The Pen Addict 651/transcript

From Relay, this is The Pen Addict, episode 651. Today's show is brought to you by Enigma Stationery and Squarespace. My name is Myke Hurley. I'm joined by Brad Dowdy. Hi, Brad. Hello, Myke Hurley. Glad to join you today. Always. How do you feel? Like, this is, what, we've got two more after this, and I'm gone for, like, forever. Yeah, it's starting to hit me to be, like, nervy. Yeah, we should be asking you, like, it literally doesn't matter whether I'm ready or not. Like, you're the one that needs to be ready. Especially there's the thing of, like, it doesn't really matter if you're trying to get ready for a specific date, because this might be my last episode. Next week might be. You know, we don't know. It's not up to me. Yes. That has started to hit me, and I'm like, well, I need to do a little bit of refresh, you know, like a little video, a little prep. I'm not, I'm 0%, I'm always 0% worried about the content. I am anxious about the workflow, right? Like, that kind of stuff. So, yeah. The things I don't normally do. I can record a podcast with anyone, anywhere, anytime, and make it happen, and hopefully make good content. The back-end stuff that I've been very privileged to not have to deal with in the 13 years we've been doing this.
Yeah, I am, I look forward to it. It's going to be fine. Now's your time, you know? I'm someone that can handle this. I've just, when you've never done it, you just want to make sure you do it right. That's all. Yep.
So, I'll look forward to it. I'll look forward to being a listener. Yeah, it should be good. I have literally scheduled zero guests so far. So, just so you know, that's where we're at right now. I mean, I've talked to people. I've made suggestions like, hey, I'm going to be hitting you up. So, here's my thing on this, right? Because my typical way of being is to worry about these kinds of things, right? So, like, if you've got a guest, you know, I want to check with you. Like, you know, if you've got the guest, is the guest arranged? And then I'll talk to Jim, who edits the episodes, when you have a guest, because it means I'm usually away. And, you know, I'll be like, making sure you have this, making sure you have that. And I'll be thinking about it, you know, like, Tuesday comes around, and keep my eye on when you give me the files, and then make sure, you know, like, all that kind of, like, it's in my mind. Right.
In this, and that would be, and that, in theory, would be the case for all of the shows that I do. Like, they're all continuing in some form while I'm gone.
I am worrying about none of them. Like, it's, I just kind of, like, everyone is a professional. Yep. They're all grown-ups. They're just going to deal with it. And I figure everyone will just handle it. Because the problem is, I mean, obviously, I have, for me, more important things to think about during that period of time.
You know, priorities will change more over the years, or whatever. But, like, especially for this first period, is how nothing in the world matters more to me than my newborn baby. But I'm just, like, I just assume it will all get worked out, and just figure that it will, and then just not think about it. That's kind of my, that's my approach. 100%, because it, that's exactly what will happen. It's just going to happen. You know, it's, things will keep moving along. We're all going to put on our big boy pants and, and move on, and make good, make good shows. Yep. To, to make sure baby Hurley has, has the best time, and where you don't have to worry about all these clowns that make their, baby Hurley's daddy's living. Thank you.

Transition to discussing pens and a curveball topic introduction.

All right, should we talk pens? Always. Actually, we're going to talk about not pens for the most of this episode. Okay. I, I, I threw a little curveball in there. Ticonder October 2.
Oh, yeah. Okay, so you have one topic length of time, so maybe five minutes to come up with a name for, for, for, for what we're about to do. Well, are you planning to make it the month of this thing? No. Okay. But I feel like you're committed to the bit a little bit. Yeah. So, so you have a few minutes. While I talk about the Kaweco Piston Sport Classic, this is a pen we've talked about before when it launched late last, I don't know, last fall, last winter. So this is the plastic model of the Kaweco Sport. So we talked about, I did a big review on the Aluminum Sport. This was the first release of the Kaweco Piston Sport. And these are always kind of a, have been a hot topic because this is something people have wanted for years. And you can go back and listen to commentary on the Al Sport. I have a whole Al Sport Piston Sport review up. It's a great pen. I love it. What I wanted from the beginning was the plastic, the plastic classic Kaweco Sport with the piston in it. Because that is how the original Kawecos back in like the 1930s or 40s, whenever they were being built, they were plastic pens. And that's what I love so much about Kaweco are these Kaweco Classic plastic barrels, lightweight, throw them in your pocket. They're kind of indestructible to a degree. And they're just great, great pens. One of my favorites. So this is the pen that I've been waiting for. And I like this pen, the plastic piston sport, so much better than the Aluminum Sport. Which I wasn't sure I was going to say because I love the Aluminum Sport piston sport.
This is the pen that I wanted the entire time. It is exactly like the Kaweco Classic in plastic. Like the pocket pen, it's the same size. It just has a piston filler. And it's lightweight. It doesn't have a clip. It's got an ink window. This is like, this is what I wanted from the jump. They surprised me and probably everyone else releasing the Aluminum one with the super fancy one, which is like $165, $175.
I was very surprised that they went with that one first. This is the one that I want. This is going to be the pen that's going to be a problem for me when they just decide to do different colors and different things. There will be a second one of these. I'm good on the Aluminum one. I have it. If they start doing the colors, like they do the Al Sport colors. They did a balsam fur one this past season. Did olive green, maybe. It was a lighter green.
