all different places somewhere. And then there are a bunch of like, as Brad said, like sticky labels that you would write on that look like kind of plates, like, like a label plates that you would stick on the front of a journal or inside of a book and write somebody's name on it or whatever. Yeah. Like classic, like from the 60s, 70s, you see a lot of those being used in books and notebooks and things like that. So anyway, I thought this was an interesting use of Kickstarter was kind of really why I wanted to bring this up. It's like right up my alley and then it's not in a traditional stationery, but the mix of traditional stationery and Kickstarter, I don't see very much. Right. So I thought this was an interesting one to share with people who might be interested. I'm going to back this. I'm, I'm waiting till I get back to DC. It's just, it's just kind of started and it's got like, yeah, three and a half more weeks to go. So when I get back, I'm going to figure out which like reward level I'm going to back, but I want to support this because I think it looks pretty cool. So there's all kinds of levels from like, you know, like the $20 note taker level up to, you know, some like really like deep, all the things level. So pretty cool. Pretty cool stuff. It reminds me a lot of the NotCo Kickstarter. Yeah, that was a mistake. No, no. I don't know why you would say that. Well, it was a, it was a like, hey, this is our first time and it went spectacularly well. And then it was like, oh my God. Well, that's every, that's every, every first Kickstarter that succeeds. There is some element of that. But I just mean the like, we have an idea for an entire product line and you can help plus kickstart that, like the whole point of Kickstarter. Like this is, this is what it's for. But then you learn very quickly as all people that have Kickstarter campaigns for the first time, the kind of mess you've landed yourself in once it's been successfully funded because you're just inevitably, it's like, you know, if you ever hear us talk about like, oh, you know, we're making a thing and it's taking longer than expected. Imagine that when there's like tens to hundreds of thousands of dollars already in your, like burning a hole in your bank account. Like I was talking to someone about this yesterday for an episode of Cortex that will be coming out soon. I spoke to, I'll spoil it here because why not? Simone Yet, who she's a YouTuber and she has a company called Yetch Studio. Yeah. It's like, and she had a very successful Kickstarter that started her business. And the, I don't know why I'm supporting the content of the show. You have to go, you have to promise you to go listen to it when it comes out. We promise, Myke. That like, when you're trying to develop something and you're not sure if it's working, the problem is you're spending the money you've already been given. That is not how it usually works if you're not doing Kickstarter. Yes. So if you're just putting in the profits or the revenue of your company that exists, right? You are betting your own money on this. It just ticks along. But if, and if it doesn't work, it doesn't work, right? But with Kickstarter, that's someone's money that you have. Already. And that's ticking away and you still have to deliver them a product. Because like people like to believe, and I understand it. People like to believe that like if the product fails, they'll get their money back. But it's like, no, the money's gone. Like the reason, like while this was getting delayed, that money was being spent on whatever it ended up delaying the product. This is why I'm terrified of Kickstarter, by the way. Like that. Yeah. I couldn't live with that. I think I would make that. I think that would make it really, really hard for me to run a business. Yeah. Small, self-defined, small-defined, you know, low-volume Kickstarter is the way to go. Singular product launch. Yeah. Or something that like, you know, that you are very sure you can do, right? Like even though I don't like it, I do appreciate to a degree like companies that are established that are on Kickstarter because they've already done the hard work. Yeah. Even though I don't particularly like people using Kickstarter as a marketing tool. But. Yeah. It's like I, it's like yes to both, right? Like I feel like that's a very yes to both. It's like, oh, well, this is your 13th Kickstarter. Yeah. And, but at the same time, I can get a little bit of a discount and I know you're probably going to deliver, to deliver based on previous campaigns. So yeah, I'm good either way. And for reasons that I'll never fully understand, people pay attention to Kickstarters in a way that they don't just like product launches. Well, it's funny. We've totally digressed here, but I'm going to keep going. Enso is one of, you know, the really, really good Kickstarter brands. And I don't think anyone thinks of Enso, at least this is just a perception thing for me, is I'm going to go to the Enso store and buy the Enso pen. It's like, I'm going to get the Enso pen from Kickstarter is kind of how I feel. And there's, they always have, you know, they'll always continue to sell their, their pens and products and, you know, full disclosure, they've sponsored me and they've sponsored the, they probably sponsored the podcast before, um, plenty of times, but like every product they release goes through Kickstarter. Right. And then it appears on the site. And I don't know any time that I've ever gone to Enso to buy the pen. I've bought it always from the Kickstarter. So it's interesting. There's lots of ways to do it and do it well. Do you think Lamy should start, should start Kickstarters, Myke? I don't know. Maybe it would give you the opportunity to leave some mean comments. I'm not sure. We have a new AL star, a special edition, and I am just flummoxed with this whole deal. So dark dusk and sage appeared, uh, magically. I'm doing like the hand motions, uh, in the last few days on the internet. They're straight up. They look fantastic. Right. I think they look great. And now I'm wondering how many years in a row, and I didn't have time to go back and look. How many years of a, in a row have we had a mid year, uh, special edition release? They started doing this with the Safari a few years ago. I know the all-star has done it at least a couple of years. And it's just so funny to me. I get overly hyped for the beginning of the year release because I know it's coming in like late February, early March. Like every year, what is the new Safari going to be? What is the new all-star going to be? And then usually around like summertime and fall, they'll do another special edition, which why does that fall flatter to me than the first ones of the year? Maybe it's because I'm not tired of using the first ones, like the ones that begin with. Uh, maybe it's because usually the ones at the beginning of the year tend to be better for some random reason. Maybe they have an A team and a B team and you really like the B team. Yeah. Is this the, uh, this is the RB Cash App pin? Yes. And the earlier ones are the Red Bull, the official Red Bull pin.

