The Pen Addict 620/transcript

• Welcome to The Pen Addict episode 620. Today's show is brought to you by Pen Chalet and Ooni Pizza Ovens. My name is Myke Hurley and I am joined by Brad Dowdy. Hi, Brad. What's up, Myke Hurley? How are you? I'm good, man. How are you? I am good. Good to have you back in the saddle. Happy to be back. Yeah, we got a fun-filled episode today. When we don't talk for like two weeks, I tend to find all the new products I want to talk about. So this is going to be a very product-focused day. Lots of new products launched. Where I was bemoaning like not even a month ago, I was like, yeah, nothing's really going on in the stationery world. Little did I know it was the calm before the storm of all the releases. But first, I want to give a shout-out to Bruce Iman for joining me last week for an amazing conversation about Japanese stationery, the Tokyo International Pen Show, Bungu Box, all the things around there. Bruce is a longtime friend of mine. And we were literally just scratching the surface of the conversations that he and I could have. So maybe there'll be a return trip. Maybe we'll do a follow-up, a Tokyo International Pen Show follow-up after the show happens. So from Jacob, who was quickly in the comments section, says, Brad, after this episode, how have you not booked a ticket to Japan already?
• Yeah, it's hard not to, right? It's like now's the time. This is the place. And I'm probably just not going to do it this year. It's going to happen. I just feel that it's going to happen someday, soon. It's not going to be this year. I can only do so much international travel in one year, meaning once at the most. And with my July and August travels, even though this is all the way, what, end of October, early November, like, I just don't know that I could swing that. So, yeah.
• But it was fun. It was fun. I hope everyone enjoyed listening to that, got some good feedback on that. And, yeah, given how well I know Bruce and how well Bruce knows me, we could have some fun conversations down the line. So I hope to do that with him.
• Yeah. I mean, look, I've always wanted to go to tips and this has definitely made it more so, you know, is how I feel. So very excited. Very good. Very fun. And, yeah, I continue to remain jealous of everybody that gets to go. I know. I know. It's going to be a good year, it looks like.

Bungu Box Estabrook Pen

• I've got some follow-up for you, speaking of Bungu Box. Yeah. Speaking of Bungu Box. I received my Bungu Box Estabrook. Yes. Or Bungu Box Esti, which is what I'm calling it because I have decided not to attempt to say the name of this pen. I think it's not bad if you just go slow. Okay. Kacho Fugetsu? Yeah. Flower? I mean, that seems perfectly reasonable to me. This pen is sick. It doesn't look sick. And I'll tell you right now, if you didn't buy one and it's all sold out, well, that was your own problem. Rip. Because it's not like we didn't talk about it. This pen rules so hard. The only thing is I've struggled to, I don't think I have the right ink for it right now. To me, this felt like an obvious pink and I'm using Sailor Ink Studio 431, which is a pink that I have, but it's very vibrant. And I think I need something more delicate. But I just don't have that right now, but I couldn't wait to use it. So that's what I've got in it for now. But I think more of like a kind of cherry blossom color, I think, is the obvious choice for this pen. It's incredible. And I still don't know how they did it. Like, I really want to know, like, how did they get the effect that they got? Because there are no cracks that you can feel at all. Oh, because it looks like a cracked ice type of situation. Yeah.
• Lots of valleys or whatever. I can't imagine a situation in which they didn't, like, temperature shock the acrylic. Like, it feels like the only way to have achieved this. So it's smooth on the outside. 100%, even on the inside. So I don't know how they did this. Interesting. Okay. But I find it to be an enchanting pen. And it's great. Like, I like the SD anyway, like, just in general. I have a couple of these now. I think the Estabrook nibs are fantastic.
• I think they're gold-plated steel, right? Yeah. They're among the best steel nibs that I've used. Yeah. Because you could tell me this is gold, and I would believe you. It's really soft and feels great. I got the broad because I like that, and that's a good time.
• And the size of the pen is great. The weight of the body is great. The gold trim, like, furniture is fantastic. Yeah. This is, like, a knockout. Absolute knockout of a pen. Yeah. I feel like I need to just go ink up one of my SDs because I did not get this one. I'll probably regret that a year or two from now. But that's okay. There's always another pen. This is a pen. Like, I'm in this weird space right now. It's like, I almost want to just get all the pens that I want at pen shows. Like, if I was at a pen show and this pen launched at a pen show, I would 100% come home with it. But, like, I didn't rush out to, like, bang the buttons on the internet to order the pen, right? Does that make sense? So, it's beautiful. It's glorious. We obviously raved about just the pictures. And now that it's in hand, hearing you talk about it, it seems pretty cool. And I think everyone who did receive theirs was very, very happy with it. I could have talked to Bruce about this, but that would have been, like, the episode, right? Like, we could have done an hour on this pen. And I'm very, very certain because it's that cool. And I like it a lot. So, I'm glad you got it, for one. And I'm glad it's, to say it lived up to your expectations is probably an understatement the way you're talking about it. Yeah.
• I'm genuinely thrilled that I bought this pen. Like, you know me. I don't buy as many pens anymore as I used to. But this, to me, it felt like a no-brainer when I saw it for, like, what I like.
• And it's a no-brainer now that I own it. And I was really struck, actually. Like, I finished the episode with Bruce this morning as I was coming to the studio. Like, I listened over the last couple of days to all of the tips conversation. And then I got up to the part this morning talking about Bungu Box. And I think I was quite struck by how many Bungu Box pens I owned. Oh, okay. I think it's, like, five, maybe. Four or five. All right. You're going to make me think about it. I have one, two, three.
• I think I have four. I think I have four. I know three immediately. But I think I have one more. Oh, I have five. I just remembered another one. I have five. I have at least five without looking. It's just, in thinking about it, it was just for me of, like, oh, like, aesthetically,
• I really gel with what they put out as a brand.
• Yeah. And if y'all caught it during the episode, how important Karu is to the whole Bungu Box aesthetic and how different she thinks about design and creating stories and storytelling. It's no wonder that people like us get attached to the products that they put out because she puts so much into this and has exquisite taste and is able to get these products made and tell these stories. And just, like, the entire package, right? It's not just a pen, right, that she puts together. So it's pretty amazing. Pretty amazing stuff.
