The Pen Addict 173/transcript

The Pen Addict Podcast Transcript
Episode:	173
Title:	Just Colo(u)ring
Release Date:	September 21st, 2015
Hosts:	Brad Dowdy Myke Hurley
Guests:	No guests this episode
Additional Information
Official page:	Episode 173
Audio File:	Audio Episode 173
Podcast page:	The Pen Addict 173
Length:	6767 min <br />1.117 h <br /> minutes
Previous Transcript	Next Transcript

Myke Hurley: From RelayFM, this is The Pen Addict, episode 173. Today's show is brought to you by Squarespace, Build It Beautiful, and Fracture. Photos printed in vivid colour directly on glass. My name is Myke Hurley, apparently I can't say the word three, and I'm joined by Mr. Brad Dowdy.

Brad Dowdy: I missed you, mate. Glad to have you back. It's been two weeks since we recorded. If you weren't aware, last week's was a pre-recorded episode. We recorded two weeks ago, so it's been two weeks since we've talked. I've been so anxious to talk to you, and you were running late today. Did your watch stop telling time or something?

Myke Hurley: Well, I have nothing to say. I don't know what to say, and I can't help you.

Brad Dowdy: Okay. We'll leave it at that. So how's it being back home? You were in Portland, United States of America. I guess it's been a week ago now, late last week?

Myke Hurley: Yeah, well, I came home on Thursday.

Brad Dowdy: Okay.

Myke Hurley: So I haven't been home for that long, for a few days. Good, good. Had a great time?

XOXO 2015

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, had a good time at XOXO 2015.

Myke Hurley: Really great, really great time.

Brad Dowdy: Good. And what did Adina think of Portland? Are you ready to move?

Myke Hurley: She loved it. We haven't had a move discussion, I think because we know we're not going to be doing it. Yeah. Any, you know, anytime soon, but maybe at some point, I think. I think that she would maybe be on board with, if we're going to do it, we'd do it there. Nice. I feel like she might be on board with that now.

Brad Dowdy: Well, it's a good dream. Good dream to have.

Myke Hurley: Exactly.

Brad Dowdy: So, you know, as great as XOXO is, there's really only one thing the people of this show want to know about.

Myke Hurley: Yes.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, so let's go ahead and why don't you tease us with how awesome these field notes are that were printed for XOXO, because their pictures make them drool-worthy.

Myke Hurley: Yeah, I took a picture and put it on Instagram yesterday. I put it in the show notes, and I did that purely so I'd have something to put in the show notes today.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, and you also posted it to the field notes, field nuts group. You were quite a jerk about that one.

Myke Hurley: Yeah, I didn't really get the response I was expecting. I wanted way more anger and vitriol from people.

Brad Dowdy: I felt you. I was mad at you. I called you a jerk right there in the comments section. I said I would deal with you today.

Myke Hurley: Yep.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, but it was good. So tell me about them.

Myke Hurley: So it is different to every other XOXO edition in that this is different to basically many, many, many of the special editions that field notes do, in that these are three packs all with different covers. They have a different design. The design work is some of the design work that was done for the XOXO website by a guy called Brendan Monroe. And it's an illustration. It's like these really interesting waves, like in black and white. And on the back of one of them is this little person that's kind of like falling or jumping or something. But they are really, really interesting. Like Field Notes could release these as a colors edition and people would be happy, I think.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, it's one of the best looking designs I've seen come out of Field Notes since a long time. And that's counting colors editions and special editions. It's really spectacular looking. I have a thing for the white covers. So anytime you get like a white cover with any type of design or pattern on it. I mean, I even like the plain day game with the red ink on it. But seeing these black waves on the white background, it just looks really, really slick. And I'm super jealous.

Myke Hurley: So they were being very cautious about this. So when I went, the year I went, they had all of the swag on a table. And you'd go up and you'd get your bag and you'd put the stuff in it. And one, I think it was on the second day, there was just a table and it was still full of Field Notes. So I was like, can I have some more of these? It was like, take as many as you want. So I took like six packs or something stupid like that. I don't know, maybe it wasn't that many. Sent a few around though. I kept a couple for myself. And I actually took one of those ones, the purple ones with me to write some books in while I was there.

Myke Hurley: I always do that. Like whenever I go to conferences and I fill like three pages. I don't know why I do it. Like I think I'm going to fill up an entire notebook.

Brad Dowdy: Well, you're too busy talking. Exactly. It's a very personable conference. Yeah, we're listening. Yeah, exactly. You're interacting.

