The Pen Addict 266/transcript

The Pen Addict Podcast Transcript
Episode:	266
Title:	Sometimes Funny, Most of the Time Nonsense
Release Date:	July 19th, 2017
Hosts:	Brad Dowdy Myke Hurley
Guests:	No guests this episode
Additional Information
Official page:	Episode 266
Audio File:	Audio Episode 266
Podcast page:	The Pen Addict 266
Length:	5757 min <br />0.95 h <br /> minutes
Previous Transcript	Next Transcript

Myke Hurley: From RelayFM, this is The Pen Addict, episode 266. Today's show is brought to you by our friends at Pen Chalet and Blue Apron. My name is Myke Hurley and I am joined by the one and only Mr. Brad Dowdy. Hi Brad Dowdy.

Brad Dowdy: Hello Michael Hurley.

Myke Hurley: Just mixing it up, you know, I like to keep you on your toes so you never really know what's coming next.

Brad Dowdy: You do because I never know how to start the episode after you say my name and then I'm like, hey, should we talk about something?

Myke Hurley: Well, we're in it now. There's nothing you can do about it. The episode has become without you.

Kickstarter Updates

Brad Dowdy: Oh, okay. So I should catch up, right? Okay, so I'm going to catch up by updating our Pen Addict Kickstarter. If you are a backer of the project, you got an update in your email last week. The pictures of the Sepulot Pen Case.

Myke Hurley: I haven't seen this.

Brad Dowdy: What are you doing with your life?

Myke Hurley: I haven't backed the project.

Brad Dowdy: Oh, that's true. Right? I forgot about that part. I'm not allowed to. Yeah, yeah, that's true. That's true. Sorry, I rescind that comment. Yeah.

Myke Hurley: But yeah, I'll get kicked off Kickstarter if I start doing stuff like that.

Brad Dowdy: That's true. That's true. So this, I wish I could take some better pictures. I was in a rush. It was like a five-minute visit at the shop the other day, passing through town. Mm-hmm. I knew the sample was there, so I stopped by to grab it and verify it, and everything came out good. The pictures I took don't show just how fluorescent orange the interior is. Yeah. I mean, it is traffic cone orange. Perfect. It is awesome. So those are heading to production pretty much as we speak, and we had an estimated shipping time frame of August, and that looks like it shouldn't be an issue. You know how things go, but we're awfully close, and I think everyone's pretty excited to get these in their hands. This is a fun case, Myke. I'm not going to lie. We're probably going to have to put this into production later because it's just fun. It's very simple, but it's useful, and I know Jeff carries his a lot, and I haven't worked mine into my rotation yet, but I know how much people love it, and I'm anxious to get these things out there.

Myke Hurley: I really hope that there can be an extra one.

Brad Dowdy: Oh, there's going to be plenty extras. Yay. So we'll have an opportunity for people to pick some up at pen shows down the line because we have to order X amount of extras. Yeah, yeah, of course. You never want to order an exact amount, right? No. Things get lost, damaged, all that stuff. So we'll see. We should have a handful of extras. The little label is so cute. It came out good. I love it. I love it. It's so small, we couldn't do the lines in the background, so there were some little things you have to adjust for when you're doing stitching that size, but it looks good.

Myke Hurley: Because I use my Cappello quite a bit, actually. I got the blue label one from Atlanta two years ago. Yeah. And I use mine. I think it honestly is my favorite. It jostles with the Sinclair as my favorite product that you've done. Oh, good. Good. Because it's just this nice little thing, and you can use that big pouch, you know, the notebook, so you can use it for a bunch of stuff. This is one of those cases that can really easily be repurposed, so I like it a lot. Yes.

Brad Dowdy: It's a very convenient case for a lot of things.

Brad Dowdy: Yep. So I'm anxious to get those going, so it shouldn't be long. We won't have them at DC for anyone to pick up or anything like that. That's a little bit ahead of schedule, but it's not going to be long after that, I believe.

Myke Hurley: And next week, we're going to talk about DC some more, because it's going to be our last episode before the show, because the DC Pen Show episode will come out a little later that week. We're going to record it when we're in person, of course, at the Pen Show. Yeah. And I've been thinking about the vlog, so I'm going to be doing that, and that should be out not too long after the show. Like, I can't imagine I'll be sitting on that for a very long time, so I want to get it out.

Brad Dowdy: We already have one big extra scheduled for the vlog, so.

Myke Hurley: We do?

Brad Dowdy: We do. I mentioned it to you the other day. I can't say it out loud. Then yes. I like your style. I don't remember.

Brad Dowdy: I'll fill you in later. Thanks. I'd appreciate that.

Brad Dowdy: We did have one bit of industry news I wanted to mention, because it got shared to me. It was an article out in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel this week that Daily's Pen Shop, which has been in business for like 90-something years, I think, in Milwaukee, is closing down. And I started reading this article, and I'm about halfway through this article, and I'm all sad and depressed. And he's like, yeah, well, only like three people come through the door and, you know, all this stuff. And it's a very downer of an article. But then when you get to the second half of the article, the current owner is like, yo, I'm killing it online. You know, he's like, I've got all this business. I don't know. You know, I'm buying like thousands of dollars worth of pens and fixing them up and reselling them on eBay. And, yo, yeah, business is great. It's just the overhead of the shop's killing him. So it was like, I was like down in the dumps for this guy. And it stinks that, you know, there's one less brick-and-mortar shop. I mean, you never want that to go away. But I think he's, you know, doing pretty well just in the online, you know, marketplace. And, you know, that seems to be where a lot of the business is going. Unless you can do, unless you can have an online store. I mean, a brick-and-mortar store somewhere like Anderson Pins, where it's a lot more than just a store you can pop in. And, you know, it's a store you can go hang out in and get your pens repaired and, you know, meet some people in the community and have meetups. And they do a lot to bring people into their storefront. So I understand that the shop closing stinks, but it sounds like it's the right decision, at least from a business perspective, the way the article reads. So I just thought it was an interesting article to share because I was really like, oh, man, this is super negative. But it turns out to be A-OK, I think.