• So, yeah. Really cool. Yeah. Really, really cool. I look forward. I want to see this pen from somebody else. I might see it from you. I was racking my brain and I remember the fourth. All right. So I have this one, the Bungu Box SD. I have the 4B.
• Okay. Do you remember that one? It's got the lines rolling around there. No, I thought, no, that's one of the best ones ever, I think. That I don't know. I have the Alice in Wonderland Progear. Sure. And the San Francisco Pen Show Progear. Oh, I forgot about that one. That's my four. So I have the one, the fifth one that I couldn't think about. I'll go through the other four. But the one I forgot about is one of the older ones and probably one of the more unique ones, even though it's very basic. They did a pilot custom heritage 91 that was kind of like a bright blue with sparkles at like the 2016 DC Pen Show. The first time, Kairu had been over to the US and I bought it from that show and I still have that pen. I'll always have that pen. It's really special. And you never see anyone with this pen. I should take a picture of it and share it because it's very, very unique. Even though compared to like all the other ones that we have, it's pretty standard, if you will. But like you can see like this is back in the day, like no one's getting a custom pilot heritage 91 to, to, for their, for their shop. And it was, it was pretty sick. So then I have Pink Love, Fujiyama Blue, Inpitsu. Oh, and the Mekon, Mini Mekon, the Tangerine Pro Gear Slim, or excuse me, the Mini. Yeah, I was thinking of the little guy. What is it actually called? It has a name, right?
• It's a long name. No, like the Sailor called them. Oh, they changed the name. I think they call them now Sapporo Mini, I believe. Sapporo Mini. That's the one, that's what I was thinking of. What is the name of the Pro Gear that has the window?
• It's not actually a Pro, it's a Rialo. Rialo, that's it. Yeah. Well, see, I've always called that the Pro Gear Rialo. Is it just the Sailor Rialo? I think it's just the Sailor Rialo. I mean, let's be real though. It's a Pro Gear though. You know what I mean? Like, I know that they might call it what they want to call it, but like, it's like they don't call the King of Pen a different pen, you know? They taper the ends differently for the piston on this pen. So it's technically a little bit different shape. It's not like a Pro Gear with a piston in it. It does have some technical differences to it, but it's got a flat top, right? And the cap's the same. So that's what everyone thinks is as Pro Gear. Pro Gear has the flat tops with the anchor on the top and that's a Pro Gear. And sure, like I would buy that. So next week you're going to be at the beach? Yep. Yep. A little family vacation. Okay.
• So as we like to do, and what works out really well for me is if we do a full Ask TPA edition. I know we have a bunch of feedback right now that we're going to hold until next week, but if y'all can send us some more, if you have your questions that you want to ask, how can they get that to us, Myke? Go to penaddictfeedback.com and you can send in your question. I'll put a link in the show notes this episode too, so you can go and send your feedback questions in. So you can ask whatever you want us to talk about, whether it's pen related or otherwise. Go to penaddictfeedback.com, leave your questions, and we'll get to as many as we can next week.

Pilot Vanishing Point Seashore 2024 Limited Edition

• All right. Speaking of the beach, let's talk about the Pilot Vanishing Point Seashore. This is the 2024 limited edition vanishing point. This is a pen we always talk about because they do a good job of once a year doing a big release. And this year, it looks like we're back into the Pilot USA design where they do the gradient type of designs or as they call them, the ombre type designs, you know, with the colors interchanging and fading into each other. And this one, given the name, Myke, you could imagine it has an ocean and beachy vibe. So I just, as a non-vanishing point user that you are, and I am a vanishing point user, you know, regardless of whether you can or cannot use this pen, what do you think of the pen in general as a vanishing point? I just don't think it's possible for them to compare with other brands that do similar things. Like, the idea of a beach scene is destroyed by any company that uses acrylics. Yes, I agree. It almost feels like this is a theme which is pointless to do, in my opinion. Like, I like the idea of the gradients, but I think that they would be best off being a little bit more abstract or just doing colors. Because if they're trying to relate it to things in the world, like sunsets, sunrises, beach scenes, you know, things of that nature, maybe like, you know, like if you want to do like a field kind of vibe. Yes. They just, you can't compete with the acrylic pen world. And so, it kind of feels like you've wasted a theme. To your point, this is a perfect release for 10 years ago in our, in this, in the stationary space, right? Now, this is, I think it's beautiful. This will 100% sell out. There will be people who love this pen. Yeah. But it's also, I had less of a problem. I don't, I have really no problem with this pen. I think it's great.
• But they just did a different blue ombre design, maybe four years ago, that it's not too much different from, right? It doesn't have like the beach or the seashore theme. I also feel like they got the balance wrong. Oh, boy.
• Let's read Brad's questions here that he put in the show notes. So, I had two specific notes. What is the proper beach versus water ratio? Yeah. And what is the proper beach versus water orientation? So, these are actual notes I put in our show document that I wanted to discuss today.
• Because, okay. So, let's talk about ratio first, right? Yeah. So, we have, we have the sandy beach running into the ocean. And would you say- The beach is like 65, 70% of the pen? I was going to say two-thirds to one-third. Yeah. Just from simplicity. Yeah.
• What is it? So, there's some design elements at play here, right? Right? They have to have the certain chrome parts and, you know, the middle of the barrel where it twists open. How would you have changed this if this is not a good ratio for you? It's the exact opposite. Exact opposite. Yeah. The amount of sand should be the amount of the beach, which is like 30% of the pen. And I think you could, you would be able to do it. You'd be able to make it work, I think, even with the little clip that they put in the, you know, like the chrome that they put in the middle. I think you'd still have enough space. And like the funny thing is if you look at the, we're looking at Van Ness Pen's link, the box has the correct ratio.
• It does. Of beach to water. They printed on the box.