It's great. Beautiful. I'm good with this one. With the Kaweco Classics, the plastic models, they're like Skittles, man. Like, just give me all the colors. Give me a bunch of them. This is still a $75 pen. It's very expensive for what it is.
But, like, I get it. You know, with the piston mechanism and the added engineering that these needed, I knew they were going to be, you know, more than two or three times the price of the basic. And that's okay. Like, I am really most interested in this model over the Aluminum model and seeing what they do with it going forward. Because if they do it like anything Kaweco's ever done, we're going to see a color barrel this year, right? We have to. So, it's just going to happen. And I'm probably going to buy it. And I think this is one of the – this is the platform pen for, like, this price range in Kaweco's lineup. The Aluminum one, you know, by the time you start doing the limited edition ones and you start pushing that $200 price point, that's a very, very different ask than the $75 one. Which, I'll admit, it's expensive in its own right. But this is going to be – this is going to be really, really solid. So, what I'm going to do with this pen – I have not reviewed this pen specifically.
And as a matter of fact, I just inked it up yesterday. But what I'm going to do is I'm going to start carrying this pen, like, in my pocket. You know, from my desk to the kitchen, Myke, we're going to put it – we're going to put in some work with this pen. But really, I want to see if it holds up to the beatings that the Classic could take. Like, that's one of my favorite pens to just destroy. And having this extra internal mechanism here, it's – I'm going to be interested to see if it can take the same kind of destruction that I would put through some of these other Kaweco's. So, if it does, like, I'm going to fawn over it more than I already am today. Like I said, the only hang-up is the price. Like, it's pretty expensive, like, relatively speaking. Right? But for someone like me who loves pocket pens, who loves the Kaweco Classic, having a piston option is pretty cool. And I think they did a really, really good job here. There's one line on the pen chalet description, which is, like, definitely – it's, like, means I know this pen's not for me. Which is, the piston filler's 10 grams feeling almost weightless in the hand. I don't like that feeling.
Yeah. That's – okay. So, if we'll rewind back probably over a decade when I'm starting to get into fountain pens. Yeah. I disliked the Kaweco Classic plastic barrel pen because it felt like air in your hand. Yeah. And I get that. I totally get that. It does not change. Like, it's obviously going to be – this one's going to be slightly heavier than the traditional Classic. With the added mechanisms in there now, it's still very, very light. And this is not a pen for everybody. Again, like, this is crystal clear. This is not a pen for everybody. Nor should it be. So, this is a very, very specific product. It's never going to, you know, outsell their classics that are, you know, $25.
And just super, super lightweight. This is in that same category for sure. Which is why I like it so much. It's so light and so airy. And that was an acquired taste for me back in the day when I first got the Kaweco. I did not like it. And then I eventually just came to enjoy the experience. It's one of those pens I surprisingly stuck with that took a while for me to get. And once I finally got it, I fell in love with it. Yeah, I recently found some old Kuru Togas.
Some Disney ones that I forgot that I owned. Yeah. Which is, of course, a great treat, really, to get a new present for yourself just from your own storage. And I've had them on my desk and I've been picking them up and kind of like playing around with them, you know, instead of using a different mechanical pencil or whatever. And I just really noticed that the lightness of the pen, the pencil, I just don't find as pleasurable as something like the Mark I or the Leuchtturm mechanical pencil that I have. You know, they're like aluminum bodies or whatever. However, I just prefer that so much more to the plastic. Yep. Yep. It's interesting how the deeper you get into this stationary game, the more you might have like different ideas and concepts of what you'd like before. And then you learn there's these other things out there. And this, oh, this actually works better for me. Right. Just maybe it's a weight thing. You know, maybe it's a size thing. So, you know, maybe it's a tip size thing, all kinds of things, which is why we like this so much. Yep. It's pretty cool. Pretty cool.

Shift to the "accessories episode" and focus on stationary accessories.

All right, Myke. So, I wanted to get that out of the way because that might be the last writing instrument we discussed today. Okay. Today, I wanted to bring forward a topic that I have called the accessories episode. I have a better, I immediately, I mean, you gave me my challenge, all right? Yes. I had an immediate answer, but you didn't let me give it. You were like, come back to it. I was, yeah, I wanted to hold. So, all right. So, what do we got? We're currently in the month of February accessory.
February accessory. February accessory. All right. I'm going to need you to like practice that and continue to do that. Well, there's also the problem with this one is how do you say the month, right? Yes. So, like, is it February or is it February, right? Right. So, I'm just going with February accessory. That's what we're going with. February accessory. The R is in there, but you just don't say it. Yep. I get you. I got you. I'm in. Like, I'm way in on that. Or you could take the R out and just use one of the R's later on. It's like the R for the month, you know? Yeah. Whatever you like, really. February accessory.
Yeah. You have that pretty down. I like that. Yep. I like that. So, accessories, stationary accessories are a year-round thing. It's not like I didn't have to have a month to focus on pencils like we did for Ticonder October.