Myke Hurley: Good. That is good news. So you've been quoted in a major publication again, Wired. I don't know if this is your first time being quoted in Wired. I think for a very similar article, this is an article written by a lady with the name of Elizabeth Stinson. Stinson. And she's written an article professing her love of the paper-mate ballpoint pen. However, I mean, it's OK. Right. It's a nice article. It's nicely written. I like it. I like it when major publications write stuff like this. I kind of enjoy it. It's a fun article. It's fun, for sure. But I just have some – I'm just going to be nitpicky. The title of the article is The Big Stops Here. And there is a picture. I think the only picture or one of the main pictures that's actually in the article is of a pilot ballpoint pen. Although the article is about the paper-mate specifically. And then it kind of branches out to more ballpoint plastic stick pens, as they refer to them in the article. But I just found it really funny. Like, you know, it's like the Kleenex problem with the Bic thing, right? Right, right. Bic is just what these pens are called. But it was just funny to me that it's called The Big Stops Here, but it's not about that at all. Right. It's about the paper-mate.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. The Bic name will draw the eyeballs, right? I mean, that's the headline writer in them, right? So that's what it's going to get the eyeballs and the clicks, you know, and not necessarily the paper-mate, you know, because everyone knows the Bic. And most everyone knows the paper-mate. But this was a fun thing to be a part of. I talked to her on the phone for like 10 minutes. You know, Joe sent her my way. Joe Crace. Joe Crace from The Gentleman Stationer. After he talked to her, he sent her my way, which I'm very appreciative of. And she got on the phone and was telling me, you know, what it's about. You know, she said, you know, I have this fascination with the paper-mate ballpoint pen. And she was telling me her stories about it and, you know, how she's used it for years. And, like, her first question is, what do you think about this pen? I said, it's a terrible pen. And she just started dying laughing.

Myke Hurley: I love the quote that they used of yours. It's like dripping with other phrases. And, you know, it's completely – I mean, there are like a million words not said for every word that you say. So I'll read – this is the quote that they printed from Brad. When people see this pen, they know exactly what it is. That paper-mate keeps making it is a – that paper-mate keeps making it is a testament to it being a good enough pen.

Myke Hurley: It's an accurate statement, Myke. It's beautiful. I love it. I absolutely love that quote. That is – you could show me that and say, like, who wrote that? And I would say it was you. That is, like, the most Brad Dowdy answer to a question. It's a good enough pen. It's like refusing to hurt anybody's feelings and – but saying, you know, saying something as positive as can be said with undertones of negativity. It's beautiful. It's the story of my life, apparently.

Brad Dowdy: That's what you get at. But it was fun. And she knows. Like, she absolutely knows. But it's just one of those things, you know, one of those items she loves. And it was fun talking to her. She was super positive and hilarious to talk to.

Myke Hurley: Did you give her any recommendations for other pens she should try? Yeah. Yeah.

Brad Dowdy: She – definitely. She wanted to know – Let me help you. She wanted to know why it's bad and then, like, what can be done to solve that problem. So, I pointed her towards the Jetstream and the Acroball. She wanted to keep a ballpoint type of pen. So, of course, I did.

TWSBI Fountain Pens

Brad Dowdy: Beautiful. Beautiful. Yeah. Now, this next item on the list, Myke, this came out of nowhere. And this is right up your alley.

Myke Hurley: Yeah. I was very surprised to see this. Also surprised, I don't think anybody sent it to me. But I just saw it. Really? Yeah. Maybe at the very most, one person. Which is – this feels like something that I would have been sent every single day for a month. Right? Like, it would just keep going and going and going. Well, the arts and sciences was. Exactly. Right? But maybe it's because I just haven't mentioned this. So, people forget that I'm left-handed, maybe. I don't know. But I am left-handed. And Field Notes have made a left-handed craft notebook. I think this is so much fun. I love that they've done this. It's, like, completely unnecessary but brilliant. Right? Like, you don't need – like, we don't need this, left-handed people. We don't need this. But I love that it exists. Right? Like, you know, you can just flip the book upside down or just use it differently. But, like, this is fun. Don't breakate us. Yeah. No, no, no. Not like that. Right? Like, I'm so happy that this exists because it's not needed. You know? Like, but it is a recognition that there are other people. Right? Us left-handed people persecuted our whole lives for being left-handed. You know? We have to use the weird scissors and all that stuff. I'm just really pleased that Field Notes have done this. And this is on my shopping list for when we take our visit later on this year. I will pick up a pack of these. Get a nice picture of me with the left-handed notebooks. It is a standard craft edition notebook. Like, this is just standard edition. You can buy it from the store. It's a permanent fixture. Thank you, Field Notes crew, for acknowledging that left-handed people exist.

Brad Dowdy: Have you ever used a right-side binding notebook like this? Have you ever used one of those? This was a left-handed notebook. No. No, I've never. Would you be able to? Like, mentally? I don't know. I feel like... Yeah. I would think it's a weird adjustment.

Myke Hurley: I do struggle to use this Field Notes in the way that they're intending it to be used. Like, I would always turn it... Open it the wrong side. I think every single time.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So, anyway. I'm glad they did it. I think it's fun and functional. And I think they'll get a lot of run out of that. I think that's pretty cool.

Myke Hurley: Yep.

Art Supply Posse

Brad Dowdy: So, I mentioned last week I was on the Art Supply Posse. Yep. You should have. As it turns out. As it turns out. That was the last episode of the Art Supply Posse. Oh, you killed it. I totally killed it.

Myke Hurley: Is this podcast warfare?

Myke Hurley: What are you doing?

Brad Dowdy: I didn't think of it that way. Hey, can you go on Erasable?

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. I'm getting some emails from Andy. He's going to have some words with you the next time he meets up. Bring it on. No. No. It was... Kathy and Heather asked me, like, a month ago to be on the show. And we figured out a date. And, you know, I popped online that night to, you know, record the show. It was Monday a week ago. And they go, oh, by the way, this is the last episode we're ending the show. I'm like, hello. I was like, do you want me to still... I speak to you. Yeah. I'm like, do you still want me to be on here? I feel like it should be, like, your time to, you know, talk about the show. And, you know, we don't have to do this. And they're like, no, no, no. It's fun. We'll just do it like a normal episode. And then we'll record, like, a, you know, an intro kind of laying out, you know, what the decision was about and things like that. So, I was okay. It was a surprise to me. They felt kind of bad. They kind of dropped it on me, like, five minutes before we hit record. Like, by the way, the show's over. So, I killed the art supply posse.

