The Pen Addict 421/transcript
| The Pen Addict Podcast Transcript | |
|---|---|
| Episode: | 421 |
| Title: | Return of the Tower of Pens |
| Release Date: | July 29th, 2020 |
| Hosts: | Brad Dowdy |
| Guests: | No guests this episode |
| Additional Information | |
| Official page: | Episode 421 |
| Audio File: | Audio Episode 421 |
| Podcast page: | The Pen Addict 421 |
| Length: | 6868 min <br />1.133 h <br /> minutes |
| Previous Transcript | Next Transcript |
Myke Hurley: From RelayFM, this is The Pen Addict, episode 421, and today's show is brought to you by Squarespace, Pen Chalet, and Harry's. My name is Myke Hurley, and I'm joined by Brad Dowdy. Hi, Brad.
Brad Dowdy: Good morning, Myke. How are you today?
Myke Hurley: Fine and dandy, my friend. Fine and dandy, indeed.
Brad Dowdy: Yeah, I'm feeling mostly fine and dandy. I had a weird situation last night related to topic number one in our document today, which is the Retro 51 Celebration Pen, you know, our big, fun Kickstarter project. You know, we went through the back and forth of the pens. They arrived safe and sound. I looked. They weren't numbered, so we had to remanufacture some parts. I had to send a tower of pens back to Retro for a fix, which was easy enough. They finished them, and they sent them back to me. So, I'm hanging out at the house last night. I'm in the back of the house, and about 9.15, it's pitch black outside, doorbell rings. I'm like, oh, yeah, I'm supposed to get a UPS delivery. This is pretty late, but I think the retros are coming back. And by the time I get to the front door, the UPS truck is pulled away. I open up the door, and there's a single box. I was expecting the return of the Tower of Pens, and there was one box, and it says number 501 to 600. So, like, I know what this is. Where's the rest of them? So, I went and checked my email, which I hadn't done for a few hours, and UPS rescheduled the eight other boxes for today with one box arriving tonight, and that makes me uncomfortable in a lot of ways.
Myke Hurley: Why would you do that?
Delivery Issues
Brad Dowdy: I am not a fan of whatever happened last night, so I'm anticipating. I don't know, man. I wish I understood, but it makes me feel uncomfortable about this situation, even though they're still tracked by UPS, so they're going to arrive this afternoon. But I have a singular box of 100 pens, and I should have eight more boxes.
Myke Hurley: That is so strange. That's such a weird thing to do. Like, I don't understand how that is efficient in any way.
Brad Dowdy: Right, right. Like, they shouldn't be out at 9. They shouldn't be delivering at 9.15 at night anyway. Like, it clearly has not been a good day for the UPS driver if that's happening at this point in the day. But the good news is I should have all the pens back, so we should be shipping in August. I got to get the posters from Anna, but they're done. I just have to tell her when to ship them, so we'll ship them now. I have to order all the packaging and get everything squared away, and then we'll get to shipping in August. So everyone who is a backer, thank you for your patience and your support. And look for a shipping survey probably next week. I will send it out. I just like to get that as close as possible to collect everyone's addresses, so we'll go from there.
Myke Hurley: Amazing. Maybe.
Brad Dowdy: Yep, yep. I did have a good delivery last week. You know, a very, very hot topic on this show. My Leonardo primary manipulation pen arrived, and it's everything I wanted it to be. I'm very upset. Okay, so I was going to tell you, like, my premise going into this conversation was that you are going to really like this pen, and you should have efforted it in the first place. Not that you'll regret not getting it, because there's going to be more coming, right? So apparently later this year, Leonardo has said that they're going to have another round, hopefully a larger number, so you will be able to get in there. But I will say, I think you will enjoy this pen. And, like, it's knocked my socks off, but what are you thinking about seeing the pictures?
Myke Hurley: It looks fantastic. I messed up on this one. We're not going for it, I think. Like, I'm feeling the envy.
Brad Dowdy: But, you know, credit to Leonardo. I think they've done a good thing, like, smaller manufacturers have to do. Like, it's unfortunate everyone couldn't get it on day one, but they have to start somewhere.
Myke Hurley: You have to test interest. And sometimes the only way to do that is by actually selling the thing. Pre-orders might not do it.
Myke Hurley: Asking people on social media definitely don't do it. Sometimes you have to actually say, we have these things. Do you want them? And then you see what people do. And as you say, like, a good thing to note is, like, they've seen that it worked. And they said, fine, like, this wasn't a one and done. Later on, there'll be more. So, later on, I will make sure I will work double hard to pick one up. But I'm frustrated that I missed out on it. But I'm not, like, super disappointed because I figure I'll just get one in the future.
Brad Dowdy: Mm-hmm. So, the thing that's getting lost in the shuffle with this pen, with the amazing material, is that this is their first attempt at their in-house built-in piston filler. Right? So, they had the four other grande or grand, I don't know exactly what the naming convention is, of this pen of the Leonardo Memento Zero. It was traditionally a cartridge converter fill. So, now they've built a piston in. So, this was the first time I've been able to get that in my hands. And the highest compliment I can pay this pen is that it feels like a Pelican M800. Like, it's that kind of build quality.
Myke Hurley: It feels like quite a strong compliment.
Brad Dowdy: Yeah. Because what Pelican does so well is they integrate a piston mechanism without making the pen feel overly heavy. Right? You can get big, clunky piston mechanisms that weight the pen differently. And Leonardo succeeded in not overweighting the pen, even though it's a large pen. Like, that's what the Pelican 800 reminds me of. It's a large pen, but it's not an overwhelming type of pen. It just fits really, really nicely in the hand. The mechanism's great. And I just think they did a really good job. They're going to have a success on their hand with this piston filler, regardless of the materials they use. Which we saw their stock materials, like the four stock materials we saw them tees like a month or two ago. They all look great, regardless. So, I think they did well.
Myke Hurley: So, is it like you're happy with the amount of ink that you can get into it and stuff like that? Like, what about the piston filler itself is a success?
Brad Dowdy: It's mostly feel. Like, I want to have a piston filler without feeling the piston filler when I'm writing, if that makes sense. Like the weight and stuff like that? The weight of it. The weight and balance of it. And the weird thing is I can't tell how much of an ink I got drawn into the pen because there's no ink window. You know, I can't tell how successful I was in filling it to capacity, nor do I know what that capacity is. Because I haven't taken it apart to, like, measure the fill. I'm sure they probably have it listed, how much it can hold. But I use the Akramon number 28. So, when I stuck the pen in the top of the barrel, you know, it's clear glass. You can see how much it draws in. And, like, you can see the levels of the ink moving. So, I feel like I got a pretty healthy amount of ink into the barrel. So, we'll see. I've been using it for a couple of days now. And we'll just see how it goes.