I don't need a specific month to talk about accessories because these items are some of my most used stationary items that aren't writing instruments, right? Like, I use this stuff, you know, if not daily, weekly. You know, like, we're going to talk about certain products. Like, I may not use every day, but they are literally within arm's reach. This is the stuff that gets me in trouble when you put me in, like, a brick-and-mortar store or, you know, a pen show. Like, I end up with more stuff than I might end up with writing instruments. And it's because I just, I like all these small things. So, I thought we'd spend a few minutes today talking about some of my favorites that are literally on my desk within either I can see them right now or I can reach them right now. And then I use for specific reasons, right? I don't just have them to, oh, this looks pretty. I should buy this. Like, I use a lot of this stuff.

Introduction of washi tape as a key stationary accessory.

And the first one, Myke, is what I'm referring to as the stationary accessory champion. And that's washi tape. Okay. I think everyone who is into stationary should have some form of washi tape. The problem is they can be a problem because they're cheap and they're pretty and they're fun. And they have lots of uses.
And it's one of those items that's once you get into it, it's hard to stop at one. Like, I just get one roll of washi tape to use. And then it's like, oh, well, that worked. Now I should have five. Well, they just start multiplying like rabbits. So people, you can have a severe washi tape problem. But what I use washi tape for is on a daily basis when I'm giving away items, I write people's names on a little like tab, like a little paper sticker. And those stickers don't stick on the products that I'm giving away. And I need to remember these names when I go to ship and I can line everything up, make sure everyone's getting the right product. I always tape them down with washi tape. Like, I'm about to finish. I'm actually about to finish a roll of washi tape, which I think is a big deal. It's like finishing a bottle of ink, right? So, you know, when you end up with one bottle of ink, you use that bottle of ink and, you know, you make progress in it. And then it's emptying you by another bottle of ink. Well, now if you're someone like me or you, you have 20 bottles of ink or 150 bottles of ink in some people's case. And you never get to fill the bottle. And that's kind of how the washi tape goes. They're cheap, then expensive. They're fun.
And you may not ever finish a roll once you start getting, you know, have 20 rolls of washi tape and you never finish one. But I'm about to finish a roll and that makes me happy. So a couple of recommendations if you don't own any washi tape. The kind of classic OG washi tape is a brand called MT, like, you know, like short for mountain. I actually don't know what MT means. But MT is what I learned about, is how I learned about washi tape because they're pretty broadly available in lots of stores.
And they go from, like, your regular solid color washi tape to, you know, wild patterns. You know, the deeper we get into this stationary rabbit hole, the more unique and fun stuff you find. Like, you can get washi tape that's very, very thin. You can get washi tape that's very, very thick. You can get it in a solid color. You can get crazy patterns. You can really fit your personality with this, which is why I like it so much.
Another favorite brand that I've bought several brands from or several tapes from is called Robot Dance Battle. These are some of, like, the more, like, fun pattern washi tape. Like, I put a link in here. There's a ramen one that they have where, like, a frog and, like, I guess that's a bunny or a cat. Like, they're eating washi, but the washi is designed in, like, the Sagajara waves pattern. And it's just like, it's like, this is like a $4 roll of tape and it makes me smile. Like, I'm in. Right? And then you have 200 of them and then you spend a lot of money on washi. But we're not going to say that. We're not going to say that out loud. But, like, I love using these in my notebooks.
You know, I will use them as separators, as dividers. You know, I could write a line. Right? I could take my pen. I could draw a line. But you know what? Like, I like to have fun and I like to have visual fun and visual inspiration. And these little things, like a little roll of a frog eating ramen, it makes me smile. And my gosh, do we need that today. We need more frogs eating ramen in our lives. We just do. It'd be weird to see in real life, but good on washi tape. It would weird you out, right? Like, if you saw a frog and it's just eating some noodles, I'd be like, what is happening here? Why is that frog doing? That would freak me out. But cartoon frogs eating ramen, great. I like it. Washi tape is so interesting to me. I don't own any, really. I mean, I have some that people have given me, but like, it's not a thing that I use. I understand that people use it. I see why people use it. Edina uses it. I just don't have a place in my life where I would do anything with it. Totally. Because I'm not, I am definitely not an aesthetic journaler. That's for sure.
And I'm not saying, like, I think it's great. I love seeing people do that. I love seeing people dedicate that time to their journaling. I think it's actually a really good part of the practice. It's just not a thing that I do. And then, you know, outside of that, I just don't have a use for it. But it is a great product category, I think. It is. It is. And like, just to your point here, you know, if you don't get it, like, that's totally cool. Like, it may not be for everyone. But people who are very into washi will just do samples. Like, people make swatch cards for inks. They will just have, like, rows of washi. Like, if they buy a new roll, it's going to go into the log of, hey, here's this roll. And they just have, like, a page full of tape strips, you know, for all of their different washi that they use for different things. So, it's really, really cool. A couple of random uses, like, non-visual uses that I, this is actually when I started buying washi tape, was when I needed to extend refills and pen barrels. Like, if you have a Parker-style refill and you have a refill you want to swap and it's a little bit short, you can ball up a little bit of tape on the end of the refill and it extends the refill out a little bit more, right? Like, so, if you, people design pens, like, there's a part where the refill sticks out of the nose cone and I have a certain visual expectation of how far the flat area of the refill should be past the end of the pen when it is, the refill is engaged, right? So, I should see some of that flat area. And if I have a pen that I like, but it's not designed to have the refill stick out far enough, I'll ball up a little washi tape on the end of the refill, put it back in, and get the right dimensions for me visually. So, there's other ways to use washi tape. I just want to get out in front of this. I have ruined a pen with washi tape before.
