The Pen Addict 658/transcript

The Pen Addict Podcast Transcript
Episode:	658
Title:	What Number Of Ink Vial Are You On?
Release Date:	March 26th, 2025
Hosts:	Brad Dowdy Myke Hurley
Guests:	Carola Sallis
Additional Information
Official page:	Episode 658
Audio File:	Audio Episode 658
Podcast page:	The Pen Addict 658
Length:	5858 min <br />0.967 h <br /> minutes
Previous Transcript	Next Transcript

• From Relay, this is The Pen Addict, episode number 658. Today's show is brought to you by Pen Chalet. My name is Brad Dowdy, and today I'm joined by Carola Salas, aka From Carola. How's it going, Carola? Good. Hi, Brad. I'm doing great. So, about a year ago, you gave me a shout-out of the week. Nice. And now I'm on the podcast, so it just feels so surreal. Thanks for having me. Hey, that's awesome. And also, you unknowingly just called me out, like, really aggressively, because while Myke has been gone, I have not done one shout-out of the week. I know, I've been kind of waiting for that little, you know, tune, but the mic's not here. Yeah, so the things I've gotten emails about are like, okay, well, you didn't say goodbye, you know, guest name. So, I got that email after I didn't do that for Aziza, which was the first guest, and I was like, okay, yes, I'll try to work that in. And then about three weeks, it took me about three weeks to realize I haven't done the shout-out of the week, and now I'm just not going to do it, right? Like, I feel like I'm set into it now, and it's like, oh, this would be a good shout-out of the week. And it's like, nope, I got to be consistent, right? I got to own my failures, and we're just going to own it this whole time. And then maybe when Myke comes back, I'll just do an entire episode. I'll do like eight shout-out of the weeks, or however long Myke has gone, and make him do the jingle eight times. How about that? Yeah. Well, I just added the jingle to the intro, so there you go. It was a part, yours was much, much better. So, thanks again for being here. Thanks for doing this.

Introduction and Overview of Topics

• And we're going to talk, you and I have a lot to talk about, about the things that you do online, the things that you and I get up to, like at pen shows, and a lot of teaching, a lot of fun stuff we're going to talk about. But first, as I've been doing, I got to talk about some new stuff. And I'm actually kind of curious. I have a couple of items I want to bring up this week, and I'm actually curious your thoughts on these items as we go. So, the first one almost made me like jump out of my seat. So, I'm on Instagram, and Pilot actually has a really good Instagram for all Instagram's pros and cons. Like, it's really good to see manufacturers, like that's where they release a lot of their new stuff. Right? So, I'm just scrolling Instagram, and then I get an image of a Pilot High Tech C in like the weirdest barrel colors ever. Like, you know, blue and yellow, orange, orange and green, you know, baby blue and pink, like green on green. Like, I'm like, yes, this is amazing because I love the High Tech C. You might know this. I love the High Tech C. And it hasn't changed in years, right? It's been around, I'm going to guess at least 20 years, maybe more at this point. And it's just kind of sits there and does its thing. It's just very unique. If people aren't familiar with the Pilot High Tech C, it is a micro tip gel ink pen. It goes all the way down to 0.25 millimeters. And it's finicky, right? It's not the most perfect pen in the world. But it's kind of the pen that set me down this path of like, oh, Japanese stationery is cooler than anything else you can get. So, these colors pop up. I'm like, yes, this is going to be rad. And like, all the colors are cool. And they're going to have fun ink colors. And it's called the 1980 series. And then I was like, oh, I kept reading, did the translation. The only ink color of these is black. It's just like a barrel treatment. And I was kind of disappointed. I'm still going to get them now. And they have so many colors. You can swap them out yourself. But like, I went from like, insanely high. And it's like, yes, neon green. This is going to be rad. And it's like, womp, womp, black ink. I was like, well, I can do that with my regular pen. So, I'm curious. Do you use any micro gel ink pens, especially one as aggressive as the High Tech C? So, the funny thing is, the High Tech C was actually like my fancy pen in school in the 90s. Nice. So, I had like the black ink, the blue ink. And these were the pens that I didn't let my friends borrow because they're micro tip. And if you're not gentle with them, yeah, they'll bend or, you know, they'll stop working. Instantly. Right? So, yeah, these were like my coveted pens. So, they'll always have a special place in my heart. But I agree with you. It's a little bit, you know, like, oh, maybe you could have bright inks. And, but also, you know, it's kind of a nostalgic, like, maybe they should just be what they are. True. Like, they really leaned into this post. And like, they did it all colorful. And they have all these characters. And like, hey, we're doing 1980s. And then it's like, woohoo, black .4 millimeter ink. It's like, okay. Yeah. I would have liked a little throwback.