Myke Hurley: Do you ever think about creating tests? Because, like, you know, you could test that. You know, you could have a bottle that has markings on it. And, you know, but do you ever think about doing stuff like that? Or is that kind of like, ah, let someone else do it?
Testing Methods
Brad Dowdy: Um, I rarely think about it. Usually because it's already done by the time I get it. Either the manufacturer will go ahead and take care of it. Especially when you have a piston filling capacity. That's easy to measure. Like, for example, you take a Pelican pen. And you unscrew the nib. And you fill it up with water. And then you pour that in the, you know, whatever tiny measuring device you have. And you can tell really quickly how much ink it will take. Like, that's a very simple, simple thing to do. So, I've just never put in the time or effort to want to do that.
Myke Hurley: Yeah, I mean, like, even though the manufacturer tells you. I mean, there's always an element of interest in doing the testing.
Myke Hurley: You know, like, but this is, this can't, it's like, it's like niche stuff in a way. Like, and I get that. Like, for you, it's like, I could do that. If somebody else wants to do that for their blog, like, they should do that. And, like, that's a good thing for you. But I will do my thing, which is writing about the way this thing feels. So, if I can look at, again, I like to compare against the other industries that I'm a part of. YouTubers that review phones, right? You can watch, like, Marques Brownlee. And he's going to tell you what it feels like to use. And, like, the parts of it that work, the parts of it that don't. And then you watch a guy called, like, another YouTuber I like called Zach's Jerry Break. All he does is just take phones apart. Yeah. And see, like, what they're made of. How easy do they break? Like, that's his thing. And there's a market for that thing. But it's not necessary that one person has to do both things. Right. And you definitely fall more into the, like, I'm going to tell you what this thing is like to use. Rather than I'm going to take it apart, take some macro photos of all the pieces and tell you how they made it.
Brad Dowdy: Right. Like, to me, I try to explain for, like, the 90th percentile use case. Yep. Right. Right. So, when I'm reviewing the vacuum filling system on a Pilot Custom 823, when I fill it well, I get about three quarters of a barrel full of ink, which is a ton of ink. Some people will be frustrated that they can't max out that 100% of ink capacity in there. But that's just not something to worry about. There are 90% use cases. I'm going to stick this pen into the bottle. And then I'm going to snap the piston down. And it's going to fill up my barrel three quarters. And you're going to write for weeks. Yep.
Myke Hurley: Most people's, like, thing is, can I fill it? Right. Like, at all. Right. And if the answer is yes, you've captured most people. But then you will get the, like, there will be another group of people. And this isn't bad or good. It's just, like, it's a different desire, a different set of use cases, a different set of product wants. Who will be like, well, I want to fill it completely. And then you start to, then those people will start to look for the products that will allow them to do that. And I always think of Conid for this. Yes. Like, Conid seemed to have, like, a diehard set of fans who just want to fill their pens up completely. Yeah. Like, and they make all these wild systems, like the bulk filler, that will allow you to do that. And it's also always a demonstrator, pretty much, because if your whole thing is you can fill this pen up completely, you want to see that you can fill it up completely.
Brad Dowdy: Right. Right. So the prime example of how this manifests on the blog are the ink reviews that I do. I will never water test a fountain pen ink that isn't marketed as waterproof. Right. Does that make sense? Yeah. So, like, your everyday inks, I do not care. How well they stand up to a water drip test. Because if I did care, I would buy an ink that said waterproof on the bottle.
Brad Dowdy: Right. Does that make sense?
Myke Hurley: Yeah.
Brad Dowdy: Yeah. So, to me, waterproofness does not matter for a standard ink because you're trying to find something that isn't there.
Brad Dowdy: So, therefore, I will never test that. But an ink that's pigmented or waterproof, I will water test them to say, hey, is this marketing real? So, that's kind of the main way that manifests itself.
Office Setup Changes
Brad Dowdy: All right. Let's go on the road a little bit, Myke, down the street from you. You have, you're back in action at Mega Office. Yep. Mega Studio. Mega Studio.
Myke Hurley: The office is where I am right now. I wrote it wrong in the document, so I apologize to you.
Brad Dowdy: Mega Studio.
Myke Hurley: Mega Studio is the out-of-home studio that I signed to leave sign in February and didn't visit from March to July.
Brad Dowdy: Why is that? What happened? Ah, she got lazy. Mm. Slacker.
Myke Hurley: So, there was a question, an RSTPA question a while ago about, like, what pens will I take to the studio? And there was a bit of a conversation, which I still have yet to resolve in my mind, about, like, what pens will be there and what pens will be here at home. Um, and as I mentioned at the time, and it's still true, I won't have an answer to this for a long time because I'm, for the foreseeable future, maintaining a home office space, right? Which wasn't the plan. The plan was there is no home office space anymore, right? Uh, because I would just be working completely from the studio. Um, but there, I'm, I'm now mixing my time between both because that's the prudent thing to do. However, uh, over the last week or so, I've been taking some steps to, like, set up, uh, my first kind of desk space, uh, in, in the studio. There's still a lot of, like, question marks about how I'm going to use it because the plan was always to have two desks. Like, the one large desk where I work from and then the smaller desk where I record from and then that was going to be that. But I don't, I'm not planning on, on doing that just yet. But anyway, I've set up a desk and I thought, well, I want to have some pens here, right? Because that's what I want. I want to have some pens here. I need them when I'm recording and also just because that's the type of person that I am. So, I collected up a selection of things yesterday where I thought what I'm trying to do is to kind of, um, cover my bases for the types of things that I might want. So, I tried to find a selection of stuff that would spread the kind of, the gamut of my typical, uh, desires for what I might want to use on a daily basis. So, like, I got, like, a spread of my collection without taking away too many things that I would miss when I'm at home. You know, like, I tried to kind of, like, spread it.
Brad Dowdy: So, the plans were for these to stay. Whatever you took was staying, not returning. Yes. Okay.
Myke Hurley: Uh, so I, I, these are all, uh, I took one of my pen storage blocks, the wooden pen blocks that was made for me by a listener, Alan, a while ago. Um, and what I've taken with me, uh, is my original orange Pro Gear.
Brad Dowdy: Yep. The OG one with the black section.
Myke Hurley: Yep. Uh, my Canalea Aolani. So, I went for these two fountain pens because the Pro Gear is a medium nib, the Aolani is a stub nib. I have orange ink in one, purple in another. And I thought, like, that's a good, for me, they're my two fountain pens I'm taking. They're, like, the good representations of the type of stuff that I like, you know? Mm-hmm. I have, like, an all faithful and then something that's beautiful to look at and interesting. And they have different, different nibs, different ink styles. I went with the Spoke Pen Joker Edition. Yeah. Yeah, you did. My favorite of the Spoke Pens. And I just, you know, I like having, like, a, like, what I would consider a good, like, utility pen, you know? Mm-hmm. It's available to me at all times. I took my white and copper Mark I because I love the Mark I and I have three Mark I's, so I figured I should take one.
