The Pen Addict 654/transcript

The Pen Addict Podcast Transcript
Episode:	654
Title:	Making Drops of Joy
Release Date:	February 26th, 2025
Hosts:	Brad Dowdy Myke Hurley
Guests:	Azizah Asgarali
Additional Information
Official page:	Episode 654
Audio File:	Audio Episode 654
Podcast page:	The Pen Addict 654
Length:	5656 min <br />0.933 h <br /> minutes
Previous Transcript	Next Transcript

• From Relay, this is The Pen Addict, episode number 654. Today's show is brought to you by Pen Chalet. My name is Brad Dowdy, and I'm joined by Aziza Asgharali this week. How are you, Aziza? Hello, I am doing absolutely fantastic. How are you? Good, good. I should just to clarify, like, right from the jump, I should say Aziza, aka Gourmet Pens, because I could just say Gourmet Pens is here and everyone would go, oh, okay, yes, I'm in. It's true. Most people don't know my name. No, no. I've gone to places and said, hi, I'm Aziza, because they have invited me. And then they stare at me blankly and I've said, no, no, I'm Gourmet Pens. Oh. I don't really even bother with my name. Yeah, you just dropped the, do you know who I am, right? Yeah, like, do they even know? Yeah, that's my thing, right? Like, I just got back from California, the California pen show, and we're going to talk pen shows later in this episode. And I'm standing in line, you know, just like, you know, someone who buys their ticket does, because I bought my ticket. And my friends are asking me, like, why are you standing in line? It's like, I'm just an attendee buying a ticket to the show. I don't have a shirt that says, do you know who I am on it? Okay, you know what? Now we need to have a shirt for you with your face on it that says, do you know who I am? And the whole, the entire pen community needs to have one so we can all wear one. Let's definitely not do that. That's a good way to, like, embarrass me and make me run away. So I think my heads at the Chicago pen show last year, which Kimberly and Sarah brought around to the show, I think that was maximum embarrassment. I did get to be your face for one of them. You did. You did. I appreciate that. It was very exciting. I appreciate that. It was a joy. Yeah, it was a highlight. And it's a joy having you here on the show with me. I didn't look in the, as, you know, a little bit of behind the scenes, our pre-show prep here. Aziza is, you know, bearing with me, panicking, smashing all the buttons. The one thing I forgot to do and put in the show notes was, when was the last episode we talked? I think you've only been on the show once. And it has been a very long time. Yeah, it was a long time ago. So we'll have to look. I'll put a link in the show notes. I need to go back and listen to that. But it was probably like 10 years ago. Can you believe we've been doing this that long? Because I'm pretty sure I was living in the Netherlands still. So it was a long time ago. And I moved back to Canada in 2017. So it was pre-2017. I am shocked because I saw episode 654 and I thought, oh my goodness, that is impressive. It's madness, but mostly it's impressive. Yeah, it's something. I like, I don't know exactly what it is, but no, it feels good. Makes me happy. I found it. Panatic number 191. Oh, this was the show with the greatest title of all time. Still might rank up there. Do you recall? Like, there's no way you'll get this without looking it up. 191? Yeah. Wow. Yeah. Okay, I thought for sure it was double digits. But this is, that was 2016 though. So you had the timeframe right. Okay. Okay. Oh, this is the one there where Myke was sick, I believe. Yes. Yeah. So this was like a last minute fill in the title of this episode, Tahitian Black Lip Oyster. Oh my gosh. I remember when I bought that pen.
• And I also remember saying I was never going to sell it. I did sell it. Yeah. Yeah. So what, what was that pen? Do you remember? That was the Mont Blanc. It was their Solitaire 146. Okay. And, and it was, it had rotten strips on it. I see it now. I found it. It was, it was redonk. Yeah. We have a link in the show notes. That isn't, that's an amazing pen. That's a pretty U pen, but I could see, you know, things, things change. It was a me pen. If I had known about, if I had the money at the time and I had known about the nib exchange program, I would have put a really fat nib on it, but it was a medium. A womp womp. Womp womp. Even a nib grind wouldn't have been sufficient. Yeah. We're not even going to wait until we get into the proper conversation. What is the minimum nib size you require on a pen? I, at least a broad. Okay. At least. But I mean, I could detail later, but I, there are exceptions. Okay. But for the, for most of the time, if somebody says it's less than a broad, I'm like, mm-mm, mm-mm. Yeah. We're going to find out those exceptions, maybe right here in these first couple of topics. So one thing I wanted to do, since, you know, I am, if you've been listening to the show, Myke's out for several weeks. So I'm having a bunch of guests on and having my friends on and we're going to talk about things. And mostly, you know, we're just going to chat. But I still wanted to keep up with the news and talk about some new pens that are coming out or any new topics. So I'm going to pick your brain with these topics, too. So the first thing is I had a little bit of follow-up from last week's episode. So I bought a Sailor, Sailor Pro Gear Mini at the California Pen Show. And I was talking about the barrel threading and how I got it backwards in last week's episode. The most current editions do not have the barrel threading for the cap on the back. Right. The older edition. Yeah. They're just friction fit. So the older editions, which by older, I mean like a few years, have the threaded cap. Now, Sailor being Sailor, there are exceptions to this rule, right? Like that's just how Sailor rolls. They'll do what they want. Right. We'll accept it because we like their colors and nibs. Yeah, exactly. So like if a store makes a custom Sailor and they use a 21K nib and they get threads on the barrel, it's a whole thing. So as a norm, the new modern minis, which I still call the Sapporo, which is the old name. And I can't get that out of my head. That's a cuter name anyway. It is. It's a much better name. So what I have to ask you is, are you a Sailor person at all? Because like I'm in that Japanese fine nib realm and that is the exact opposite of what you're into. So what are