You know, I know I'm going to get emails that if I don't fess up. There was a Lamy digital pen where I was trying to adjust the refill length and I ended up getting the washi tape stuck inside the pen. When you say ended up, you were using the washi tape as a way to augment the pen in some way. Yeah. It's not like it fell in on its own. No, no, no, no. It was me. It me. I'm the problem. It was just the way you described that. Yeah, yeah. It was very much like, oh, it just was in there. I don't know, man. No. No, no, no. It just ended up in there. I wasn't involved. It was one of my refill adjustment things. But when you're working with a digital pen, it has different internals than, you know, your standard cylindrical pen. And I ended up messing up with the visuals or the way that the pen digitized and it no longer works. So, that was my bad. My bad. So, washi safely, kids. You know, don't get in trouble. Always washi behind the ears. Yes. Yes. Yeah, please do. So, washi tape, Myke. I think everyone should have one roll. Just for random repairs and things. It's shocking how many uses there are for washi tape. Like, I'll use them for, like, vibration dampening inside of a pen. Right? Like, people who hack and modify refills and want, you know, want things to write perfectly and have certain adjustments. Like, there's a lot of uses for washi tape other than just, like, visual journaling and things like that. So, that's why I'm calling this the stationary accessory champion.
Brad, I want to tell you about somewhere you can buy just great washi tape, including the one you were just talking about, the ramen frog one. Yeah. Is that a cat or a rabbit? Oh, it's a bunny. There it is. I saw it. It's definitely a bunny. Yeah. Well, it's Mickey the bunny and Wasabi the frog. So, where can we get this tape? Enigma Stationary, who are one of the sponsors of this week's episode. Enigma Stationary offer unique items made from in-house designs, along with top brands and hard-to-find imports. I would like to introduce our listeners to Enigma's newest product, the Laban 325 Glacier Fountain Pen with a Jonathan Brooks resin. The stunning new collaboration between Laban and Jonathan Brooks is now available at Enigma Stationary. Every pen features mesmerizing colors inspired by the icy allure of glaciers. The teal abalone resin from master artisan Jonathan Brooks of the Carolina Pen Company is complemented by either cream or black accents and a beautiful gold-plated furniture. While Brad would never dare, this pen does post if you're so inclined. This was in the ad copy, Brad. I don't know what to tell you. All right, Enigma is making some decisions about you. I can at least say Myke would never dare. I can say that. I am here for it. I am here for it. Only 300 of these pens were made, 150 in cream and 150 in black. Enigma is offering this limited edition pen at a price of $156.
What? That's wild. So, this was completely unplanned. I had no idea what Enigma is going to release for their ad. I happened to review my first Laban 325 a couple of weeks ago on the blog. We'll have a link in the show notes if you're curious about this pen. And I thoroughly enjoyed the build quality of this pen and the style and the functionality. It's like just a good fountain pen. And to see these materials on these, I haven't noticed many of the LeBond with the black trim on there. Like I see a lot of the ivory, which I think is probably prettier than the black. But the black is so unique. For me, the cream and blue of this, that is a total winner. I mean, black is nice, but it feels like you've seen that, you know? Yeah. But like not that I like. I'd almost go for the black maybe because I did have the cream before. Sure. And it's like alternate, like alternating. But anyway, this is a really, really great pen and a pen brand that not a lot of people are familiar with. And they've gotten popular over the last few years. And we've had a bunch of reviews on the blog about them, about the LeBond. And this was kind of my first review and my first full experience with it. And I thoroughly enjoyed this pen. So when I saw these pop up on Enigma, I was like, oh, yeah, these are fantastic. So what's cool is that the price is, it's like not a super upgrade from like the standard, like getting a cool Jonathan Brooks resin. Like it's pretty much like the standard price, which is, it's beautiful. So really, really nice. Really, really nice pen. It might be one of, if not the lowest prices I've seen for a pen that has a Jonathan Brooks resin in it. Yeah. Okay. I think you'd be, I think I at least would be hard pressed to try and think of a better price than $156. Yeah. Unbelievable. People should go check it out themselves over at Enigma Stationary. That was part of my conversation in the review was the price point that they're hitting for the quality that they're offering. I thought it was spectacular. So this is also a reminder that the 2025 lucky boxes at Enigma Stationary are only going to be available until February 15th. This feels like a good pairing. You'll buy yourself a Levan and a lucky box. If you want some free US shipping or discounted international shipping on orders of $50 or more, plus you'll get yourself a free gift. Go to EnigmaStationary.com slash PenAddict and use the code PenAddict25 at checkout right now. That is EnigmaStationary.com slash PenAddict. You'll be able to get your hands on all of Enigma's latest stock, plus a free gift and free US shipping on orders of $50 or more by using the code PenAddict25. Our thanks to Enigma Stationary for their continued support of this show and relay. Man, calling me out right there in the ad copy. I know. It's unbelievable. They're starting beef. We love it. You love to see the beef. I'm going to have to send them a strongly worded email. Okay. Just kidding. Just kidding. Love. Love my fam over there at Enigma. Shout out of the week, Myke.