• So, yeah, I think they've, I think they kind of messed that one up there. I just think like, if you just think about it, just logically that if you were looking at a scene, it just makes more sense that there would be more water than beach because that's always the case. Like, that's how it is. Like, if you were adapting it to the real world, there's always water, more water than there is beach because that's just, that's just how it goes. So, yeah, it's funny to me. So, now if you scroll down on that same page, there's a secondary picture of just the pen that gives you the full. And I think the ratio is closer to better on the second image. It looks like the blue kind of transitions closer to the belly band. Yeah, but it's still not enough. I'm with you. I'm with you. It's still not enough. But that's closer to like 60-40 than like 70-30. Sure. I just think that the blue should be basically the entire large section. And the gradient should begin in the smaller section past the little chrome band. Okay. So, now what about the orientation? Is the blue, is the ocean is towards the nib? So, if you're not looking at this right now. So, the ocean blue part is towards the nib and the beach is towards the knock. So, is that the proper orientation for water? I think so. Because the water is away from you, right? Like, that's how you would imagine a beach scene. You are closest to the sand. The water is away. And the nib is the part of the pen pointing away from you when you're using it. So, I think that makes logical sense to me. I would like, like if I own this pen, this is the orientation I would want it in. I would want the water. It would bother me if I was riding with the beach area down. So, okay. What do you think about the packaging? This, I don't recall them. Like, this isn't like an overboard type of packaging. But it's a little bigger and it has like its own little stand that you can use. Like you mentioned with the beach base, the gradient look there. But I'd have to remember how much they've done before. I know they did it with like the 40th anniversary edition, the red one. Like, they did a little bit of extra packaging. But this seems like a lot. I don't recall them doing as much. It's nice, but like I don't know what the intention is. Like, is the intention that I'm supposed to put this on my desk? Right. Because if it is, then I want it made out of wood. I don't want it made out of this like, what I'm sure is like cardboard or plastic wrapped in a felt.
• Yeah, it's the jewelry store like ring stand type looking thing. Right. I mean, and also, the pen's upside down.
• Right? Yeah, technically, yes. If you're putting it in the stand. But see, it's not because if you use the vanishing point, how it's intended to use, to be clipped to something, it's always going to be this orientation. Okay. I mean, as I say that, that was unfair. I saw all my fountain pens facing up too. So, I shouldn't. All right. So, this pen is $350. I haven't, I should have done the research to check the previous prices. But the last year's threw me off because it was a different kind of special edition. I might have to go back and look. It's definitely a little bit of a price increase, but I don't think too much.
• 2,024 pieces available. So, I have no problem with the price or the volume. What is, I find weird, is that they launched it now for September shipping. So, my question, my third question in the document is how far is too far ahead for a product listing? I would argue that more than like a couple of weeks is way too far ahead. So, they're putting this out there now. I don't even know if they can pre-order them. And it's just like, it's like notify me when it's available type of thing, right? Like, I don't even know that anyone's doing pre-orders. But like, June, you know, the middle of June for a September release and everyone's listing it seems a little bit odd to me, no? Any time is too soon if I can't order.
• Even a pre-order. Like, if they want to put it on pre-order now for three months from now, that's not a problem to me, right? Okay. But if you are putting up a product page and I can't order it, I think that's always too soon.
• Even if you want to collect email addresses for a notification on launch.
• Hey, I'm just playing devil's advocate. Yeah, no. I mean, that's fine. I think it's way too soon. Like, you know, if you want to do that, sure. But I think the ideal is always if you're going to get somebody to come to a product page, they should be able to buy it. Unless you've gone out of stock. If you've gone out of stock, I think it's fine to collect email addresses. But for like something that's brand new, like what I don't understand what the point of the email capture is. Like, just put it for sale, right? Just like it's for sale now and you can buy it. So this is one of those things where there's definitely like allocations, right? It's always a popular release every year. So 2,024 pieces is a lot. But that just means wherever you're shopping, it's going to be allocated X amount. That's probably why they do it. That's probably why they do it. I mean, all right. That's a way to do it. But I feel like there could be a little bit more logic applied to that rather than just collecting email addresses. But yeah, they're probably like, oh, if shop A has this many and shop B has this many, it means we send four pens to these people, 20 pens to these people or whatever, right? I just thought it was too early overall. But that's like an exact science anyway. So what's the point? Like, you know, another way you could do it is like you can buy it today. They ship in September. Then you know exactly how many to send. But I guess if it's limited edition, you can't have one place sell 2,025 of them. Yeah. That's a complicated thing. I get it. But I still think that that feels weird to me if it's three months from now. I was more like just the time frame. Like, I don't mind. I have pre-ordered stuff and, you know, I've been notified, you know, want to notify on release. But I'm just like the time frame seems a little bit weird, especially since this is a summertime pin. And technically, September is still summer in the northern hemisphere. Sometimes you have production delays, Brad. You know what I mean? I can't argue with that one. I know. So why don't we just launch this in August and then sell it in September? I don't know. Three months is a really long time and a lot can change in somebody's lives that they, you know, what I mean? Like, you might have the intention and the money today, but in three months time, you might not. And so, like, it is strange to be like, do you today want to buy this pen in September?
• Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I don't know. Lots of things can change. Let me tell you something. You can buy pens right now. Man, I wanted that one. I wanted that one. Look at that. Segway, brother. Oh, man. This episode is brought to you by Pen Chalet. They have your favorite brands and the products that you're looking for with the best deals around. They have special discounts twice a month at Pen Chalet and close out specials at the same time frame, too. They're always adding new styles of pens, new products every single month, and they believe in fast and reliable customer service. They have products from brands like Pelican, Lamy, Sailor, Kaweco, Pilot. That page just goes on and on and on. And if you go to penschalet.com and click that brands page, you're going to find your favorite brand. But they also sell limited edition products and accessories as well. You can get everything you need at Pen Chalet. They sell internationally with reasonable shipping rates. But if you are in the U.S. and you order over $75, you will get free shipping. So it's free shipping on orders of over $75 in the U.S. of A. Pen Chalet has low prices on high-quality products, and they offer a 100% satisfaction guarantee. And they want to thank you for being a customer of theirs and supporting this show by giving you 10% off. Go to penschalet.com slash penaddict. You will get 10% off anything at Pen Chalet. You'll also see this week's special offers that include, Brad?