your thoughts just in general? In general, I am a Sailor person because they have the music and Zoom nib options. Of course they do. Naturally. Of course. And I'm also attracted to the fact that they release a lot of colors, even though I hate it. Because I have to fight with myself to not purchase every single color I like. Like I like that there are color options and not just, oh, here's a black pen. Here's a smoke pen. Here's an amber. Yeah. I love Pilots, but just saying. Oh, sure. Like, I mean, there's nothing I give Pilots more grief than that. Like when they're very well represented at the shows that you and I attend. So at least the pilot North American, they're like, yeah, you know, we really don't have a lot of say in that. And I was like, I get it. Fine. But I'm just saying. But you must know. Have you seen this light blue and pink model over here? Gosh, I know. I know. So Sailor does still get me because of that. Of course, you know, they make some good oranges. So I get into orange. But they are very good with the colors and any color they pick, whether they choose like a pastel soft color or something really intense. They execute it really well. So it's very hard to resist for me. It is. It is. I stare and try to behave like more often than not. Because there's so many. Yeah. I would just end up with 10 of them and I need like three of them I'd be happy with. Right. So. Yeah. It's like I don't need all of them, but they're beautiful. They're mine. So Zoom nib, music nib, that's your jam. Right. Yeah. For sure. What about, I guess this leads into the next question or the next little topic I wanted to mention, because people were sending me this knowing what I like. The Kaweco Sport Honey just got dropped. So that is their collection edition for the small plastic barrel Kaweco, you know, sport classic, but it's called the Kaweco Sport Collection. It's gorgeous. It's beautiful. I'm a Kaweco Sport lover. Number one, do you like mini pens in general? In general, I don't. Yeah. There is a good reason for it, mostly because I don't like to use cartridges or converters.
• And I, so, you know, I just feel restricted by the incapacity of a cartridge. You know, big nibs, big ink, big pen. Yeah, exactly. It all works together. You're going to burn through it. It, it, it all makes complete sense when you understand the level of insanity with which I live. Oh, we're going to get there. We're going to get there. But I do, I do really, if I have to pick out of all the Kawecos, I really like the sports. Again, because of the fun color options and, and what they bring. And they're very affordable. Yeah, they are. They are actually surprised they haven't started raising them a little bit. I don't want them to give any ideas. I know. Yeah, don't give them ideas. They have done a good job at keeping this model down. And they've raised, you know, some of the higher end models or when they launch a new model. Yeah. The pistons, like they're really leaning into it a little bit. So. Yeah. So maybe this is their, their loss leader pen. Just kind of get people hooked to the like, oh, this is a cool pocket pen. This is a thing. Right. Right. So like most people don't understand, like when they see this pen, they, a lot of times if they're not into fountain pens, they definitely don't think this is a fountain pen. So. Right. Right. And, and even, even at the price that they are retailing for, I know there's a lot of people who are saying, well, the nibs aren't consistent enough. Like I want something that's definitely an extra fine or definitely a double broad. I'm like, then get a nib grind on it. It's totally worth it. Yep. My advice is always, if you love this pen and you have several Kawekos and you're concerned about the nib, which I haven't had any nib problems recently, but I do stick with like extra fine only. Like when you get up, when you get up into mediums, that's where they get a little bit inconsistent. I feel. And just a little bit. Yeah. Like I've, in my experience, I've, I've gone through a lot of them and even getting a lot of double broads. Most of them still perform. It might not be the exact double broad you're looking for, but that's an easy tune up and totally worth getting. Anyway, sorry. I digress. No, no, no. I was just going to say, if you're someone like me who has, you know, I have probably six or eight of these pens, get one nib ground to what you want and just swap the nib in and out. I don't ever have all eight of these pens inked up, but whenever I pick the one that I want, I'll put, I know where the good nib is. And I just. Yes. The good nib. I like that. Go to town. So yeah, this is, I was just double checking. This pen is $30. I think it's very cute. I think the honey, like the very warm look. And if you paired it up with the Toyama teal, the pair would be killer. So then you could have two of them. You have got a beautiful matching set. Oh, so nice. So that's how I end up with too many pens. I know. And this is how we get into questions, which we're going to hit later of. And I'm going to go ahead and bring this in now because you set me up perfectly. When you're inking a pen, are you going matchy matchy or complimentary? I do try to match. And the reason I try to match is specifically because I have no idea what I ink my pens with after like a week. I forget. And so if I can look at the pen color and say, okay, there's an ink in there that is similar. I will know what to pick when I'm trying to create an ink page or something. And that's the only reason. Otherwise, I would just put whatever in anything. You know what? Like this is the way we handle like our craziness is we find little solutions to frequently recurring problems like, hey, what ink is in this pen? Well, if you go mostly matchy matchy, you can really narrow down that color. Exactly. You don't even have to write it down. It's like a party trick, though. People are amazed. They're like, wow. How did you know? Well, first of all, you know roughly based on the color of the pen, but also then you smell the ink. Oh, yes. If it's a sailor, you'll know. Yeah.
• Not in a bad way, but you know. No, no. We get emails often and it's like, hey, should this ink smell? And it was like, well, is it a KWZ or a sailor? Right. It's probably. Yeah. Like it's not going to affect anything. It's it's it's like it's the smell giving you a no feeling because if so, that it might be mold.