== Brand Release Strategies and Product Updates ==

* Um, yeah, it's just, I should, my whole point in putting this in here is I should stop being confused about this because they release a lot of pins now. It's not just the singular, singular big release, which I'm actually, as a brand, like I'm cool with that. Right. You know, give me a couple big, you know, SE releases a year. Unlike, like say like sailors, the opposite. There's like one or two a month. Like that's too much. Right. I don't, I don't need that, but I don't know. I just feel like this one gets a little bit more lost in the shuffle when it should be given equal stance, but that's, um, that's a me problem, I think. Um, but I think these look great there. They're, and these are full product lineup releases, right? This is roller ball, ballpoint pencil, I believe. Um, and I, they haven't totally switched over to the M17. Like they're, they're confusing the M17 rollout. That's the jet stream refill. They have one pin that's going to have the jet stream rollout and not the other ones. And I am just like, again, like it's a Midori MD Kickstarter situation. Like it's all the things and like confusing and things like that. But anyway, they're good. I like them. I especially like the blue one. I don't know. So this will be a good mix and match if you want to make your own. Um, but anyway, yeah, Lamy All-Star. I guess there'll probably be a Safari here. Probably not too long. It seems like there was one just a month or two ago. So a new release of an old pin. I think that's kind of the theme today is there's no like new, new pins, but there's a lot of pins that I like are coming out in new colors, new designs. Pilot Pereira dropped one on us this week. And I found this one to be interesting. So there's new four, four new Pereira colors, honey, Empress Teal, cinnamon Brown, and porcelain white. Okay. So the Pereira lineup has done, has done solid, full solid barrel pins. And then they've done demonstrators with like jewel color, like finials on there. All really, really good.

== New Orochizuku Ink Releases and Color Pairings ==

* This one made me instantly look at their release of the three new Orochizuku inks, Toro, which kind of would match with honey, the Pilot Pereira honey. Rika, the blue ink, kind of would match with Empress Teal. And Seunjo, which is the reddish black, would go with kind of cinnamon Brown. Like you read the names of them and he's like, oh, these don't match at all. But the barrel colors actually look like the three new inks. The problem with the Pereira has always been the price. This is an elite pin. This is such a good pin. One of my all-time favorites. But what it is does not match the price, at least in the U.S., that they want to charge for it, which is $64 retail. Right. And this is not a new price point. Like they have overpriced these for years. This is like a $30 pin, $35 pin, in my opinion, in where it sits in the product lineup and for what it is as a physical structure. And the problem is they've sold different prices in different markets. You could use, you can, I don't know, I didn't look, but you could probably just go, you know, look in the Asian market and get them in the 30s. Right. I would guess. I have not looked at this new release, see if they've like raised the price of these. Like raising the price is fine. But a $64 Pilot Pereira is getting into like, really? Like that, that's a lot. And again, that's not the new price. It's been this way. This is why I don't talk about the Pereira all the time because I, as much as I love it, it's a really tough, tough recommendation. Unless you like absolutely have to have the honey barrel. Right. Because it's so cool. Like it's a great color. But it's, it's such a good pen. Like I legitimately love the Pereira, but man, it's, it's pretty expensive for what it is. Like, and it's, it's all relative. You know, I'm talking about much expensive, much more expensive pens later. But yeah, relative to what they're so good. And it looks like more than a $60 pen. Like it, it looks, looks nice. I think. I guess it's a feel thing. It's, it's, it's a, it's kind of an, it's not quite ultra light, but it is extremely light. Yeah, that's true. If I, so if I went up to a beginner and who doesn't have any fountain pen experience or they've tried like, you know, like the disposable pilot varsity. And I gave them a pilot metropolitan in one hand and a pilot prayer in the other hand. My bet would be that seven or eight out of 10 people are going to choose the metropolitan. And then if I just don't feel, and then if I told them the price, nine out of 10 or 9.5 out of 10 are going to choose the metropolitan. Right. So that, that's the balance I'm trying to work in my head on why the prayer is 64. Right. So anyway, it's a, I just think this could be, this could be the leading pen in pilots low end lineup, but the price doesn't kind of match. Like this could be their, their go-to pen for this price point. But, but the price point's too high. Like if this was like 35, maybe 39, like I would just really lean into this, but it's not. And yeah, it's, it's like no, the nibs are no different than the metropolitan. Right. There's no difference. Anyway, rant over. I, I guess I'm just angsty because I like this pen so much.

== Platinum Curie Doss Colors and Rediscovery ==

* Speaking of a pen I like that I didn't know if it was going to still exist. What do you think about the new platinum Curie Doss colors? I had forgotten about this pen. I think. I like saw it in the notes and I was like, it didn't really click to me what the Curie Doss was like initially. And then I opened the Instagram link and I was like, oh, I remember you.