Myke Hurley: Oh, man. That's a shame, though.

Brad Dowdy: I'm sorry to hear that. I am, too. I am, too. And, you know what? They left the door cracked. You know, it's not final. It is for now. They left the door ajar a little bit. And I know a lot of people will miss it. You know, Anna and Heather got it started. And Kathy took over from Anna about halfway through. And I've always enjoyed hearing their perspective on art supplies and that type of materials that you used to create. And I thought it was wonderful. I thought it was a great fit for the community. And it will be sorely missed. But I tell you what, Myke, that was one of the funnest episodes of a podcast I've been on. Hey. I just really enjoyed the conversation. Yeah. Yeah. Step it up. Step it up, Hurley. Step it up, Hurley. So, yeah. But I listened to it this morning and remembered how much fun I had recording it. And hopefully we will get to meet at least Heather in Chicago later this year. Yeah. And maybe Kathy can make it out, too.

Myke Hurley: So, yeah. I will say it was really, really good. As someone who's done this thing for a long enough time, like, I can completely sympathize with this, you know. Oh, absolutely. Needing and wanting to put a show to bed at the time that it feels like it's right.

Brad Dowdy: I am so sick of your crap.

Myke Hurley: I mean, God, every week. What do you think I'm talking about? Oh. Oh. No, I get it. Like, I 100% get it. I've done it to a bunch of shows in the past, right? Like, you know, I have more shows in my graveyard than I do currently running, right? Like, this is just a thing. And if it feels right, like, if it feels like the time is right to move on, it's better to do that than to let the show kind of, like, die on the vine. So, I totally understand this. Totally understand this. So, yeah. Hey, and they went out with a bang. They had me. They sure did. I mean, what more could you do? Would you honestly want? Right? Brad Dowdy.

Myke Hurley: But good luck to Heather and to Kathy. And I hope that they have to do some cool stuff in the pipeline.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. They both have active and upcoming projects in the works. So, they will be scratching that podcast itch. Kathy already is. And Heather's working on another project she's got coming up in a few months, she said. So, yeah. Cool. It's all good. Good. Good. Good. Yep. So, we talked in that episode about Art Snacks, and they have a new product coming out called Lettering Snacks. Did you check this out, Myke? I sure did. What do you think about this? This is a quarterly edition from the people behind Art Snacks, Lee and Sarah Rubenstein. They do a wonderful job with Art Snacks. And if you haven't heard my Art Snacks story, I'm not going to share it here. You need to go listen to the Art Supply Posse finale. It's a pretty good story. But we talked about the lettering snacks. And I think this is really kind of cool. They did a one-off about a year ago, maybe a year and a half ago, of a lettering box. And now they're going to bring that into a quarterly edition. And it's not like the regular Art Snacks monthly box. It's a little bit more serious than that. It's obviously bigger. It's more expensive. But it's lettering focused. You get classes to help you teach yourself how to letter.

Myke Hurley: Yeah, it's an online video class that has a tutorial on all of the products that are included within the box, which I think is genius. And then also some practice projects that you should do for your lettering. But I love that they're making a video which is focused on the product that they're sending you. And it's five to six art materials curated for lettering every month, including these art prints in the box as well of lettering. This one is super compelling. I am hovering over the buy button for this one. I think this is a really interesting project. I really do. I think this is really smart. It's a nice extension of the Art Snacks thing. This is one thing that I found when I got Art Snacks boxes in the past. I never really knew what to do with the stuff that they sent me. Every edition had a few things. I'm like, oh, I could use this. But then there'd be something else where I'm like, I don't even know what to do with this because I'm not an artist. So the idea of there being a video project, a video class that teaches me how to use them, that's a really good idea.

Brad Dowdy: Right. Right. So if I knew I could commit the time to doing this, I would back it. It's expensive. So I want to be sure to commit to it if I'm going to do it. But I love the idea of it for sure.

Myke Hurley: Yeah, definitely. Definitely. All right. We have something that we teased last week that we've both gone in to talk about. But I think we should take a break first. What do you think? Let's do it. Because we have a great deal today from the Pench LA. We have a really good one today. Really good. Pench LA, they have all of your favorite brands and all of the products that you're looking for. Wherever you want, a Monteverdi rollerball, a Pelican fountain pen, a Lamy ballpoint, and the Miki, Pilot, Sailor, Kafeco. It doesn't matter what you're looking for. They've got it. And they're an authorized dealer of all of these products. They do free shipping on orders of over $50 in the US. They have great rates for shipping overseas. They have very fast and reliable customer service. Pench LA offers a 100% satisfaction guarantee for anything that you buy from them. They also have a bunch of different accessories. If you're looking for cases, pen holders, refills, fountain pens, they have a bunch of limited edition stuff they offer at prices that you're probably not going to find anywhere else. Tons of discounts all the time over at Pench LA. And they're a great supporter of this show, of course. Now, there's a couple of things I can get you. I can get you 10% off anything at Pench LA. Just go to pench LA.com, hit the podcast link at the top of the website, and enter the password penaddict. This will give you the code that you need to save 10% off on anything at Pench LA. Now, the super special offer that you'll find there this week is one of these offers that's so good, I can't tell you what it is.

Brad Dowdy: Oh, no. I'm sitting here staring at it. I'm like, what is Ron doing?

Myke Hurley: It's amazing. This is such a good deal, I can't tell you. It is a buy one, get one free of two great pens that came out this year. You buy one of the pens, and the other pen comes with it. There is a limited amount of these pens available, especially in this buy one, get one free offer. And Ron has told me that there are specific nibs that one maybe or one more, who knows how many of these pens come with. And on request, he may be able to swap them out from the standard that's on the page. So if you do want to buy it and you're desperate for a different nib size, you can drop them an email and they'll see if they can hook you up. Now, the only way that you're going to find out what these pens are is to go and look for yourself. So go to pench LA, P-E-N-C-H-A-L-E-T.com and click the podcast link at the top of the website and enter the password penaddict. And it's going to go quick. So get in there if you think you might be interested. And you probably will be if you listen to the show. Thank you so much to pench LA for their support of this show and RelayFM. Can I talk about a product further down that line?