Opus 88 Wine Rollerball Pen

• OMG, there's a lot. So first, I want to talk about the Opus 88 Wine Rollerball Pen. So they make this in a rollerball and a fountain pen version. I had more people at pen shows ask me if I had seen the wine pen. Have I seen the wine pen? Have I seen the wine pen? And people were buying these pens. This was not what I thought the wine pen was going to be. I'm not going to lie.
• It's a wine bottle-shaped pen. And oddly shaped as you think it might be. Yes, that's exactly how it shaped. And people were loving this thing at the pen shows I went to. So that's something to check out. But, oh, before I get to some other things.
• I haven't seen this in a while. The Pelican P200 series is Pelican's cartridge fill pen. Which you don't see very much. But I think these, I'll have to double check this. Or maybe double check it when you go to order. These might take the longer cartridges. Like the full size international cartridges. I'll have to double check that. I'm just seeing these on the product page this morning. But they're unique if you like Pelican style. And don't want to use like the piston filler. They do have a cartridge availability. The Heinz pens. There's a couple of different Heinz pens on here. That should not be on this page at this price. These should be sold out already. Because they're beautiful. And the price is stunning. And then you just keep scrolling here. And this one has a very, very long scroll. And I'm scrolling. And then I hit one of my favorite pens of all time. Which I let Jeff review for the blog. And I'm kind of regretting it. The Opus 88 Coloro Demo 2022 Color of the Year. This one's called Very Perry. This is one of the coolest pens ever. And it's this translucent purple with these kind of brick red ends and black trim. This pen is awesome. It is so cool. And it's at a great price. There's a couple different nib options available. And then you get down into like there's some narwhals in here with like the spring colors. And like this is a this is one of those never ending lists that I'm still not to the bottom to. And I just want to keep talking about all the things. So go check out everything over at PennChalet.com. It's PennChalet.com slash PennAddict. And you'll be able to see all these special offers. Our thanks to PennChalet for the continued support of this show and RelayFM.
• All right. We have a shout out of the week, Myke. Shout out of the week. Do you ever think about doing these and getting the guests to sing the song? Do you think people would be in for that? You know what? I am so focused on talking to the guests. I don't think I've ever done a shout out of the week on a guest episode. But now that you've said that, I should prep some of the guests for this. You know, I also feel like as well. I'm always so proud of you, like reading the ads. Like you do it so well. But I do think I could write anything in that ad copy and you'd read it. Probably. Like anything. Because I can tell how focused you are, which I appreciate. I just want you to know. You're a great host and you do a great job about me. But sometimes I feel like there's a podcast that I watch every day, basically. It's called Kind of Funny Games Daily. And it's just a daily games new show. Love it. And there'll be one host, well, one person of the team will put together like the news rundown. And then there'll be a host of the show. And they frequently put the word banana somewhere in it, anywhere. And someone might say it or they'll get through it and they'll be like, I didn't get the banana. And so I feel like I could do that to you. Like I could just put the word banana in the ad copy. You know, you can get all your best bananas over at Penn Chalet. Yeah. And you just do it. When I'm the host, I take like trying to dot all the I's and cross all the T's like very seriously. Like it's much nicer to be the talent, I guess, for lack of a better term, to where I can just riff. And I can get things wrong all the time. And people will email me and correct me. And I really appreciate that. And I've had some good conversations on some mistakes I've made recently. And I like that. I like I appreciate the feedback when I screw things up. So when I do like the ads and stuff, like I take it very seriously. I'm like, am I am I too rigid because I'm used to just riffing? No, no, no. Am I because I'm a riffer, right? Like I'll just talk and like I sometimes don't know what I say and then I get in trouble about it. And so I don't want to do that with the ad spots, even when I have to have my ad. So our ads listed behind the scenes, it says, you know, add personal info here. And I was like, what am I going to say? Like I'm not I'm reading the ad and doing the personal bits. Yeah, you got to do it all, baby. I love all our sponsors. Thank you all. Shout out of the week, Myke. I know you already sang it. Sing it again. Shout out of the week. This is one of my random Instagram finds. And maybe a lot of people know about Composition Studio. But I just found them somehow. And I think because they're doing some collaborations with Pilot. So they have this thing called Writing Club with Pilot. And I'm really trying to decipher what they're doing. But Composition Studio makes Composition Notebook style stationary, right? So they'll do notebooks. You know the traditional marble covers. And they make notebook products. They make stickers and stamps. They make tips for an Apple Pencil. Yeah. They make Apple Pencil wraps that are Composition Notebook style. They do all kinds of like really neat stationary Korean brand. And I'm trying to figure out what this Writing Club with Pilot is. So I've gone through some of the translations. So like the most recent post is Fountain and Writing Club. And there's like a psychological audit aspect of this. And I'm trying to sort out. Like I don't think the translation is totally getting me there. But yeah. There's like some like personal like discovery writing type of stuff. And I think it's kind of interesting. So I'm now following this account. And I'll keep tabs on it. Because I want to see how they work with Pilot in doing things going future. But I just like their aesthetic. I like their style. I like it too. I've never used any of their products. So you know that's something like I'll have on the list. Like maybe if I'm you know want to order from Korea. Order some of their products. They're super reasonably priced. Like their hardbound like composition cover notebooks are like $11 US. Like they seem cool. But I don't know anything about them. But I thought it was a cool find. And I think some of our listeners might enjoy following along. Yeah. So one of the things that I'm working on quite a lot right now is we're kind of coming up with a new visual identity for the way that we market our products at Cortex Brand. Like just what's the style of photography that we use. Right. Right. And this brand is doing a lot of things in the kind of style and color choices that I want to use. And so I have actually when I put this link in. I actually yeah I thought about you for a split second. I was like oh Myke might actually like this too from like a notebook design perspective in a creative perspective. They use a lot of like warm warm tones. A lot of non-natural light like but but warm light and wood and like film grain and stuff like these are the types of things that I'm gravitating towards that we're probably going to start moving towards in the future. So I've just sent we're working with a great team based out of Australia on this. And I just we have like a Instagram group where we send like inspirational images and I just sent them four images. From this account. And I was like yep I like these ones. Yeah I was like how have I missed this account because it's it's really cool really cool stuff. I like the colors that they do too. Like they have some products that are like.