* Well, this is, if you're going to keep this product going, I think this is the kind of thing that you do to it. Yeah. I, I'm holding out hope that this, I want this product to exist. I like this pen. It is far and away not for everybody. This, so if you're not familiar with the Curie Doss, we have, it's a retractable. Platinum's attempted a retractable pen. They leaned into it hard. Like Myke even went to a special event for the launch of this in London. Mm-hmm. And then it kind of fell flat because it wasn't a great design, like a physical, like in-use design. It was uncomfortable to hold. Yeah. For a lot of people, including me. And then they had a fault in them. Yeah. Yeah. So the, the whole, the whole, we did episodes of issues with the original launch. They've dialed in the construction and, and feel of the pen. What I find interesting. So this new one is kind of like a gemstone collection. They're kind of metallic, iridescent color barrels. I'll totally get one of these. On, I'm looking at platinum pen, the official platinum pen. On Instagram, they're calling this the Curie DAS, D-U-S. And before it was the Curie DAS, D-A-S. And I'm a little bit confused. Like, is there anything different here? I probably not. It looks physically the same, same setup. I mean. So I'll try to get some info. This is a good one for me to get more information on at the DC pen show because I'll get to talk to the U.S. distributor and see, is this going to be a worldwide release? What is the release here? It's just a spelling error, Brad. Like, I'm looking at a picture of the pen and it has Curie DAS written on the side. I know. But it's funny coming from, and this isn't even a translation. It's on their, it's on their printed image that they call it D-U-S. And I've never seen that before. Which coming from platinum is like, like how bad are you outsourcing this or AI-ing this? I wouldn't. Spelling. Don't just start saying, don't be one of those people that just says AI to everything. It's Curie DAS, Myke. I don't know how to, I'm curious about the Curie DAS. I don't know why we're doing this. They've either gotten it wrong or it's like. Repeatedly. Yes. They got it wrong. Like, I mean, you're not out here calling it the Cortux brand. I could, but I could though. And you're going to have like a little bow tie logo. Maybe if I had to translate it into my non-native language, I would make that mistake somehow. That's what I'm saying. But it's not translated. It's in the pre-translated phase. Oh, it could have been translated. It could have been translated. But anyway, that's an error. It's not called the Curie DAS. I don't know why. Maybe it's like gemstones dust and they're like, it's a joke. You know, it's like Curie DAS. That would have been a better name, Curie DAS. Yeah. Except that then you're saying like your product is over. It's like dust in the wind. People make mistakes. We can't. It might not even be a mistake. We can't simultaneously want to protect people who are working and then also rip them to shreds when they make mistakes. Right? We love you, Platinum. Yeah. Because somebody has made this image. Now, are we saying that they're a bad person? You know what I mean? Like we just. They made a mistake. That's all it is. So, yeah. I'll find out more in D.C. See if they're coming to the U.S. I want one. I like this pen. I will use this pen. I will be on an island with this pen by myself. You know, it's not the most spectacular pen, but I just love how it writes and feels. So, anyway. You know, if you're looking for like previous versions of the Curie DAS or a lot of other pens, Myke, where can people go? Beautiful segue. You can take yourself over to our friends over at Pen Chalet who are supporting this week's show. Pen Chalet, have your favorite brands and the products that you're looking for. Whether you're looking for a new fountain pen or a ballpoint. Maybe you want a mechanical pencil. Maybe you're heading to a pen show soon and you want some carrying cases to put your products in so you can very easily move them around. Maybe you're looking for some other accessories. Maybe you'd like some inks. Maybe you'd like fountain pen converters. Or whatever it is you need to fill that stationery shape hole in your life. Pen Chalet have special discounts every couple of weeks and they're always adding new products to the site as soon as they can. But at least every month you're going to find new stuff being added to Pen Chalet. So it's always worth going back whenever we talk about them. Also because of the great deals that we can give you. Because you listen to this show. Pen Chalet have very fast and reliable customer service. They sell internationally with great shipping rates. And if you're in the US, you'll get free shipping on orders of over $75. Pen Chalet has low prices on high quality pens and they offer a 100% satisfaction guarantee. So go right now to penchalet.com slash penaddict. That's P-E-N-C-H-A-L-E-T dot com slash penaddict. And you'll be able to get 10% off anything at Pen Chalet. And also see some exclusive offers for listeners of this show. So one of the pens I'm most interested in, and it's on this list. And we haven't gotten our reviews done yet. I bought the Monteverde MP1. Pen, which is their piston filling, demonstrator barrel, aluminum, anodized color cap pen. Kind of an entry level, not an entry level, like a mid-price pen. Very, you know, very, very good price. And I bought some at the California Pen Show and have distributed them out to the review crew. We just, like, things take a long time for us to get reviewed. The price of this one. So they have specifically the yellow one because it comes in a set with the Monteverde Honey Yellow ink. Like, I'm not going to tell you the price, but I will tell you it's 50% off. And it's kind of ridiculous. More than that. Yeah. Like, it's crazy. Yeah. Like, yeah, because you get to use our code on top of that. It's kind of nuts. Kind of nutty what the price is here. Honey nuts. So y'all should go check. Cheerio, mate. Then they have the Conklin. I think I mentioned the Conklins last week in the Brooks materials, which are super cool. I'm going to look at these in person. So they have the Cool Tone Primary Manipulation one out there for us to check out. They have a couple of majoras in the, a couple of the more expensive majoras that are a really, really steep discount, which I've reviewed the majoras before. They do a really, really good job. It's kind of a chunkier delta size fountain pen, but has a