Brad Dowdy: I think so. Shouldn't be a problem. Because this is a crazy price. And, you know, I'm going to talk about it and we'll just have to pay the piper. Or the Visconti Opera Metal Fountain Pens are one of the coolest Viscontis that have come out in the past year or two. I think it was last year's pen. I don't know if it was the year before. They come in these really great kind of brushed metal finishes. The price on these is ridiculous. Like, it's really... I don't know how he's doing it. But if you're ever interested in a Visconti Opera and have you ever seen these metal... If you've ever seen these metal ones at a pen show, I've been fascinated with them. This is a really good deal. I'm stumbling over my words because I'm staring at it like, should I click through further? And I'm like, no, the DC pen show is coming up. But it's kind of a crazy, crazy deal. All right. So, yeah. Good deals from pench LA. Thank you, Ron, for hooking up pen addict listeners.

Canalea Pen Company

Myke Hurley: All right. All right, Michael. All right. Okay. So, basically, just before the show was starting to record today, our good friends over at the Canalea Pen Company announced the pen that they've been teasing for the last couple of weeks. It is called the... Oh, Brad, help me. Haleakala. Haleakala. Haleakala? Okay, I like that. Haleakala Silhouette Fountain Pen. Now, the Haleakala volcano in Hawaii is what has inspired this. Apparently, the colors are from the way that the clouds look and the way that the sky looks. And, of course, they have included on their page, which I really love, photos that show what the pen has been modeled on. Right? So, they have an actual picture, which is what we're going for. And, as always, it's voodoo magic, I think, to the point where they're able to produce a pen that looks like this. This pen, I think that they're having this to celebrate their first anniversary as a company, right? Because Canalea, unbelievably, only launched at the DC Pen Show last year, right? Right.

Brad Dowdy: So, yeah, this is the one-year anniversary release. This is the first, I guess this is the first new one they've released since their launch?

Myke Hurley: Yeah, I think this is the newest, the only addition to the lineup since the original lineup, which was like five pens or something. So, tell me how you really feel about this pen. I'm in love with this pen. Like, absolutely in love with this pen. It has a rose gold medallion, which is what goes on the end, right? So, like the... Right, and the finial. Is it a finial?

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, I call anything that's on the top a finial, whether that's the accurate term, I can't say. But yes, it's a medallion on the top of the cap.

Myke Hurley: And that's rose gold, super pretty. They're offering two options of rose gold nibs in this. You can get a rose gold steel nib, which I think comes as standard, or you can get, you can buy an actual rose gold nib for this thing. You can also have other nibs as well, but I think, come on, like you gotta, you gotta go rose gold this thing all the way. Okay.

Myke Hurley: Yeah, this is just stunning. Like, I'm blown away by this pen.

Brad Dowdy: So, as we have all learned, the voodoo magician behind these acrylics is Jonathan Brooks from the Carolina Pen Company. Yep. So, I talked to Hugh on the phone about this pen, and they spent months trying to get this right to match up. He said this is definitely the hardest one that they've had to make, the most difficult one to match the inspiration photo. And what they've pulled off is really impressive.

Myke Hurley: Yeah. I've never seen pens in these colors before. Like, it's wonderful.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. So, the color's a standout. It's not something you see normally, but it's a perfect match. It obviously matches the inspiration photo perfectly. And what I told Hugh that I enjoyed so much was the cloud cover area, which is the black and gray, and a little bit of the shine in there is kind of large sweeping swirls. And then when you get into the sky, it's a much finer, tighter swirl. So, it's not all the same kind of look throughout the pen. And I don't, you know, Mr. Voodoo Magic, I don't know how he does that. Like, it's kind of boggling my mind that this bright top section is kind of a very tight, compact, beautiful swirl. And then it just morphs straight into these large swirling clouds. It's a stunner. It looks fantastic. I mean, I'm, yeah. I mean, it's a jaw-dropping design, which everything that they've done since they launched has been jaw-dropping. So, I love it. Absolutely love it.

Myke Hurley: Yeah. I mean, clearly, Jonathan Brooks has learned some new tricks up his sleeve, right? Like, there's something going on with this one that looks really different. Like, it really is very special.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. Yeah. I felt that, too. And I haven't even seen it at hand, but they did such a good job with the pictures to display what it's all about. Yeah. I'm very impressed with what they did here. You know, hopefully, we'll be able to lay our hands on them in DC if they're not all sold out by this point.

Myke Hurley: Yeah. Well, apparently, they're for purchase now, and they're going to be at the pen shows, right? So, I'm hoping there'll be one at DC to the point where I'm going to try something that I've never done before, Brad. I'm going to attempt to pre-order a pen with my own voice. Oh, nice. Okay. So, Hugh, Carol, if you're out there, I really want to buy one of these, and I'm going to see you in, like, just under two weeks or something. So, if you could just hold one aside for me at the pen show, I would really appreciate that. And then I will come, credit card in hand, and take it away from you. So, if you're out there, if you're listening, please hold one aside, and I will very gladly take it off your hands at DC. Wow. So, that just happened. This is an innovation.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. You're, like, pulling rank here on, like, the entire community. You're just like, yep, I'm getting one of these, and you need to hold me one.

Myke Hurley: I'm just asking if it's possible. You know, like, I'm not saying that anybody needs to or should do anything. I'm just seeing if it's possible for me to achieve this, what I've set out to achieve. Well played, sir. Yeah, I know you. I know you, though. If you wanted one, you've already arranged it. I know what you're like. I know what you're all about, Doughty. That's true. I'm just not public about it. I learn from the best. Yeah. I keep things on the down low.

Visconti Divina Elegance

Brad Dowdy: The Visconti Divina Elegance. I'm surprised at the notes you wrote about this pen. So, tell me what you think about this pen.