Discussion of Pelican's 2025 pen releases

• Oh, I love it. I love it. All right. Next pen I want to talk about Pelican's been on a kick so far in 2025 to the shock of no one. This is a very much not me pen, the M200 marbled red special edition. And knowing a lot of the things that you like as pens, do you like just Pelicans in general? And then what do you think of just like a very class? This is a very classic Pelican. This one is very classic. It's gorgeous. It's beautiful. It's not for me. Right. I'm shopping in your store and buying the unicorn Bennu. Right. Yeah. So exactly. It is very elegant. It's a very beautiful pen. It is too tame for me. Mm-hmm. But I do like Pelicans. They have a lot of nib options. I like that I can easily take out the nibs and move them around. And sometimes they make something funky enough. They do some wild ones that are really, really nice. Most of the time they're too expensive. But when they're not, there are funky options that I enjoy. What is your favorite Pelican barrel size?
• The 600. Yeah. I think that's my too. Even though I tend to have mostly the 400s and I have one 800. Can you use a 1000 if someone gave it to you? Like they're the most expensive, biggest. Yeah. That seems like a fire hose type of pen that you would make sing. Like I've tried and like zero chance I could use that pen. I have one 1000 that was a gift for my dad. So it will stay forever. It was actually the 1005, the clear one. Oh, wow. Yeah. And it has a triple broad on it. So, you know.
• The ink capacity does not last very long.
• But it's beautiful. Yeah. You just kind of broke my brain with that combination of pen and nib and ink. And just think, just like, you just need a bottle attachment to the pen somehow. Pretty much. Pretty much. And it is a ridiculous pen. It is a very large pen for my hand. But because it doesn't last very long in terms of the ink, I'm never getting to the point that I'm too tired with it. So it's kind of perfect. Okay. Cool. Cool. So I did find a couple of new Pelican, other Pelicans more in the opposite end of the 1000 price spectrum, like the Pelicano. I put a link in the show notes. Did you see this Pelicano? This is called Magic Ocean. Oh, I'm into this. Like, what is Pelican doing? And why don't they do this more? This is a... Let me just describe to the listeners. Yeah, for sure. So the Pelicano is one of their little weird entry-level pens. They just kind of go make weird shapes and designs out of these pens. But it's light blue and pink. And it looks like it's got like fish scales on it, like a mermaid or something. It is awesome. Like, I am way into this. It is so good. I do... Could you imagine if this was like an M600? Oh, it would be so perfect. An M400. I will take anything at this point. Yeah. I love it. I love that it's called Magic Ocean. Yeah. I'm definitely going to get one. So this is one of those things that just really caught me by surprise. Like, they dabble in the wild colors. Like, I have another link to like the Pelican style. And they look like Tron pens, if anyone here is old enough and remembers the movie Tron.
• Oh my gosh, it does. Yeah. Yeah, they're black and neon. And they're just... They're awesome. I was like, this is Pelican, huh? And it's like, I'm so into this. Give me one, like you're saying, give me one 600 where you just get dumb like this. Give me a Magic Ocean 600. Like, just have fun. Have fun with it, Pelican. Go for it.
• They're really nice. I think they're a lot of fun. And I think kids and adults alike will enjoy these.
• So that's what I was thinking. It's kind of a surprise for Pelican in my head. But in reality, I don't think it is probably like in Germany and like in their home country. Because we'll get feedback from time to time when we talk about Pelican. And it was like, yeah, the fountain pen market is such and such. But they really just own like all of like the store shelf and the regular pens, standard pens, low level fountain pens. That's why like there's between the Pelicano, the style, the Ineos. They have all these brand new colors that I'm just seeing here in the past couple weeks. And I'm here for Pelican. So keep doing that. I'm happy about it. Yeah, yeah. You know where you can get a Pelican, Aziza? At our good friend's pen chalet. So this episode of the pen addict is brought to you by pen chalet. They sell authentic, amazing roller balls, fountain pens, ballpoints, mechanical pencils, and so much more. They have all your favorite brands like Monteverde, Pelican, Lamy, Pilot, Namiki, Sailor and Kaweko. And of course, an authorized dealer. They have very fast and reliable customer service. They run special discounts twice a month, including closeout specials every two weeks. They're always adding new styles of pens every single month. As well as the brands I mentioned earlier, pen chalet sells limited edition pens and all the accessories you ever need. Like pen carrying cases, pen holders, refills, fountain pen converters, and so much more. They have free shipping on orders over $75 in the United States. And they also sell internationally with very reasonable shipping rates. Pen chalet has low prices on high quality pens and offers a 100% satisfaction guarantee. So go to penchalet.com slash pen addict to get 10% off anything at pen chalet and to see this week's exclusive offers for listeners of the show. So Aziza, this is the time where I go to the site, go click the YouTube radio podcast button and type in pen addict. And then we get special deals for listeners of the show. And I have to say, I was spying this list already. And they have a Scribo Puma on here, which has been on my list forever.