nice tapered or concave grip section, which I like. And then there's an interesting ink sample. So pen chalet has kind of been leaning into the ink samples. And I've shared some of these before. And, you know, you look at them and there's like, oh, that's a big list. I don't know where to click. Go click on the Platinum Classic sample because these are some of the coolest colors around. I will say that these are an iron gall type ink. They have a little, they have permanence in them, but their behavior on the page and in the pen is perfect. And they're a feature, it's like a plus black color scheme. So cassis black, which is a red, citrus black, which is the most popular. It's like a yellow black, but it's, it sounds terrible, but it turns out amazing on the page. Forest black, khaki black, lavender black. Actually, lavender black might be the most popular. Then sepia black. These are some of my all-time favorite inks. I could put all six of these colors like really, really highly in the chart. And I don't ever see these in samples, at least not very often. So I would go click this like immediately into some of these inks out and you will be very, very impressed. So they're great. That's penchalet.com slash pen addict. That's where you'll go and check out these offers. Our thanks to Penchalet for the continued support of this show and relay. All right, Myke, we got our shout out of the week. Makar tools, Myke. I don't know that I've ever shouted them out on the show, but as a teaser for some DC talk, DC pen show talk, we're going to have later in this episode. They're on my list. You're on the list, Marcin. I'm coming for you. This is a, this is a maker whose work I've seen for ages. I've never seen any of the pens in person and I want to check them out. Like, I don't know that I'm going to buy one. I don't know who knows what I'm going to buy at the DC pen show. So, but everything they post makes me go, wow. And this is part of the list that I've made that we're going to talk about, like I said, later in the show on DC. But I want to give them a special shout out because I've been following them for years. Everything just looks spectacular. And they're going to be making an appearance at the DC pen show. So add them to your list to go check out. And if you're not going to DC, go over there, follow them on Instagram, like Makar underscore tools. Spectacular work. If you're into like metal and machine pens, the work that they're doing, it just, it's jaw dropping to me. Like it's right up my alley. So check those out. Do you have any, are you a fan of any metal fountain pens, Myke? This is a random off topic question. I was thinking of Makar tools and was like, this is for me, but like, I doubt this is for you. And I'm not talking like you, we use the studio needs and, you know, for like our roller balls and things like that. But from a fountain pen perspective, do you use any, like the larger size metal? We're going to talk about a small one here in a minute, but do you use any? I don't think. Okay. Not that I can think of. Yeah. That's what I was thinking. Small. Yeah. I mean, I guess the largest metal pen that I use of any frequency is the, that, that sailor that where it's, I've forgotten the name of it. It's hammered. It's the hammered one. Japan steel, is it called or something like that? Oh, what a beautiful pen. Yeah. You did good on that one. Yeah. Japan blue. Japan blue. Japan blue. Yeah. It's like a hammered barrel. The biggest pen that has metal on it in any way. I mean, cause otherwise my most used metal pen is the pilot M90. Yeah. Sure. So that's a small pen. And even the sailor, like compared to like a lot of like what, what I think of as like a metal barrel fountain pen. That's still a small pen. Correct. Wow. What a good pen. I wish you didn't bring that up. That's one of my favorites. It's just one of the best ones. What a good pen. We'll have to put a link in the show notes to that one. If you can find something for that. Oh, definitely. Just to show people. It's been years since we've talked about it. Yeah. What a good pen. What a good pen.
* Late entry to the list. And we're continuing on the new product list. I have plenty more to go through here. Which, again, is just wild to me. We're usually, end of July, like mid-summer, you know, northern hemisphere summer, is usually like a quiet zone. August usually gets it ramped up, but like I guess everyone's getting ahead. So there's a new Kaweco Lilliput coming out. It's like a rainbow anodized Lilliput. It's spectacular. It's just out for pre-order. Like I'm not going to be able to see this at DC, but I don't know exactly when the date's coming out. But I wanted to share this because a lot of people love the Lilliput. I love the Lilliput. But I'm like super content with the ones I have. The aluminum barrel ones are a little bit too light for me. And see, this is a steel one. So this one probably would fit me better. So I have a stainless steel. Then I have the fire blue. Both of those are steel. This is a steel one. I might have to be tempted on this one. It's kind of ridiculous, right? I like the rainbow shades. My fire blue has dulled over the years, which is good. I like that patina age. I actually have a clip on the fire blue. I should ink that one up. But that I've used for so many years. It's been on this, on the pen. It just lives there. Like I don't think I could get the clip. The clip is kind of like, you know, you see things growing into a tree. That's what I feel like this clip. It's like a bronze clip or a copper clip on a steel barrel. And it lives there now, Myke. So that's one to check out if you're a Lilliput fan. Is this one hand burned by Michael Gubillet from a desk, from a blowtorch and he's a top desk drawer? I don't think so. Certainly that had to make the episode 400 and 401 recap as one of the great stories of our time at the pen attic. The hand torched by Michael Gubillet at his desk. The original fire blue. That was the story behind them. And I just need some Michael Gubillet sunglasses, I think is where we're at now. That was one of my latest ones. So anyway, I love that. This one, Myke. This one I put in here for you. I really didn't. This doesn't need to be in the show for any particular reason. Like, I don't have a lot of thoughts on it. What do you think? I'm curious of what your thoughts on the Visconti limited edition Homo sapiens full demonstrator fountain pen. I like it. It's great, isn't it? Yeah. For as much as I could like a Visconti, I like the way this