Brad Dowdy: That's one of my favorite desk pens. Like, I rarely travel with that one. I want it at the ready on my desk at all times because it's enjoyable to use.
Myke Hurley: For me, the Apollo is that at the moment because it's my favorite of those. But, like, the Mark I is my favorite desk pen. It's, like, it's always on the desk. It doesn't get, like, put in, like, the display that I have in my other pens. It's just always on the desk. And I don't even look for it. I just reach it, right, when I need to write something down quickly. My Rotring 600 Lava, I wanted to take a mechanical pencil. It's my favorite one. And then I had to take a Retro 51. I took the Great Glamour, which is the Great Gatsby-inspired Retro 51.
Brad Dowdy: Stunning model. I had to re-look that one up. I thought I knew which one that was off the top of my head. That is one of the great ones for sure.
Myke Hurley: That was a recent one.
Brad Dowdy: Yeah. Looking at the past year, like, late last year, I think, like, in the before times, I think that one came out. I forget the shop that runs those. Yeah, Hyatt's. What a great job they did with that one. Fantastic. So, yeah, I love the range that you have in here. I'm wondering if you didn't put the notebook down because it's a pano book. Like, is that a lock of the century? Or what are you writing on there? You have all this stuff. What are you writing with?
Myke Hurley: Well, I didn't have any. I actually had a pano book delivery arrive today. The plan was for the pano book. Yeah, I bought, like, nine, and, like, they're just going to be there for the foreseeable future. But, yes, it's a pano book all the way. One thing I haven't decided yet, and I just don't know yet, is if I'm going to have a theme system journal there and a journal here, or if I'm going to keep to one.
Myke Hurley: That's something I haven't worked out. Do I have one journal?
Brad Dowdy: I have strong feelings about that.
Myke Hurley: Or do I have two journals?
Brad Dowdy: I don't know. I have very strong feelings about that.
Myke Hurley: I would assume that your feeling would be the same as most people, which is like, oh, you have to have one journal.
Brad Dowdy: Yeah, there's no way.
Myke Hurley: But I don't feel that way. I don't look back. The journal is for today only. I agree.
Brad Dowdy: But I want all of today in one place.
Myke Hurley: Well, no, it would be all in one place. I do all of my journaling in one stint. It's not happening throughout the day.
Brad Dowdy: In two separate volumes.
Myke Hurley: What do you mean?
Brad Dowdy: Am I misunderstanding that you want to leave a book at the office and leave a book at home and wherever you're at is where you fill it in?
Myke Hurley: Yeah, maybe. I'm not saying that's what I want to do. I haven't decided. Right, right, right.
Brad Dowdy: But that's what you're trying to explain. And I'm saying the book, you have one book and it travels with you between locations.
Travel Journals
Myke Hurley: Well, that's what I thought, but I just haven't decided about the travel. I haven't decided yet if that's what I want to do.
Brad Dowdy: You're taking a bag with you no matter what when you go to the office, right?
Myke Hurley: Not every day. But this is the other thing of like, am I doing that or not? Like, I just have a lot of questions right now because this is not what I was intending to do. Like, with the studio, the plan was never to take a bag because everything I wanted was there, right? And now it's a case of like working out, well, what things will transport, what things will stay in place? Or like, is it even worth taking the journal because I'll just journal when I get home, right? Like, I just haven't worked out this stuff yet.
Brad Dowdy: Yeah, because you're not at the office every day to journal. Like, journal's not at the end of the day every day because you're not there on Tuesday and you want to journal. Well, my journal's at the office.
Myke Hurley: So, yeah, I just haven't worked. It's just stuff like that I haven't worked out yet. But I don't want to be carrying pens backwards and forwards every day for now. Totally. Yeah, I agree with you on that. Especially when like I have so many. And so like all of the stuff that I've got there, it's like a small part of my collection. None of my like truly expensive pens are there at the moment, which is another thing which you keep trying to get me to think about. But I don't want to.
Brad Dowdy: I think you have it covered very well. My only question is if you're missing this new Retro 51 that's about to release. And does that need to be the official pen of Megasudio? From Man Inc? Yeah, did you see this one? This got sent to me wondering if you've seen it.
Myke Hurley: It's a big Union flag. Like I...
Brad Dowdy: I'll take this one for you. I'm not a fan of the big flag pens. Like I've never had like the big USA flag pen. I can understand not having the big Union Jack pen. But I just wanted to make sure you saw it.
Myke Hurley: I like the crown on the finial. Like I wish they would have maybe gone for royalty instead, you know, like a robe edition or something. I think that would have been more fun. I'm not a big flag guy. I'm sorry.
Brad Dowdy: I think the whole thing is great. It will do very well. I have no interest in using this or any flag.
Myke Hurley: Like I have no doubt that this will upset some people, probably mostly Americans. But I don't think that you have to display a flag to show that you're like have some kind of sense of pride in your country. Absolutely. Like I just don't know if those two things have to go together in the way that I think some people seem to suggest. I mean, it happens here too, right? Like people hang the flags outside of their windows. But like I kind of question in the UK, at least I kind of question people's motives for that because there's definitely like a you don't belong here kind of vibe that I get sometimes with the flags. It's like I'm proven I was born here. Like, you know, it can get a bit weird. It's a whole thing. I don't like.
Brad Dowdy: Yeah, it's a whole thing. But I just wanted to make sure you had seen this one because I hadn't seen that. So, yeah, that's a it's good looking. Union Jack flag is great, but the flag's great. I don't want a flag pen.
Myke Hurley: The pen is not is not great. Yeah. Yeah. It's not great. All right. Let's talk about something that is great. Squarespace. You can make your next move with Squarespace. They would let you create a website for your next idea so easily, so simply. And they give you everything that you're going to need to do it. And whether you want to create a portfolio, a blog, maybe you want to set up an online store, you've got an idea, you have a product to sell, physical or digital, you could do it with Squarespace. They are the all in one platform that will let you take care of any Internet project that you're looking to launch. You can get a unique domain name there. They can help you set that up so simply. They have award winning, beautiful, customizable templates that you're able to take advantage of. They help you get that site set up. You can tweak the things that you want. You can be from creating an account to having your website done in no time at all. And it's up to you how much you want to customize. I mean, you can just take one of their templates and just start putting your content into it. And it's going to look fantastic. But it's there for you if you want to go in and tweak it to your heart's content. It's completely your choice at Squarespace. And that's one of the things that I love is that the barrier to entry is so easy. Like, easy. Like, I don't have to worry about, like, have I got the hosting set up right? Oh, what is this part of CSS code going to do for me? Like, I don't know. I don't want to know. I just want to use Squarespace. It's why I have for years. I got an email today saying, like, hey, your annual plan on the theme system website is coming up for renewal. Great. Make sure that goes through because I don't want to ever have to think about building it anywhere else. Squarespace is where I love it. Go to squarespace.com slash penaddict and you can sign up for a trial today with no credit card required. And they have plans to start at just $12 a month. But you can get 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain and show you support for the penaddict if you use the offer code penaddict at checkout. That is squarespace.com slash penaddict and the code penaddict to get 10% off your first purchase. So thanks to Squarespace for their support of this show and all of RelayFM. Squarespace, make your next move, make your next website.