Shout out of the week. I wasn't ready. I wasn't ready.
You have one job. Myke Hurley. You have one job. And like, I don't know what to tell you. So shout out of the week this week, the weekly scroll. So this is a very random shout out of the week, you might think. But one of my friends sent me this email. I said, hey, I follow this YouTube channel. It's called the Weekly Scroll, which they're a, you've heard me talk about the tabletop role-playing games and the solo self-journaling games. So this is, you know, my friend who has gotten me into this. And they follow this show on YouTube called the Weekly Scroll. And they're like, hey, in this recent episode, they had a rant about pens. And it was fantastic. They did a really good job. So I put a link in the show notes at the timestamp. They talk about pens for five minutes or so. You know, and they're really into it. So there's three of them, three people on the show. Two of them were using the Sharpie S-gel. And one was using the Pilot G2. So they all have, like, you know, stationary adjacent taste, right? If you're using the not stock stuff that you just find laying on the desk or in the drawer, like, that's the kind of cool stuff you want to see. So I thoroughly enjoyed this bit. And then I went and followed the channel anyway because I like this category of content, like the tabletop role-playing game. So they talk about that. So I will be following along. So I think y'all will enjoy watching that video. Really good stuff.

Return to accessories with a focus on scissors and their utility.

All right. We're going to get back into some accessories, Myke. What is this month again? February accessory? February accessory. Rary. February accessory. I can't get the end. Accessorary. Yeah. Okay. The next, as much as I said, like, the washi tape is the champion, I think one thing everyone must have, even ahead of washi tape, is a good pair of scissors. Okay. And I'm not talking about everyone should have scissors. I'm talking about everyone should have a legitimately great pair of scissors. You know, not, don't buy, you know, the little, the three pack for $5 scissors that you can just get, like, on the store shelf that are just who knows what kind of quality. I want you, if you're into stationery, and like me, especially as you'll see my list here for my recommendations here in a second, probably a pair of scissors made by a Japanese company. Because they're really, really nice. They're really, really special.
Yes, you keep these away from grabby hands. Mine stay out of eyesight. It's a daddy special scissors. Yes. So, I have three pair in different parts of the house right now used for different things. The first one that I've, I think I've had these the longest. So, the Nakabayashi scissors. We're just going to go with that. There's a lot of more. The Nakabayashi Skutu Cut Hikigiri scissors, you mean? Yeah. Titanium coating. Actually, and I have the ones in mocha. So, they have a little protective case over the blade, like I always notch mine into. But these are my shipping department scissors. So, I keep these around. I can throw these in my pocket because they have the little cap on here. And like, I'm not cutting boxes with these, right? I'm cutting other things that I need in the shipping department. These are not, you're not buying scissors, listeners, to cut open boxes here. We're not doing that. We use your cheap scissors for that. Use a box cutter for that. These are, these you want to keep nice and clean and neat. Brad, do you have the cardboard knife? Yeah. You know, like the one with the yellow handle? Yeah. Box cutters. We just call them box cutters. No, like it's a cardboard knife. The Hasegawa Canary. Oh, no. No, no. Oh, you need one of these. Okay. I'm going to put that in the show notes for you. Put that in the show notes. I'll take a look at it. This is not a, this is not a stationary thing, but you would like this. It's just like a knife that is specifically made for like breaking down boxes. Okay. It's good. I might have seen this before. I'll take a look. Yeah. I'll take a look. So that's my shop scissors, right? I keep those out there for whatever I need in the shop. My desk scissors, which I think are my favorite of these three that I'm going to recommend today are called the Silky NBS office scissors. And they're the most basic looking scissors and they're insanely expensive, like $30 for a pair of scissors, but I love them so much. And they have three different links. I have the shortest, smallest pair, which I keep on my desk in a little storage box, which we're going to get into later. Um, I use this on my desk all the time, but I do keep it stashed away in my box. So grabby hands aren't like strolling by and seeing my scissors on my desk and, and taking them somewhere to do something naughty with them. We don't want that. So, um, these are, these are really, really nice. I've had these for years. Um, they continue to do a fantastic job. And then the last pair is probably not a pair that everyone needs. It's more of a specific pair. It's kind of those, uh, one of those angled scissors to where, like, if you're cutting pages or paper to where you can get like a good, good, nice angle. This is also made by Silky. This is the Nevanon DSN 210. 210 is for millimeters. These are a long pair of scissors. This is where I cut like magazine articles or like pictures out of magazines. When I do that, I haven't been doing that very much recently, but I'll use these for like bigger paper cutting. Like this, these are, these are large put in the work scissors. Um, not small detailed scissors, like the ones I use the most. So I think everyone should have, you don't need three pairs of scissors like this. Three, all of them are, you know, between 20 and 35, $40, right? They're pretty expensive relative to what I think most of us are used to paying for scissors. But if you find one good pair of scissors, that is your stationary scissors, right? You know, maybe you need to trim the washi tape. Maybe you need to cut, you know, some notebooks and maybe you need to just do a little bit of detail work. Or if you're making a visual journal and you need to cut things out of a magazine, get yourself a good pair of scissors. Uh, I would like to make a, like a, what is that question really? One thing at this point, I would like recommendations for a nice craft knife. Are you talking about like a, like a single blade? Like, yeah, like an exacto. Exacto. Yeah. That's what the, that's the, that's a brand, isn't it? Exacto. Yeah. So people will make handles for those blades. I just don't know any off the top of my head.