• And it is at a ridiculous price. And I almost bought it yesterday when I was preparing for the show. That is a ridiculous price. Yeah. And they have an extra fine nib. And I don't know what I'm going to do. I just spent a bunch of money at the California pen show. And I've kind of been waiting for, you know, to find one of these at a deal or whatever. It's ridiculously good. So go check out everything that Ron, our good friend over at pen chalet has. There's Caran D'Ache 849s. There's Gioias. They still have some of the awesome pink Fisher space pen that I mentioned last time. So some really, really good stuff over on the pen addict page, even color verse ink. So go check out everything that pen addict has, pen chalet has to offer in this wonderful selection of products. So head over to pen chalet.com slash pen addict. And thank you so much to pen chalet for sponsoring relay and the pen addict. So yeah, they almost pre-show cost me money. That's how good some of their deals are over at pen chalet. And the color verse ink. It is so cute. The Feli set. It's the little cat. It's so cute. They're so good. All right, Aziza, before we get into it, we have a shout out of the week. Shout out of the week. So we had to do a little throwback to Myke singing the shout out of the week there. We have an Instagram account that you introduced to me called Ichi.Day. I-C-H-I.Day. Y'all need to go check out this account. If you like pens, if you like ink. This is a beautiful, beautiful Instagram. So this is something that you shared with me. And what do you think about this account? I find the demonstration of the art and the ink so incredible. I-there's a lot of cats as well. Yeah. So it doesn't hurt. But the entire grid layout, the way the art is presented, it's so consistent. And the art itself is incredible. And I really love seeing inks being used in this manner. You know, not just from a pen, but in an artistic form, like a full page of inking. I love this. It's so inspiring and so much fun. Yeah. And they use a Hobonichi planner for a lot of their art. So if you've already failed at 2025. Like I have.
• Just go look at Ichi.Day and get ideas on how you can have spreads across the pages that you are already not using. But you can't let that, you can't let that notebook go to waste, Aziza. No, it's, this is exactly what I'm doing. I'm just throwing ink on it. Yeah. Yeah. It's, it's beautiful. So I love this. I gave them a follow and this is completely, completely up my alley. So thank you. Thank you for that.

Transition to personal updates and catching up with Aziza

• All right. So we've caught up on the news. We've caught up on the notes. Now we're going to catch up with you. Hi, Aziza. How's it going? Hi. Thank you. Yes. It's lovely. Delightful. Everything is so wonderful. Good. Good. And you're wonderful. And I got to, I got to see you recently at the Philadelphia Pen Show. And it's always a joy hanging out with you at Pen Shows.

Aziza's stationery journey and background

• Likewise. Of course. Yes. Yes. And I, you know, you know how long you've been doing this and, you know, I know all about you, but I'm not sure all of our listeners do. So can we get a little bit of your stationery story and, you know, how you got started in stationery and when you started sharing these things online, can we, uh, can we get a little background from you? Yeah, absolutely. It's, it's fortunately, it's a very simple story. I grew up with a father who also really likes pens and I would frequently steal his pens, which is delightful. And, um, I somehow amassed a small collection at the time. It was mostly gel pens and things like gin house, just because they had a lot of colors and it was in my price range because I was a broke university student.
• And, um, well, I just, one day I saw a posting from jet pens that they were looking for reviewers and they asked for a link to just like an example of your existing reviews. And I thought I was shook. I was like, oh my gosh, this is something that exists. I could talk about a pen for someone. And so I frantically wrote up a review as an example. And, um, I also did, I also did this because at the same time it worked out beautifully. I really wanted to go to the New York stationery show because I grew up in the prairies in, in Manitoba in Canada and stationery shops were just not a thing. So I thought, I cannot believe there is an entire show dedicated to stationery. So this was in about 20, sorry, um, 2009. And so in 2010, I launched my blog specifically with the goal of being able to attend the New York stationery show as like media, as press, because I just wanted to go and touch everything. And the sad thing is I've never been, it's never gone, it's never happened. And it has been kind of downhill in terms of my sanity from there, but uphill in terms of my pen knowledge and collecting. Oh, that's amazing. So the, it was mostly started with, you know, standard pens, just like myself, you know, did you, did your dad, or did you have any like fountain pens like growing up that you would kind of dabble or destroy or get inky? My dad actually used, uh, the, the drafting pens, like the, um, like the repeatographs type of thing. Yes. Yes. Those. And he had sets of them and I actually still have the sets. Yes. So they're, they're very cool. And so that's what I was using. And, um, I, I mean, I ended up with my first fountain pen because he got it for me from jet pens. And at the time he said, pick whatever you want and I'll, I'll get it for you. And I was like, oh my gosh, this is a dream.
• So I ended up with like a, a pilot, like the Cavalier, which is the really slim, very adorable colors. And a bottle of the Itoshizuku Yamabudo, which was my first like nice ink. Uh, so it, it's been, it's been a journey from gel pens, which I still love. And I still have plenty of to fountain pens. And just because fountain pens have so much more, so many more aspects to them, like how the, you know, like nib appearance and what engraving is on them and details of the pens. It's just a, it's just a bigger world to explore. So I'm still exploring the fountain pen world. Yeah. We'll never stop exploring. We'll never stop. I don't think. And you started sharing this exploration, like you said, in 2010, just to, just to fake your way into a trade show. Exactly. I'm very much into that, by the way. Um, isn't that a genius method? Totally. It is. It's like, Hey, I exist. Look at me. I mean, I didn't use it, but I could now. So how did, what was your idea of like starting it and then like growing it in, in what you, what types of articles you were wanting to share or what, you know, kind of information you wanted to share, uh, online? It was really a passion. Like I was just so excited. I was so excited that there were other people who were also excited about a gel pen, for example, or, uh, just a new ink color. I used to have the pilot petites, like the, the little itty bitty plastic pilots that were in really fun colors. And, you know, and just having someone else say, Oh, I love that so much. I'm so excited. Like, can I try your pen when I was in university? It was like, that was the motivating factor. It was just the excitement and