Brad Dowdy: So, Myke, I have a Squarespace blog hosted at penaddict.com, you know, and just want people to know that. And I had some new posts this week that I wanted to shine a spotlight on, including a feature around a group called Calligraphers of Color, which is a wonderful group of calligraphy artists who I found online, who I've been able to talk with and work with and worked with their founder, Amanda Reed, who let me just tell you all right now, Amanda is a superstar. Like, I feel like I have a pretty good judge of character. Like, and I say those words very lightly about people, but you can tell when people have it. Like, we talk about Caroline Weaver having it. Like, Amanda, whatever it is, Amanda has it. She is a joy to work with. And she was gung-ho about this project to where I offered up one slot a week for the Calligraphers of Color group for the foreseeable future, like for years and years and years. They get one spot per month that basically runs in, like, the ad spot for the week, right? So it's like a featured post and a sidebar ad to promote their services. And it's just something I was challenged to do. You know, people, you know, I talked about, you know, when the Black Lives Matter movement came down and I made a very strong statement, I was challenged to take it even further by a friend. And this was... Yep, you got to make an action. Yeah, this was... It was, it just was. Yeah, this was the result of those conversations. Good. Many discussions with Amanda on how to do this right and correctly. And with her support, I thought it went off really, really well. The feedback has been great. Hopefully, Amanda's seeing that well. And, you know, going forward, every month, you're going to see a new post from someone in the Calligraphers of Color community.
Myke Hurley: Will they always be interviews?
Brad Dowdy: Mostly, yeah. Okay. Because I just, I want to be able to discuss their work and share their work. I'm open to suggestions, though. Right now, I'm planning on it being this interview style, right, to where we learn about a new calligraphy artist every month. And then can link all of their work and everything that they do and just really shine a spotlight on them. And I think it's going to be fun. I'm excited about it. And, yeah, I'm excited to see who's next, who we're going to get for next month and learn all about the work that they do.
Myke Hurley: I think this is really great. And it's one of the things that I have recognized recently myself. In every community, there are people who are underrepresented. And they are, but they are there. Right. You don't see them if you're not looking for them. And if you're looking for them and earnestly trying to find people, you know, people of color, people in underrepresented groups, like, they exist. But you won't find them unless you're actively trying to. And so, you know, like, how long has calligraphers of color been going on for? I bet it was more than just last week, though. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You know, so it was just because we weren't looking. But now we are. And that's great. And that's what we should be doing. It's what everybody should be doing. Because inclusion is always better than exclusion.
Brad Dowdy: Right. So, I hope everyone enjoys these posts. Go follow and share any links you see. You know, use their services. You know, follow their artwork. It's just really cool. And something, like you said, I've missed in the past. And I'm going to do something about it. So, I'm excited. And I love working with Amanda. She's just so good. She's just super. So, thank you, Amanda, for doing this.
Brad Dowdy: Next post I wanted to mention was the Platinum Kuridos review, which I finally got up. It's one of those products that, like, I've never had to be first out the gate. Like, we talk about this all the time, right? Like, I've had this product for months. And I felt like this one was such a different product. I wanted to use it longer than I would normally use before I did a product review. It turns out that ended up being good because it ended up, the story of the Kuridos seems to be always changing. So, I was able to capture a little bit of that. And I also wanted, the timing was good for this one because I didn't enjoy this pen the week I got it, right? I thought it was fine. And the more I used it, the more I kind of understood what it was, the more I understood how I could use it in my own daily writing. And I came around to almost loving the pen, right? It's not the best pen ever. Like, it has problems. It has serious flaws. But I've always liked the idea of it. I was unsure about the execution. I think they did about as well as they could do on this first pass. Okay. For something so difficult to make, this is a very challenging product to make as we're all finding out right now. I would, I think, like, the genesis or the takeaway from the post, I should say, is that I think we should see a version two of this pen. I hope we do. Because I think there's room for improvement. And I think Platinum had put enough investment on the front end to not have this be a one and done product. And I think it's going to see a big price increase pretty soon. I don't, I think the next one is going to be three digits. No. Version two will start with a one in front of it. If I'm a betting man. I think they might have gotten taken to the house on this one. I don't know. That's just me guessing. This is, the more I looked at this, like, the number one thing we were excited about was that the price point for a retractable pen, right? Well, there's a reason retractable fountain pens are expensive. Because they're hard to make. They're hard to design. Yeah. And, I don't know. I think, I think we'll see more. 80? About 80. Around. Around 80.
Myke Hurley: I mean, if they were able to make some improvements and, I don't know, fancy it up a little bit, like, which doesn't, I mean, like, design refinements and stuff. I could imagine them selling this for, like, 99 pretty easily.
Brad Dowdy: Yeah. I think there's something there. And I want this product to continue. And I like what the Curie DOS is. It's not an all-day writer for me, right? It's not built to be that comfortable. No. To write in long sessions.
Myke Hurley: And that's the kind of stuff that I want to see them work on. Like, can you put more of a pronounced grip section into the body of the pen rather than it just being, like, this tube? Right. Can you remove any kind of areas of the pen that are physically uncomfortable to hold at use? I mean, but these are the things that they're going to struggle to fix. But that's what I would want to see for if, A, they have wanted me to buy another one and, B, wanted to charge me more for it.
Brad Dowdy: Yeah. I'm going to go ahead and say there's going to be a V2. There just – I just feel like there has to be.
Myke Hurley: Just because of the amount of work that it would have taken to make the first one. Right. There's no way they would have made money on this one because of the research and development. So, they have to take that R&D and spread it over a second, third release or version in more colors and stuff like that to try and make their money back. Like, if this is a one and done, it's a complete wash for them. Even if they sold the pen at a profit, which they may have done, I don't know. But, you know, the research and development marketing was pretty significant.
Brad Dowdy: Yep. Yep. So, I think there's something there. I hope they continue on with it. And I hope they succeed with it. I want this pen to succeed. So, this kind of relates to this next topic. So, the rest of the show is going to be listener-driven. We're going to do – we're going to catch up on all of our Ask TPA.
Myke Hurley: Most. And I still don't think we're going to get through all of these today. But most at least. We're going to try.