• Yeah. Do some, they already have like 25 or 30 ink colors, right? They have these inks and these refills. They didn't change the style of the pen, right? It's going to still fit the same refill, which is a particular refill, which as we've learned over the decades of doing this, this is a very particular refill. And then they're doing these colors in the Coleto barrel, which is the multi-pen barrel. That's its own separate refill. They have a billion colors of all of these. But if you want the pen, you have to buy it in black. And you know what? I'm still going to do it. I'll probably buy, I'll probably buy each one of them. Maybe I'll, I don't know if they're only going to come in .4 millimeter. That's what they were showing in the image. Yeah. It looks like only .4 millimeter. So a little bit bummed, but I can buy my own refills for them. Yeah. That's another thing as a long-term user or a long-time user of the high tech C, their refills just don't last like forever. Like if you buy, like if I buy a black .4 refill and I buy a purple to swap out with that and I let the black sit and don't use it for something in like a couple of years, I'm going to have a really hard time getting that going. Like I've never found a better word than finicky for this pen. And I want it to be perfect. It's not perfect. Despite as much as I rave about it, it, it is not a pen for everybody. So we'll see. I like that they're doing it. Hopefully I can get my hands on them. I usually find a way if they don't get imported into the U S market, but we'll see. That's it's pretty cool. So love to see this from pilot. Next up, I didn't even think about this this year, but last year, Kaweco started a program called the DIY sport where they basically sent a build a bear kit in out into the wild to retailers around the world. And the concept was, Hey, go into these stores. These stores would promote the event for the Kaweco and you would build a Kaweco sport. And last year, the color was called berry. It was the berry sport. Really fun, you know, like wine red, you know, berry color. And I was like, okay, like I, I wasn't like, I want the full build a bear, right? If we're going to do this, right. Let me customize this to like the nth degree, like Leuchtturm allows now, like at pen shows, you and I were at the California, California pen show. I built a Leuchtturm Dreggerfell, right? Yeah. So I was kind of like, huh, you know, great. I like them doing this, but I'll admit that I was, I was wrong in that I got so much positive feedback on this. I'm like, Hey, this is great for Kaweco.
• And everyone has had just a positive experience getting to put everything on, like not just pick parts because you can't really pick colors, but like you're putting, you're stamping the finial onto the top of the cap. Like you get to do all the little nuts and bolts stuff, which is even more than picking out all of, all of the parts.

Discussion of Kaweco Pens and Specific Models

• So this year's color, they're doing it again for 2025 is clearly successful. So this year's color is called Emerald, Emerald Eve. So it's a dark green and gold. And this brings me to the question for you, like the high tech C the Kaweco sports, a particular little pen. And I'm wondering if you have any fondness for the sport or use this type of pen very much.
• Yeah, I do have a couple of Kawecos. I have the aluminum one too, the L sport or L sport. Yeah. And I think they're nice pocket pens there. You know, you can just sort of throw them in your pouch or they fit the plotter too. So, um, so yeah, Kawecos I've always kind of liked, um, I think similar to the high tech C for me, the Kawecos are a little bit finicky. Um, just like in terms of, you know, um, like the nib, uh, sometimes being a little dry depending on what ink you're using. Um, so I think they're really great pocket pens and I love this DIY idea. Um, just because it's sort of like you make it your own, but also you're like using your hands and building it. Right. Like similar to like build a bear. It's, it's not so much about the end product. Like, yes, you're left with a really nice. And I love the color too of the Kaweco. Um, but also like you had a hand in actually putting it together. So I think that part is like unique and, um, I think it's kind of fun. Yeah. And I think that was, you know, a little bit what I missed. I was like, oh, you know, my preference would be give me the rainbow and let me do stupid stuff.
• And Kaweco is like, nah, how about Barry?
• But the experience that everyone had, like we, uh, Kimberly, um, uh, got to do the DIY experience at Flex Pen to Paper last year. She did wrote an article about it. I'll put that in the show notes and not just her experience, but everyone who got the chance to stop by a store who was having this event. Like this isn't, this is something you have to, you know, see if your local pen shop, if you're lucky enough to have a local pen shop, uh, gets this kit because it has to, this kit travels around from store to store. So like, for example, like Flax, where this was last year, they had it for a weekend, right? These, these companies are getting it for the weekend. It's an event. And I think it's pretty cool. And I would get behind this completely. And like you said, it's a little bit more than just picking, here's my barrel color. Here's my cap color. Here's my nib, right? It's a little bit more than that. And like the tooling that they send out with this to make it all and seal it all together. It's, it's just kind of rad. And I'm, I'm all about this. So, uh, shout out Kaweco. Uh, I was, I was wrong and I'm, I'm willing to admit that I was wrong and this is cool. And I'm glad to see like, this caught me off guard. Like I didn't even think about it. You know, is this coming again this year, but now they're going to lean into it, make a different color for this year. And it's fantastic. So I hope if you get the chance to do it, um, I think people should, should go to this. I have not seen it at a pen show yet. Have you seen, I don't think, have you seen it at a pen show? No, I haven't either. I think, um, what I did see was sort of like retailers who are, um, carrying the machines and things like that. Um, but, and maybe that's a great way of, you know, when you're visiting a retailer, instead of just picking out a pen that you like and paying for it and walking out the store, you're kind of building a pen in the store, you know, having an experience. So I think that's fun. The experience is really fun. And then you're left with a really cute pocket pen. Yep. And I think it's the right experience for the stores to have this as opposed to like at a pen show, um, to get a lot of new users that can come in and really get a hands-on and learn about this process. So I like props to Kaweco. They, they did a really good job with this. So I like it. So, you know where you can buy Kaweco's, uh, Corolla? We are, Brad. At Pen Chalet. Our good friends over at Pen Chalet are the sponsor of this week's episode. So this episode of the Pen Addict is brought to you by Pen Chalet. They sell authentic, amazing rollerballs, fountain pens, ballpoints, mechanical pencils, and so much more. They have all your favorite brands like Monteverde, Pelican, Lamy, Pilot, Namiki, Sailor, and you guessed it, Kaweco. And are, of course, an authorized dealer of all these brands. 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. And as well as the brands that I mentioned earlier, Pen Chalet sells limited edition pens and all the pen 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, but 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 act to get 10% off anything at Pen Chalet and to see this week's exclusive offers for listeners of the show. So this is the time where Myke would have been reading the ad and I would have already been on the page, but since I can't have two windows open at the same time and read the ad, I'm going over to penchalet.com right now. I'm clicking the YouTube radio podcast button. I'm typing in the code PENADDICT. And let's see what we get. All right. So we have, speaking of Kaweco, the Kaweco Sport Classic Piston Fountain Pen. This is a no-brainer purchase. This is right up my alley. It's a great, fantastic, again, plastic barrel pen with a pocket-sized pen with a piston filler. So that's at a great price. They also have the Lamy Nex Harry Potter pens, which are some really cool colors, and I like the black barrel with those. And then they have a whole slew of other offers, including a bunch of inks and ink samples for you to check out this week over at Pen Chalet. So go to penchalet.com and get 10% off anything at Pen Chalet. That's penchalet.com slash penaddict. Thanks so much to Pen Chalet for sponsoring Relay and the Pen Addict. All right, let's get into it. Corolla, when did you first fall in love with stationery? Let's get into it. The big question.