one looks. The nib. I'm very confused. Is gross in a way that I like. Yeah. Like, it ain't right, Brad. Like, I know that. It's not right. So the nib has got a bunch of holes cut into it. Like, just like a bunch of holes that don't really seem to do anything. Yeah. Straight through to the feed. You can see the feed. It's just like straight through. Which feels dangerous. It does. But I don't know. Like, I have no idea. Like, I think that there's a lot of hardware on this pen. And they're like accentuating it. They got freaking screws on the cap, which I don't think need to be there. Yeah. They went in on this. Yeah. Like, this is, to me, in a way. Like, what all Viscontis are trying to be. You know what I mean? Like, they're all aspiring to be this kind of, like, gaudy. I think. So I do. I respect and like this for what it is. I just saw the price. Yeah. I would never buy it anyway. But I especially wouldn't buy it for an $18.50 retail price. Well, yeah. Less than that. But yeah. I mean. Well, that's the suggested retail price. MSRP. It's priced correctly. Like, for what Visconti does. Sure. I don't even blink at the price. And they designed this correctly. Right? Yeah. And I think that's what you're saying. This is a Visconti. Yeah. Right? And this is my expectation of ostentatiousness. Yep. And I just want. As Jan points out in the live chat, they have even color matched the rubber gaskets. Yeah. It's like, I'm actually more impressed at the section. The section matches, which is a bigger piece than the gaskets to fit. So the section is blue, which matches the feed, which is blue. I just want someone else to go first on this nib. Like, I have no, I mean, I'm not buying this, but I really need to know, does this nib hold an ink flow? Like, when you're writing. Like, I'm super curious about this. I mean, the Pen Chalet description talks about it being flexible, which, yeah. To me, that's worse. To me, that makes this worse. Yes. Because there's so much air gaps in there. But anyway. What they're going for, I guess, if this is, you know, or at least what they're trying to say that those holes are doing is to make it, is to make the nib more flexible. Add flex. Yeah. Yeah. I feel it. It's just, it's weird to see them such over the top of the feed. It's a bit much. As opposed to, like, on the sides. It's a bit much. It really is. So this is a limited to 1,088 pieces. They will sell. This is Visconti's customer. This should be, like, the customer special. You know how the pilot every year does, like, a shareholder special pen? This is, like, the Visconti shareholder special pen. Like, this is so good. Or it's, like, the Wes Anderson pen, right? Where it's just, like, they're sold before they... Before they even go on sale. Yeah. Yeah. This is crazy. This is... I genuinely love it. Like, this is one of those pens that I love to talk about that is zero for me. Correct. It's a 100. It's just, like, a complete 100 out of 100 for Visconti, right? It's so good. It's so good. Is there any kind of, like, reason?
* Yeah. Or it's just, like, this is what we did? Yeah. It's Visconti. Like, if you close your eyes and dream about Visconti, like, I know you do, this is what you come up with, right? Even more than, like, the swirls. Even more than, like, the Homo sapiens. Like, this is the most Visconti pen that has ever Visconti'd, I think. There's a bunch of stuff in this, in the penchilent description I don't understand. Like, this... True innovation lies in the way each detail has been executed. Traditional threads have been replaced by micro screws, ensuring perfect transparency and an immaculate finish. I don't know what that means. I don't know what part... Yeah. It's what it is. You know? It is what it is. All right, Myke. Choose Visconti, Lemon Edition, Homo sapiens, full demo, or Montegrappa Pac-Man. Which one do you want? Brad, this pen... Same price. This pen rules so hard. It freaking rules. It straight up rules. This pen goes so extra. I'm kind of bummed that it's not the full treatment. Like, it's not one of those ones. You know, this is one of the branded ones, the expensive branded ones. You know, I was kind of hoping that, like, there's some kind of Pac-Man ink bottle that you stick the pen into, you know, and it, like, piston refills it or something. Or I'd just take a box with a maze with movable parts in the maze. All of it. Yes, I love it. But, you know, like, your ink bottle's one of the fruit or whatever. Yeah. This is just a very, very heavily branded, very heavily branded Pac-Man pen where all of the work is in the body of the pen where they have etched the Pac-Man course and all the characters and everything. It's fantastic. It's truly, truly stupendous. I love it. This is their stock, like, fancy pen, not the over-the-top set. So they do a lot of these. They do more of these than, like, the over-the-top, like, Houdini ones we talk. I love the name. It's called Ghost Rider. Like, I would not have. I don't know that I would have come up with that name. And that name is great. Like, I just saw the ads for this and just saw the pictures of this. I was like, it is so good. Like, they just executed this so, so good. So, anyway, I will look for that at the DC Pen Show. I would actually like to see that pen in person. And then, hmm, who will have that at the DC Pen Show now that Kenro is no longer the distributor? Now I have to think about it. Maybe some of the retailers, like, I'll see there, like, maybe Drumgoals has it. But I want to check this one out in person. So, speaking of DC, I want to go through a couple things as I head out to the show. Tomorrow, as we're recording. And I'm pretty, I'm not going to say I'm pretty excited. I'm overly excited. Like, I think this is going to be a really good show. I think it's going to be packed to the gills. Like, you know, we'll talk about that next week. Like, I'm trying to, like, you know, I've been there plenty of times. And the times I don't go, I see other people's content. And it just kind of doesn't change. It's packed to the gills. And everyone's there. And it's really, really good. But this is one of the few shows, this one in San Francisco, where it's more important to have a list. And I think not all pen shows are like this. Like, I don't need a list when I'm going to the Atlanta pen show for two days. Like, I can do what I want over two days and get it all in. The last time I was in DC was 2023. I did the same schedule where I was just there all day Friday, all day Saturday. I took no classes. And