the passion. So I was just writing, I wouldn't even call them reviews. When I look back at them, they were really just articles about my excitement about a pen. It's really kind of nerdy. No. Well, I mean, listen, I mean, yeah, but like your excitement has not waned like over all these years. And it was apparent back then when you started, I was like, Oh, Aziza is really into this and like, like your style and just your energy. And that is carried, carried through to this day. So I just, I, I just think it's like super awesome to, to see you continue to, you know, build and grow and keep doing this. It's pretty awesome. I'm a very passionate person. When I like something, I like it hard. Yeah. You know? Yeah. And, and also dangerously because it means I'll spend all my money on it, but that's okay. Yeah. So speaking of, of you liking all the things, I'm gonna have all the links to your stuff in the show notes and I was putting together links. I was like, Oh, I need the blog, the podcast, the shop, the Instagram, the YouTube, the Patreon. I do so many things. There's so many. But I love it. So you're always looking, you're always doing new things. Like you've, you've done a podcast for a while. Are you starting a new kind of YouTube show here recently, which I'm just kind of catching up on. Can you, can you talk about that for me and the listeners? Because I'm not even that familiar. It's not, it's, it's been a couple months now. And so I'm, I'm doing two. So one is, I think probably the more unusual one is gourmet pens and friends where it is just to hang out with a friend. But I really, it really began because I wanted to give people a, a place to talk about kind of like what's bothering them in, in a good way or something that's special to them. That's not just pens, something in their world or in their life that means a lot to them that they want others to hear about. So oddly enough, it's been a lot of mental health. We've talked a lot about grief, imposter syndrome, more grief, loss. And what we're finding as we go is how much it ties back to the pen world because we are turning to not just our pens and instruments to cope with this stuff, but we're also turning to the friends we've made in the pen world for love and support. And so it's really just a place where we hang out for love and support. I think that's beautiful. It is. It's very, it is emotionally heavy because I mean, sometimes after we go off air, we're kind of a little weepy, you know? Um, and that might be unusual for my channel because usually my channel's very, um, annoyingly upbeat probably. And, uh, I'm just trying to be more honest, give people a more realistic look of what someone else's life might be. And, um, on the other end of the spectrum, I'm doing just myself. It's just live streams late at night because that's when I function best. And, uh, it's just a place where I talk about whatever I'm playing with, like whatever new pen I'm looking at, um, doing some guided inky messes. It's, it's kind of a playtime, but more of a, a live stream of consciousness, which is a little disturbing.
• It's a little disturbing. It's like, it's like, I know Aziza, I can laugh really hard at that. Yeah.
• Yeah. And, and so it's been, it's, it's two new things. And I, I kind of pivoted this way because I wanted to just make a place where people felt safe. And so I want people to know that, you know, it's also okay if you're upset about something or you're grieving, you're still welcome to come and hang out. You're still wanted in the room, even if you're feeling down. And, um, it's been really nice in that regard. I think it's been supportive. So I'm honored that I have the ability to do this. It's a big deal. And I appreciate you doing this. And I think even back when we were talking on the podcast for the first time, we even alluded to like some of these things. And I've always tried to been, be open and honest with my struggles and make, you know, myself available to people with challenges, um, you know, just in day-to-day regular challenges and, you know, sharing my, you know, my own challenges. And I think it's really cool that you open up this way and allow the platform for people to, uh, to join you and come hang out and just, you know, feel comfortable saying, Hey, sometimes it's not all right. And we have each other and we're going to get through this. Right. Yeah. And, and it's beautiful to see the chat room, um, come to life with support for someone else who has shared something. Uh, it's like, we've had a lot of grief shared actively, you know, as things are happening in the chat room and it's, it's, it's very jarring because, um, it's so shocking. And at the same time, seeing so many strangers just step up immediately to offer support to someone they've never met, they've only seen in a chat room is it's so incredible. And I'm like, yes, this is what the Pen community is about. Yep. We're building a safe community and this is exactly why we're here. Yeah. It's, it's pretty crazy to think about, but it's so true. Everything you said, it's, it's just an amazing community. Glad to be a part of it. Glad you're a part of it and glad, um, you know, we have people that, you know, feel comfortable coming in and, you know, welcoming, welcoming to all. So we'll have a link in the show notes, uh, to your YouTube and make sure everyone goes over there and follows that. So one of the other links we're going to have is to your Instagram. And let's just say that one's a little bit messier, but in a good way, let's talk about, let's talk about your inky doodles. Okay. Because I think that is one of those things that is fascinating to me that there is just ink being slung, no cares in the world. I will waste it. And it's a lot. So tell me, yeah, tell me, tell me, just tell me about your, your inky doodles. Yeah. Yeah. I would be thrilled to do this. This, this is because I had too much ink really. And I had too many pens and I thought, okay, I really need to, uh, figure out a way to use this without wasting it. And I, I also have had a lifelong dream of pretending I'm an artist. So I've always just, it's always seemed like I just want to be able to have the kind of brain that can create something beautiful. And it turns out I do have that. It's just beauty is different for everyone because there are definitely people who are horrified by what I do, which is okay. Which is okay. They're like, I've literally gotten comments of, oh my gosh, how much ink have you wasted? I'm like, not enough. Thank you very much. Yeah. That's zero because this is not wasteful whatsoever. This is not wasting. It's not wasting. And I, it has really forced me to explore inks and colors as well as my pens and nibs and papers. So this is, it's an, a very immersive journey. And the more I dabble, the more I am finding who I really am. That sounds so cheesy. Heck no. But I mean, I've been on Instagram since like 2007 or something. And it has taken me this long. It's really only in 2024 that I found my voice. I'm like, hey, this, like the feed that I have now, this is me. This is what I do with pens and inks. This is who I am. And this is kind of how I go through life. Like it's very colorful and insane.