Brad Dowdy: We can't. We're going to try. But before we do that, I asked for topic suggestions like non-Ask TPA, more big picture questions on Twitter yesterday. And I took down about five or six of them. But I'm not going to cover all those today. But I grabbed one before we get into the full Ask TPA that I think about a lot. And it's from Phil Bothun. And the genesis of the question is, what's the future of Kickstarter pens? So, let me read this real quick. It says, the future of Kickstarter pens. Is the market too saturated? Is there room for newcomers? Is there still innovation happening here? Are we resigned to have brass cylinders with Parker or Fisher-style refills? This is an awesome question. And something near and dear to my heart as, one, a Kickstarter fan. And, two, a Kickstarter maker. I think Phil is correct in what they're seeing on the market, right? You know, brass tube with a refill. Or metal tube, metal cylinder with a refill. Yeah. And, like, that's fine. But what I want someone... I'm not pointing to Phil. I'm just saying in the general consciousness, I want you to look at it more as someone has an idea to make something. And even if it's not perfectly suited for you, it's someone else's dream to make this product. And I will always support that, whether it's my style or not. So, that's how I look at Kickstarter.
Pen Industry Trends
Myke Hurley: For the conceit of this question, like, I think that Phil is looking a little bit with blinkers on. And, like, this is the trend right now. Before this was fountain pens, right? Like, there have been trends that center around either A, a big success, or B, some kind of technology that will enable an explosion. And so, we had... I mean, first came the pen type A, right? And then there were a bunch of pens like that. Then there was stuff like the Visionaire, Love It or Hate It, which produced many more fountain pens. And then there was stuff like... Honestly, like, maybe Karas Customs. I don't even know what would have started the...
Brad Dowdy: Karas Customs was way in the beginning. It's more like...
Myke Hurley: They were in the fountain pen phase, really, weren't they? Yeah.
Brad Dowdy: But they started with a non-fountain pen. They were in the pen type A phase. Sure. Where the phase you're looking at now is the Johto phase.
Myke Hurley: That's it. We're in the Johto phase. Or, like, what could we... Era? They call them eras. We had, like, the pen type A era. We had, like, the Visionaire era. And now we're in the Johto era. And that era is going to come to an end as well. It's funny enough, actually. So I recorded a new episode of Thoroughly Considered yesterday with Tom and Dan. It's not out yet, but it will be out in the next couple of days. And one of the things we were talking about, because they've just wrapped up the campaign for the Mark II, which is a pocket pen, right? But that pen includes a small version of the Schmidt refill that went in the Mark I, goes in the Retro 51. And there are many pens, you know, like, it's not just Parker and Fisher. Like, there are a lot of pens just built around the Schmidt refill, right? Because it's such a great refill. Right. But when they told me about the Mini, and I think it's similar for you, I'd never heard of it. I didn't even know that Schmidt made a small version of it. So I was saying to them, I expect we're going to start to see a lot of pens on Kickstarter in the near future that are pocket pens built around that exact refill. Mm-hmm. And then that will be another, like, little trend. That's what I expect. Because if that refill does work as well as it does, I mean, who wants to use the Fisher Space Pen refill at that point, right? Right. So I can imagine there being, like, we have this, like, similar for the Mark I, right? Like, the way that Tom and Dan pitched it. It's like, we found this amazing refill, but we don't like the pens that it goes in, so we've made what we think is the best pen. Mm-hmm. And I imagine there will be a similar kind of thinking for a smaller pen. So I think that this stuff goes in waves. The market is definitely not too saturated because, in my opinion, because if there's one thing that the pen, well, the stationary market has shown is there can never be too many products.
Brad Dowdy: Yeah. And even if we, like, just keep seeing, as Phil calls, like, just, like, brass cylinders, there's innovation happening. And it may not be as fast as we all want it. But that pen, that cylinder someone makes today is going to give someone an idea of how to make that pen better tomorrow.
Myke Hurley: Yeah, like, what is your mechanism like? Right. What are your treatments like? That kind of stuff.
Brad Dowdy: So, like, the design philosophy behind SpokePen was to purposefully go completely opposite of a minimalist style, right? It's a maximalist style. It's very opinionated. It's very opinionated, and it's okay if you don't like it. But that pen was built around a refill, right? It was like, how do we want to tell the story of this refill? And how do we not want to make a brass cylinder? Kickstarter, and, you know, I found a guy in Brian who kind of had the platform and the idea to make these barrels, and we made it work. So, like, that's an idea, you know, that I felt was pretty different than what you see on Kickstarter. But it's a slow rate of change in, like, Kickstarter world because you're always going to have someone out there chasing, and you just got to wait for the next innovation. And it might take longer than you want it to. But I'm okay with all of these pens out there because, like, I'm a huge Ajoto fan, you know? I'm a huge Studio Neat fan. Like, that minimal style, I can enjoy that while also enjoying the maximal style of the SpokePen, right?
Brad Dowdy: Trends. Trends. I think, yeah. So, it goes in cycles. I mean, and there'll be, you know, I might go a year or more not buying a pen off a Kickstarter because nothing's interesting anymore. But that's just getting ready for the next cycle where everything is interesting again. So, you know, just keep an eye on it. And, you know, there'll be things that'll be different eventually. We need these products to exist because that's how innovation is going to eventually happen.
Myke Hurley: That's a good question.
Brad Dowdy: Yeah, I love it. We could talk the whole show about this.
Myke Hurley: Probably. So, that's a good point. Like, we have our Ask TPA. They typically, like, can you help me with this? You know? Which is great. That's what they're for. And you can always tweet those. Hashtag Ask TPA. Or in the RelayFM members Discord now, you can use the command, like, the question mark Ask TPA. It does the same thing. Like, you can, I think one of the nice things about if you're in the members Discord, they can be longer than a tweet, you know, if you don't want to send an email. But you can also email Brad at hello at penaddict.com if you have long questions. But this type of thing, when you say, like, a topic, these are, like, what are your thoughts on? It's, like, a bigger thing. So, you can ask both. And we can move them around as we need.
Brad Dowdy: Yeah, please do. Like, I've saved off four or five more questions that I got on Twitter yesterday that are not Ask TPA questions. They're more of a topic, like, meta thoughts on things. So, yeah, it's great.
Myke Hurley: All right. Today's episode is also brought to you by Pen Chalet. They sell all of the stuff that you're looking for, whether you want a rollerball or a fountain pen, a mechanical pencil or a ballpoint. Whether you're looking for a carrying case or a refill or a pen holder or a bottle of ink or even a converter, they've got it. They do fast and reliable customer service. They're adding new products all the time. Every month there's new stuff going on Pen Chalet. We talk about it all the time. They have what you're looking for at great prices from all of your favorite brands. Fast and reliable customer service. And also, you can go to penchalet.com at any time and find whatever you're looking for. And you'll get free shipping on orders of over $50 in the U.S. They sell internationally with very reasonable shipping rates. And they have a 100% satisfaction guarantee on their high-quality products. If you go to penchalet.com and click the podcast link at the top of the website, use the password penaddict for this week's special offer and to get the code that you need to save 10% on anything at any time at Pen Chalet. But Brad, what do we have this time for our special offers?