• I spent a lot of time on that website. They're like composition in in construction not in design. Yes. Very cool. Yeah it's really cool really cool.

Namiki Yukari Bumblebee Pen

• This next product is really cool and it's it's not for everyone because of the price but I couldn't help. But post the the new the latest from Namiki in the Yukari range is the Bumblebee. And I wanted to share it because I think it's one of the finest examples of the creativity of the artists that a pilot Namiki uses to create these pins. So this is the series where I have one of these pins. I have the Milky Way.
• I'll probably only ever have one of these pins because they're extremely expensive. It's one of my favorite pins ever. And I look at all the series that they create and this one really stands out in the use of color.
• In this particular lineup now they've gotten some really wild colors with some some different even more expensive product lineups. But I really like the juxtaposition juxtaposition of the blues and greens and yellows and blacks of the bumblebees. And I don't know. I just really enjoyed looking at this pin. And if that's all you do with this pin because there's very few of us that can afford a pin like this. If all you do is look at this pin like yeah I'm just enamored with it just by the whole thought process of building designing individually hand painting all these pins. 300 of them like like that's a lot for an artist to handle and to have the beauty and consistency that they do. I think it's just something special and I don't know. I'm just really taken by this pin from from an artwork perspective. And I just wanted to share it for that. Like even though it's like crazy expensive like I just think it's beautiful. So there's a lot going on here and I think it's quite special. I really like the addition of Rodden to kind of show pollen.
• Yeah exactly. Yeah this is a not just beautiful I think the concept is very good for this like a lot of thought went into the design of this pen.
• I would say like it is a for me a really great example of an art style that I can often find impressive but not attractive. Mm-hmm. Like I think a lot of for me a lot of Makai work is really interesting but it's something that I am not attracted to because maybe it's too intricate or too like it's themes that do not resonate with me.
• But this one really does. I think this one is very very beautiful. Yeah and the other thing about this one it's very modern in style. I think that's probably what I'm getting at with like yeah it's just some some of some of the designs like in this range. Like I can appreciate them but they don't like there's a shark one right and it's like it looks too realistic like I don't kind of jive with that. Yeah. Or there are like themes that are more traditionally Japanese that that aren't that like they don't elicit a response in me. Mm-hmm. But or like there are some of them where it's too much like there's an elephant pen and I think they've put so much Makai on it that it looks like it's printed. And I think that maybe that that's detracting from the design but this one I think is like the perfect balance of like delicateness. Delic. How would you say that?
• Yeah. Delicateness. No I don't think that's right. I don't think that's a word. But anyway I was gonna say delicacy but that's not correct. That is definitely not. How dare you. But yeah like it's delicate enough while still retaining some character and also still looking like something that has been applied on the top of the pen. So yeah really really cool. This is great. This is really great. Yeah. Really cool. And since we're on the extreme level of pens I'd be remiss if I didn't include a quick mention of the Montegrappa Scarabio limited edition fountain pen. How cool is this pen? Am I crazy in thinking this is legit cool? This is incredible. Okay. They've gone and done it again over at Montegrappa. This is a pen that is honoring and celebrating Scrabble. Mm-hmm. Okay. So I had a point to make on this. Let me. I couldn't. I can't find it. I had it highlighted and now it's not on the page anymore. But they were actually. Oh here it is. As well as being finely tuned to the Italian language its local availability predates that of Scrabble by more than 20 years. So they wanted to be sure to get in a dunk on Scrabble real quick. Okay. So I thought it might have been the original game but it's probably a game that Scrabble is influenced by a chord and it's called Scrabbio.
• Yeah. It's very clear to me just hearing that that this is where Scrabble came from. Yeah. Yeah. So this is a pen. It looks like you know there's a lot of colors and themes in Scrabble but also there are wooden tiles that slide into a rail in the pen and you get a little bag of these wooden tiles. So you can I guess you can choose your own word to go on there. Yeah. This pen kicks so much butt. Like it's. This is just an just a fantastic execution of an idea. Yeah. It's fun right. Like it's legitimately fun. Like it's crazy expensive. Yes. But this is this is the whimsy that I love to see in design where they actually made like the sliding tiles in the proper shape to fit around the essentially the rack in the barrel. And you unscrew the end cap to slide these you know the different characters in there different letters in there. It's unbelievably cool. Okay. I thought I was crazy for loving this pen but apparently you feel the same way too. Like they even went so far as to make the box feel like a board game box. Yeah. The box is a board game box and it's just it's I don't it's not a it's not a joke that like we love these like really eccentric designs that Montegrappa does. It's it's because they execute them so well like it's hard just not to discuss and like fawn over. Like we talk about like the like the really big releases like the Frankenstein's monster one and like the whole set pieces that they make for these like to be to work at Montegrappa and like sit in these design meetings to say hey this is what we're going to do. How are we going to put these how are we going to put these tiles on this pen and then they sit there and figure it out. That just must be fun. That just must be a fun job to to sit here and design all this stuff for Montegrappa. So like Wikipedia says that Scrabio is a variant of Scrabble. So I'm just going to say I just I just don't want to be out here. You know we've been with that information. So I'm offering both sides of this. OK. That's why I wanted to put that in there because that's Montegrappa's ad copy or or or product copy basically putting making it clear that hey 20 years ahead of Scrabble. Like I they they they put it in writing. So I'm here for the Scarabio Scrabble Wars. You know remember where you were Myke. Remember where you are. I have something I had to look up. So it says here like standing breakfasts hotel shower alarms along business socks. Scrabio is an Italian tradition rarely seen beyond Italian borders. I was like what on earth are they talking about. Like what is a hotel shower alarm. Right. So I looked it up. This is the thing. I found a website called Grand Voyage Italy. In bathrooms in Italy. This is when you're traveling in Italy. You will see strings hanging down the wall over tubs and shower stalls. This is an alarm system required by building code especially for hotels. If you've fallen and you can't get up. All you need to do is reach way up there to the end of the string. I see these in some like assisted living facilities and assisted bathroom facilities and stuff. I've seen them all over the place but apparently in Italy they are in all hotel bathrooms. Yeah. Building codes. Required by building code. Required.