• Not super structured. It's kind of like, okay, let's hope this works out. And sometimes it works out better than others. And so it just very much captures me. And so it's very colorful. Yeah. I love hearing this. Like this is, it's, it's inspirational, honestly, to, to myself, to a lot of us, just the difficulty with allowing yourself to just be free and just kind of do whatever is, it's a challenge. It's like, you can't just, it's just not words, right? Like it's, it's not, it's, it's a long time of work and belief and struggle and just figuring yourself out. And to hear you say, it's like, oh yeah, I feel pretty good about this. And it's taken me like until last year to get it there. But yeah, I'm good about it. Yeah. Yeah. Which is shocking as well, because a lot of times we'll see beautifully curated feeds and everything looks perfect. And we might think, oh wow. They knew from the start what they wanted. I mean, it took me over a decade to find out who I am in the pen world, which is shocking as well. Because it's like, oh, it's Gourmet Pen. She knows what she's doing. Well, no, I have no idea what I'm doing, but I'm now finding it out. And I love it. Like I really, really love it. I love it too. And one of the things you're, you're finding out and sharing with others is your ability to teach at pen shows. Yeah. What made you, yeah, I was going to say you've started doing this very actively in the past few years. Tell us a little bit about your teaching, what classes you teach and why you like getting out there and helping other people at pen shows. Oh, this one is, this one's fun. I mean, I was kind of voluntold into this position by the Philly pen show organizers who are friends. And one of them asked, well, like, hey, why don't you come teach people how to use pilot parallels? And I was thinking, okay, I don't know what I'm doing. This is not something I am capable of or qualified for. And he said, that's kind of the point, you know, like it would be really casual and it's very much you and who you are. So that was 2019. Okay. I believe so. It was the year before everything locked down or two years before everything locked down. And, um, I just kind of went for it. Absolutely terrified because I had no idea what I was doing, but he said, you know, just pretend you're in one of your, like you're recording a video and you're talking to your audience. And so I just went for it because I thought, well, okay, what do you have to lose? And it turns out I really love it as well. I just love seeing people come into the class. They're unsure. They're thinking there's no way I'm going to be able to figure out how to use this pen. And by the end of it, people are totally ignoring me because they're so happy and throwing ink on the page and, you know, putting their hands in it. It's just so much fun to see people let go and just find a moment of peace for themselves. And so now I just try to chase that feeling with new classes, um, new style. So all the hours I spend playing, so to speak, I mean, it is playing, but it's also practice trying to come up with ideas of, of new ways to bring this to the fountain pen community and to pen shows. And, uh, so this last, uh, so the last show was Philly. So I, for the first time I did like a casual broad edge calligraphy, which was really hard, but also really very, um, affirming in a way, because I'm like, okay, I can do this. And people do walk out with some experience and knowledge. And of course it's not ever going to be perfect, but my goal is to just get people curious and so that they can take it home and they can practice or, um, take it, take it to the show floor and look for inks to play with. It's, it's been, it's a really fun journey. I love it. And you, you literally have like a slinging ink class, don't you? I do. I do. And I tell people, I say, um, don't wear white or anything light colored and you might end up with ink in your mouth or in your face, in your hair, in your ears. So just be ready for anything.
• Don't drink the ink. Don't drink, do not drink the ink. So what, um, you, you may not have all the, the, the details or anything, but do you have any idea of what shows you're doing kind of the rest of the year? Yeah, I'm, I'm definitely booked for DC. Um, I'm working on a new workshop. That's going to be very different. Um, it will be more of a, of a, of an experience and I think it'll be very, very, it's going to be very intimate. Like it's a very small workshop. And so hopefully I'll have news about that soon. I would love to do Chicago, but, um, I'm just trying to save my pennies for, for the damage that I've already done. Right. It's been a hot start to the year. Yeah, exactly. Like first thing I'm like, Oh, look, here's a monarch that I absolutely cannot live without. And so, you know, you know how it goes. Yeah, for sure. For sure. All right. I gotta, I gotta ask you the unanswerable question probably.
• Why do you do all this? What keeps you going? You know, you, you, you, I feel like you're just getting started and you've been doing this a long time. Right. So like, like, like what keeps you going?

The role of therapy in Aziza's personal and professional life

• I have a really easy answer to this and what it is, is therapy. Yeah. Um, so I actually do go to therapy and it has completely changed my life in that it has made me a much better person, not just for myself, but for everybody who has to interact with me. I am calmer. I am kinder. Um, I'm more patient. And what I have really walked away from therapy with is the ability to stop and think about things. So somebody cuts me off and gives me the finger. You know what? I think now, like previously I would be raging and I'd be like, okay, I'm going to have like a rage heart attack. Now I think, wow, they must be having a really bad day and I hope they could find some drops of joy. And so drops of joy came about because I was just throwing ink on the page and somebody else said, wow, that's a lot of drops of joy. And, um, that's kind of what my thing is now. Like that's my motto is make drops of joy and share it with people and help people find even a tiny bit of happiness just to make their days a little bit better. So it's keeping me going because it allows me to enjoy something for myself. It allows me to refill my cup by sharing with others and seeing them walk away with some peace and happiness and people just smile. It's so cheesy, but it's just, it's just so happy. I know I'm choking up over here. I'm never going to ask this question again because no one's going to ever have a better answer than this. It's just, I'm just so proud of you. And just, it's just a lovely, beautiful answer. And, you know, I, uh, I think it's fantastic. I think it's fantastic. This is my purpose in life. Yeah, exactly. Exactly. Helping people. All right. So we're going to help, uh, maybe spend some people's money now, uh, which is also something that we enjoy doing. Yeah. Like, oh yeah. I do enjoy that. Yes. It's true. So since I'm going to be having a lot of guests here going forward, I'm curious to, you know, we, we do like what we've done on this show. We talk about things and we talk about you. I want to talk about your stuff. Oh yeah. This is a, this is a stuff podcast to a degree. Totally. And I want to know your personal favorite. So I picked out a few broad topics and we're going to see where we go from here. And the first one, I just said, give me three of your favorite fountain pens that you personally own. You could, you could do it. Shock. I can do it. I could do it. Okay. So hit me. Okay. Top three. So I have a Mont Blanc 146 and it has a bespoke signature music nib on it. So it's the really fat three time two slit nib. Okay. So bespoke, is that a special series that they did? Yeah. So you have to send in for it. I did not send in, I did not purchase this through a boutique. I got it at a pen show, which is another reason you need to go to pen shows. Yeah. So it was insane that I was able. Yeah. Go to your bank first and then go to the pen show. Go to your bank. But see, when you get it at a pen show, it's a much more reasonable price.
• So just saying. You're not wrong. You're technically not wrong. Technically not wrong. Um, I've got the shown design Ultem with a Monarch, the stub Monarch, because it's a chonk. Yep. Um, and then last, I have my Hardy Pens hot pink lemonade, which was my shop exclusive. And it has a stylo suite 1.5 millimeter flex nib on it. Oh my gosh. That sounds amazing. Those are my all, I mean, amongst others, those are my always inks, but these are really special to me. Yeah. I love it. Um, speaking of your shop, I did want to drop that in here real quick. We'll obviously link it, but you make some really fun pens. How many of those pens that you create for the shop or inks that you create for the shop are just because you want to use them personally? That is exactly why. 90. I would say 98%. Yeah.
• I know. It's amazing. And then there's occasionally friends who are like, can you make something a little less pink and sparkly? I'm like, I'll try. Yeah.
• Literally. I'll consider it. All right. So what, I don't have this pulled up. What are the two Bennu unicorn pens names? So the first one was what? The first one was the true unicorn, which is literally cotton candy, pink and blue. And it has gigantic holographic glitter flakes in it. Yeah. So then you answered this person's question by doing what specifically? By making it a dark unicorn version. So it's, I mean, you know. It all makes sense now. It's the same thing, just dark. But there's also the raven, which is very mysterious and beautiful. So that might be a more appropriate choice for people who don't like pink and sparkly because it's black with deep, deep blue shimmer in it, just like a raven's wings. So it's very elegant. Oh, that's awesome. That's awesome. And you have a bunch of inks in there. How do you decide on ink colors? That's a challenge I'm having right now. I literally have one ink. I want to do more ink, but I'm a little bit hesitant. Well, you just do multiples. You don't decide on one. That's insane. Golly. You know, that's great advice. Yeah, do a set. Who cares? Do them all, right? Do them all. Make it a complimentary set. I promise you people will buy your full set of ink, including myself.

Favorite fountain pen inks and personal preferences

• So my next just general question is favorite fountain pen inks. But I want to know what your favorite ink that you sell is. Okay. The three that I play with the most is the Ink Institute Tobomori Rec Ice Fog. So and then my Epitome Pens collaboration, Watermelon Slushie. So those three are so much fun to play with. They just complement each other so well. They look so good on the page. It's just incredible. But most of the inks that I design or design that I pick are meant to be playing with like this. Like they are meant to play together on the page. So don't be shy. Throw it on the page and have some fun. Yeah, I have Tobomori Rec and Watermelon Slushie inked up right now from. They're so fun. Yeah, totally. And then you're actually trying to get me into Ice Fog. I was testing them on stream one day. And you're like, you got to do it. You got to do it. And I just haven't inked it up yet. So what I need to do is be more like you and just start slinging, right? You just need to sling it. I'm worrying about like what nib and ink I'm going to fill pen. I'm going to put this in. You know, grab a, you know, grab a dip pen or a glass dip pen and just go to town. Even just take a pipette, drop some on the page and then write through it with a different pen with a different ink in it.
• Just go for it. I am going to go for it. This is kind of my new thing this year. Like I'm not like, you know, I don't have any like written rules that I'm going to do X, Y and Z. But I am playing with more ink this year and I'm having a lot of fun doing it. And it's partially your fault. So congratulations. Well, thank you. I'm very proud of you because it's not easy to do. It's really, really fun. When you're slinging this ink, what kind of, do you have a paper preference? Like do you have ink slinging paper? Do you have journaling paper? This is probably kind of an important question given how you use stuff. I mean, ultimately it needs to be fountain pen friendly. And for me, if it feathers, it's a no-go. If it bleeds, it's fine. I can deal with bleeding because I can make use of it. So my go-tos are 52 GSM Tomoe River, not the 68. Excuse me. Let me go. I know. It's very specific. I like the crinkle. Yeah. You got to break out the safe though. Like you have to, people hoard that stuff. You can't buy the good stuff. I have several hundred pounds of it. It's very embarrassing. Okay.
• Stology, Marmon Nemosyne paper, Grafilo, and Kokoyo KB. Okay. Yeah. That's my, those are my go-tos. I don't really stray from those. And I like A5 and B6. That's pretty much it. So in some ways I'm kind of, it's easy because I know what I like and I don't really need to venture beyond too much.
• Yeah. I mean, I have other notebooks too, but these are my inky messes notebooks. This is what I do with these notebooks. Do you journal? Oh, no. I don't want to think about my feelings anymore. Yeah. I kind of like that answer. I don't technically either. Like I just write stuff, like general stuff, but I don't do like what people think of. Like I'll write nonsense. Yeah. Like traditional journaling. I really don't do, but like I haven't. I don't do, I don't. I, I've done it in the past and I actually found it. I just kept ending up in negative spirals and I was like, you know what? Maybe this is just not for me and that's okay. Yep. So my journaling now is just throwing ink on paper. That is, that's literally journaling in my book. Yeah. And it's better because I'm like, do I feel, depending how I feel, like maybe I want to use more dark colors. Maybe I feel like pretending I'm in a really good mood or maybe I, maybe I need to create some drops of joy. So I'll just go all out, pull out like the hot pinks and like really bright shimmery things. And it's remarkably useful. Love it. So with all this awesome stuff, are you looking for any more stuff? Is there something like on your shopping list? I like, if you asked me this question, I don't know that I can answer it technically. Like, I don't know, but it's like, I'm more of like, I know it when I see it kind of thing. Or do you have something specific that you're looking for? Like, certainly there's nothing that I need. I have, I have everything that I enjoy. I mean, I kind of wish shown design would stop making delightful Monarch nibs so I could stop wanting them. But I, I don't need anything. And I have very specific criteria now about when I'm purchasing something. Oh, can we hear about that? Yeah. I mean, it's, it's quite easy. It has to be really fun. Ideally, shiny and sparkly. And it has to be, I have to be able to eyedropper the barrel. Okay. So that eliminates a lot of pens for me in a good way. It keeps me kind of, kind of sensible, you know, and I need to, I need to have enough cap clearance for a nice chunky nib in there. Okay. So that also eliminates a lot of pens. So you're not hesitant to swap out nibs for sure. Oh, absolutely not. Right. And do I break things? Oh, all the time. But to me, it's just kind of that hazards of the job. Yeah. So now it's worth it. I'm curious with your eyedropper rule, do pistons and vacs constitute partial eyedroppering? Like, are those available? I will, I'm okay with them if I can open up the section. Okay. Or, or take the nib out. You need to be able to get in there. I need to get in there. Yeah. Okay. Fair enough. Okay. Because I, I don't fill by traditional filling mechanisms. I will just pour the ink in, even if it's a piston.
• Yeah. Yeah. We need to. At least to a lot of disaster. I'm glad we're near the end of the show because like, I don't know if I can handle this one.
• This one got me. I know you very, very well. You just got me. I, what, where are you doing this? Like, I mean, this is just at my desk with carpet below me and no protection and it's bad. Things have happened. Things have happened. But I figured, you know what?
• The carpet can be replaced. Okay. You know, it can be replaced. Okay. Fair enough. My desk mats, I have multiple. They are stacked. And so when they get soaked through, I'm like, all right, into the wash with you. I thought you just stack them higher. I just stack them higher. Yeah. And I have three. Okay.
• I try to idiot proof my desk, but step one is remove the idiot and that's me. So then nothing will happen. I've drowned my laptop. There's ink all over my keyboard. And I do clean it because I like them clean. Um, but I just enjoy myself. Is there like a funnel at least? Or like, are we just going for it? We're just going for it. I just go for it. Okay. Let me ask this. The strategies, but I just go for it. All right. I have a real question now. Okay. Okay. What is the best pouring bottle and what is the worst pouring bottle? Okay. I can generalize. The best pouring bottles are thin lips, like around the mouth of the ink bottle. And if the threads for the cap and close to the top. So that sounds really weird. But when you're pouring way beyond anything sounding weird at this point, it's so specific. It's so specific. Like thick mouth glass bottles. You're more likely to have spillage. Sure. But if you've got something with a thin mouth, uh, like plastic bottles, like the, like troublemaker bottles are a dream to pour from. Okay. Okay. So nice. And, and I mean, even ink sample vials, like I'm like, I'll just go for it. But I'm pretty good at it now. When I make ink samples, when people order, I like from the shop, I make them to order and I just pour it into the sample vial. Oh my God. Very rarely. Is there anything really bad?

Closing reflections and gratitude

• Oh, I love this so much. Yeah. We're, we're ending this here. It's not going to get any better. It's not. No, no. It's downhill. This is the highlight of my day, if not my year, uh, to find this out. Uh, Aziza, thank you so much. Is there anywhere we need to shout out? I'm going to have all the links to all your stuff in the show notes. Anything you want to specifically shout out?
• Um, I mean, I have Patreon. I don't want to toot my own horn. Please do. Oh, it's on the list. Beautiful. Yeah. So what's going on at the Patreon? Go check it out. It's really just, it's just, if you love what I do, I appreciate anybody's support. Because I mean, this is, this is what I do for a living. Yes. And, um, I, I'm happy to bring joy to others. Yep. And if people can lend their support, it lets me bring more joy and do more things. And I'm very grateful, but nothing is paywalled. So it's always there. Some months are harder than others for folks. And I totally get that. So nothing is, is paywalled and I'm always out there to do my best to bring drop joy. Yeah. And it's a great way to support you. And I've been a Patreon supporter for years. Yes, you have. Love what you're doing. And, uh, I can't wait to see, uh, what you got next because it sounds like you're, uh, you're really, uh, firing on all cylinders now and getting everything going. So I really, really love to see that. And thank you so much for taking the time to talk shenanigans pretty much. And disturb you. And disturb me. Yeah. Like you're traumatized. I am a little bit. So I'm going to have to rethink some of my life choices after this episode. He's like, never again. That was just too much. And the funny thing is like, yeah, I wouldn't have it any other way. So that's why you're wonderful. Thank you so much, Aziza. And, uh, I will see you soon. Hopefully, hopefully on the road, hopefully at a show, but if not, I know we'll be talking before then. For sure. For sure. Thank you for having me. It was my pleasure and honor. All right. I'll talk to you later. Thanks. All right.