Personal Connection to Stationery and Writing

• Why pens?
• Why do you like them? Um, so I, the honest thing is, Brad, I don't think I, I've ever not been into stationery. Like, I can't think of a time when I wasn't into notebooks and pens and just, like, enamored by paper and, you know, just, so growing up, I was always into writing. I loved writing. Um, and so I was naturally into, you know, the nicest notebooks and using really nice pens with, you know, the coolest gel in colors. Um, and so, yeah, for me, I feel like stationery has always been a part of my life in some way. Yeah. Did you have any, like, standout products, uh, like, when you were younger, either, like, really young or, like, high school, high school age that, that you use for particular things? Like, were you a note-taking person in school? Did you keep a diary in school? Did you have, like, any particular favorite things that you were using? All the things. Yeah. I had, I had a dear diary in school. Okay. Um, and so I wrote about, you know, crushes and things like that, as one does. Um, and in school, they also gave us a planner every year. Okay. Um, the paper was iffy, but, um, that kind of started me on the road of using planners and, um, organizing my time. And with that came, you know, having different, um, types of pens. And so I love the multi-use pens because then I can sort of attribute, like, blue to a certain category. Um, and then, like, red and black.
• Um, and I was also really into stickers. Okay. So the aesthetic part of planning and journaling for me is sort of secondary because, um, I do just love the act of writing. Um, and adding aesthetics such as, you know, um, stickers and washi tape and stuff is kind of just like an additional, um, it just makes me enjoy, um, that page so much more. Yeah. I, I just call it like, I, when I finish a page and I add a sticker or some type of embellishment, that's not my writing, you know, a washi. Like, it just makes me smile and just, I like it that much better. Right. Like, yeah, it's a, it's a feeling, it's different. Um, it's something that, you know, people who listen to this podcast, like understand, but like, you know, if you said this out loud, you know, you might be, you know, people might be looking for an intervention or something. You know, about this, but like, this is our, this is our normal. And I was a lot like you growing up, you know, use just using all the things. And I got to thinking, I don't think I've ever really asked anyone this question, but I see it in my history of stationery. Did you ever have a gap where you really didn't use the stationery? Cause I was thinking probably like around like my college age, like my early twenties and, you know, late twenties. Like I, I didn't get away from it, but I use less stuff. Did you ever have a gap in, in like stationery, like love and passion? Yeah. You know what? I think it was around my college days too. Yeah. Yeah. I think we just get so busy thinking about like, oh, I go into school, studying hard. I have no clue what I'm doing. I have no clue. Oh, I have to get a job after this. Like you start like, okay. Yeah. I had my good notebook and my favorite pen, but like I had stopped using stickers and, you know, maybe didn't use like the markers I was using before or the mechanical pencils, like all the little things. Certainly did not keep a journal during that time or do any kind of extracurricular writing. And I don't know why, like in all the years I've thought about this, I just kind of thought about this now and thinking about that and talking with you. So at some point it picks back up though, right? Like, you know, in the current version of your stationery love, when did it kind of, you know, pick back up? When did you get into fountain pens and things like that? So the funny thing is I think during like college, I did have a journal, but I used like a moleskine and just like a regular gel pen. And I feel like maybe it was just, you know, not boredom, but yeah, you kind of get into a routine of like other priorities, jobs, you know, studying and stuff. That stationery kind of like, even if you're using it in some way, maybe it's not at the forefront of, you know, your passions or something you're kind of focusing on. And I feel like for me, I probably picked it back up after I had kids. And I sort of had a little bit of time, like, you know, during naps and things like that, where I was kind of like, okay, well, what do I want to do with my time, right? Like this is precious time for me.
• And so I think that's when I kind of turned back to art and stationery and just like spending that time creatively. Because I think sometimes we go through events or, you know, milestones in our lives where we need a creative outlet. And as creative people, we kind of look for, you know, that time to do something for ourselves. Yeah. So what were you, you've kind of answered this question, but I think I want to explore it a little bit more. So your creativity, like surge, kind of came about when you had a life change. But then, you know, like you're very, like obviously you're very committed to your kids and your family. And like a lot of us who are parents, you do feel like, oh, well, I need to scratch a creative itch sometime, even if I only have 30 minutes, you know, on Wednesday afternoon to do this. What can I do? And was that a little bit of the aspect of getting back into this creativity and just being like very direct and using like what limited time you had? Yeah, I think so. So going back in time a little bit, I first got into fountain pens in 2012 because that's when I got my first two fountain pens. So I got a Lamy Safari and I got a Parker, I think it's called a City Urban, like it's a smaller sort of Parker pen. Okay. And I started using them and I did that until probably around 2019, 2020. And so, you know, when the world shut down, I think a lot of us threw ourselves into hobbies, whether they were new hobbies or hobbies that we had, just because we had more time, we're at home, you know, exploring. And so I think it's 2020 when I really fell down the rabbit hole of like all the different types of fountain pens I can now own. And of course, you have to get bottles of ink and, you know, you have to get rainbow colors and then there's shimmers. And so that's kind of when I think that's also when I started listening to your podcast, Brad. Uh-oh. Yeah, yeah. And kind of listened to back episodes and caught up on, you know, what it is about fountain pens that people are really into, like what it is about the writing experience and all the different pieces to it. So like the pen, the paper, the ink, and then bringing them all together and really enjoying it. And so I think that it's kind of like that in those years where I explored more about using inks in more of a creative way than just like filling up pens, which, you know, I love doing because I love writing. But also, I'm never going to use up all my inks, right? So I kind of had to find a different way of exploring them. Um, so around the same time too, um, because I'm, you know, I love writing and hand lettering is a big part of my life. That was my next question. So yes, let's talk about this. Let's get into the hand lettering. So that's how I started my Instagram account is I was sharing hand lettering pieces that I was creating using Tombow dual brush pens. And basically just, you know, hand lettering quotes and things that really stood out for me. Um, and just sharing that on my Instagram.