I still didn't get to see everything at the show in 2023. And they've even added an extra room this year. They started last year growing outside of them. Well, there's already one extra room from what you have experienced. I just don't understand where it keeps getting bigger. Like, it's incredible. Like, I just don't understand it. So it's going to be big. It's packed. Like, the hotel sells out. Like, I didn't book my hotel ticket, like, in February. So, like, I'm in the alternate hotel, which is fine. Like, I've gotten over that. I was kind of whiny about that, to be honest, that I didn't get the regular show. But I'm actually cool on that now. So, this show, you need a list. And what I will advise, it's kind of like a two-part situation. If this is your first pen show, the list actually matters less. You should have a list of things you want to see and things you don't want to miss and stuff like that. But a lot of experienced users, a lot of people who go to mini pen shows or who are, you know, following pens in the community a lot, you know, big stationery buyers, they're going to have lists to go buy from the jump on Friday. And that's what I think I'm looking at, which I have never done this at a show. It's like, okay, first thing Friday, I need to do X. And this is one of those shows, right? There's not a lot of shows that fall into that category, at least that I've experienced in the U.S. It's D.C. and San Fran. So, some of the things on my list, not to blow things out, you know, blow my own list.
* Tono and Limbs is going to do what's called an Ink Labs. And I think it's going to be a problem. I don't know that they know what's about to hit them. So, they're going to do it like an ink. Like, you get to make your own ink while you're at the show, right? Like, I did this at Stationery Fest with Kakamori. You can make your own inks. That's one of the things you can do. Tono and Limbs is going to allow you to schedule a time to come and make your own ink. But you can't schedule a time anywhere but at the table. And I'm interested to see where this table is. So, I'm not interested in making the ink myself because I know it's going to be a madhouse. This is going to be a super popular thing. And I want to know the feedback on this because it's going to be cool. So, they just finished a kind of like an installation at Yoseka last week where they did like a spacewalk thing doing sharing their new inks. You got to go make inks. You know, that's a lot smaller scale than the DC pen show. I'm really concerned for them that they don't know what's about to happen by doing this. So, I hope for their sake this space is set right. At least they have time booked. The fact that they've known that you have to book a time, that's going to help them a lot. Because if it was just show up, then you're ruined, right? It is. But I'll say but. Like, the time sheet for Friday is going to be filled in the first 30 minutes of the show. Yeah, well, that's not their problem, is it? I know. But I'm saying like by the end of the show, people are like, I'm curious how it's going to go. So, anyway, we'll see. So, that's on my list. Mostly just to witness. I don't necessarily want to make my own ink. I'm really not good at that. I end up making some cool teal color that already exists. I always end up with like a teal. Everything comes out brown. They're all brown. Every ink is brown. Yeah, it's either brown or like bright blue teal. So, that's usually what I go with. What is on my list and what I will probably do first thing Friday is to go see what Hanabi Glass has brought to the show. I don't know that I'm going to buy anything. I'm not committing to buying anything. But I want to see it because this is a company that I think if they do have some really, really impressive stuff. So, this is a glass pen maker. So, it's called Hanabi Glass Studio. I got to meet them at, again, Stationery Fest last year. I got to talk to Lucas Mahoney who makes all these products and he's going to be there at the show. Based in Japan. Really just over the top dip nib pens. Glass dip pens. So, I'm going to look and see. I've seen some examples online of like a finer nibbed glass dip pens, which kind of scares me, right? From fragility perspective. But the output looks exactly what I would like from a writing glass pen. So, I want to go see what he has. And I know that that's going to be a popular table. And, you know, if I do am considering buying something, I'd want to get it Friday early because they'll probably like by Saturday afternoon, my options I'm going to assume will be less. Because that tends to how it goes with like the very unique tables like Hanabi Glass that don't have, that are traveling from Japan, have very unique items, generally don't have an off the chart type of stock, right? Like if I was looking for like a new Leonardo, like one of their new releases, I could probably find it. I wouldn't have to get it the first thing Friday morning, right? So, Hanabi Glass is on my list. Also on my list, fresh from yesterday and my texts blowing up. Shown design, Monarch Evo, Myke. Mm-hmm. Thoughts? Did you put this in here before I could put it in here? Yeah. I was like, oh, look, Myke's already on it. What do you have for me, Myke? I can't remember the last time I was excited about a pen. Yeah. Because I can't fully understand what Shown design I've done here. Mm-hmm. What they have made is something quite beautiful. And it looks like when I first saw it, I thought it was like one piece, but I don't think it is. Mm-hmm. I think that the, I'm not sure though, right? I think that the nib is screwed into the body. It kind of looks like it. Yeah. But like, I wasn't sure because he says integrated, but I think what he means is they're making the whole package. The nib is an integrated type nib. I guess, yeah, because all the Monarch nibs are. But, right. But like, what I was thinking, is this like an M90, right? That was my first thought, but I don't think it is, but it looks fantastic. They've built their own piston filling mechanism. I am really, really keen to understand more about this pen. Yes. Because just the visuals of it are incredible. And I've wanted to try a Monarch nib for a long time. Mm-hmm. And so, I mean, well, then I'm like, well, maybe this is the way. I'm not going to be able to buy this. Like, you know, this is going to take a long time before I think it's on general sale. Online store sometime in August, but we'll see. I think it's going to be really hard to buy. But this