Yeah. So let's get some recommendations. I could probably use one of those, like a detailed blade. I use this one that I bought, like, which is just like a yellow plastic handle and you just put the blades into because I wasn't sure I was going to need it, but I use it all the time. It's like a tool that I use a lot and, uh, and there's like product, like cutting pages out of pages, you know, I do that a lot. Uh, and so I, I would, I would like a good recommendation if somebody has like a good example of one that they like specific particularly. Yeah. I think years and years ago, I'm pretty sure big eye design made one that I had. I don't think it's a regular product that they offer anymore. This is back. That's what I'm talking about. You know, long, long, long time ago where you would just, it had a, like a stainless steel handle and then just had like the blade, like tightener and swapper. You could, um, you could get out and swap the blades out. And it was just a nice one. Um, I don't know where mine is though. I haven't used it. So I'll have to go look for that. And this is not, so there's some questions in the discourse of recording. I'm, I'm not talking about a box cutter here. Like this is for detailed design work, right? So like small, small, tiny, like, so we're talking like exacto blades, craft knife blades, not, not like razor blades or whatever, you know, like box cut blades. That's not what I'm talking about. This is to help me cut, cut things out of pieces of paper, basically. Like a detailing blade almost. It needs to be tiny and, and, and agile. So send that into penaticfeedback.com. And, uh, yeah, I'd be curious myself. I haven't, uh, I haven't used anything like that recently. Yep. Um, I haven't had the need, but, uh, I think that's a good call. Good call for speed. All right. Next up, Myke. Um, I think every desk should have a pen tray and let me explain why. And I'm mostly talking because of myself here. I have, um, I can get a messy desk, right? Like I have notebooks and pens and washi tape strewn everywhere across my desk. Sometimes, sometimes it's good. Sometimes it's nice and collected, but I like to separate my in use and inked up fountain pens from the rest of the disaster that's happening on my desk. And that's where pen trays come in. And I always have a tray of some kind for just my fountain pens, right? Like I have, you know, standard, um, you know, vertical like pen cups, for example. Like, you know, I have like, yeah, I do too. Yeah. You know, I have the holders. I have like the cubes from Karas customs, like nine hole holders. So like that's where, you know, ballpoint pens, gel pens, pencils, all that kind of stuff goes in. I don't like storing my fountain pens, uh, vertically. So this allows for horizontal storage. It allows for separation. And it, it allows for them to have a home. So where I, I don't have to look for them. Like they're always there. I know where they're at. The one I'm using right now, and I've probably used this one for going on two years now, maybe at least a year is a six pin tray from Toyocacraft, which again, this is Mr. Fancy Pants over here buying the expensive scissors and the expensive stuff from Toyocacraft, but it's beautiful. Like I haven't found a pin tray better. You can get stuff much less expensive than this, but I was able to pick this up at a pin show. So the link in the show notes is like a standard brown wood with a tan interior. Mine is a light wood, a light stained wood with pink fabric on the bottom. Right. So I got to pick it out. It's much cooler for me. It's fits my style and aesthetic. And it's just a fantastic tray. So I've other, I've used other more open trays for fountain pens to where like, I might have a, I have a tray like from Bungu box. That's like a Japanese denim tray that I think is beautiful. And it's basically divided into two slots, uh, like a double wide slot in a single wide slot. Right. So I can fit three pins in there, but two of them are touching. And that's okay. If they're on my desk, right. Things aren't moving around. So I don't mind, but I just, it ends up being more fidgety when I'm just reaching and grabbing. I don't know. That's a highly particular thing. Um, I've used another one from Lucrin leather and it was, it's just like a, it's a really thin flat leather tray and it's orange and it has three slots for pins and it's just not as efficient size wise. Like it's at least as wide as my six pin tray from Toyota craft. So the reason why I've, I've kind of, uh, use this Toyota craft the most is because it's right sized, right? It holds the most pins in a compact size and it looks cool. It's beautiful. And I just have to have one spot on my desk where the fancy stuff lives, right? I have literally a pile of pins I'm looking at right now that has like a Lamy Safari ballpoint, a Kaweco Perkyo, a spoke click stream. Uh, what else is over there? Uh, a tactile turn stealth. They're just all like stacked up on top of each other with like buttons and ink cartridges and stickers. And then there's this tray of peace where all my fountain pens live.