Becoming a Tombow Ambassador and Creative Journey

• And, um, last year, uh, or the year before, um, I became an ambassador for Tombow, which was like a huge deal for me. Um, and then became part of their creator crew, um, last year, which is a group. I think it's about 10 people who are part of this creator crew and, um, they just basically create content that Tombow shares out. And for me, that was a big deal because, you know, I've been using Tombow products, um, for so long. Um, and this was like a way for me to share my creativity and get it in front of more people. And, um, so my personal Instagram, which was, um, or like my creative Instagram, which had a lot of hand lettering. Um, projects sort of start to started to evolve, uh, with the use of more fountain pens and fountain pen inks. And, um, I was inspired by Clarissa, um, who's the snowy studio on Instagram. Yeah. So if you see her feed, she has beautiful ways of swatching fountain pen inks where she basically creates art out of it. Um, you know, with drops of ink, um, puts, you know, I think it's a Ziploc bag or just like, you know, some plastic cover on top and moves the ink around the page. That looks like it's naturally flowing around the page and then adds journaling or, you know, other art to it. And I was really inspired by this way of using up inks that I decided to try it, you know, in my own way and use paint brushes and started painting with the inks. And so I would put down ink on the paper, paint on it, paint with it. Um, and then I decided, uh, well, why don't I draw flowers on top? Um, and sketching flowers, we're kind of like going around in circles in terms of like my art evolution. This is great. No, I have, I definitely have follow-up questions for this. So keep going. Okay, so, um, sketching flowers came about around that 2019 to 2020, 2021 phase where, um, I went through a lot of life changes, um, some personal loss and grief, uh, which made me turn to, you know, doing more art. And again, you know, I became a mom. And so I had a little bit of free time that I wanted to dedicate, um, to having some, you know, joy. And, um, I decided to sketch floral bouquets and it was simple. I had, you know, a piece of paper, a pencil. Um, and in doing that, I realized that while I was sketching these flowers, it was a way for my mind to quiet down and, you know, not, you know, think about the worries of life. And more so concentrate on just enjoying the process of, you know, watching my hand draw these flowers, you know, and transferring, uh, what I'm seeing onto paper. And so with time, I kind of did this as a daily practice of just sitting down with a pencil, sketching down, sketching flowers. Um, and over time, this evolved into a more abstract, um, style. And so now when I'm drawing flowers, I'm not looking at a physical floral bouquet, which is how I kind of started doing that. Um, but now I kind of just do it because I just want to sketch flowers. And so, um, this abstract style came about because, you know, I don't have time to sit down and sketch flowers for an hour. Um, and so basically what I want to do is take out ink, throw it down on paper, paint with it a little bit, and then, you know, take out a fine liner. Like, usually I'm just drawing with a Tombow Mono drawing pen, um, or, you know, just like a dip pen. Um, and I just draw these sort of chaotic, uh, but what I call intuitive line drawing. Yes. So it's, you know, it's, I'm letting myself go with the flow without any kind of expectation of what it's going to look like in the end. Because I don't know, I'm not basing it on something I'm actually seeing. I'm just letting my hand sort of do whatever it wants to do. And I think over time that, like, practicing something gives us muscle memory. And I think practicing over and over drawing flowers or whatever it is that you sort of feel comfortable drawing. I think over time, um, your hand just sort of knows the shapes and the outlines that come with it. And so that's what I kind of base it on now. Yeah. Yeah. And I think that's, that's one of the goals, which we're going to talk about, you know, taking your class, which I've, I've done before is, is learning how to let go and have some of the freedom. But I, I, I'm, I'm sitting here listening to you, you talk about this and I'm just fascinated because I, I have to wonder like, what was that first flower image look like? Like, how did that, did that come about as an accident? Right. Like you just like, some of my stuff just comes about accidentally, like from doodling, like the little lines that I do, which, you know, are just a very simple thing. But it's like a second nature thing to me. Like it just happened because this is how my hand moves. Like, how was that, did that first flower just kind of happen accidentally? Or did you like think about it a little bit as you were just starting to doodle? So that's really funny because it's sort of a mix of both. So the first time I drew a flower, I sat down and I thought, okay, I'm going to draw a flower. Okay. And it didn't turn out well. The second time I sat down, it was more so because I just wanted to get away from, you know, the stress of the day. And I sat down and I didn't actually think I'm going to draw a flower. I just kind of looked at a floral bouquet and I was like, I'm just going to draw this. Like, I'm just going to, you know, draw whatever I want from this.
• And that actually turned out really nice. Nice.