looks very, very special. I'm really excited about this pen, and I want to get my hands on one. Yeah, it looks spectacular. The fact that it's a piston filler, which I didn't, like, I wasn't even reading the description, right? I was just looking at the nib. Yeah. Going like, oh, my God, like, this nib is great. You have to go look at the pictures to kind of get the full scope of what we're talking about here. It's basically, you know, like an integrated nib, but not kind of like an M90 or a Murex. It's more like if, like, the M90 or Murex had a baby with, like, a Schaefer, I guess, what is it, a Triumph nib? It's a little bit bigger and rounder. It's kind of get that feel from it. It looks great. Yeah. Like you said, you said it right. I want to get more information on this this week and see. Like, I'm not in the market for this now, but this is one of those things. Like, I didn't buy the Monarch when it first came out. It took me about a year before deciding to buy a Monarch. Side note, you would love a Monarch nib. Yeah. Knowing you like I do, that's right up your alley. You would love a Monarch nib. Okay. Which means maybe you'll get an all-in-one with this one one year. So, yeah. Like, I want to see this. I want to use it. I want to try it. And then, you know, I'll think about it for later down the line. Because I'm sure it's going to be, like, super, super expensive. Right? Like, and rightfully so. Right? This is probably, like, in that Visconti range that we were talking about before. I don't know the price on this, but I know Ian's work is spectacular. And to make something like this on a small scale, it's got to be just, like, super expensive. So, this is definitely on my list to check out. Maybe I'll get to try someone who goes first. Maybe I'll try their pin. So, I'm trying to, like, you know, balance myself. DC is one where it can get out of hand really, really, really, really quickly. So, make that list. So, that's kind of, like, the quick and dirty highlights from my list. My other list of, I made, like, a little checklist yesterday of things. Like, I just want to make sure, like, I go see some of the people that I haven't seen before. Or, you know, I know where to find Kenro, right? I know where to see Leonardo and get to talk to Salvatore. And, like, I'm going to do all these things. Like, I'm going to go talk to Pilot and see, you know, what's going on. They usually have something fun to announce or fun to tell me about. So, yeah, like, that stuff I don't put on my list. But I want to put down the people that I haven't met before. Like, the aforementioned, you know, Tono and Limbs and Makar Tools. You know, there's a few other small makers that I want to make sure to see. So, what you can do if you are going to DC and you want to make a list, go through the exhibitor list and just kind of read off to yourself and note down which ones you want to see. And then what I did, so Alexander has made an interactive map on the DCPen website, which I have a link in the show notes to. And since it's in so many different locations, essentially four different rooms, I went, so I have my list, my checklist of people or vendors I went to see. And then I have their room location. So, I can kind of knock them off at one time and not have to, like, backtrack or miss something. Because you can miss something in a room. It sounds silly to say, but the crowds get big. And you might be going, like, against the flow of traffic and not get to somewhere that you want to see. So, it's good to try to do things in the same area at one time. This is more, this is like, hey, let's plan a trip to Disney World and figure out where we're going to go line up first. That's almost what this DC Pen Show feels like to me. So, I want to make sure I get to see the things that I haven't seen before first and then everything else will come after. So, that's kind of my game plan. And on top of that, I have three classes over two days and a lunch date in between. At least one, if not two, lunches. So, probably off-site or at least off the show floor. So, my time on the show floor is really limited. Like, I'm thinking about it. And it's like, I might have to start rethinking my plan for the bigger shows and do three full days instead of just two. If I'm going to do this many classes. This is going to be the good, this is going to be a great test subject show for me personally and how I do shows. Because I'm going to have, this is the biggest show in the U.S. and I'm going to have the least actual time on the floor that I have at any show probably ever that I've been to. Yeah, it's not great. Which is a weird, it's not a good match. No. Because like I said in the beginning, in 2023, I had zero classes and I was there for the same amount of time and I didn't get everything done that I wanted to. So, yeah, I'm setting myself up for failure kind of. But at the same time, I'm really happy with what I'm doing. So, we'll see. You know, maybe it's as simple as, hey, next year I'll add a day to the biggest, if I go to like a giant size pen show, right? San Fran, D.C., something like that. You know, so it's going to be good. It's going to be fun. We did get a question. I want to cover this one question before we wrap up today. Myke, just, I think it's a good insight into pen shows from a vendor. So, this is a new vendor asking a question. And then I still think it counts for like, you know, just attendees as well, just for the questionnaire. I'll let you read the question, then I'll dig into it. This comes from Jeffrey who says, This year's DC Pen Show will be my first time selling pens at a show. I've been making pens as a hobby for a while, but I've been making them as a side business with my wife just for over a year. She introduced me to your show. Thank you. Shout out, wife. Thank Jeffrey's wife. The DC Pen Show is a little intimidating as a first show, but it's our closest. We attended the last three years as buyers, so we're familiar with its size and layout, although it's the only pen show we have attended. I'm a little nervous that I don't have as large an inventory as some of the other sellers, but I believe I have a nice assortment and I think I have priced my pens fairly for the fully handmade acrylic category. Do you have any advice for a first time seller? Is the Thursday trader day worth me spending time at other than picking up my paperwork? Awesome question. So much advice. Let's start with the specific question at the end. Is the Thursday trader day worth me spending time at other than picking up my paperwork? It is not. I would just spend Thursday taking it all in, getting your paperwork, finding your table, setting up any small things you want to set up. You know, obviously not your pens. Yeah, if you can set anything up, if you have anything you need to set up, set it up on Thursday. You don't want to be doing that on Friday morning. Yeah, yeah. Friday mornings get early. Like you're going to end up being there pretty early to set up, but you kind of want to have some of it taken care of because you want to eat before you start Friday. Please, please eat Jeffrey. Before that was like, there was a comma in there. Is that like to everyone else? Everyone at the DC time, please eat Jeffrey. Okay. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So yeah, I would not put any stock mental or physical into Thursday trader day. Take it in, walk around. You're going to be behind the table so much. Just, just cruise around Thursday. Don't be in any type of rush other than to like find your stuff, find your, find where your table is, and then set up anything you want. It may not be much. The second part, getting into the inventory, worrying about inventory size. And I think Myke would agree with the statement, and Myke's probably already yelling at it, yelling this out. Like this is a marketing event for you and your company. So you want to be able to show what you have. It doesn't matter how much you have. You want to be able to tell your story, right? You want someone to stop by and you can say, hey, here, here's, here's what I make. Here's why I make it. You know, we pour our own resins. We make the pens and do all this type of stuff. So that's, you know, you're going to sell some pens and you may sell less than you think. You may sell more than you think, but you're going to get in front of people. And that's the way I take this show is I go see as many people as possible, right? I can't buy very much, right? I might buy three pens or something like that, which, you know, that leaves, you know, 150 pens I didn't buy from someone, right? Not everyone can buy everything, but I can learn about it and I can learn, you know, you know, maybe down the line, I see something. Now I have a better, better, like I have a personal experience to draw on. You know, when it comes down the line, maybe I see something online or see you at a different show to now I have like this like catalog of information. So you should really be leaning into who you are, how people can find you when they're not at the show, you know, what's your story, you know, how are you interesting, you know, to, you know, maybe a future buyer and just spend your time talking with people, right? Consider any sales. Like I know you would love to have sales and I know you'd like to make your expenses back and I'm crossing my fingers that you will and hopefully you will, but you really want to lean into the conversations at this show, especially if it's your first time. And like, I think you'll do great. Like this is a, it's a really, really tough show because it's so busy and you may feel like you don't get to spend enough time with people. But like when we had knock, you know, we had the benefit of having an online presence, you know, ahead of time. So we had a lot of hype built up, but we sold out before Sunday. That show was insane. I will never forget being horrifically hung over on Sunday because we went to Topgolf the night before and we had nothing on the table, but we were all standing behind the table. And I think it got to lunchtime and I was like, what are we doing here? Like, why are we here? And then we packed up. But like, I wouldn't leave. Like I wouldn't leave. I was talking to people. Like we left, I left a couple hours early, right? By Sunday late. But like I stood there and just talked to people and like I was pulling stuff up online to show people. It was like, hey, or showing like my personal case is like, hey, this is what we do. Like, and I stood there and just talked to people for like an entire day without products. So like. So yeah, like any, you should be going into any show and this goes for a lot of people, like pretty much going into as a marketing expense and exercise and then covering your expenses is, you know, maybe the bottom goal. Like that would be like the good, that'd be the good goal. And then any profit would be like your stretch goal, right? It's kind of like three, three phases of your vendor expectations at a show. Number one, it's a marketing expense. And if you lose money, well, you not, you spent money on marketing. Number two, all right, you end up even, right? Like, hey, cool, we covered our expenses. And then number three, it's like, oh, we made money. And those don't all happen at every show, right? Even with like experienced vendors. So good questions. Hopefully I'll meet Jeffrey there. And, you know, for anyone else who's there as we wrap up this show and I get to get to more packing, come say hi, like interrupt me. Like I am like super approachable at shows. I'm walking around. So the only time I might not stop is if I'm running late for a class, which I'm prone to do because I get, I get bogged down with something else. But yeah, if you catch me, especially this show, because like Jen mentioned in the, in the chat, I might be a ghost this weekend in a weird kind of way. Like it's just a big, it's large in scale and size and things to do. So if you see me, grab me and I have stickers. So come, so come get some. All right. If you want to find links for this week's episode, you can check them in your podcast app of choice. So you can go to relay.fm slash pen addict slash six, seven, six. Thanks to our sponsors this week's episode, pen chalet. If you want to find Brad online, you can find him on social media as pen addict. He's over at pen addict.com. He's over at spoke design.com and at twitch.tv slash pen addict where he streams three times a week. Uh, you can find me here on relay, uh, find my products at cortex brand.com. And you can also find me, uh, the enthusiast.net, which is my blog too. Uh, thanks so much for listening to this week's episode of the pen addict podcast. Uh, we'll be back next week. I'm sure we have a report of the DC full recap. Can't wait to hear it. Can't wait to hear it. Very jealous. Um, find out how much that show on design pen costs for me. Text me and I'll cry. Uh, no worries. We'll be back next time. Until then say goodbye, Brad. Goodbye, Brad.

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