• Did you read? You see no one really ever responds to these.
• What? Hotels have stopped responding because tourists always thinks gee what's this and pull it to see what will happen. I didn't see that. Nothing. That's really great. Nothing is what will happen. That's hilarious. Well I mean people think they're light switches right? So like. Oh yeah. Oh is this the hot hot water or is like you know what are we doing here? Is this the sink stopper? The drain stopper? Oh my gosh. That's hilarious.
• How do you think they feel about uni pizza ovens in Italy? I think you know this is the modern way. You know what? I think they would be down with it. I think so too. Because you're actually making it yourself which I think Italians would enjoy. And it's the Ferrari of pizza design and who doesn't like you know a fine design machine. So tell me about uni. Uni is the world's number one pizza oven company letting you make restaurant quality pizzas in your own home. Uni pizza ovens can reach up to 950 degrees Fahrenheit and cook pizza in as little as 60 seconds. The high temperature is what separates these pizzas you'll make in an uni from those you'll make in a conventional oven. And they are super quick to heat up to. You'll be ready to go in just 20 minutes which is just enough time to get all your toppings ready. Do you love an authentic wood fired flavor or what about the convenience of cooking with gas? Well whether you're looking to cook with wood, charcoal, gas or even electricity there is an uni oven that fits your needs and lifestyle. Uni have designed ovens like the wood pellet fueled fire 12 and the multi fueled Karu 12G for maximum portability. But if you want both the convenience of gas but love the flavor of wood fired cooking the Karu line is what you want to check out. Because you can use wood or charcoal right out of the box or get the optional gas burner for cooking flexibility. And now with uni's electric volt 12 pizza oven you can make pizza both indoors and outdoors. Uni ovens therefore more than just pizza though you can cook anything. You can cook in an oven. Juicy burgers, sizzling fajitas, buffalo wings and so much more. And they will produce excellent results every time because they do get so hot. There were two things I wanted to point out today Brad that are new that I think are cool. One, uni just launched the Coda 2 Max which is, it's a massive oven basically. You can cook two pizzas side by side. It's a 24 inch cooking area in the Coda 2 Max. This thing is serious. This is the big upgrade. You know like you want to. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And also there's, I think this one might just be in the UK. But uni have partnered with a toy company to make an uni like toy oven for kids.
• I'm going to put a link to this in the show notes. I'll find it. It is so adorable. I love it so much. It's a company called Kasdan Toys in the UK. And so there's like a little kids oven too if you want that. It's so adorable. Oh, that's awesome. It's got like the whole thing, the peel, like everything. So your kids can cook along with you and you're having an uni day. Because that's what I love about when we cook with the uni. It like becomes like a thing to look forward to in the day. And it becomes like a full like day activity. You know, it's really good fun and it produces incredible pizza. I just, this design, you put this link and I'm looking at the kids design. What I think about this design is the design of the uni itself is so cool. Like this type of design. It's iconic. Like, yeah, it's unbelievably cool how it works and how it functions. And then when I'm done cooking my pizza and it cools down, I can just pick it up and put it away. It's, it's, it's, it, I'm overthinking it now because it is so cool. Yep. They've done a really great job.
• They also make a cast iron cookware pizza peels. The moment is all of the accessories you're going to need. So listeners of this show can get 10% off their purchase of an uni pizza oven. Just go to uni.com. That's O-O-N-I.com. And use the code pen addict 2024 at checkout. Uni pizza ovens are the best way to bring restaurant quality pizza to your home. Just go to O-O-N-I.com and use the code pen addict 2024 for 10% off. A thanks to uni pizza ovens for their support of this show and relay FM.
• All right, Myke, we have more products to talk about and I can't wait. And I wanted to give a shout out to my friend, David Parker, AKA fig boot on pens. A lot of our community, our content creators in the community, we work on a lot of different collaborations at a lot of different times. And we get to all participate in some really, really cool stuff over the years. And I love seeing my friends make things. Like, you know, Joe at the Gentleman Stationer just had a really cool Newton pen come out. And, you know, I have, you know, a Heinz pen coming out this summer. And I love being able to work with makers in the community and make stuff for our shops. And fig boot just went out and dunked on all of us. He has his own Visconti now. And I'm fascinated by this. So this is the Visconti Voyager Del Mar. And I just love the materials. I love the shape. It's a Carolina Penco resin.
• It's, you know, it's a Visconti, Myke. I know the clip, the iconic clip is not Myke's favorite shape. I like my Viscontis. But this is just really cool to see someone in our community be able to partner and produce such, like, an iconic pen such as this one. So I just wanted to give David a shout out and a congratulations. Because I imagine this could not have been simple or easy to get this done. And it looks spectacular. So I just wanted to throw that in there because it goes on sale this weekend. And there's only 50 of them being made because they're obviously very expensive. So, yeah, take a look at them. It's, like, jaw-dropping. He's shared them with me for months now. And they're finally coming to fruition. And I'm just so impressed with David's work and Visconti's openness to do this and even have, like, little customization bits in there, like the logo on the top finial and things like that. So I thought it was really cool. So I wanted to give him a shout out. Yeah, you know what I'm saying about the collabs. I don't know how he does it, but, like, David crushes it, like, doing things like this. Like, he really...
• You know what I also appreciate is he takes the swings. I think that might be one of the things where, like, for this one, he had to buy all these pens, right? Like, he's bought them all. And I don't think everyone would do that. And so I respect his game. Yeah, exactly. Exactly. So game appreciate game over here. So great job. Great job, David. I love this pen. I can't wait to see it in person because it looks beautiful. Speaking of looking beautiful, Myke, you know I love the pen type B from our friends over at CW&T. Did you get, in any of your inboxes, the viral stationary hit from Jordan the Stallion, Jordan Howlett, of this amazing Instagram post? So you did not... None of your friends sent you this? No. Okay. I got this a lot. Yeah. And I have to say, it's amazing. So the long and short of it, for those who haven't seen it, and we'll have the link in the show notes to go watch the whole thing. It's probably two minutes of your time to go check. But there's basically... The first part is, like, the setup. And I don't know if it is setup, but basically a kid found a pen type B. And if you've listened to this podcast for any length of time, you'll know that I'm a huge fan of the pen type B because of the tight tolerances it has. It has a real pop when you take it out of the pen barrel. As a matter of fact, I can demonstrate that right here, Myke.
• So it's a fascinating pen. It's a pen I love. I've raved about it for years. So this kid found this pen and is doing the pop. And then Jordan, who is the star here, has, like, 10 million followers on Instagram, does a breakdown of the pen. And it's riotous. Like, I think it's just so good, so fun. So I wanted to be sure to share that. I wanted to ask something. So, like, he says this is a jet pen. Well, yes. I mean, for someone who doesn't know, like, he probably looked it up. Okay, I'm just double checking that, like... It's not. No, it's like, is this... Surely this is not... Because you hadn't brought it up by now. I'm like, did I miss this? The way he words it, like, he's trying to discover what this pen is, right? So he goes, this is a... And you can tell he's, like, reading, like, the JetPens product description because they carry CW&T products, which there's... CW&T doesn't have a lot of retailers, right? A lot of it's direct. But JetPens has carried their pens for years and years and years. So it probably landed high on Google. Yeah. And he clicked it, so he says, so he reads it, this is a JetPen CW&T pen type B is the way he phrases the product description. And that's just from, you know, not realizing, like, what JetPens is or anything like that, which, like, that makes... That's fun for us, right? Look, Brad, I'm out here, right? I just want authenticity. He wants to seem like he's an expert. Well, show me you're an expert. You know what I'm saying, Brad? I ain't taking it. I know the expert.
• It was funny. The first time I listened to it, I was on stream listening to it, and I just reached over, grabbed my pen type B. I'm like, yeah, this is what it does. Boop. This is what it does. So it's like... It was fun to see, you know, CW&T in the mentions and a lot of people I know in the mentions. And it's got, you know, 540,000 views. Like, it was a big... This guy's a big time. Mostly for cooking stuff. I had never heard of him before, but he, like, breaks down, like, fancy recipes into, like, simple recipes and does fun stuff like that. So anyway, if y'all haven't seen that, it's worth a couple minutes of your time, especially if you're aware of what the pen type B is. And I love it as much as I do.

St. Louis Pen Show Highlights

• I love what St. Louis has done for their upcoming pen show, Myke. They were a sponsor on our show, and we took some liberties with their ad reads. I wouldn't call it that at all. Well, I think we had fun. We did our job. We did our job as professional podcasters, you know, taking care of, you know, our sponsors. And I thought we just had a really, really great conversation around the St. Louis pen show, including your desire for l'exposition du St. Louis.
• Exposition du St. Louis. And you're like, here you go, St. Louis. Free t-shirt design. And I think they, I think they, we called them out and was like, hey, yeah, let's do it. And you know what? They didn't do a t-shirt because that would be, you know, we, both of us have sold t-shirts. That's a, that's a merch. That's a merch thing you don't always wish on anybody. What they did is they turned it into a mug. And let me just say, wow. Like, so we'll have a link in the show notes. You can pick these up at the St. Louis pen show this weekend where our friend Myke designed this mug. What do you think? What do you think? Oh, I love it. I absolutely love it. Yeah. I, I, hats off to them. I, I threw down the gauntlet. They've picked it up and they made something great of it. And there's so many little jokes in the, so they used part of a, of a existing piece of, a piece of artwork called La Plume, which is from the 1800s on one side of the mug. And then they've added their own kind of, it looks like one of these like plaques that you'd see on a wall.
• Yeah. Like on a street corner of like a building on a street corner. Yeah. And it's even got like 10 minutes. 10 minutes. That's my, that's my favorite part. 10 minutes from the airport.
• And it's got the broken, right? Just good. And it's got the broken heart. It's got the broken heart on there. The Kreb core. Yeah. It's just unbelievable. You love to see it. Yeah. 10 minutes from the airport. 10 minutes from the airport, man. That's what killed me. So this is really good. So I may know someone that's going to, that's going to save you and I a couple, but otherwise, y'all got to get them. I know. I didn't ask either, but I was offered and I said, yes, let me have two, please. So they're going to be available at the show. I think they're only doing like 50 of them. So, um, and if there's any left, they're going to put them for sale on the website. I would be shocked. There shouldn't be any left. Um, come on. Yeah. It's so good. It's so good. So hopefully we'll get a couple, but I, I just, I, every time Myke sent me the artwork, I would just crack up. I thought it was great. Not you. No, Myke Antoviak. Um, so yeah, love it. Love it. Uh, thank you, St. Louis and good luck this weekend. I hope y'all all have fun. I put a, I shared, um, uh, other Myke's, uh, Instagram story this morning of my ink, samples that I sent over for the show. So me, Myke, uh, Myke, uh, ink dependence, Myke third, Myke, um, Anna from well appointed desk and Kelly from mountain of ink all sent over a 10 ink sample. So we're going to have a whole ink sample from, uh, ink sample, um, table with all of our samples that we sent. So this is where I sent over the 10 orange inks.