• So I think kind of in line with what you're saying with like something kind of comes to you intuitively or naturally like doodling. For me, it's, you know, that sort of floral like sketch style. And it's like, it's not a perfect drawing style. It is very like sketchy. You know, I'm kind of thinking along the lines of like urban sketching where you're like drawing in the moment because you're trying to capture what you're seeing. And not necessarily worrying about getting the perfect lines and the perfect, you know, dimensions and point of view. But you're more so just like capturing that moment so that, you know, later when you look on it, look back on your piece. You're sort of taken back to that moment of where you were, what you saw. And it's, you know, it doesn't have to be perfect for you to still feel that joy. Yeah. Yeah. And one of the benefits of this style of drawing and any type of doodling in you, you kind of alluded to this and something you said, I actually wrote it down. And just kind of the meditative aspect of this. You said that you watch your hand. And I've never thought of like that concept. But when I think about like my doodling, like it's kind of the same way in that, not that I'm watching my hand per se, but I'm in a zone where I could do, like I could literally make the same doodle with my eyes closed. And I think that means that like I'm really appreciating the moment for what it is and like everything else is going away, which like I'm not heavily into meditation or anything on how that works. But when you can have this, even just a couple of minutes of escape and brain reset from doodling a line or like I do, or doodling flowers like you do, it's a valuable experience, even if it's only for a few minutes a day. And I thought that was a very interesting way that you put that, like watching my hand. And like I was thinking about that concept in what I do to, you know, give myself a break or give myself, you know, some peace in the afternoons when I do this a lot. And I thought that was a pretty neat way to put it.
• Yeah. And I think you kind of touched on the mindset there. So it is a type of meditation. It's mindfulness, right? You're present in the moment of what you're doing and whether, you know, you're focusing on looking at your hand or you can have your eyes closed and you're doing it, you know, it's the movement of your hand. And I think it sort of puts you in this calm space. And yeah, I think it has a lot to do with mindset over what you're actually doing. Yeah. All right. Can we get technical on this a little bit for people who are listening who may not be familiar with your work or that you teach at pen shows? You teach these classes about drawing these flowers. And correct me if I'm wrong and I may, you know, be misspeaking. But like I feel like when I take your class, I'm not going to a drawing class, right? Like, I don't know. I feel like I'm just going to a creativity class. Like, you know, I'm not learning how to draw and like the super technical aspects of how to draw, but I'm learning how to express my creativity in a certain way. At least that's what I get from your class. So tell me a little bit about the class and like a couple of tips on like we'll share a bunch of your posts in the show notes. So if people aren't familiar with like the flower, the bouquet drawing, can you give us a couple of technical tips as well? Yeah. So, yeah, I'm not an art teacher. I don't have any technical, you know, education or anything like that. I think my class is more so about like you sort of hit the nail on the head. It's more about creativity than it is about technical art and drawing. So my class is for people who want to be creative and who may not necessarily think of themselves as an artist. Yeah. Right. And my only ask is that they keep an open mind about going with the flow and give themselves permission to not expect something in the end. So I'll give you a real example of this, of what I mean. So my workshop at the SF Penn show last year. So you took that class, right? I did. I did. A lot of people. Yeah. And a lot of people. And maybe you did too. Walked into that class thinking, okay, like I've seen, I've seen this abstract floral style.
• I don't think I can do this. But, you know, I just want to kind of have fun.
• Yeah. And so a lot of people sort of said that as they walked in, you know, I don't think I can do this. It's not going to look the same way it does, you know, that you do it. But I kind of want to have fun. So I think what they were sort of expecting was they're just going to have like, you know, a blob of ink on their page and, you know, some drawings on top. And after the workshop, as I walked around and I asked people, you know, what they thought of their art that they created, I saw genuine joy in their faces of like, I think a lot of people were surprised at how it sort of turned out. Because they came in with an expectation of what it would look like, and it did not turn out that way. And that's okay.
• Right? Yeah. I think the joy of playing with ink or of letting yourself sort of just go with the flow of sketching, doing abstract art is that it doesn't have to be perfect. There is no technical, you know, there is no way that it has to look a certain way. And I think if you're having fun in the moment and you're enjoying it, you are going to enjoy the end final piece because you're going to look back on it and you're going to remember that experience that you had. And I think that is that high that I'm always chasing is knowing when people sort of go into making art or being creative, but thinking that they're not a creative person and then being able to turn around that expectation of themselves and showing them that you don't need to think that you're an artist to be an artist. You don't need to think that you don't need to think that you're creative to be creative.
• Yeah, I think the mindset's really important. As someone like I've forced is the wrong word because I want to take these types of creative classes, but I've allowed myself to like sign up and take, you know, various classes, at least the ones I remember to go to. Um, that I basically, um, just try to like have a different mindset as soon as I walk through that door and that I'm going to give myself up to the class and the creativity. You know, I'm a super highly anxious person. Um, art is tough for me because I worry about rules and perfection and things like that. So it's really hard to not have that and to allow yourself to be put in this situation to let go, right? I'm speaking for myself here and I'm sure a lot of people can relate and I'm sure a lot of your students can relate. Um, but once you just, you allow yourself to be there and be present and just to not care in like the, uh, in a very black and white way, just like care about like what you're doing and putting in the work and trying new things. And just giving yourself up for a minute. Like I had the, I had the most fun in that class and I was like, I'm going to make the coolest flower. And then I, then I started like, you walk us through the process, you know, like we go through different, different steps and how to just like generally get to an end goal. Like, it's not just like, okay, flower go. It was like, we were very, we were very, uh, deliberate in the order that we went in. And like my first one, like, I did not like this flower at all, but you know what? I just started another one and then I did another one, did another one. And then at the end I was like, man, this is cool. Like, look, I did a good flower. Oh, look, my flower looks like Corollas. I was like, yay.