Myke Hurley: This is the style of Visconti Divina that I very nearly purchased at the London Pen Show. Like, I had it in my hands. I was turning it around. But it was the first pen that I saw. So, I was like, I'll come back to it. And then I found a couple of other things that I wanted even more. And I went with them. Like, I got my Twist pen there. Which, you know, I've always wanted the pen from Twist. And it was really nice. And it wasn't too expensive. So, I went with that one. Because that one, like, it just knocked me off my feet. Right? Like, the Mother of Pearl look about it. It was beautiful.

Myke Hurley: But this Visconti, like, I picked it up. I was twirling it around in my hands. It feels so beautiful to hold. It looks incredible. They have their, like, their locking mechanism. Their, like, hook and lock system, as it's called out by Susan in the review. Which keeps the spiral in the material lined up. Which is genius. Because I would never, ever buy a pen like this if it didn't have something like that. Right. Because I would lose my mind trying to get it to line up. Right. Like, if this just had regular threads, I wouldn't be able to cope. Right. The Visconti that I was looking at was nowhere near as expensive as this one. I assume this is some kind of limited special edition. Right? Yeah.

Brad Dowdy: I don't know if this one is or not. But it's a very expensive pen. It's like $1,200. Yeah.

Myke Hurley: And the one that I was looking at, you know, I mean, I was buying from a seller. But it was, like, in the 400 pound range or something like that. Yeah. So, I mean, not cheap. Not cheap. No, no, no. Right? But, like, not $1,200.

Brad Dowdy: Right. They have one called a Burlwood that's in the same Davina pattern that I was tempted by. But I just, I can't get over the swirl aspect. Like, this is a pen I appreciate for its craftsmanship and style and look. But it's not a pen that I would use. Interesting. So, it's kind of, it's, like, off the shopping list for me. Although, it's a stunner. I mean, there's, like, nothing I don't like except the using part. Like, I wouldn't ever use this pen just because it doesn't really fit me and my style and what I like on a pen. But I understand the beauty of it.

Myke Hurley: This is the only Visconti that I would buy. And it's still on my, the back of my mind list. Like, one day it's likely that I will pick one of these up.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah.

Myke Hurley: Because I love it. I really, really love it. Like, it's, I think it's fantastic.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. So, what about the Aurora 88 Minerale that we talked about last week in depth? So, we don't need to go into it too much. But I put up my review and it was essentially the same comments that I said. Yeah.

Myke Hurley: The review was really interesting to me. Just, like, from a meta level. It was incredibly short for you. And I think that, you know. I had that same thought. I think it's relatively telling in, like, well, there isn't much of a story here. Right? Like, you've already reviewed other Aurora pens. It looks like other Aurora pens. I mean, you were very kind about the looks of it. Which I agree with mostly. Right, Doc? I think it looks really nice. But I think we both have criticisms about how it was made, maybe. That are concerns. Right? About, like, where did the material actually come from? You know, like, are these blue and yellow and red parts just reused offcuts? Right? And, like, does that really then? That's just fine. That's how manufacturers make their money. It's fine. But does a pen like that warrant $716 as a price tag? I don't know. Right. Right? Like, if it was half of that, no problem. Yeah.

Brad Dowdy: Like, I will. I think I will eventually own one of these pens. It just might be a couple of years when I can get one for, like, $450, maybe. I don't know. Maybe that's dreaming.

Myke Hurley: I will. No doubt pay that money. Because I want an Aurora, and I think these are really nice. And they have a bunch of different colors, plus it's demonstrator, and they look good as demonstrators. Because they're... What is the filling system? Piston. It's piston.

Brad Dowdy: That's what I was looking for. It's a wonderful piston filler and a wonderful nib. Yeah. I love it. I mean, everything about this pen is great, except them. It's very expensive for what it is, I think.

Myke Hurley: Yeah. I couldn't pay $700 for this. I just couldn't. Yeah.

Brad Dowdy: I think I paid $450 for my Optima, and I was happy about that. Yeah. And that's about it. Like, I don't... There's not enough difference... There's not, you know, $250 worth of difference to me in this, to justify this pen, limited or not. Yeah.

Myke Hurley: It was basically, you know, in the review, as I expected, the price is the stumbling block. And it really... It's a big one. It's a big stumbling block.

Brad Dowdy: But it's funny that you noticed it was short, and no one else has said that. But when I finished it, I was like, ah, this is kind of short. Like, I did the... Popped up the little word count in Bear app that I write in. And I was like, ah, this is kind of short. And I started rereading it again. I was like, what could I add here that would improve this review? And it was really nothing. Like, I'm not going to add specs. There isn't. You know, I'm not going to add dimensions and things that are just filler. Because I've talked about this style of pen enough. I've reviewed these types of pens before. Other people have reviewed these types of pens before. So I just more wanted to comment on the Minerali as an idea as opposed to a technical review of a pen I've never used before. Right?

Myke Hurley: Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Community Links

Brad Dowdy: 100%. There isn't much. There isn't much. Yep. Yep. So this next post, Myke, I got a couple of community links I wanted to add in here. Because there were two posts this week that I thoroughly enjoyed, or this past week. Number one is from your countrymate Priya made a trip over to Chicago and visited the Field Notes mothership. And this was one of the most enjoyable articles of any type that I've read, like, in the past year. I loved it. She did. Yep. I loved it. It's fantastic. If you want to learn how to do a trip report, this is how you do it. But it helped that she had a very compelling story to tell, right? Because this was not a normal field trip, right? She got hooked up, like, big time. And this is what Field Notes does. They were closed. When she's making her trip from London to Chicago, they were not going to be in the office. Uh-huh. And she was devastated. And they reached out to her personally and said, we'll give you a private visit. Come on. And she just takes it from there. And it's pretty amazing, right?

Myke Hurley: Oh, it's an absolutely fantastic article. Like, I really, really loved it. She was taken around by Michelle at Field Notes. And there's loads of really cool details in this article. Like, I implore you to go and read it. Like, there's a bunch of, like, if you are a Field Notes aficionado, there are, like, some kind of insider secrets that are exposed in this. Like, from how some of this stuff is produced and some of the timelines, which is really interesting. One of them was, so I'll give you a taste of the type of thing that you can expect, that the stars on the Night Sky Edition were originally supposed to be glow in the dark. And then they found the holographic material and liked that more. But, like, I didn't know that. And that's really interesting. And, yeah, there's a bunch of stuff about, like, how many, how some projects have taken longer to make than others and how that's affected things and what Field Notes did. Like, it is just a really, really, really great article. I loved it. There's tons of great photos. She tells such a good story about it all. She did. And, like, I am almost dying to get there.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, that made me, that made me, like, okay, I'm ready to go. Let's go now. Yeah. And let's do this thing. Because she had me pumped up about just visiting. Completely. Yeah, it was great.

Myke Hurley: Not that we're going to get that, you know, A-plus treatment or anything. No, no, no.

Brad Dowdy: Don't do that. They'll let you in and lock me out and bury me in a pile of sweet tooth.

Brad Dowdy: Sweet tooth headstone. The other post I wanted to share was our friend Matt Armstrong's at Pen Habit. He did his top 10 posts for the year. Top 10 pens post for the year. And the reason why I linked to this is because Matt and I have, in general, have very different tastes when it comes to pens and styles of pens. And that's good. Like, I enjoy learning from Matt about things that I may have just written off, you know, the judging a book by its cover type of thing. And then I'll read one of Matt's reviews. And I'm like, you know what? I should consider this a little bit more. And then Matt surprises me sometimes with pens that I wouldn't consider, you know, being a very Matt-style pen. And he really enjoys them. So we have a very good balance, I think, between us. And I love talking pens with Matt. He's so smart and knows so many things about so many pens that are different from the things that I know. So I look at this list, number one. I enjoy it because I was with him a couple times when he bought some of these pens. Like, number seven is this Waterman's Ideal, number seven flex pen. He was so excited when he bought this at San Francisco last year. Like, the look on his face was, he was giddy when he bought this pen. And then he drops in, which I would have never thought this would have been on a Matt list ever, the Pelican M800. Like, I just never considered that as a Matt pen.

Myke Hurley: It's an interesting outlier compared to the rest of the pens on this list.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, yeah. Yeah, so it's a wonderful list. You know, his classic pens LB5 are at the top and probably will be at the top forever. Which, you know, I think he has four of those maybe. So I know he loves those pens. The Aurora Optima and the Aurora 88 are number two, which I very much agree with. The Pilot Custom 823 is a pen that surprised him. I enjoyed reading that review because he was alluding to the fact that he kept hearing other people rave about it and didn't believe it. And then he got it and he's like, okay, I get it now. So that was fun. And it's just a really good list. He has the Divina Elegance that we just talked about. That's the one that I was going to buy, that blue one. Yeah, and it's a beauty. And I think he already has another one, if I'm not mistaken. I think he bought the Burlwood one that I was talking about. I could be wrong about that. I think he might have got that in Chicago. And then, of course, he has a Canalea at number 10, which is he bought one of the first ones at DC in 2016. So it's a great list. And I always enjoy Matt's take on things because they often differ from mine. But I learned so much from reading about things that aren't in my wheelhouse. That's why I love reading Matt's site because we do have a lot of differences in the things that we are drawn to initially. And then you tend to be able to discover other things that way, too. So wonderful. Great list, Matt.

Myke Hurley: Yeah, I mean, I can't argue with any of these, right? Like, there are some pens on here that are maybe not to my tastes and or I've never used them, right? Sure, sure. But, like, this is a solid list, like a very interesting list. It started, there's some stuff on there that I've never seen before. Yeah, really cool. Really cool. Right, right. What else is really cool, Myke? Blue Apron's really cool, Brad. Yeah, they are. Because they are the number one recipe delivery service with the freshest ingredients, Blue Apron's mission is to make incredible home cooking accessible to everyone while supporting a more sustainable food system along the way. They set the highest standards for ingredients whilst building a community of home chefs. For less than $10 a meal, Blue Apron will deliver to you seasonal recipes that have fresh, high-quality ingredients to help you make delicious home-cooked meals in 40 minutes or less per meal. Every single meal comes with a step-by-step, easy-to-follow recipe card. So that's why you can get them done in 40 minutes because they lay everything out for you so you know exactly what you've got to do. And all of the ingredients come pre-portioned. So they're ready to go. So you have everything you need. You have the spices you need in a little tub. You have eggs in a little box. You have just the stuff that you're going to need to cook the recipes and the meals that are being sent to you. And then also, not only is it incredibly convenient to have the exact amount of every ingredient shipped to you, Blue Apron also reduces food waste this way. They're not sending you extras that you're going to even not eat or throw away or whatever. They're only sending what you need. It reduces the waste of food. Their freshness guarantee also promises that every ingredient will arrive ready to cook or they will make it right. You can choose from a variety of new recipes every week or let Blue Apron's culinary team surprise you. Right now, you can try stuff like seared chicken and creamy pasta salad with summer squash and sweet peppers or maybe even creamy shrimp rolls or quick pickles and sweet potato wedges. There's no weekly commitment to Blue Apron, so you just get the deliveries when you want them and you can give them your dietary preferences as well in case there's something that you need to consider and then they'll give you meals that are applicable for those. Check out this week's menu and you can get three meals for free with your first purchase, including free shipping, by going to blueapron.com slash penaddict. I can assure you that by cooking Blue Apron food, you're not only going to get great meals, you're also going to learn some valuable skills that you can apply to any type of cooking that you do in the kitchen. And you know what? Like, I cook most days and I love it. I love cooking. And this is the type of thing that can help you out with that. If, you know, even if you've never, if the only thing you've ever made is beans on toast, trust me, you can do this. The instructions are so well done. It's all step by step. You can follow these recipes. Just trust me. And when you can get three meals for free for first purchase for free shipping, why would you not give it a go? You're going to love how good it feels and tastes to create incredible home-cooked meals at Blue Apron. So get started by going to blueapron.com slash penaddict. We thank Blue Apron for their support of this show. Blue Apron, a better way to cook.