Myke Hurley: It actually, during the opening address, mentioned the fact that the Field Nuts group would want them. And we're talking about the amounts of money that they go for on eBay. Like kind of joking around, but being, I think it was kind of an idea is like, just get these and enjoy them. Like don't do anything with them. And then basically the tables were manned for the whole weekend. And I think short of going up and stealing some, you weren't going to get any more. That was kind of the way it felt. So I didn't attempt to get any more. Right. I have a pack. Idina has a pack. But this, right there, guess what that is?

Brad Dowdy: What? What? What?

Myke Hurley: Yours.

Brad Dowdy: Yes. Exciting. I wasn't going to ask.

Myke Hurley: We were very lucky that one evening we found a set on a table. There was no one around. So we just picked it up. It stared at for a while. There was no way you were going to get these.

Brad Dowdy: Right.

Myke Hurley: Because it just was never going to happen. Yeah. Yeah. So Idina has done a deal with me. I've opened a pack. I'm going to give her one of them and she's going to give me her sealed pack. So I'm going to keep my sealed pack.

Brad Dowdy: Nice.

Myke Hurley: But I have a pack for you. I'm annoyed I didn't send it in America like I thought about on our last day. I was like, I'm in the country. I should just go to the post office. But I forgot. So I will be sending this to you in the not too distant future. Well, thank you very much. But you have a sealed set right here.

Brad Dowdy: Right. That makes me four for four on XO. Yep. Yeah. You and I were on alternating years these last three years. So, you know, I got some last year, the digital glitch. Then you got the pink ones for me the year before or the purple. And then somehow I got pink from somebody somewhere. So that's super cool.

Myke Hurley: Yeah. It was. Oh, actually, I could. I might hold on to these and just bring them with me to Indianapolis and send them there. Yeah. There you go. In a couple of weeks.

Brad Dowdy: I'm in no hurry for them because I don't know if I'll open these or not just because they're so cool looking. And someone mentioned on. Yeah, I know. Someone mentioned on Twitter. They know I'm a fan of Joy Division and the Joy Division Unknown Pleasures cover artwork is this black and white wave pattern. It's not the exact pattern, but if you pull it up, you can see the similarities. And so they knew I would be all over this. And I definitely am.

Field Notes

Myke Hurley: You don't have to use them, but you should open them.

Brad Dowdy: I think so. Just because they're all three different colors. Exactly.

Myke Hurley: You should look at them.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah.

Myke Hurley: These will be hard to get.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, I think so. We'll see if they. Well, last year they released the glitch after the show through field notes and they sold out in like an hour. They didn't have that many to sell afterwards. They had some extras.

Brad Dowdy: But there's certainly no guarantee that they will have that again this year.

Myke Hurley: No, because they didn't do that any other year.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, I would bet on not to be quite honest.

Myke Hurley: Yeah, there was a thousand people at Exo this year.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. Yeah. So what else did you do there? Did you get any other cool stationary items? See some cool stuff?

Myke Hurley: I got some Oregon County Fair. Nice. We got those from Pals Books. Mm-hmm.

Myke Hurley: Pals is a cool shop. Yeah. Well, we went to... There's like three of them. Yeah. We went to three. Well, I don't know if there's maybe more than three. I don't know. But we went to three. We went to the Big Pals. There's a Smaller Pals and a Pals Home and Garden. Oh, okay.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, I just went to the mothership.

Myke Hurley: Yeah, I went to that one too. But we actually spent more time in the smaller ones. That big store is just completely daunting.

Brad Dowdy: It is.

Myke Hurley: No, I didn't get anything else. I met some Pen Addict fans at the podcasters meetup. And there was a guy whose name... I feel so terrible. He just popped out of my head. Oh, no. And I have his name written down, but it's not in the room with me. A really, really lovely guy who also was wearing a Relay t-shirt gave me a Retro 51 fountain pen. Oh, nice. One of the limited edition he wants. It was very, very kind of him. And I feel like a real jerk for forgetting his name.

Brad Dowdy: Well, you should.

Myke Hurley: I feel like it was... See, I don't even want to attempt it because if I get it wrong, it's even worse. So I feel terrible about that.

Brad Dowdy: Well, thank you, Anonymous Stranger. That was very nice.

Myke Hurley: Yes.

Brad Dowdy: And we will correct that next episode. We will make amends. Yeah. We will mark that down to follow up on.

Myke Hurley: And obviously, I met and hung out a bit with a bunch of great listeners. Of course. They are the best. That are in the chat room right now. Of course, one of them, as he has been deemed as the man who is everywhere, Mr. Doug Beal.

Brad Dowdy: He is. It's like every time you turn on the internet, Doug's face comes up. It's awesome.

Myke Hurley: Doug was there. He was everywhere. Because I think he's going to be at release notes as well. Doug is the internet. Also, the lovely Mrs. Soup. Yes. We got to hang out a little bit as well, which was absolutely fantastic. I love meeting listeners of The Pen Addict maybe more than some of the other shows. Sure. And I actually got one other thing that I will talk about now while I'm in this section. All right. Because we got the other field notes to talk about, but we'll get to that in a minute. Okay. So, as seems to be something that's happening a lot to me now, when I'm in America, I get an email from Dan at Cass Customs.

Myke Hurley: Yeah. And, you know, he usually tells, you know, he's hoping I'm enjoying my time. And then he's like, what is your hotel address? So, I send him my hotel address, and then he sends me back a shipping number. And then a couple of days later, something arrives for me. Now, I actually don't even know what this pen is called. Now, I know that Dan is in the chat room, so he might be able to tell me, but he didn't at any point tell me what this pen was called. But this is a pen that Cass Customs are doing for Mass Drop. I believe it's going to be a Mass Drop exclusive, and I have no more details than that. But this is a – I'm trying to think how to describe it. It's kind of like a retract, but it's smaller and lighter. And Dan is saying the EDK, which makes so much sense because I know what that stands for.

Retro 51 Pen

Myke Hurley: This is the perfect everyday carry pen right here.

Brad Dowdy: I've seen pictures of this. I know this pen. I don't have one because Dan's not as nice to me as he is to you. Yep. So – but this pen is maybe the best-looking Karis pen yet. I don't know. We'll see. We'll see when I get one in hand. But it's got ridges.

Myke Hurley: Is that the best way to put it? So it has ridges in the grip section, which usually is something I don't like. But the ridges are very, very shallow. So you don't feel them. Right. They're just nice as a grip. They're not like how – like on that titanium pen. What was that called? The Nexus? Is that the Nexus?

Brad Dowdy: Oh, yeah, yeah. Those are deep. Yeah, these aren't deep at all.

Myke Hurley: They're very thin and very shallow. So it just feels nice to hold.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. So Dan might yell at me for saying this, but those ridges remind me of my County Comm Embassy pen, which is one of my favorite metal pens. So this is going to trump that by a long shot. It's so good looking with the black barrel and the silver accents and clip, silver knocking clip. So it looks super killer. I'm all in on this one when it drops.

Myke Hurley: Do you know what makes this pen so amazing? What? What they've put inside it.

Brad Dowdy: Ooh.

Myke Hurley: What they got. It's the Retro 51 refill. Nice. That's what makes it so awesome for me. And this is why Dan thinks and knows that I was going to love it. Yeah. Because it had that in it, right? So it has the refill that I love so dearly.

Brad Dowdy: Yes. And that's a good choice. I mean, that's a really great choice.

Myke Hurley: So I'm currently taking a picture that I'm going to put in the show notes.

Brad Dowdy: Okay. Yeah. Check Kara's Instagram feed. I've seen one or two pop up, but they never call it out by name, which is nicely done. I like when people do that. Do that little tease. Hey, would you sneak in there?

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. It's a good pro tip there.

Myke Hurley: EDK is a great name. Because I was thinking this felt like when I was thinking about how what I described this, it feels like the perfect everyday. It feels like the perfect pen for the everyday carry crowd.

Brad Dowdy: Mm-hmm.

Myke Hurley: Because it's kind of rugged, but like not crazy. And it's small, but not tiny. Right. And it's got a retract, like a knock, right?

Brad Dowdy: Right. Right. So like we talked about two weeks ago on the pens versus pens, the tactical pens. Exactly. This is not like that. It's a very useful, well thought out design pen that I can't wait to get in my hands.

Myke Hurley: Yeah. It's awesome. And I am very, very grateful that Dan sent me this. So thank you so much, buddy. I love this very much. And I also love that I have it and nobody else does. Yeah, that's pretty cool. Because that's a rarity for me. But yeah, I love this. I think this pen is going to fly off the shelves. So I would say keep your eye out on Karis Customs social feeds on Instagram mainly, I guess, is probably where they do the majority of their stuff to get more information about this soon. Because I expect this will sell out quickly. And trust me on this one, if you like any Karis Customs stuff and or Retro 51 stuff, you're going to want to get your hands on one of these.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, so speaking of Retro 51 and Massdrop, I got one of their, they sent me a, the fountain pen they designed with Retro 51, which was a Massdrop exclusive. So that one's pretty cool. I have still yet to review it. I just got it like a week or two ago. And my good friend there also sent me, which you may have seen on Instagram, sent me a mechanical keyboard, which is just a massive rabbit hole. That thing is pretty cool. So, yeah, I'm in real trouble.

Fountain Pens

Myke Hurley: I think I saw that fountain pen. What does it look like?

Brad Dowdy: It's kind of, it's kind of, it's black and white with some type of pattern on the barrel. Yeah. I don't have it sit in front of me.