• It's cool. And, uh, you know, just getting that time with other people who feel the same as you, like we're sitting at like a round table and like everyone's going like, oh my God, I don't know if I can do this. And then we all do it. And it's, it's thanks to you, like, and all the teachers that we have at these, these classes and allowing us the opportunity to like come in and express ourselves in a new, fun, unique way. Yeah. And I think part of the role as, you know, the workshop host is to guide you through that mindset. Um, it's not necessarily me telling you, you know, do this, do this, do this. It's more so like, you know, letting yourself, um, go through those steps, but in a natural, uh, calming way, um, so that you're enjoying it. Um, and for me, you know, guiding people through that process so that they get to the end like you and you're like, well, actually these flowers look great. Yeah. Right. Um, so I think taking a step back, the class, you sort of alluded to what we do in the class. Um, it's called abstract floral art because it is very much abstract. And so the first part of that class is, um, we use fountain pen inks and I typically use three to four different colors. Um, and we use a paintbrush and just make these, um, oval sort of outlines on the paper. And I find these sort of outlines, um, which turn into flowers, uh, they're calming way of painting. Um, and so we sort of do that at first and there's a couple of techniques there that we can use in terms of blending the inks. And it's a great way of finding in combinations that you might like, um, and that you might later ink up a fountain pen with. Right. So if you get like new inks, this is a great way of exploring ink properties, especially if there's shimmer or there's sheen. And so painting with it really brings out those properties. Um, and so we kind of do this calming way of painting with the different inks. Um, and then after the ink dries or we sort of, you know, expedite that process a little bit. Um, then we just take a fine liner and we draw these, um, sort of abstract line drawings of flowers using the paint outlines as sort of a guide. Um, and I find that this helps because your eyes do kind of want to focus on something. Right. And having those, you know, blobs of ink, which are just outlines, um, just looking at the ink itself, you're not going to think, oh, these are flowers. But once you sort of draw on top, just a little bit of detail, um, and one of the ways of drawing your eyes to weather, you know, showing the eyes that these are flowers, these are leaves is by drawing, um, you know, directional lines. So this is a petal that's coming out of a flower. It's, you know, curling towards you. And there's just like little tips and techniques where you can use those lines to your advantage to guide the eye so that when you're kind of looking at your finished piece, your, your eye sort of looks at these little clues of this does look like a flower, right? Like these are leaves. This is a bouquet. Yeah. Yeah. One of the, I'll tell you my biggest takeaway that I still tell myself to this day from the class, and this is literally like an art 101 concept, but for some reason it's not stuck in my head as someone who's taken a lot of art classes in, in their life. That odd is more visually appealing than even when you're drawing like flowers. I still tell myself to this day from that class, you were like, draw your flower with five petals, not four, because it's just going to be more visually appealing. Like it's, it's, it's just, it's like science and math and art, right? It's just for some reason it just works better. And I still tell myself to that day, to this day. Yeah. Yeah. Isn't that kind of funny? So that's the rule of thirds, right? Like having three items, like three flowers looks better for some reason than having two. It's like you're missing something. And so, yeah, definitely draw those odd number of flowers. It works. So, yes, that is, that was one of my main takeaways. So I have a lot of, a lot of takeaways and I think we'll kind of, we'll kind of morph into this. You were talking about mixing inks and checking out the ink properties and something you do and something I've dabbled in a little bit with is painting with inks, like outside of like the flowers and just doing other things. So you started to stream on Twitch some, which I'll have a link in the show notes and you do a lot of this abstract floral art on there as well. And you also do some painting like with inks. Can you just give a little bit of, I don't know, kind of like your experience with painting with inks? Because a lot of people, a lot of us fountain pen users, and I'm speaking directly to myself, have only ever used fountain pen inks and fountain pens. And we all have, like you said earlier, we have more inks than we'll ever use in our lifetime.

Exploring Creative Uses for Inks Beyond Writing

• And there's only so many fountain pens I can fill and use writing. So what other ways can we use our inks in our daily life or our creative experiments?
• Yeah. So usually what I do when I get a new bottle of ink, which is, you know, all the time. Daily. Yeah, daily. Daily bottles of ink.
• So what I usually do is I open up that bottle of ink and I take just a few, well, I would say I take a pipette and take a little bit of that ink and transfer it to a small vial. And I do this with all of my inks that I'm really, like, I want to explore because, you know, they're not like the typical black or, you know, blues. But if they're like an interesting shade, I'll put them into an ink vial, number them, and write down on a list of what the ink is so I don't forget. Okay. And these ink vials will sit on my desk. And what I'll do is every day I use a Hobonichi five-year diary, which is just dedicated to drawing and writing down. It's kind of like my gratitude practice. So writing down a little moment of joy every day. And I started this in 2022. So I've done it for a few years now. Yeah. And so I write down, you know, a joy of the day, something that made me smile could be something small. And then on the left-hand side where there's just, like, blank grid space, I take a glass to pen. I dip it into the vial. And I use a little bit of that ink to just sketch a quick flower doodle. Mm-hmm.
• And so I do that. But then on top of that, you kind of mentioned, like, painting on my stream. Mm-hmm. Once I have, like, a few inks that I kind of want to explore, what I do is I take those vials. You can use watercolor paper. Or a lot of us have, you know, TRP planners or Midori paper or just paper that lends well to fountain pen inks. And I take a couple of paintbrushes and I dip them into these ink vials. So I don't dip, when I do painting, I don't dip directly into the ink bottles because I don't want to get bristles in there or dust, things like that. So that's kind of the process of transferring ink to little vials that you can play with, right? Exactly. So, yeah. So if you contaminate that, it's fine. You know, you just have a little bit of ink in those vials.