Lamy Instagram Post on Writing Epic Postcards

• Lastly, Myke, um, this week, uh, I wanted to share an interesting, um, bit of content from Lamy on Instagram. So Lamy pens did a post on Instagram for how to write an Epic postcard. And this really spoke to me because I'm a fan of postcards as a non letter writer. I do like to write some postcards, but I generally take them like very passively. Like I'll doodle on them. I'll write lyrics on them, poems, and just send them off to people. Like I don't take them too seriously. I just have a little fun. And now that it's summertime, uh, again, in the Northern hemisphere, a lot of people are traveling and Lamy actually did a spectacular job on how to write an Epic postcard listed for fun ideas. Because obviously you want to use your Lamy pens, but let me just tell you these four fun ideas. And I just think it's a really cool thing. And then I'm going to tell you one miss that they had, Myke. So number one, draw the strangest thing you've seen on this holiday, right? So everyone can do a little, do a little stick figure doodle on, on their postcard. Uh, number two, write a six line poem about a local dish you ate. Like this is right up my alley, right? It could be a good meal, a bad meal, but you can write some silly little, little poem about, um, about the, um, the food you ate. Um, their, their example was Monsieur et Madame. I ate the clams at a small trattoria in Rome. I'll dream of it back home. Spaghetti a la gond made my soul sing, but my stomach achy. So there you go. Um, draw something you would have liked to taken as a souvenir. Again, doodles and sketching are great for postcards because they're just like, just this little passive activity that you can do. And it's just, Hey, here's this little doodle of this thing I saw. Number four, describe your favorite memory from this trip as if you were a Victorian child leaving England. So I, uh, I do appreciate that as some, as someone who, jokes about that stuff, uh, from time to time in my, in my writings. And we'll have like these, those little ideas. So that's their prompts. They're really good. I thought this was a really, um, great, uh, idea from Lamy and, uh, they put in their post. This is the miss Myke. We've prepared some cool creative prompts to make things a bit easier. And we're pretty sure that favor makes us deserve a postcard from you.
• Okay. I would like to send them a postcard, Myke. We'll go on then. I, where? Like they want us to, corporate address, man. Corporate Lamy address. They, they just need to open like some random PO box and have people send their postcards. How sick would that be if they just popped an address in here? Help. They can use my PO box. I don't care. I'll go put my PO box in there. Yeah. Put your PO box in the comments. See how that goes for you. It was like, we deserve a postcard from you. It was like, well, tell us how to send you a postcard. Lamy, come on. Like, like, can we sit, we, we will write poems to the beehives you have at the corporate campus in Heidelberg. Like, let us send you post, postcards for the bees. Lamy, give us an address. So yeah. Anyway, I, I just, I'm joking, but I really thought this was a fun little, you know, little Instagram marketing thing that they did. And that it's something I very much believe in postcards and sending, sending fun things through the mail like that. And it's, it's, it's really cool. So I did appreciate this from Lamy. I thought it caught my eye enough to put it in the podcast. So that, that should tell you everything right there.
• Very cool. I, yeah, I think, so we'll save all our STPA for next week, Myke, but I feel like we should do one follow-up bit from last week's and then we'll save all the rest for next week. How does that sound? I want to hit this one follow-up. Yeah, that's good. Cause it's kind of, it's kind of timely from two weeks ago. I don't want it to last any further. So this was a direct follow-up to a really good question we had about, um, well, let me just read this from Italo. So as a follow-up to the adorably OCD question last week about cross-contaminating ink with food, I want to share my own obsession. I fear for my tines. Absentmindly writing with the tines, not precisely equidistant to the paper. Or bumping them against the cap by not aligning it perfectly into the cap when capping. Or splaying them by applying too much pressure or torque against the ink bottle while refilling. These anxieties really hamper my enjoyment of my fountain pens. Can you provide any relief? So I thought this was a brilliant question because like Italo, I think this is probably my number one anxiety. Is tine, layout, cleanliness, alignment, all of these things. So I have stuck a pen too far into an ink bottle and hit the bottom and misaligned tines. I have hit the sides of caps and misaligned tines. That's just, you know, there's no real reason to, there's no real direct relief other than that. It's like, hey, be more careful. Be a little bit more patient. Go a little bit slower.
• When you do it once, maybe change how you fill, you know, your pens from an ink bottle. You know, maybe you do a syringe fill or maybe you fill the converter from the ink bottle and put it in the pen. So you don't actually have to dip the nib into the bottle itself and worry about bumping it on the glass, right? There's a couple alternate ways to fill. Even a piston filler, a lot of them, like a Pelican, you can unscrew the nib unit, syringe fill the ink chamber, and then screw the nib back on like without putting the nib into the bottle and banging it on the bottom. So the other thing I do is I have a brass shim at, I have a, let me elaborate. I have a brass shim and a loop at two different spots in my house in two different desks because when those are the places I'm writing the most and sometimes I'm like, huh, this nib is performing oddly. So I will take my loop and I will look at it and make sure the nibs are aligned. And you can look, you can find some videos online to just how to adjust the nib tines with your fingers. You can do it with a steel nib or with a gold nib and you can straighten them up.
• Secondly, a lot of times if I'm writing a bunch, I'll get paper fibers in the tines and that changes the line width because now you have this little absorbent fiber in the tines that's soaking up ink and dragging more ink around the page. And it's at such a microscopic scale, you may not notice it for a minute, but you're like, oh boy, this extra fine is all of a sudden writing a really wide line. Well, I'll get up my loop, see fibers in there, get out my shim, clean it out, wipe it on a paper towel and then get back to writing. So this is my biggest anxiety about writing with fountain pens, if you couldn't tell. I also keep micro mesh around in case I need to adjust the scratchiness or the unevenness of tines. So have your little extra tools around. I have a loop, I have a brass shim, I have 12,000 grit micro mesh and a paper towel to kind of keep my nib maintenance and QC in check. And then I'll also use alternative filling methods if I can, so I don't have to stick a nib into a shorter or narrower ink bottle for accidentally banging the tines. And so I thought this was a great question, a great follow-up, because that was a really good question about getting the tines dirty last week. So this was a good way to like, hey, how do you fix it when you do have a problem? And this is something I run into a lot and that's how I handle it. So I appreciate the follow-up, Edilo.
• All right, don't forget, if you want to send us questions for next week's episode, go to penaddictfeedback.com and you can send us him in there. If you want to find Brad online in the meantime, he is at penaddict. You can find him on twitch.tv slash penaddict, penaddict.com and spokedesign.com. I am iMike, I-M-Y-K-E. You can find me here on RelayFM and at cortexbrand.com as well. Thank you to Uni Pizza Ovens and Pen Chalet for their support of this week's episode. But most of all, thank you for listening. Until next time, say goodbye, Brad. Goodbye, Brad. You