TPA Questions

Brad Dowdy: All right. So we have a bunch of ass TPA. We sure do. You ready to knock them out? I'm ready. All right. So this first one from a trendum on Twitter says, I want to get my sister, a pencil artist, a nice pencil gift for her birthday. But CW Pencil subscription sold out and Blackwing subscription is out of my budget. Any alternatives? So CW Pencils, aside from their subscription model, they do a pencil sets setup where they put together different groupings for specific tasks. Like they have a jumbo pencil set. They have a lefty pencil set. The one I would look at, they have a sketchbook sampler set. If your sister's a pencil artist, you know, maybe she wants an art type pen. You can also, you know, add on, you know, a pencil sharpener, you know, something like the Coombe, oh gosh, a blank masterpiece. Or, you know, the Pollux pencil sharpener, you know, if that's something she likes. Or you can get the sampler set, which includes a pencil sharpener and eraser and some of the most popular pencils. So that's probably where I would head first to where you can get some variants and try a few different things. And you will also see, you know, the different setups that they have. So maybe there's something that's very particular that you think would be a good fit. But I would definitely look at the sketchbook set or the favorite things set. Those look like really, really good combinations.

Brad Dowdy: The next one from Les Harper, one of the three hosts of the RSVP podcast. She says, what's the best inexpensive planner for fountain pens? I'm asking for a friend. I print and buy my own, which Les does. She makes a bunch of notebooks that she prints and makes herself. I didn't know she made planners, but she was wondering for fountain pens. I don't exactly know the answer to this question, but my guess would be that QuoVatis, I know, has the best fountain pen paper for fountain pens. And they offer such a range of planners that you can get something as small as like a pocket monthly calendar all the way to a daily, hourly, year-long calendar. So the smallest, you know, like pocket notebook calendar up to the largest, thickest type of calendar. So I don't know exactly what layout they're looking for, but the paper quality is outstanding. So it's QuoVatis. They're the same distributor in the U.S. as Clairefontaine and Rhodia. They're really good quality paper. We've reviewed them in the past. They always work really well. And if anyone has any other suggestions, I'd be happy to hear about that too. Something inexpensive in the planner world that handles fountain pens well.

Brad Dowdy: So Dilly Esquire backed the LP5 pen D1 model and wants to know any recommendations for a D1 similar to a Retro 51 refill, smooth and fine. This is a question I don't think I've ever had, Myke, because I don't know of a D1 refill that is rollerball ink. And that's what I take this question to be. The Retro 51 is a rollerball ink. I've seen D1. D1 refills generally are ballpoint and then a few are gel. I like the Uniball Jetstream D1 refill the most. It's kind of the best writing and the best, I don't know, probably just the best overall D1 refill. It's a little bit expensive, but not too expensive. You can get some gel writing pens from Zebra, or refills I should say, and they are a little more expensive and they run out so quickly. But that might be closer. If you can get a 0.5 gel Zebra Sarasa refill, that might give you the feel, but you might be turned off on spending $3 a pop for a refill that's not really going to last you very long. I'd look at the Jetstream first. That's my favorite D1 refill. And you can get some different sizes. And it's smooth and fine in the D1. It's just not going to give you that blackest black of a rollerball ink like a Schmidt P81 27. So, you know, that's something to check out. So, all right. I think you like this one, Myke. Third floor artist wants to know, when ink shopping, do you look more for shading and dazzle or more towards performance? What do you think?

Myke Hurley: I'll go for color. Yeah. Yeah. Like, that's my primary thing, which is interesting that they didn't put this in. Shading and dazzle doesn't necessarily mean the same thing to me as color. Like, they are properties of the ink. Like, color is what I go for first whenever I'm looking for an ink. And that might be because I don't buy too many, right? That, like, maybe sometimes I just want a red, you know? Rather than, like, oh, look how this red shines. You know what I mean? Because, like, I don't have red. So, I tend to look for. Permanence is not a thing that I worry about too much because I'm not taking any super important notes. I mean, shading and or dazzle, that's always a good thing to have, right? Like, fire and ice. Robot Oster fire and ice, right? Like, I love that because it's a great blue, but it's also got some red in it, right? Like, it's a great ink. And I bought it because it was fun, but most of the time, like, I'm just looking for a specific color. Like, when, you know, when I bought, like, KWZ, I think I got Raspberry, or when, what is the, what is the one with the, Andrinopor, Califolia Andrinopor. I just wanted a pink ink for some, for a pen. And so, that was the one that I bought. Actually, for the twist pen that I mentioned earlier, that was why I bought that. I wanted that. That specific ink fit the pen that I was looking for.

Brad Dowdy: So, I'm pretty much the same way. Number one is color. And then number two is performance. I want to know if the ink has something weird that's going to make it bleed, or feather, or never dry, or something like that. Most of the time, you don't even have to consider that. Most of the time, it's going to be, you know, 90% of the time, it's going to be, you know, a good, balanced ink. And then, I'm probably looking at shading and dazzle. And then permanence would be last on the list. I don't ever have a reason to have permanent ink. There are some permanent inks I like because I like how they perform, not because they're permanent, per se. So, color, performance, shading, and then permanence somewhere way down the line. So, all right. I'm asking this one to the crowd because I don't have an answer. Oh, man. This is Aries 923. Well... I put this in because I need you to answer it for me. I'll explain. I'll explain why. Aries 923 says, what are ways to prevent an eyedropper fill from burping ink aside from filling the entire barrel? I wish I had an answer for this because my Shinobi just burped all over itself the other day, all up into the cap. And I don't know how or why. And it's really full. I don't know that you can. I don't want to say that in a negative sense. It should prevent you from eyedroppering because eyedropper filling pens is fun. And I have definitely some eyedropper pens filled right now. But they do burp ink into the nib and cap area on occasion. And I don't know why. I don't know if it's a temperature change. You know, if I could be going from 100 degrees outside to 72 degrees inside the house. Could that be the issue? I don't know what the true scientific answer for that question is and if it can be answered. So sorry, Aries. If we come up with something, I'll let you know.