• And so I use that to play with. So I paint.
• I use it with glassed pens or even, like, a Kakamori steel nib, you know, just to dip it in there and to do a little bit of writing and painting on paper.
• And it's just another way of, like, swatching your inks. So I don't know if you swatch all your inks that you get, Brad. I do not. Okay. So here's a way of swatching is when you get some of that ink and you have it in an ink vial, you can also use it to just, like, if you're going to paint with it, if you're going to write with it, it's your way of swatching with it, right? Because you are sort of documenting what that ink is and showing off the properties.
• And that's what we can kind of refer to later is, you know, what did that look like when, you know, I painted with it or wrote with it? Yeah, I'm making myself a note over here. It's like, yeah, maybe I should document my inks more. And it's really not even, it's not even that. It's just the broader concept of this ink exploration, like you're talking about with, like, the brush and the ink vials. What number ink vial are you on?
• I, I'm in this. That was an aggressive coming at me moment. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Like, as soon as you said I number the vials, I was like, I know what one of my questions is about to be.
• I'm, I'm in the 60s. Okay. So, so don't look, don't look at my, so my total number of ink bottles are like 100 plus. Okay. Sure. So, so here's my little confession, right? Yeah.
• But the thing is too, after, you know, a month or so of playing with that ink and really like using it and enjoying it, I think we kind of, it's kind of how, why we change up our currently inked fountain pens by re-inking them with different inks is that you do kind of get to a moment where you're like, okay, like I've had enough with this ink. I can put it away for a little while, right? And so if you use up the ink that's in the vial, you can then, you know, wash it out and then reuse it for your next ink bottle that you get. Yeah. And so you kind of cycle through your inks a little bit that way too. Testing the inks out like this and like, so like in your vial and brush type of, of, you know, sampling or, you know, like I've done the water brush with the ink palette type of, you know, drawing, did hashtag ink ponies. Yeah. Yeah. On, on stream, it actually makes me want to use my fountain pens more because I'm actually getting to see like the full characteristics of the ink, which doesn't always come out in, you know, with, with my type of writing, like small block print writing and a fine nib, right? You don't get, you don't always get like the full ink experience. And then I can use a particular color and manipulate it somehow, even if it's just like with water and you see the character that these inks have, even what you thought was a normal basic ink. It actually makes me enjoy my just standard fountain pens even more and using like interesting inks in them because it's like, oh yeah, remember that time I made this color look like this? This is that same ink and I'm just going to keep going. It's, I don't know. It's just one of those weird things that I, I think about sometimes. Yeah, no, that's a hundred percent it because you've seen all its properties and, you know, you really enjoyed it. And so you're connecting that to the ink that you're using regardless of, you know, what your nib size is, you know, extra fine. And maybe you won't see all of those properties unless you're doing like a long form sort of written piece. But you're remembering, you know, the ink properties that you saw before. And I have to say, I've seen the painting streams that you've done, Brad, and the joy that you get out of painting is so good to see. Yeah. Because like, right, like when you're doing the ink pony paintings and you're combining, you know, four different inks, which you don't do with a fountain pen. Like, you know, you pick up a fountain pen, you write, you move on. But when you're painting, you're kind of, you're bringing those inks together and you're seeing combinations of inks that you might not have noticed before that go so well together, right? And so when you're painting with it at the end and you're, you know, you're, you're finished your ink pony and you kind of look back and you're like, whoa, this, this turned out really cool. Like, look at these inks, right? Yeah. Yeah. I get so much enjoyment out of it. I literally crack myself up doing it. It's, I don't know why, but it just allows a certain part of me to happen. And it's good to put yourself in those situations. Like, we don't know what's about to happen, but like, you know, what's going to be good and like, I'm going to enjoy this. And, you know, this, it's such an outlier thing for me, but it's, it's turned out to be a very important part of like, just like my mindfulness during the week and like taking care of myself, you know, during the week and, and things like that. Like it, it's, I, I'm, I'm not overselling like the mental health aspects of these things, you know, just for like helping us have like, you know, positivity and freedom and of thought and, and things like that. It's, it's something I think about a lot. And just to let myself go in a public fashion like that is so not me. So it's, it ends up just being a giggle fest and like, I just have the stupidest fun time doing it. It's hilarious. I love it. Yeah. But I think in you letting yourself be free in that sort of public forum where, you know, usually you're, you're talking about pens and, you know, you're not, you're not really like in the moment of creating something. But when you do that joy is like, it emanates out, right? Like everyone who's there in chat starts to see that and starts to feel that joy. It's, it's addictive. It's like watching someone be really happy. It's like makes you happy. Right. So, you know, for your mental health, um, enjoying something and bringing out, you know, something fun, um, someone else who's watching who may not be in that moment where they can create or do something fun. They're watching it, but they're feeling that joy. And I think that uplifts everyone else too. Yeah. Yeah. It's, it's, it's fun to do and it's, it's fun to explore and it's fun to put yourself out there like that. And I'm glad to have that opportunity and you're, you're doing that as well. And we'll have a link to your Twitch, uh, so people can, can go follow along at your, your awesome stuff. All right. I want to hit up one more. I'm going to completely do a one 80 and talk about one final topic this week. And, uh, I'm going to make you go on record here, which is better the plotter or the traveler's notebook.