Brad Dowdy: So we're going to start needing a longer ad read for me to actually be able to scroll down to the bottom of this and comprehend what's in here. I didn't make it to the bottom. So like one of the highlights that jumps out right up front is a Monteverde 10-piece ink set. I'm trying to see if these are 30-milliliter bottles. So it's a 10-pack, three different types of sets. There's a core set, there's a gemstone set, and there's a noir set where they're, you know, like lavender black and green black and things like that. The price point for essentially, I'm going to say 300 milliliters worth of ink. I can't get the link to come up.
Brad Dowdy: Is redonkulous. Is that a word? It's going to be a word. Along with...
Myke Hurley: It is 10, 30-milliliter bottles.
Brad Dowdy: Yeah. The Monteverde inks are fantastic. They do a really nice job. I actually have a couple of the noir series. They're very nice. That would be my selection. That's like the price of one bottle of bung box ink. It's pretty great for a really good quality ink. And then like the rest of the page is just littered with awesome deals. Like the Diplomat Arrow pricing right now, these look really, really good. Like this turquoise one is pretty awesome. And there's an orange one. And then there's like a torched barrel rollerball. That looks super cool. That looks pretty cool. So the Pinnider Avatar is on there. Yeah. It's really, really good. So good stuff from Ron. As always, take a look at those inks. That's mega compelling to me. That price point for really good quality inks and a really good range of colors. Like these sets, like there's a core set. But like the other sets like really take you into like past the core, past your standard ink colors. Into some things that are pretty unique. And that price point is really great.
Myke Hurley: Penshalay.com podcast link at the top of the website. And use the password Pen Addict to get your hands on these special offers. Our thanks to Penshalay for their support of this show and Relay FM.
Ask TPA Questions
Brad Dowdy: All right. You ready to hit these Ask TPAs, Myke? We got... You bet I am. These might go back a while. But we're going to hit these up. And hopefully people are still listening.
Myke Hurley: It's always... You know, pen stuff's always relevant, baby. This first question comes from Onat Zoltan who asks, How can a student save money for nicer pens? What pens do you buy after you own a Safari, an Eco, and a Metropolitan?
Brad Dowdy: So I have multiple questions like this. Not all in the Ask TPA section. But this is one of the more common questions. And I almost should build a chart, a flow chart. If you like this, look at this. If you like this, look at this. But like the Safari, Eco, and Metropolitan kind of occupy the same bucket for me. And the best thing I can tell Onat Zoltan is don't buy your next pen until you have a reason to. So if you have... Let's just... They're not saying they own a Safari, an Eco, and Metropolitan. But I'm assuming the way the question is written is they at least own one of them, if not all three. Those are three really good pens, right? Like I use the Safari and the Eco all the time. And I have much more expensive pens. Enjoy those pens. Figure out do you want a nib that is a little bit different than what you have right now. And what that would be like and what pen that might go in. And don't just buy everything willy-nilly. Like put in some research. Read blogs and articles. Like I have a top five pens page that might give you a little bit of a suggestion. And then ask me. Ask other bloggers. Ask other friends in the community. You know, like I really like this Safari for reasons X, Y, and Z. What might work for me? I now have a $100 budget. What might I enjoy next? But don't just go buying willy-nilly. Like have a reason to make your next purchase, right? Not just because of FOMO or you want something. Like have a reason that it's going to be different than your Eco. And then do your research.
Myke Hurley: I think that's a great one. And I would also say like if you are conscious of spending money, don't take risks. Right. And look at pens that are made by like the same manufacturer. A stuff that you know you already like. And see if there's anything in there that's maybe upper tier which could be of interest to you. So like, you know, you've got, if you got like an Eco, there's so many Twisbees available to you. Same as Metropolitan, right?
Brad Dowdy: Yeah, I think Pilot's the real answer for that because you can get one of their gold nib pens for less than $100. Yep. That might make a difference in how you feel about your writing. Like it's going to be a different feel than something like the Metro. Even though it's, you know, it's quite a jump in expense, you know, like five or seven times as expensive as a Metropolitan.
Brad Dowdy: That's a different enough level to where it might make a difference. And you feel that's money well spent.
Myke Hurley: I have a question here from Brainy Days that I'm really intrigued to know if you have a thought on. And they ask, why doesn't Parker do a good job of defending its intellectual property IP? For example, the arrow clip design that they have is iconic. And it is protected by trade dress registrations in at least the US. That means, so trade dress is, you know, you can get like copyrights, you can get trademarks. Trade dress is when you protect the design of something. So like the actual visual design. Yeah, like, again, taking it back to my other world. Apple and Samsung had a big trade dress case years ago where Apple ended up winning because Samsung was, were for a while just ripping off iPhone design. And so they were able to prove like, look, we protect this. It looks just like this. This is an infringement on our trade dress. But there are, so anyway, but there are many, so Brainy Days goes on to say, there are many pens that copy this design of the arrow clip. Are they not doing a good enough job of protecting it?
Brad Dowdy: Yeah. Yeah. So a lot of times I put ask TPA questions in here because I don't know the clear answer. But I think the question is interesting enough to where like we can think about it. And then maybe someone does know. My gut tells me that Parker is no longer, Parker now is no longer the Parker of old to where it had maybe leverage to invest in these IP infringements. And, you know, the conglomerate that they're part of now, they're such a small player that that investment wouldn't be worthwhile to go after.
Myke Hurley: Right.
Brad Dowdy: You know, essentially chasing their tail. It's a lot of work. Yeah.
Myke Hurley: To defend this stuff. And so with any company, they may only go after the larger fish that offend. Like, you know, person A making a pen. Or some name infringement. Yeah, exactly. But like person A, person B making a pen, it might not even come past their radar. Right. Right. That could be a real thing.
Brad Dowdy: So that's my feeling is that in the specific case of Parker, that it's more of an afterthought in their status right now. And that would not be their best use of their funds as part of a as a tiny part of a larger corporation now would be my guess. But I like the idea of the question. It's a great question.
Myke Hurley: Next question comes in from Mal Bonaginio, who asks, which underliner will you recommend for use with pencils or with fountain pen inks that are not pigmented? What's an underliner?
Brad Dowdy: I'm guessing this is basically literally an underliner. Basically, a highlight under the text is my guess. Okay.
Myke Hurley: So instead of a highlighter, do you put this on first or afterwards?
Brad Dowdy: Generally afterwards. Huh. But I'm just trying to I may not get this completely accurate. So if there is follow up Mal Bonaginio, let me know. But I always look for marker type pens like the Secura Pigment Micron, which you can get in a billion different colors. And it's going to handle pencils and other inks well, like if they cross those lines. So like if you're writing with pencil and then want to highlight with an orange secure Pigment Micron, you're going to run into very, very few problems. Yeah.
Myke Hurley: Because you don't want to smear, right? Like that's the thing. Yeah.
Brad Dowdy: And the same goes for a fountain pen or rollerball or any water based ink. Like the inks and the tip design of something like a drawing pen, like a Micron is designed to go on very cleanly and also very dry at the same time. So that's going to be the most effective if that's what you're looking for. So that would be my go to. Like I would I use an orange secure Pigment Micron if I ever need something for this situation.
Myke Hurley: Next question comes from Kruger Lawyer who asks, when the world returns to normal, which pens will you feel comfortable taking on an airplane and why?
Brad Dowdy: All of them.
Myke Hurley: I mean, I'll take all of them. Whether they'll have ink in them is a different question.
Brad Dowdy: All of them and they will all have ink in them. You just have to practice good airplane. You have to practice good travel packing and management of your products. So you want to you can take any fountain pens on an airplane without issue. The two keys are have them as filled with as much ink as possible, right? Less air in the cartridge. Counter intuitive. Or the piston. Yep. Have as much ink as possible because you don't want variation in the pressure.
Myke Hurley: And the pressure because it's the air pressure is the air bubbles inside of the ink, which is the problem because as it expands and contracts, it can push ink out. And push it out. Counter intuitive that you would fill them. But if you want to have the best response, you should fill them.
Brad Dowdy: And secondly, store them upright. So I take a pin case. I always take my Brasstown Notco roll pin case. I travel with it in my backpack. When I get on the airplane, I throw my backpack up top or under the seat. But the Brasstown case comes out and goes in the seat back with all the nibs pointing up vertically. And I never have an issue.
Myke Hurley: But be aware that by doing that, you have added in a big risk for losing. Yes. Yes.
Brad Dowdy: So you've got to be vigilant. I am super vigilant about those things. I'm not going to say I've never lost anything because I haven't. But I don't want to jinx myself. So I'm not going to say it. But I'm very vigilant about that stuff.
Myke Hurley: I would like to add. And look. And you may be like, but it's nothing. Just put them in a Ziploc bag. Like, so take the pin case. Put the pin case in a Ziploc bag. Like, I have no issue. It's super easy to do. And if something does go wrong, you've got an added layer of protection. I am a Ziploc bag person when it comes to pens and travel.
Brad Dowdy: I travel with extra Ziploc bags in my suitcase. Like, those live in the suitcase. Like, when I'm not traveling and the suitcase is stored away, there's still Ziplocs in the little pocket things there.
Myke Hurley: My, like, Ikea Alex pen drawer system that I have, there is one drawer which is pretty much half full of Ziploc bags. Yeah. Like, if you go to pen shows or travel with pens in general, Ziploc bags are your friend.
Brad Dowdy: Yeah. I have yet to have that inky or fountain pen catastrophe. But, I mean, it's bound to happen one day. But just take, you take the precautions and you limit that. And I've had very good success and I've traveled a lot with pens.
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Brad Dowdy: Well, first, I'm worried. I'm wondering about my love for coffee and what the conversion is for how much I'm saving in Macon, Georgia versus New York City. I think I'm probably like into like 3000 cups.
Brad Dowdy: It's a lot of coffee. Thanks, Harry's. But I mean, you know, we were featuring our Ask TPA questions today and, you know, making this a listener focused episode. And I want to look good for our listeners, right? They can see like how cleanly shaven I am, right? Like that's how the podcast works. They can see just what Harry's does for me on a daily basis and why it's my product of choice for my skincare.
Myke Hurley: I think you're getting the podcast and your Twitch stream mixed up again.
Brad Dowdy: Is that what it is? Okay. Yeah. But regardless, I love Harry's. Do you do a dance when it's like new blade day? Because it's pretty few and far between. The blades last so long. But like do a little happy dance.
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Brad Dowdy: This next question I'll take, Myke, because it's very short. And I answered via Twitter. So this is from Warehouse 40. Sailor Sky High versus Conpecky. And my reply to them was that they were blocked because that's just not a fair question.
Myke Hurley: Well, are you going to go with Sailor?
Brad Dowdy: No, it's actually a very easy answer. I think Conpecky is superior to Sky High in every way, shape, and form. It's one of the great inks. I would choose Conpecky every time over Sky High as an unabashed Sailor Sky High fan. Conpecky has a little bit more character than Sky High.
Myke Hurley: I also really love and I've always loved that the Orochizuku inks are a day of fast drying times, which can be really important for me. Especially when I was first starting out with fountain pens, that was something I was really worried about. Over time, I learned to not care. But that was really important to me and I did a lot of testing and I was happy with Orochizuku.
Brad Dowdy: Yeah, there's a question somewhere later in this list, I don't know if we'll get to today, around Orochizuku and Orangings that I'm going to yell at somebody about. But we'll just have to wait and see if we get there.
Myke Hurley: Jeff Liu asks, I just noticed that 1911s and Pro Gears all have O-rings where barrels screw onto the sections. Is that an invitation to eyedropper? I'm going to have to go with no in this situation. I don't think anybody ever invites you to do it. Because it's difficult, right? But I wouldn't want to...
Brad Dowdy: I haven't explored it enough, but I think the issue you'll run into is more of the collar in the feed area. And if you're going to be able to seal that off, the O-ring is more exterior to where the ink is flowing. If I'm saying that correctly, I would think. Unless I have that. I could have that wrong. But the short answer is no, because I think you're going to run into a problem further down towards... As the section goes into the nib and feed and collar. So I would... You go first, Jeff, and let us know how it goes.
Myke Hurley: Don't forget, silicon grease though, if you're going to do it. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. I have a nib... This comes from Josh. I have a nib customization question for you. I have a Platinum 3776 that has been super scratchy as to almost be unusable on all but the highest quality paper. It is a soft, fine nib and it has an incredible amount of flex to it. Does it make any sense getting a custom grind on a soft nib? Should I just get it turned and smooth to make it a more pleasurable writing experience and leave it at that? I wasn't sure if a soft nib lent itself to any particular type of grind or not. I have never had custom work done before, so part of me wants to try something different. But maybe this is an instance where it makes more sense to keep it simple. I'm curious about your input. Can I go first? Yes. I would suggest... This nib feels like it already has quite a lot of character to it. I would just get it taken care of so it's not giving you a bad experience. It could just be some realignment and some kind of tune-in and you'll be good to go.
Myke Hurley: Because it feels like a soft, fine nib with a lot of flex. There's already quite a lot going on there. I don't know if you would want to add to that, even if you could.
Brad Dowdy: Huge head nodding on this side of the microphone, Myke. You do not want to... I don't think you want to modify this nib. I think you want to get this tuned correctly to where it's the best soft, fine nib that it can be. So you also have to understand that this is a pressure-sensitive nib. The first thing I think about when reading this from Josh is Platinum's 3776 soft, fine nibs can be finicky. I've had experience with them. Others have experience with them where they're a little bit less consistent than the normally perfectly consistent Platinum nibs. But I think in this situation, calling for a modification over a tuning would be going a little bit too far. I think you would be happier if you just got it tuned and enjoyed it for what it is. And then if you're looking for a custom nib grind, start looking at a different nib to get that done on. But back to my hand pressure comment. Just think about how much you're pushing on that nib when you're writing. And is that an issue? Because I run into that personally sometimes. I have a bit of a heavy hand. And those soft, fine nibs, the tines can split. Like when you're talking about that bounce and the flex to it. That's going to cause scratchiness if you're still pushing and flexing it when you're moving in a direction that is not going to be the best for the nib writing on any paper.
Myke Hurley: Yeah. And I feel like fine nibs are not the best platform for nib work in general, right? Right. Correct. You want to give the artisan space to work with, material to actually work with. It feels like with a fine nib, your hands are kind of tired a little bit as to how much you're going to actually do with it safely.
Brad Dowdy: Yeah. You're only going to want to feature like the finer grinds. And that's not going to make what you're experiencing better out of this question.
Myke Hurley: Kim herself asks, Brad, do you have any recommendations for pen trays in a kind of a medium price range, no leather?
Brad Dowdy: So, the number one pen tray that I use, Kim, I hunted and hunted to find it for you because it's amazing. But it's from Bung Box and it's like a Japanese denim pen tray. And it's like a pen stripe. It's the best pen tray I own that I've ever had. And I could not find it on their site. And I looked and looked and looked because I really wanted to share this for Kim because it's amazing. But I couldn't find it. But keep an eye on Bung Box and see if they bring those up anytime soon. The other one is a little bit of a different. It's more of a larger capacity tray. But CW Pencil sells them. And they sent them out in one of their pencil boxes. It's by a company called Melamine. Melamine. And it's a pencil tray. So, like, my Bung Box one has a divider in it. So, you can, like, put... I think I found it. Oh, really? Nice.
Myke Hurley: Yeah, I don't think it's available for buying. But I think I found one. Can you look at that link I'll put in the notes and tell me if that's it?
Brad Dowdy: I'll look at it. But these Melamine trays are very, very nice. They're sturdy, strong, like, molded plastic. I don't know how to describe them. But it's like a marbled texture and marbled look. And they're very good. That's exactly it, Myke. Except, like, mine's in blue. But that's the same format. So, it's got this divider and this pinstripe look to it. I didn't look on Amazon. But that's the link for something to look for, right? This is the exact one I have, but in a different color. And they're fabric covered and shaped as a pin tray. And they're perfect.
Myke Hurley: Yeah. Enshu Cotton. E-N-S-H-U Cotton Pen Tray. That's what it's known as. But I can't find any. You can buy, but at least you now know what to look for if it ever comes up again.
Brad Dowdy: Yep.
Myke Hurley: Next question comes from Fibber, who asks. Or F-I-A-T-A-R. Fibber. We've clarified. I like this a lot. Why do pen companies not sponsor authors? So, I think about you. What do you mean? Like, how, like, Nike will sponsor a basketball player. Right? Why do pen companies not do this for authors?
Brad Dowdy: I love this question. Like, Mont Blanc, I'm surprised. They probably do, right? You would think, like, Mont Blanc, even if these writers aren't using the pen to write, handwrite their next novel. But you would think, you know, with all of the great writers' editions that Mont Blanc produces every year, that that would be something right up their alley. But you just don't see it. And it seems, like, ripe for something, for someone to, like, jump on the bandwagon. Why doesn't Karen Dash have, like, Ecuador's in all of these authors' hands? Like, I don't know. You know, these days, you probably only see, like, a Sharpie feature when they're going to sign their books. It would be about it. You know, that's about the only thing. So, I wish that we would see more of this. There might be something that we're missing, but I love this question so much because it feels kind of like a very easy thing for some of these larger companies, you know, more classical style companies to do first. But maybe it's the smaller companies that need to lean into it first with smaller authors and make a little difference that way. Because, you know, we have tons of authors and novelists and writers who, like, listen to our stuff and read The Pen Addict. And, you know, what if a smaller company like, I don't know, Franklin Kristoff picked up, you know, a writer and, you know, sent them some pens? You know, I just think that's a pretty neat thing. So, hopefully we'll see it one day. Maybe I'll do it first. Maybe we'll do NotCo or Spoke Pen author series.
Myke Hurley: Beautiful. I'd love to know who you would go for. Last question today will come from Josh. And Josh wants to know, why are blue-black inks called blue-black and not just dark blue? Same for green-black, purple-black. Maybe it's just one of the peculiarities of the pen world, the way we insist on calling it plastic, resin.
Brad Dowdy: I love this question. This question is one of those questions that makes too much sense, right? It's way too logical. There are blue-black inks that are just called navy, you know, where it's basically a darkness or saturation or depth of blue without a black addition into it. But as a community, we will generally roll that up into blue-black because it's a more commonality. And it's at least in the range of black specifically being added into a blue ink, which is what you would traditionally think of blue-black. But I think you have to separate the color component from the appearance on the page. And while there's, you know, technical, you know, aspects of this, how much black is contained in the blue to make it a blue-black. I think just the dark blues that we see that are your navies and your dark blues and your midnight blues, they're so close to what people are used to as a blue-black. They just get lumped into there. Does that make sense? I don't know if I'm doing this answer justice, but I think there's really no way to separate it and they're just getting classified by their color on the end, even though technically they may just be a dark blue, not a blue-black.
Myke Hurley: All right, we said this earlier, but if you want to send in a question, you can send out a tweet with the hashtag AskTPA. It's the easiest way to get them in, but you can also use question mark AskTPA in the member's Discord, or you can email your questions to hello at penaddict.com. We still have more to get to, and we hope that we'll get yours, and we can answer that on a future episode. You can find links and information about today's show at relay.fm slash penaddict slash 421. Thanks again to Squarespace, Penn Chalet, and Harry's for the support of this show. You can go to penaddict.com where you'll find Brad's work, and you can also check out Brad. Streaming live on Twitch, Tuesdays and Thursdays at 10 a.m Eastern. Brad is penaddict on Instagram. Dowdy is on Twitter. I am imike, I-M-Y-K-E. And we'll be back next time. Until then, say goodbye, Brad. Goodbye, Brad.