Myke Hurley: Honestly, in a way, I'm just pleased to know that this is a thing because I have a pen that's doing this right now. And I was worried there was something wrong with the pen because I've only ever eyedropped like two pens, you know, and so I don't have a ton of experience with it. And I thought that maybe I shouldn't have like that was a pen that maybe I shouldn't have eyedroppered because every now and then like just ink would just go and just spur over the page. But it turns out this is just a risk that you run with eyedropper ink pens then. Yeah. Why is that? Is it air? Is it air that gets trapped in the barrel?

Brad Dowdy: So the chat room is definitely on the temperature bandwagon and the changes in pressure. I don't know if because the ink is less insulated being through. It's just, you know, from the outside air just through the barrel, not from the outside air through the barrel into a converter or something like that. But piston fillers don't necessarily do that. You know, maybe the airflow is more restricted in there. There's not enough pressure to change the space in the air. So it's probably environmental atmospheric type of thing. Okay.

Myke Hurley: That makes sense. That makes sense. I'm just pleased because I have a pen that I love that's doing it. So I'm happy to know that this is a thing that happens.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. You have to take extra considerations with eyedropper pens to begin with. So just understand that it might be a thing.

Myke Hurley: Yeah. So that means because I'm not going to stop doing it then basically. I know it's a thing that's going to happen. So like that's just how it is.

Ink Bottles

Brad Dowdy: All right. So Kim on Twitter wants to know when you empty an ink bottle, do you keep them or throw them away? If you keep any, which ones? I actually haven't emptied many bottles of ink in my lifetime. That's what happens when you have like 50 or 60 bottles to choose from. You never empty one out even though you've used way more than one ink bottle full. But I keep any that I've used just because I don't really have a great answer for that. I just kind of like empty ink bottles. You know, I'll stick them around the desk or, you know, just reuse them, clean them out. You could use them for something else. You know, I don't really have any great ideas, but I don't throw them away. How about you, Myke? I've never emptied a bottle of ink. Yeah.

Myke Hurley: I'm getting close to it with one of my Fuyugaki bottles. I'm getting close. I'm like at the point where it's becoming difficult to fill pens from that bottle. Right. Right. Because the ink is kind of all just like in the very bottom. So I have to like move stuff around, that kind of thing to try and get it to work.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah.

Myke Hurley: Yeah. So.

Brad Dowdy: All right. So Supernat wants to know, I just got a $75 gift card. What pen should I get? So far I own a Metropolitan, a Twisby 580, a Pilot Vanishing Point, Noodler's Ahab, and one Vintage Flex. Thanks. Do you want to go? I actually have an answer. It may not be a good answer for Supernat because it's a very particular pen, but I actually have a very, what I think is a very good answer for this question.

Myke Hurley: I don't have a good answer, so I'm interested in what you have to say.

Brad Dowdy: I think you should get a Kaweco AL Sport, one of the metal bodies. The stainless steel one's coming out pretty soon. It looks amazing. I love these pens.

Brad Dowdy: If you don't like that one, you can get one of the standard aluminum ones. They're about $65. They're a little cheaper. The stainless steel is probably, I haven't seen the price on them. They're probably more like $80, $90, $100. But any of the Kaweco AL Sports, it's so different from anything you have, and it's very functional and very useful and just an all-around enjoyable pen.

Myke Hurley: That's an excellent, I think that's a really, really excellent solution.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, so that kind of fits into that crew there because there's not anything great in that price range from a standard pen that I would choose over like the TWSBI 580 or the Pilot Vanishing Point, but something like the Kaweco AL Sport is right in that price point and a very, very good pen that'll last you a lifetime. All right, so this last Ask TPA question caught me off guard a little bit, and I'm not quite sure how to answer it. So I'm going to let you take this away and explain. Yeah.

Myke Hurley: Okay. So this is from...

Brad Dowdy: Number one, okay, this is awesome, by the way. This is completely awesome, but yeah, go.

Myke Hurley: This comes from the Twitter user with the name at Myke underscore eBooks. Thanks. And the question is, come and listen along live to the Penn Act this week. We asked people to physically mail in they ask TPA questions.

Brad Dowdy: So apparently Micah is setting up Twitter bots for you. Is this a Micah event?

Myke Hurley: No, this is a Kyle Seth Gray thing. Kyle created a collection of Twitter accounts. I think there's one for me, there's one for Steven, there's one for Matt Alexander. There's a bunch of people that have these. And what it does is it looks at my tweets, and it takes two tweets, cuts them in half, and stitches them together based on a matching word, I think is how it works. So it tweets random stuff, which are just parts of sentences that I've said. So every now and then, it pops up in Ask TPA or Ask Upgrade. Like, for example, here's one that was 11 hours ago. The end of any hashtag Ask Upgrade for RelayCon Atlanta, the Penn Addict Live.

Brad Dowdy: I love Twitter bots, by the way. Yeah. So I knew what this was, but we've never been caught up in one before. When it hashtagged the Ask TPA, which I don't see until I got in the spreadsheet, and then I just died. I thought it was awesome. I hope the Ask Myke eBooks Twitter bot keeps coming up with more Ask TPA questions, because those all get included.

Myke Hurley: This happens to me once every few months, either for, like, upgrade or for analog, where we do the same thing with the hashtag stuff. It just pops into my spreadsheet, and I'm like, oh, not again.

Brad Dowdy: It's fantastic. I love it.

Myke Hurley: So you can follow that if you wanted to see random collections of things that I say that are sometimes funny, most of the time nonsense. If you actually have something good for Ask TPA, we always appreciate the questions. You can just tweet to us with the hashtag Ask TPA. It goes into a document, and we can pull those out to try and answer for you on the show. Don't forget to go to the wiki at stationary.wiki. I mean, you can contribute there. We love to see people contributing to the wiki. It's awesome. And there's also the subreddit community, which is r slash penaddict, if you want to go and find some people to talk to there about the stuff that you love. If you want to find Brad online, he's over at penaddict.com, knock.co. He's at dowdyism on Twitter and penaddict on Instagram. I am imike on Twitter. Thanks again to Blue Apron and Pen Chalet for their support of this week's show. And most of all, thank you for listening. We'll be back next time. Until then, say goodbye, Brad. Goodbye, Brad.