Comparison of Plotter and Traveler's Notebooks

• Pick one, man. Pick one. Oh man. Um, yeah. So while you, while you chew on that, I'll tell everyone while I, while I'm, um, while I'm bringing this up, you did a great video. Um, the, the title of the video is plotter rings or traveler's notebook, which one is right for you? And we just want to know the answer, Carola, which one is right for you? Like it's, it's right there. Answer the question.
• So, um, so here's the thing. Um, I'm going to preface my, my, my choice with, um, I've used traveler's notebooks a lot longer than I have used plotter. Um, I am finding myself really enjoying the plotter. Um, and so my choice is going to be plotter only because I've been using it for planning. And so if you watch my YouTube video or you read my sub stack post on it, I kind of break out how I use them. Right. And I've naturally been drawn to TN's traveler's notebooks for creative purposes. Um, but I like using the plotter for planning. And the thing is, Brad, I don't use the plotter for journaling, but I feel like I could. And I think that possibility in itself is like really exciting for me. And so I, I want to explore, um, not only using plotter for, you know, keeping myself organized, but I want to try and make it a little bit more of a creative space as well. Yeah. I think that's the interesting thing about this comparison is because I see it as like a, a, a pretty defined line between the two, right? There's no wrong answer, right? For which one's better. It's depends on how you're going to use it because I think it's pretty clear that they're set up for generally different things, right? They can do some of the same things and you can, of course, like they're both paper products. You can do similar things, but one is a ring system where the pages are, you can add and remove pages where the travelers, the inserts are self-contained notebooks, um, that once you fill a notebook, you can remove it and add another full entire, another, another notebook in there. And so the creative aspect is something I haven't done in the plotter. Uh, but they, they posted an article last week about, uh, creative journaling in the plotter, um, which I'll, I'll put a link in the show notes to that, which gives you a good idea of how a lot of people would use a traveler's notebook, right? When you look at this post that they, that they, um, uh, released in, in this last week. And I was just thinking, it's like, I would never do that with my plotter. Like, and, but I don't want to be restrictive. I don't want to tell myself I can't do that, but like, it doesn't, it didn't seem like the right format for me, but like, it's fun to see people explore with these two systems because they're, they're both really good systems. Like I said, there is literally no wrong answer. Like I think travelers is probably for more people for, uh, like we can do a whole nother podcast on the reasons why. Um, but like I use my plotter like exclusively, right? Like, so it just depends on what you're looking for. So I would love to see the creative process play out a little bit more. Like I've only gone as far as like adding new papers into my plotter with like a whole punch. Like I've got a bank paper section in there because I like how my fountain pens look on that. Well, could I do more? You know, maybe that's, you know, a little bit more of an exploratory area area for me. Like, it sounds like you might be looking to do.
• Yeah. Yeah. And, um, let's report back on this, Brad. Let's use our plotters a little bit more creatively. We might have to do just a whole, uh, versus, you know, plotter versus travelers, uh, episode because it, it, it's a, they're both like big systems. Uh, oddly enough for people who are not familiar with the system, they're, they're owned by the same parent company. Uh, so a lot of people may not realize that. So yeah, like we could, I could literally do an entire show on like pros, cons, usages. So, okay. So it sounds like you just challenged me to be more creative in my plotter, which I got to think about. Like I, I have to think, so I use a plotter narrow, which is kind of a tall, skinny, uh, format, which would work for my creativity too. Maybe I should put some watercolor paper in the back. What do you think about that? Yeah, I agree. And I will also say that the DP paper from plotter is, uh, great for light watercoloring. Okay. So you can do a little bit of experimenting and then throw some watercolor paper in the back and really throw some ink on there. Fine, Corolla. So I, I'm challenging you to a Twitch stream where you're painting on watercolor paper that goes into your plotter. Fair enough. I, yeah, this is, I think this is where I'm going to be a lot of work. To kind of wrap things up, um, you know, on today's episode, I think this is kind of where we're getting, especially after you've been in this hobby for a while, fountain pens, writing, ink, like there's infinite combinations and things you can do with pens and writing, um, and you know, paper types, ink colors, nib styles. But I've never added in this other layer of creativity with inks and paper that is just, it's still kind of new in my head, but I'm very interested in it because it's a way to use what we have. It's a way to be creative. Even if you're not a creative person, like you can make different ink colors on your page. That's awesome. Right. Just do something that simple. You don't have to, you know, necessarily draw or, you know, you're not going to be a Picasso in the Louvre or anything like that. But just like sling the ink around, let yourself go a little bit. And I see like our hobby as a whole, um, is experimenting more, right? Not that we're bored with what we have, but like, I can only have so many fountain pens. Like I am very lucky. I can get anything I want anytime I want. I don't need them. And I've learned that I don't need that stuff, but what I need are the creative aspects of the tools that I already have. And that's where someone like you comes in and helps me explore these things. And I just wanted to say, I appreciated that.
• Yeah. And, and that's kind of why I started the Twitch streams is because I love sharing, you know, how I'm using stationery so that other people can be, you know, can use your stationery in creative ways more for, you know, yeah, fountain pens are great for writing, but what else can you do with them? Right. And so I love, I love that part of let's do art on stream. Let's hang out, you know, have a chill space, but also an encouragement. Encouraging, inspiring, just a space to like geek out on our hobbies and have fun. Yep. Yep. And that's a great way to put it. And it's a great spot to end it this week. Thank you so much, Carola, for joining me on this episode. I'll have all the links in the show notes to everything that we talked about today. I want to give a shout out to Penn Chalet for sponsoring this week's episode. And y'all should go get inky and go make a mess and grab a notebook and make it all crinkly because you threw too much ink and water on the page. It's fun. You should do it. All right. We're going to wrap it up here until next week. Say goodbye, Carola. Goodbye, Carola. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye.