The Pen Addict 379/transcript

The Pen Addict Podcast Transcript
Episode:	379
Title:	Rainbow Sparkly
Release Date:	October 2nd, 2019
Hosts:	Brad Dowdy Myke Hurley
Guests:	No guests this episode
Additional Information
Official page:	Episode 379
Audio File:	Audio Episode 379
Podcast page:	The Pen Addict 379
Length:	5252 min <br />0.867 h <br /> minutes
Previous Transcript	Next Transcript

Personal Update

Myke Hurley: From RelayFM, this is The Pen Addict, episode 379. Today's show is brought to you by Squarespace. My name is Myke Hurley, and I am joined by Brad Dowdy. Hi, Brad Dowdy.

Brad Dowdy: Hello, Myke Hurley. How are you today?

Retro 51 Pen Discussion

Myke Hurley: I am fine and dandy, my friend. I have a special pen sitting here. Oh, yeah? Yeah. It is the very next Brad Dowdy-produced Retro 51.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. So, funny story with that. You came up in the queue for the Kickstarter Burton reward.

Myke Hurley: Yep. Because you did bring mine to San Francisco, like you promised.

Brad Dowdy: Right. Right. So, this all ties in together, I promise. And we'll update the Kickstarter momentarily in full. So, I was like, oh, there's Myke's name in the queue. It's time. So, Myke did not get special treatment. He got queued up just like everybody else. Yeah. Yeah. So, his number popped. And I had just, like, the day before started, I was rummaging through the shipping department slash office. It's completely turned upside down right now because my wife has built a photography studio out there, which is great. It needed it, but it's in full transition mode. So, like, a bunch of my stuff got shifted around and moved to facilitate. Yeah. And one of these shelves where I keep just some display items, you know, just, you know, the stuff for display and, like, make the office look cool and fun and mine were the Retro 51s that I've done in the past. Like, one copy of each. Like, I keep the 001. You get 002. I get 003. And I keep my 001s up there. And I was, they got moved off the shelf. So, I picked them up and I was looking at them. And I grabbed the isometric one that are... Our friend Michael Jacobs did two releases ago. Well, with this new one coming out next weekend, two releases ago. And it said 002. I was like, huh, that's interesting. So, apparently, I owed you that 002 model of the isometric. And yeah, so there you go, Myke. You got the two years ago one with your Burton that I forgot. So, I had just received... The latest version, which will be released this weekend, the Pastel Shibas, which I'll talk more about next week. And I said, hey, I can get ahead of the game on this one to ship Myke all the stuff I'm late with and get him an early version of this one. So, did I make up for my tardiness?

Myke Hurley: You did, because I'd forgotten that I didn't own the isometric until it arrived. So, that's good news. So, yeah, the new one is called Pastel Shiba, right? Yes. So, you can probably work out... Well, I'll say you can think you maybe have an idea of how it looks. But I've said this to Brad before we recorded. It's my favorite of the special edition Retro 51s that Brad has done so far. And it will, what, be on sale sometimes this week?

Brad Dowdy: Yes. Yeah. Start going on sale to Panatic members on Saturday, then public on Monday. All right. So, something like that. You'd cry out. Yeah. So, it's in conjunction with a friend of mine named Susan Lin. She goes... Her online name is MintLine. And we'll, like I said, we'll talk in full about it next week once I have it released. Today is not the day to release the info on that, but we'll talk about it next week and give you all the deets. But I'm thrilled with it. And I'm super glad that you like it, too. So, that made me happy. And I'm mostly happy that I got it to you on time to make up for all of my lateness in the other goods. So, now I need to go look for my 001 isometric and make sure I still have it somewhere, which I'm sure I do. It just was somehow not in my right place.

Kickstarter Update

Myke Hurley: All right. You mentioned the Kickstarter, right?

Burton Case Feedback

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. What do you think about the Burton case? You had seen it before. I've carried it around.

Myke Hurley: Yeah. I love it. I think it's fantastic. I like the wax canvas a lot. The size is perfect. Pockets are great. I'm looking forward to putting that thing to use.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. We've gotten wonderful feedback on that, except a couple of people, and I say this lovingly and jokingly, a couple of people didn't read the description and were just expecting our standard 1000D Cordura. And they're like, this material feels super weird, and there's a coating on it. I'm like, yeah, it was kind of on purpose. So, I did get a couple of emails about that, which I found super funny. And once I replied back, people were like, oh, okay, I got it now. I just wanted to make sure there wasn't anything wrong with my case. I'm like, no, it's a feature. So, I am, as we record this podcast, I am less than 100. Backers away from being done fulfilling. So, by the end of the day today, I will send out an update saying I am done, because I will finish that today. And on top of that, the video from the San Francisco live show is complete, edited, and everything. I said I was going to have it by the end of September, and I got it yesterday. So, it was pretty much on time. So, we'll have that. I'll wrap this up into one kind of big, almost final update. So, we'll have the video out, let's say I will update everybody with everything tomorrow. So, I'll get shipped, and then I'll have a message and a link for the final video out to everyone tomorrow who

Myke Hurley: backed our project. And then we'll be nearly done, nearly tidied up.

Brad Dowdy: Yep. And we've already started on next year, pretty much. Yeah, we started the planning, at least. Yeah, yeah, yeah. We're laying some groundwork. So,

Sheen Inks Follow-Up

Myke Hurley: yeah, it's time. I want to get some follow-up on Sheen Inks. So, we talked about his last, the Colt Pen Sheen Inks. I have tried them onto my River Paper and can definitely see a sheen now in the two that I tried out. So, it needs more testing, but I can see it. I can see the gold and the red, right? Like, I can see it. It's happening. It's real. So, now I know it works. I now need to test it more, but it's happening. Yeah. The thing I like about the Sheening Inks

Brad Dowdy: is when you see it later, right? Like, at the time you're doing it, it's still wet, and then it dries, and you start to see it. But then when you go back days later, if you're opening your notebook again, like a day, tomorrow, and see what you wrote yesterday, I'm always like, dang, that looks cool. And I just, it's something I enjoy personally. So, I was wondering, you know, if you might, you might enjoy it as well. So, but yes, it is particular. You do need to use it on a properly sheening type of paper. So, I'm hopefully, I'm positively, I guess, impressed that you're using

Myke Hurley: it and want to continue using it. Yeah, I need to, I need to, I don't know how I'm going to do different types of tests, but I need to do different types of

Brad Dowdy: tests, basically. Yeah. Yeah. And are you using, like, one of your Sailor Medium nibs,

Myke Hurley: something like that? No, it's in a StubNib Twisby. Oh, perfect. Even better. I have a Platinum, my 3776 in a broad. Oh, nice. That's perfect. Oh, by the way, the 3776 Galaxy, the broken nib pen, that has been shipped to the UK supplier who's confirmed receipt. And they're now sending it over to Platinum in Japan.

Brad Dowdy: All right. Well, we got some movement, so. And some communication.

Brad Dowdy: Sort of. We'll see about all this. I don't know.

Field Notes Autumn Trilogy Review

Brad Dowdy: New field notes dropped yesterday, Myke. They sure did. It kind of usually drops, like, when, on Wednesdays when we're ending our recording. So, this is when we got a little bit ahead of schedule. So, this is the Autumn Trilogy, and we're contractually obligated to discuss each new field notes quarterly edition. It's just a contract we have between ourselves. So, what did you think about this edition?

Myke Hurley: Well, are we going to, you want to just know, or do you want to play the game?

Brad Dowdy: I mean, we can play the game. I felt like the game's kind of falling a little bit flat because they've been doing such a good job, and it's like, yeah, it's a good edition.

Myke Hurley: That's true. I'll just tell you, this is, it's Mackinac Orton 2, right, is the way I feel about it. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. ! ! so there's like a pressing a letter pressing they are debossed the pattern of each leaf is debossed into the notebook itself the video was interesting

Brad Dowdy: behind embossing it's both directions

Myke Hurley: that's the impressive part the field notes logo is embossed and the leaves are debossed and the leaves go behind the logo that looks very technically impressive and I think for that reason the video that they made this time was kind of a different type of video for them in that they showed more about how the notebooks were made the videos are usually a high concept type thing to advertise the theme I could have easily imagined them just going and taking some beautiful photos of fall leaves but instead they showed how they made the plates in a CNC machine can I read you a snippet

Brad Dowdy: since you're talking about that part I'm going to read you this which will kind of solidify what you're saying here a sculptor at our dye maker converted the flat vector files into a three dimensional computer model to evaluate the tolerances for embossing and debossing and to simulate how the covers would look under various lighting conditions before the expensive and time consuming process of physical dye making began these people are making a notebook Myke and this is the wording we get for the process that they use you know I can't help but be impressed I don't know what other people think

Myke Hurley: but yeah I think it's impressive the paper's lined which is a bummer for me because I don't like that but this is a nice addition right like I think it is a nice addition I think I said this already but it's like it's Mackinac 2

Brad Dowdy: and they related that in the copy to it like they said you know in the fall we kind of do foliage stuff we've done Mackinac in the past we've done Shenandoah in the past so yeah

Myke Hurley: I'll prefer this to Shenandoah definitely I think this is a nice addition 2019 it's been very good yeah it's very good

Brad Dowdy: so my thoughts are that I want to use this edition more than the previous edition that doesn't mean I think it's better than like I just had I just have a real mental block about the National Parks edition

Myke Hurley: it's weird to me I think

Brad Dowdy: yeah no I love them too I'm not discounting that this is this is awesome I love this edition the only problem for me personally is that it's lined but it is at least the 70 pound paper which is what they've done from time to time mixing that in it's a much superior paper than their standard 60 pound and I prefer it I think the technical aspects of the printing are awesome I think the colors are awesome yeah I can't wait to get these like I'm super excited about these I have the the iPhone I bought the Meyer I bought the Meyer line I bought the Meyer line I bought the Meyer line case which the leather case so it's actually going to like it's in this fall yellow foliage range so I'm I'm into that mood right now so this is right up right up my alley and I never opened one of the packs of the National Parks but these I will crack right open and even though it's lined I'll start to use it just because I want to feel and see that texture I like it when they do embossing slash debossing whichever one even though this one's both like the the grassy and green was one of my favorites even though like their process wasn't perfected at the time flaws and all that was one of my favorite all-time editions and this one this one's like not a favorite all-time but it's it's perfect field notes and that's what I look for in their releases and another good job by them

Myke Hurley: did you get 11 Pro or 11 Pro Max?

Brad Dowdy: Max so I went to the back to the I had the big one in the 8 and then the standard one in the 10 and now I'm back to the big one

Myke Hurley: okay yeah good boy

Brad Dowdy: yeah I like it better I like it better

Platinum Pre-Fonte Fountain Pen Introduction

Myke Hurley: so what is the platinum pre-found how are we even saying this? yeah

Brad Dowdy: yeah so I was streaming yesterday and we were talking about what topics can we talk about today and someone said how about this new platinum entry-level pen and I was like I don't know what you're talking about I haven't seen this yet and they linked it to me and I was like I don't know what you're talking about and I basically said oh my gosh how do I say this so it's P-R-E-F-O-U-N-T-E it's a terrible name it's the platinum pre-fonte so there was a runner I guess a distance runner in the U.S. who was you know historically famous like in the late 70s I think early 80s his name was I forget his first name now Steve maybe pre-fonte so this is all I can say about it this is all I can do to not call like there's books written about pre-fonte and movies about pre-fonte so this is all I think about so this will be forever known as the platinum pre-fonte fountain pen but terrible naming conventions aside I'm anxious to try this because it's $10 and it's nicer than the preppy and this reminds me of what Pilot has done with the Explorer made a little bit of an upgrade of the most inexpensive pen in their line by adding colors and a little bit of a nicer barrel and things like that except it's about half the price of the Pilot Explorer I think so this is a little bit of an upgrade from the preppy and then it's kind of before you get into the Plazier price point which is upper teens to $20 range so I'm anxious it looks like the same preppy nib and the same kind of grip section but for $10 like I'm this is going to be a contender for like best entry level fountain pen you know now that the Metropolitan's price has been raised the Eco is still in the $20 range for $10 that's a different that's a different market even though you know it's not that far off from like a $16 Pilot Kakuno I don't know I feel like this could be like a really good entry level option so I'm anxious to try it and I'll be looking for it soon I know that's not really your thing but like these are the things that I get after like a lot like I love this kind of stuff

Myke Hurley: yeah I can see it as well being like a useful thing for you as somebody who makes recommendations and stuff right like these types of products are good but like I just don't think that this is like a thing for me right like I just can't imagine myself really using it

Brad Dowdy: yeah you have no need for this but like I have very much need for this in maybe not my personal everyday writing but in the grand scope of all things you know all things pen I want to see something new in a price point that doesn't have an answer and therefore it's like exciting to me

Myke Hurley: I mean yeah like if this is a good option in the $10 price point like come on right come on it's a cool looker too right like the kind of translucent plastic and a bunch of colors like it's not the most beautiful pen I've seen kind of like the right the shape of it I'm not a big fan of but I think that it looks I mean look it's $10 right

Brad Dowdy: you know right and all of Platinum's nibs that they use like pretty much the same nib from their most inexpensive pens like the Preppy like the $4 Preppy up until about I don't know $30, $40, $50 is all kind of the same nib so that's why I'm I'm anxious to have like a little bit nicer barreled Preppy which is what this looks like I'm happy for it this next link I guess we're contractually obligated to talk about this too and why don't you lead this lead this off Myke you put this in the notes I want you to lead this off

Bungbox Alice in Wonderland Special Edition

Myke Hurley: Bungbox have a special edition pen for the Tokyo Pen Show which is themed on Alice in Wonderland they actually have like a range of things they have a pen an ink and a pen and some converters with illustrations on I think the pen is called Magic of Alice the ink is called Tears of Alice I believe that's what they're doing yeah Tears of Alice and it is a white bodied Sailor Pro gear with gold furniture I would say like almost baby blue like turquoisey end cap grip section and cap

Brad Dowdy: Tiffany blue but one to two shades lighter and then

Myke Hurley: yes and the finial on the cap is rotten it's stunning oh my god I love it

Brad Dowdy: this is one of the best pens I've ever seen like I'm super upset about this pen that's why I couldn't talk about it like I I mean this is this is pinnacle design for me personally right like I mean I understand like people might might not like it or whatever and it's like limited edition and hard to get and I understand that and I understand that and I understand that and I'll probably never own one of these I'm not even going to try to own one of these honestly I don't I don't need it but from a design perspective even with the gold trim the way it works and that finial and the story this is like this is like peak Sailor limited edition design for me it just is I don't know what else to say about this

Myke Hurley: but I know like I tell you who needs it your boy over here needs it now like they put the San Francisco one up on their website afterwards because they didn't sell out I don't think we're going to get that luck with this one

Brad Dowdy: oh yeah I mean I will say though

Pelican M205 Star Ruby Special Edition

Myke Hurley: it depends on the price they might they might be charging a pretty price for that especially if it's got Rodden on it like yeah so it's not impossible but I will be keeping my eye on all of their social pages because I desperately want one

Brad Dowdy: I mean we'll know people at the like I know people that are going to the show so but I am not I just don't need to that's no I'm not going to buy it but I can appreciate everything about this pen it's fascinating I hope I get to see one in person one day and take some pictures but like I don't I don't need this in my collection particularly but I am it's drop dead gorgeous I don't know what else to say I love it

Myke Hurley: I really do love it very much

Brad Dowdy: I can hear the gears turning I love it like how am I going to manage this let me ask you something go on if you get this will Adina steal it?

Myke Hurley: probably I don't know actually I don't know if that's we're still trying to I think lock down what her tastes are I don't know if this is a pen that she would be into actually I'm going to say yes so I'm actually going to text her a link now

Myke Hurley: what do you think yeah we're going to need two of these please she's a little iffy on Sailor right now because she didn't have she didn't have the best experience with hers she's just like oh Platinum nibs are the best I'm not so sure about Sailor nibs and I'm like I totally understand what you're saying but like at the moment I'm trying to convince her to just start picking up Sailors from my collection and use them yeah because she got like a medium fine it had already been adjusted and I was like it just did it was a little scratchy but the Platinum nib was perfect but it was you know my argument to her was just like well you specifically chose the Platinum nib you wanted from their selection right so like I feel like that she needs to because look Platinum nibs are absolutely unbelievable

Brad Dowdy: oh yeah she's I mean I will go on record as saying that she's completely right like I would pick Platinum nib it just you know in a vacuum I will take a Platinum nib over a Sailor nib but there's other things like to consider yeah

Myke Hurley: and I may be I may agree too they are very close but I may agree too right like the Platinum nibs that I've had except for the one that broke let's ignore that yeah are amazing it's shocking

Brad Dowdy: how different those two nibs are honestly

Myke Hurley: I also think Progear nibs and Sailor nibs in general are very good but you also get everything that a Sailor can get you which is beautiful design and variance and all that kind of stuff so so yeah I think this is the thing that we need to continue moving down the road with her on trying out the the Sailor Progears she's I think writing a very good book she's writing a very good book she's writing a very good book she's writing a very good book she's writing a very good book she's writing a very long iMessage back to me right now little dot sir

Brad Dowdy: so you can you can fill us in after I talk about this next one which is an equally as hot pen and actually very much more accessible and I love what Pelican did here so this is the Pelican M205 Star Ruby Special Edition so every year every ink of the year edition Pelican does they do a matching 205 model and it's usually like a like in a translucent color match to the color right so like when they did aquamarine there was like an aquamarine translucent barrel so this year's ink is Star Ruby that beautiful red color so you would think that okay you know red translucent barrel except they went a little bit further this year which I am all about they basically sparkled up the barrel and it looks fantastic what do you think about this pen

Myke Hurley: oh it's absolutely stunning

Brad Dowdy: yeah

Euchre's Yoinks Pen Discussion

Myke Hurley: like no like no doubt about it like I cannot believe that they made this because it's not just sparkly it's like rainbow sparkly

Brad Dowdy: yeah yeah it's like it's more glittery than sparkly it's very galaxy looking I mean I adore it again I'm not gonna I'd be closer to buying this probably than the Alice in Wonderland because I bet that Alice in Wonderland pen cost like $500 I bet yeah

Myke Hurley: Adina by the way has said it's pretty but I wouldn't buy it I'm not a fan of the light blue and white combo

Brad Dowdy: there you go you're off the hook so just one for you you're good and it's all yours

Myke Hurley: just one for me I've been very tempted by this Pelican same here same here I don't like

Brad Dowdy: Pelican steel nibs yeah see I do as long as I get extra fine

Myke Hurley: so then I would be moving to a gold nib and then I'm in for like $320 and then it's like that's

Brad Dowdy: yeah that's not worth I a lot of people do that on the 205 models is switch them to the gold nibs and I just it's not a good value for me

Ass TPA Segment

Myke Hurley: but $170 or whatever depending on where you get it from

Brad Dowdy: this pen that pen is super cool I really like I'm not gonna buy this pen either like I'm gonna have a hard time not buying it though that's like one of those like if it's still hanging around I'm sure it's gonna sell out it'll certainly sell out if it's hanging around and I see it in person I'll just end up yeah okay I'll take yeah I'll take that one it's really cool because I love the 205 it's a smaller size pen so of course I like it

Myke Hurley: the only Pelican I own is a 205

Brad Dowdy: yeah you have a you have the metal stripe one yes yeah that's a great pen that's got because it's got added weight to it it's fantastic love it pen um one more thing I wanted to talk about before we take our our break and then we'll we'll knock out some ass TPA this week um I wanted to revisit the Euchre's pen which I just I can't help but laugh every time I say that right it's a what was that pen that you had growing up or the pen pencil Yoinks oh what was that one I think it's Yoinks isn't it Yoinks yeah you know what I'm talking about right

Myke Hurley: yeah you've just knocked it out of my brain because I was just about to say what it was and now you've you've just that's gone

Brad Dowdy: so I'll start talking about the Euchre's Yikes Yikes Yoinks is what like Shaggy would say in Scooby-Doo I think or does Scooby-Doo say that I don't know whatever Yikes so that's what that's what I think of when I think of Euchre's like this is I'll have to look into why they named it this which it's cool like I have nothing wrong with the name it just makes me laugh every time I say it hey have you tried out the Euchre's and it's like it's just so strange but it's a strange pen so I guess the name is fitting and Jeff reviewed it for the Pen Addict last week and I've had one sitting here and I've been too chicken so to ink it up myself because I feel committed to like what ink I use but if you haven't heard us talk about the Euchre's and you haven't seen the Euchre's pen before it's basically a converter filled felt tip pen or plastic tip pen so think of your Secura Pigma Micron but with a fountain pen converter attached to it the tip sizes are a little bit wider I think the finest they offer is .8 Jeff reviewed the 1.4 millimeter tip so it's it's very marker ish in its line but that's what it's designed to be and it's designed to allow you to put fountain pen ink into this style of pen we reviewed one of the fancy barrel options which runs you about $40 and they have a less expensive plastic barrel option that I think are only about $12 which that's the option I would go like if you're trying this pen out for the first time I would definitely go for the lower entry price point than going straight for like these $40-$50 barrels just to even see if you like the the concept of this pen but all the reviews have shown that the big question which is cleaning it out and switching in inks works like people have been able to flush the tip clean it like you would a fountain pen get all of the previous ink out of the tip and switch the ink color without any residue and that's the challenge with creating something like this the challenge is to get all the ink out of the tip and you know all signs are pointing towards this working so what I really want to do now is see how fine of a tip I can get I hope I think it's .8 which I prefer .5 around there maybe a little bit smaller in my plastic tip pens but yeah I'm going to go hunt I have an extra one down I have an extra one hidden here somewhere in the house probably in the closet of doom that I want to go ink up and with it's got to be something bright like I got to have a bright fun ink with it like maybe like an andronopel like Jeff used califolio pacifique which is a bright blue ink and I would do something like that for this pen maybe a purple like imperial purple bung box imperial purple so okay now now you're all just hearing my brain talk about different things would you ever use something like this I mean I think we discussed it before like this is not a you pen whatsoever but like do you like is this a thing or is this just like a little fad niche thing that I'm overselling

Myke Hurley: I think it's a fun idea and if this is if like you're not a fan of fountain pens as much this is a really good product for you because you get to play around with all of the fun inks that everyone's always talking about if a plastic tip pen but I'm struggling to think of when I would pick up this over a fountain pen sure sure right but as a product it is a genius product to exist it's something that should exist it's a very clever idea because it adds flexibility and stuff but yeah I can't I just don't know when I would use this

Brad Dowdy: yeah so the kicker with this pen is it has to work right and I don't mean it has to write it has to be able to switch inks and so far the feedback has been that it switches inks you know pretty easily you know you do have to put in your cleaning effort like you would on a fountain pen but it gets all the way clear and yeah so I'm gonna ink one up and go for it so I might have my own review of this eventually but I'm color me impressed I guess because I was a little hesitant I wasn't like oh no this is dumb but I was like well no one's really been able to deliver on this in the right this is a good idea but it's never been executed well and I think they might have gotten it this time so it's good to see

Myke Hurley: alright today's episode is brought to you by Squarespace you can make your next move with Squarespace because they'll easily create a website for your next idea or project Squarespace have all of the tools that you're gonna need to get your website online they have wonderful customisable templates that are all award winning they're beautifully designed fantastically customisable so you can have your website look exactly the way that you want then you're gonna need a domain name for it right so people know where to go where you can register a domain name a unique domain name with Squarespace as well they also have 24 7 customer support so when you're setting up your website if you need help with anything they have somebody on hand all the time just there

Myke Hurley: you can do that with Squarespace they'll let you do it it's easy you can make any type of website that you want to build both me and Brad have had extensive use and we both have projects that you can see right now that use Squarespace the pen addict is a Squarespace website I have themesystem.com that is a Squarespace website we both use it because it's wonderful and easy and it makes putting stuff online just the case of putting your ideas there rather than having to build something from the ground up and maintain that you can start a free trial today with no credit card required by going to squarespace.com slash pen addict and their plans start at just $12 a month when you sign up use the offer code pen addict and you will get 10% off your thanks to squarespace for their support of this show and all of relay fm squarespace make your next move make your next website

Brad Dowdy: so we did a metric ton of ass tpa only last week mike and we are full up again with ass tpa

Myke Hurley: keep turning my friend people got the questions for you brad who else is

Brad Dowdy: gonna answer them no ! no! oh well a lot of people no

Myke Hurley: it's just you you're the only person that can answer the questions asked to you

Brad Dowdy: but i love all of the ass tpa that you guys send in so before we get into it i might want to mention this to mike because i kind of mentioned it on my stream yesterday you know this is the month of halloween which is the month of when we started our horror stories for the pen addict and i've already received a couple i think people were thinking along those themes this year so if you have your horror stories send them my way to hello at pen addict dot com put horror stories in the title and we will read some horror stories coming up soon this month maybe sooner than you think so get those stories in the next week or so it would be awesome spooky stories for halloween alright ask tpa this week first off mike and lee you go

Myke Hurley: first question i would love a pen recommendation i'm looking for a flexible nib to allow for a variance in line width while sketching the sailor with the few day 40 degree is close but i need more variance something like a brush pen yeah

Brad Dowdy: this is the eternal unanswerable question and why is because i don't know that there is brush pen quality but stiffer right so if you need that much line variance you're gonna have to go to like a dip nib and ink to get the most line variance and i actually find those nibs enjoyable to write and mess around with i don't do it too much but that's what you want you need to get a nib holder and a stack of nibs you know from zebra from browse from any of the brands that you see try out you know the most flexible ones you can find because you're not gonna get that in a fountain pen if a food a nib is not working for you there's probably not an answer that's gonna cost you less than several hundred dollars where a g nib and handle will cost you less than ten dollars and probably work better for what you're trying to do so Myke's artwork on Twitter is awesome y'all should follow him at Myke Henley so like I always look at Matthias Adolfsons like I'll put the link in the show notes because I'm stumbling through the name but he uses the pilot falcon and that is not a line variation pen despite like the style of the nib but it gives the line enough character for anything wider than that you're just gonna I mean unless I guess there's probably some old vintage pens like you could do with that but you're probably just gonna have to get into the dip nib realm I believe all

Myke Hurley: right next question comes from Bijou Al I'm looking for a smaller diameter white board marker I love the pilot board master markers for classroom use but they are too chunky for the marker holding clip on my fridge white board are there currently any alternatives to the small expo markers out there for reference the clip is slightly too big for a skinny expo but fits a limey safari or platinum preppy I know there are market tip versions of preppies out there so I might order those plus a bottle

Demoninator Pen Ink Matching

Brad Dowdy: of chunky but no I know chunky but

Myke Hurley: you wouldn't say it's too chunky because that doesn't make grammatical sense it makes grammatical

Brad Dowdy: sense to me I mean I speak in internet I mean it is it's in the same realm as absolute unit right it's a term that has become common place now in our lexicon and I feel what Sarah is saying here like it's too chunky and chunky is maybe the correct grammatical turn of phrase there but yeah I appreciate that you laughed while you were trying to manipulate the word as you read through the question

Myke Hurley: I get the questions I don't have to rate them I edit

Brad Dowdy: these questions all the time we edit while we read to the question it's amazing because I've never thought of this right expo makes those skinny white board markers for usually they're usually packaged with their small white boards like almost like handheld or like refrigerator magnet white boards and I've never thought about having anything nicer or better for that nor did I know that noodlers actually makes dry erase inks which I'm not going to lie right here I'm

Brad Dowdy: going to you know what out of me that is like horror story waiting to happen noodlers dry erase inks I would really want to see some experimentation with those before I committed to that so yeah I think this is a cool question that I'll have to research and I put it in here knowing I didn't know the answer in hoping that the listeners might have something they can reach out with any suggestions for Sarah because I think it's a pretty cool problem to try to solve because anyone who is a pen addict would like something very much cooler when they're having to use generic supplies like white board markers like I'm a nerd I'm into these things what's better that I can use that fits my needs so listen to this chunky question and let us know if you have an

Myke Hurley: idea about future fundraising campaigns on kickstarter

Brad Dowdy: yeah so I think a lot of our listeners have been reaching out to me over the past couple weeks as kickstarter has come out very heavy handed anti union stance so a lot of listeners and supporters of us have found that behavior untoward and want to know are you going to support this or not and I'm very pro worker right I'll say that right out loud but I think we're still early in this issue and I want to see what kickstarter does right now what they've done so far is gross and for what we will do in the future we have options so Myke and I don't have to use kickstarter at all so I'm not concerned about like any fundraising that we have to do as from pin addict from knock as far as you know how we handle our campaigns going forward we'll wait and see I do want to say that I will continue to support artists and creators who make things if they choose to use kickstarter because I believe in supporting them more than I do trying to dunk on kickstarter people who create things are looking for support and could use assistance from backers like myself so I will not hold it against anyone if they feel that they need to use kickstarter to better serve their artwork or their creation or production process I will continue to support those backers because I'm really supporting them and that's just kind of how I feel about it

Myke Hurley: yes this is one of those things where okay this is difficult I agree but like lots of big companies do lots of bad things and you know your idea of who you support and who you don't support it's like it reminds me of the idea of if you found out how your food was made you'd never eat so like totally get that I would love to see kickstarter find a way that can make everybody happy ultimately I think that would be good but this for some people may have to be

Brad Dowdy: a

Myke Hurley: it is the platform for it right so it's like it might just be one of those things where people need to begrudgingly use it but that might just be the way things go in the future we're going to have to wait and see

Brad Dowdy: so short version we'll wait and see and we have options to not use kickstarter already in place

Myke Hurley: yeah so ! ! have recently started to expand my horizons around fountain pen addiction I love demonstrator pens because it's enjoyable for me to see the ink sloshing around I recently purchased the twisby diamond 580 ALR purple from jetpens I was so excited to get it in the mail I inked it up right away after putting erosiozuku black in the pen and trying it out I felt like I made a good second demonstrator purchase with the twisby eco being my first while sitting at my desk at work and enjoying the look of this pen one thing came across my mind I feel like I can only put ink in this pen that will look good with the purple accents it drives me crazy to think about putting a color of ink in the pen that won't match am I mad is this something I need to deal with emotionally should I adjust my spending habits to only buy the clear or silver versions that I have to address as part of my obsessive self thank you for the incredible podcast Seth ink matching with pens it's like part of the fun my friend this is it you've got to get the right ink to match the pen this is it yes 100% now you can buy a gold ink it will look good with the purple even though it's pointless to use this is the way it goes

Brad Dowdy: it's over for you now Seth you're in you're done for this is what happens once you figure out that okay the path goes is there a better pen I like this is there a better pen does it come in cooler colors look at that

Brad Dowdy: I should probably buy a purple ink with that and you're done it's all downhill from here in the best way possible I don't have a hard and fast rule that the ink has to match 90% of the time it's going to match I would get over it but I enjoy writing with some type of either perfect match or complimentary ink with my pen it's just what you do because you have the option now we're past buying the three pack of ball points that are red blue and black we're past that threshold so now we have options and you can make it however you want and that's the fun of it so yes welcome aboard Seth alright

San Francisco Pen Show Recap

Myke Hurley: our next question comes from Matthew okay this is a long one you

Brad Dowdy: want me to read this one you need a break yeah you

Myke Hurley: do

Brad Dowdy: it yeah because this is a recap and you were part of this and I don't know did you catch the link I put in here so you will have to check this out I didn't actually hot link it you can choose to share that does this add up to you now

Myke Hurley: yeah yeah I knew it when I saw the intro to the question anyway

Brad Dowdy: yeah because we took this question before the San Francisco pin show this is so this is this is good follow up so Matthew says I had asked you previously about bringing my five month old to the San Francisco pin show didn't know if you wanted an update but baby at show went well I have a few tips for the future if people ask the same question all right you're ready for this everyone everyone taking notes all of you everyone with a five month old pay attention Sunday is the best day to go crowds are less and the people there are a bit more relaxed bring plenty of diapers and wipes as well as a pad for a changing table I think that's just universal like even if you don't have kids bring that just feels

Myke Hurley: like the way you would do it

Brad Dowdy: right right right if the hotel bathroom doesn't have a changing station find the most out of the way bathroom preferably one with a large counter and spread the pad there scope out any big comfy out of the way chairs for feeding bottles and chilling with the little one when breaks are needed so that's prep that's you know scoping out the territory bring bottles preloaded with formula powder and add hot water from the hotel either from the sink bathroom or hot water from the coffee shop in the hotel good tip people tend to give you more space if you have a baby in your arms I was able to even wear a backpack while holding the kid in the aisles with no issues so that's good a well designed backpack can hold paper inks pens as well as your baby supplies just make sure it is well compartmented so there is no leakage of baby related fluids big tip there get the baby to sleep in the car in the way by playing chill music mine responded to the crime of the century album by super tramp I can't vouch for that but if the baby slept then it's a win many people at shows want to hold babies for some reason and

Brad Dowdy: random people as you can see what's this picture would you like to share this picture in

Myke Hurley: the show notes I got to hold said five months old

Brad Dowdy: I had just walked back to the table I was not there when Matthew had come by but I came back to Myke holding a baby and it was glorious it was everything you expected it to be and I expected it to be my

Myke Hurley: biological

Brad Dowdy: clock went berserk at that moment finally depending on the baby three to five hours is all the time you're going to get any more than that is asking for trouble all in all it was a pretty great experience and I'm glad I did it thanks so that was it was awesome to see Matthew there with his child and the baby was super well behaved and you know definitely a good call coming on Sunday so it was a good show for them I'm glad it worked out and I appreciate the recap of everything that all the tips you took in so that was good I think Myke's just staring at this picture no longer looking at the show notes

Bill Gates Documentary and Favorite Pen

Myke Hurley: Doug wants to know if we've seen the Bill Gates documentary on Netflix yet I haven't but I want to and has taken a picture of Bill's favorite pen apparently

Brad Dowdy: yeah so I haven't seen the doc yet but I do want to see it and I wouldn't have linked his pen unless I had a story to tell so what this pen is is the pilot elite rollerball and when I show a picture of it to you a lot of you will know what it is this was my single most used pen in the extra fine model this is the gold barrel version of the pen and it came in a black or smoke gray barrel version it's a liquid ink pen and it was .5 ultra fine for that pen and I use this is a pen I would hunt down at office supply stores like if one store didn't have them I would go to another store it's that good of a pen I think they still make them every now and then I'll see them I put this in here because I haven't actually seen one in a while but we'll have this in the show notes and when you look at it you'll go oh I've seen that pen before it was never the most popular pen but it was such a good writing pen at the time I wouldn't use it now because

Brad Dowdy: he's

Myke Hurley: still final question comes from Nancy Nancy says I'm girding my loins to step up a notch into a gold nib fountain pen I use my fountain pens for mostly sketching some writing a lot of artists seem to like the pilot falcon so I'm leaning towards that however I hear you guys rave over the platinum 37 76 all the time and I'm interested in that too I generally go for function over form but I do admit the platinum looks a little prettier than the falcon anyway I'm interested in the experience of a gold nib pen and in getting some line variation I do not know what to expect I know not to expect what I would get with a flex nib but there would be some variation so any thoughts on which would be the best for

Brad Dowdy: you

Pilot Falcon vs. Platinum 3776

Myke Hurley: know

Brad Dowdy: whether it's matching ink or getting a nib for line variation this one's a little bit tougher because the 3776 even in a soft medium like you say soft fine that's not going to give you that much line variation I use the soft fine I love writing with the soft fine it does not give a lot of line variation the soft medium will give you more neither will give you as much as the falcon and neither will give you as much line variation as the F A nib that pilot also sells in some other pens if you're looking at something with a lot of line variation that's going to give you more line variation than the falcon if you were going to do mostly sketching the falcon is going to work better if you're going to do mostly writing the 3776 is going to work better so if based on what you're saying and based on these two pens I would pick the falcon and then you could even go with wider variation and look at the F A nib so that's kind of what I would go with the soft medium of the platinum it's not going to do what you would expect even

Brad Dowdy: it still has plenty of variation if you push it a little bit where the platinum nibs do not the platinum nibs are strictly writing style nibs where the falcon you can do both with yeah

Myke Hurley: I would say though I agree it's not a very exciting pen to look at I think the falcon

Brad Dowdy: so Nancy I will ruin the rest of your year now so I love the falcon so much that I had Jonathan Brooks make a barrel for it because the regular barrel isn't that special so just keep that in mind did you yeah yeah you've seen it before because I've had it for years it's that kind of a galaxy looking it's like the it's like that pelican star ruby but with a black base and sparkles instead of a red base so yeah it's just basically you know you had

Brad Dowdy: everything it's one of my favorite pens so sorry about that Nancy I just cost you more money but yeah go with it I very much choose the falcon if for this specific answer

Myke Hurley: if you'd like to send in a question for a future episode of the show you can send out a tweet with the hashtag I'll send an email to hello at pen addict dot com right yes and if you

Brad Dowdy: we've held strong with that schedule for three four weeks

Myke Hurley: something like that it's

Brad Dowdy: been good

Myke Hurley: twitch.tv slash pen addict I

Brad Dowdy: was just going to say we talk about stationary pens like I addressed envelopes yesterday so I get some work done while I talk to chat and we go for like a between an hour and a half and two hours something like that just talking about stationary stuff and then every now and then I'll mix in some games if I have a couple extra hours to spare

Myke Hurley: Brad is pen addict on Instagram I'm having a great time using the new iPhone Pro Max camera Instagram camera

Myke Hurley: we'll be back next week until then say goodbye Brad goodbye Brad