And I couldn't have those fountain pens being part of the rest of the madness that my desk is. So get a pen tray, separate the nice stuff. So you know where it's at, even if it's just small, even if you don't use as many pens as I do get a two pen tray, right? Just keep a couple of things where you know that you know where they're at and, uh, you can find them easily. So that's where I get it. Like my fountain pens, I keep in like, I've, I've collected over the years, these like, uh, kind of wooden pen. I wouldn't even call them pen cups. I don't know. Pen display kind of thing. So you stick them all in. I just call them blocks. I just call them blocks. Yeah. Pen blocks with holes in them. Uh, I have a pen cup where I have some other, like just whatever stuff, um, in that pen cup, including like three Apple pencils at this point. So various generations, which I just can't bring myself to do anything with. I'm staring at an Apple pencil in one of my pen holders right now. Yes. Um, and, uh, but like my, you know, I have like a couple of mechanical pencils or whatever on my main desk and they just sit, just sit on the desk. I think a pen tray would probably be pretty, pretty good for that. Yep. Yep. And you get to get some small narrow ones. Like this six pen holders, not very big, but it might just be overkill for what people need, especially if you don't have a lot of space on your desk. Like my desk is, is wide enough to handle it. Um, but like literally like a two pen holder, a two pen tray would be super beneficial for like any kind of desk setup. I just like knowing where certain things are and that they're just kind of protected from the rest. And that's kind of where my fountain pens live. If my, if I have more fountain pens inked up than fit in the six pen tray, I start putting them in like a case, like a Sinclair case and keeping them off like to the side, somewhere on the desk. Like my fountain pens usually just aren't loose on my desk. Let's take a second break now. I think. All right, let's do it. I got a couple of more accessories to, to talk about today. So yeah, let's do it. All right. This episode is brought to you by Squarespace, the all in one website platform for entrepreneurs to stand out and succeed online. Whether you're just getting started managing a growing brand or more, you can stand out with beautiful website, engage directly with your audience and sell your products, your services, anything, any kind of content you can create. You can sell it on Squarespace. They have all of the tools that you'll need. They have everything you need all in one place and all on your terms. Once you set up a store with Squarespace, if that's the route that you want to go, they have beautiful templates and beautiful tools and really helpful systems that you can integrate to get your store up and running. It's very easy to do a few things like, for example, getting paid. 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Exploration of randomness in stationary organization and smaller accessories.

Speaking of that, my next little title is Where Does the Randomness Live? And I felt like that was pretty random there. So we've talked about scissors and washi tape and pen trays, and those are kind of, you know, larger, you know, larger items. What happens to all of the other little things that get strewn across your desk? And by you, I mean me. Like we're talking about me. And having a small storage box on my desk to hold little bits and bobs changed my entire desk setup. It has allowed me to keep things cleaner because it's basically a junk box. I can put things that I need not as frequently instead of living on my desk or like, you know, my computer riser or just off to the side. I have this little high tide Penco plastic box here with stuff in it. Oh, very good. With stuff in it. It's like a little five by eight plastic box. It's orange. It's sick. My scissors that I mentioned earlier live in here. A couple rolls of washi tape in here. I have a brass shim. I have a 12,000 grit sandpaper. I have random dice. I have challenge coins and poker chips. I have binder clips. You know, all these little bitty accessories that I kind of might want from time to time but don't need every minute of the day. They go in the box. Like, they go in the box and that way it's kept nice and neat and clean and sorted and put off to the side. And I just pull out the box and get out what I need. And when I'm done, put it back in the box and slide it over to the side. So, big fan of some type of small storage box to hold the small accessories that kind of, they just make your desk look junky if you don't have, like, homes for things, right? I'm not trying to make a perfectly clean desk and have this amazing, you know, Pinterest board looking desk. Like, I just want it to be efficient and I want things to have a home and I want them to be accessible when I need them. Like, that's my goal here with all of these accessories. So, again, I'm setting this box to the side. But I'm going to get some more of these boxes, these high-tide specific boxes. There's lots of other. You can get cheaper storage containers, like, anywhere. But these, you can get these in, like, a four-pack of sizes, you know, like the nesting. They're, like, all nested when you buy them. And I have a bigger box in one of the closets, the Closet of Doom, where I keep my stationery that has, like, spoke prototypes in it. They just live in the bigger box. And then you can use, like, some of the smaller boxes for, you know, a bunch of washi tape or whatever you want to put in there. So, yeah, it's really, really, really, really good.
In this box, this is a very particular accessory. And I don't use it that often. But when I have a need for it, it's ideal. And that's a double-sided tape runner.
I'm not sure that everyone knows what this is. But it's basically fine-width double-sided tape, right? And it comes in a little...
The one that I use is from Tombow, Tombow Mono Adhesive Tapes. It comes in a little self-contained container. And you just run it across, run this across the page. And it puts, like, a clear, sticky bit on the page, like a little thin piece of tape. And then that you can stick something on top of. So, I use this for a lot of images, a lot of design stuff. If I cut things out and replace them somewhere, if I don't want washi tape, like, covering up part of the image, I'll use these. And I'll use this double-sided tape. And it sticks so well. Like, you think, like, this might fall off or just kind of, you know, slide off and fall out of a notebook. Like, I use these in notebooks a lot, right, to place something in a notebook if it's not a self-stick. Or I don't have the room to put washi tape because the washi tape is going to block some of the image because the washi tape is traditional tape. It has to go on the top.
This is something that goes on the back of something. And you can stick it flat and clean and super, super effective.

Transition to discussing rulers and their specific features.

Second to last thing, because I noticed there's one thing I didn't put in here that we're going to talk about before I let you go. So, but before that, rulers.
We've had ruler discussion on this podcast a few times. And I have basically fallen for, I just call them, like, tiny rulers, like, or mini rulers.
Sometimes they're not more than, like, say, five or six inches long. Some of them are, you know, a half inch wide. Some of them can be an inch wide. But I really want a small, flexible, not a firm ruler, right, not, like, something that's not pliable a little bit. I want a little bit of flex in them just for how, like, I'm not using a full-length ruler to mark, like, huge sheets of paper. I'm using, again, like, in micro spaces, right? I might need to draw a line, like, an inch or two long. And I want to have the flexibility of a small ruler to get in the spaces that I need. So this also stays in the box that I was just talking about. I use, I have a little plastic one I picked up at Tools to Live By. I think when I was there and when we were on our New York trip, I think I got this one there. Or at CWPE, CW Pencil Enterprises, back when we made that trip. And I've had it for a long time. I used that one. I also have some, I always kind of pick up these Raymay rulers that you can find at JetPens. They're, like, $2. And they're just thin plastic. You can throw them in a pen case. Like, if this is something, I don't need a portable ruler, per se. But if you do need a portable ruler, something like these Raymay rulers are some of the most popular, just super efficient rulers that are out there. Last thing, which I will get you a link to put in the show notes. I have become a fan of pouches. And this is not something I ever thought I would get into or have a need for. But you're starting to see smaller envelope type pouches, either made from plastic or nylon or cloth, that a lot of companies are making. Essentially, it's like a bank bag. But thinner, less, really, really light structure, right? I'm not talking about a bag. A bag, to me, has more structure than these pouches. The pouches that I'm using, I'm using some from Papier Tigra, which I will put a link in the show notes. I know Plotter makes some. I think Hightide makes some plastic ones.
Lihit Labs. There's might be too thick for what I'm thinking of for the pouches, but they make good pouches. And what I found for the pouches is this is where I'm putting in, I have a whole pouch that's just for stamps. And I have a whole pouch that's just for postcards. Because this is the type of stuff that just gets really loose, right? Like, I have, I write enough postcards to where, you know, I might have a stack of 100 random postcards. And if I don't have them contained somehow, they just get spread out and lost and just disheveled in everywhere. And then the same goes for the stamps. You know, like I have probably eight sheets of stamps. And I'm using different stamps for different things. They have their own pouch now. So now when I need a postcard and I need a stamp, I just grab these pouches and that's where the stuff lives. So I've become a big pan of pan of pouches, Myke.
That could have been like really trouble if there were different words, but we're going to go with that one. So I've become a big fan of pouches. And this is not something I ever understood in the stationary world. Like I've started to see these things happening. I guess it's maybe because I wasn't like as much into journaling or letter writing or accessories or ephemera. And now I'm finding, oh, I can use a pouch for this and I can use a pouch for this. And now I'm getting a little bit more organized. Like I will not profess to be like Marie Kondo over here with my organization. But anything that can help me enjoy my stationary more, find where the things are at, and have, you know, a fun time, like enjoying all of this in collective, like getting out a notebook and writing, you know, what other accessories are going to make that fun and enjoyable. And that's kind of the things I wanted to talk about today. So there's a lot more I left off here. And I would love to hear what other people are using accessory-wise. That's, you know, not a writing instrument or not an ink or not a paper, right? But the other things that go along, alongside all of the big, the big things we use on a daily basis. So I enjoy putting this together and would love to hear what everyone else has to say. People can always send in their feedback by going to penaddictfeedback.com. But they can also send in their RSTPA questions. There's one I want to hit before we finish today because it's also kind of follow-up. This one comes from Rob who says, Thanks for discussing piston cleaning. I have an adjacent issue with the pilot vanishing point. Whenever I change ink, there is always leftover ink in the barrel tip. So the first few letters after extending the nib are darker. Is there a way to better clean this? Yeah, really good question. So the way the vanishing point is designed in the front end of the pen, if you've taken out the nib unit, which Rob has done to clean,
I want... There's still this hood mechanism in the front end, right? When you remove the nib. And ink can get trapped in there a little bit because it essentially slides... When you engage the nib, you can get some ink on the top of the nib on that trapdoor. You literally just hose it out. You stick it under the faucet and you rinse it out. Don't be too afraid to do things like that with your pens. And this could go for any pen. Don't get too precious about cleaning. Be safe when you're doing it. Don't start throwing things around. But you can run water through the front end of the vanishing point and it's okay. If that doesn't work and the ink's been in there a while, you can soak that front end in water. You get a little bowl or a glass or a cup, put water in it, and let it sit for an hour or two and see if ink comes out. You'll notice if you're soaking it and ink's coming out, it's like, yeah, this is a good idea. And if there's nothing and the water remains clear, then you're in good shape. But you can just rinse it through water. I use the nasal aspirators to just pressure wash the inside of those things when I feel like it. And it works great. So don't be afraid to get in there and just rinse it out. It's totally fine. All right, yeah, if you want to send in questions of your own, follow-up feedback, just go to penaddictfeedback.com. If you want to find Brad online, go to penaddict.com, twitch.tv slash penaddict. You can find Brad on your favorite social medias. You can also find me too. And here on Relay at relay.fm, you can find this show and many others. And please go check out my products at cortexbrown.com, bradsr at spokedesign.com. We're big product boys. Thanks so much to Enigma Stationery and Squarespace for their support of this week's episode. But most of all, thank you for listening. And we'll be back next week. Until then, say goodbye, Brad. Goodbye, Brad.