Myke Hurley: I think I didn't like the way it looked.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. Yeah. I do like how it looked. But I, the section, when I reviewed the Retro 51 fountain pen, I forget the model now, the sections don't really fit in with the rest of the pen aesthetically or comfort wise. They're a little bit slick. So, we'll see how this one does. This is very cool. Very cool. So, aside from that newness and the field notes newness from XOXO, we got a real field notes edition. It seemed like this one was a little bit. What?

Myke Hurley: This isn't the one I was thinking of. This, I do like this one. And this one is the one that was gifted to me by our mysterious stranger.

Brad Dowdy: Oh, nice. Nice. Yeah.

Myke Hurley: No, I was thinking of something else that had a little, like, character on it. Oh, this was like a cat one that I saw. Oh, no.

Brad Dowdy: That's the brand new Nine Lives, I think.

Myke Hurley: Yeah. I don't like that at all.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. They've done cats and dogs and all kinds of random things before.

Brad Dowdy: All right. So, did you see the new field notes edition? That's what I was getting at here. It looked like it seemed like a little bit late. I don't know if I was just anxious for them for a couple weeks. It seemed like a little couple weeks behind, maybe.

Myke Hurley: Yeah, it definitely did. And, I mean, we were talking about this. I never got the announcement email. Like, I just never got it.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, you checked your spam and all that stuff. Checked my spam, checked everything. Maybe I got yours because I got it twice. I literally got two announcement emails.

Myke Hurley: So, I'm not even sure if mine have been shipped. I assume that they have, and I double-checked everything. And it seems that my color subscription is in date still. So, I'm not really sure what's happening there. I mean, I've never actually looked to check shipping before because it's like, you know, that they're going out. Like, I got the email that said, like, you know, we're going to be shipping it out soon or whatever. Right, right. But I don't think I ever got the, here's the edition email.

Brad Dowdy: Interesting. Yeah, I don't know what happened there. What do you think about it? It's pretty cool. It's called the Shenandoah edition. It's got three green-themed covers to kind of fit the fall leaves. And they have a duplexed cover, which makes it like a double thickness cover, which they did for American Tradesmen and Ravenswing. So, it's kind of a durable outside. And then an upgraded paper on the inside. Do you notice that, Myke? The 60-pound paper change that I think might be their stock going forward? We'll see.

Myke Hurley: Is that the, so the 60-pound is the one, what is that like?

Brad Dowdy: They've never used that before.

Myke Hurley: All right, so is this thicker than anything they've ever used before?

Brad Dowdy: No, no. It's thinner than the America the Beautiful, Shelterwood, and Workshop Companion. Okay. But it's between the two. It's between the two. It's a happy medium between the two.

Brad Dowdy: And it works pretty well. I really enjoy the feel of these notebooks. You know, I was a big fan of American Tradesmen. You can hear the cover thickness. You can tell that's like a serious cover. But it's not an overly thick or, you know, it's not something that gets in the way, if you will. The paper feels really good. It's nice, smooth. It's got kind of a moss green grid. I love the colors on this edition. You know I like the plain editions the most, Myke, right? So, like just the standard covers. Nice color inside. Nice color grid. It handles fountain pens better than the standard 50-pound paper editions. But not as good as the 70-pound thicker paper editions, which you would expect. It's right in the middle. I don't have any qualms using fountain pens in this. They bled through just a little bit. You can see through a little bit. Nothing like the stock editions do. I wouldn't hesitate to use fountain pens in here at all. You know, if I picked up a fountain pen and started writing in it. It's awfully smooth. You know, with the fountain pen ink, it does soak it up, like, really quickly, which is fine. But it doesn't bleed through too much, which is good. Dry time's fast. All the other pens work great, as you would expect. I just find the... Maybe it's because the Workshop Companion was not a smooth paper. You know, they had some particles, you know, in the paper. What's the word I'm looking for? Anyway, it had some texture to the paper. Fiber? Yeah. Like, the fiber. Like, the fibers would stick up. Did you not notice that? Oh, yeah, I did, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So, like, my nib would hit the thing and bump, hit the page while I'm writing. But this is just dead smooth. Colors are spot on. The covers are spot on. Each of the three shades of green have a different color internal. So, one's yellow, one's orange, and one's red. It's just a sharp, all-around good addition. It's, um... I guess it was time for one of these, right? With the... They don't do the extreme stuff every single edition, right? Two Rivers was the crazy letterpress cover that took them, like, a year to produce. The Workshop Companion was built as a set with a sleeve to get all the six-book pack in. And lots of different design work went into all six covers of these. This is just more of a basic edition. It seems to happen a lot in the fall. And we've talked about how fall releases generally tend to be my favorite releases. I don't know if it's because they're the most normal. You know, like, Unexposed, I'm a huge fan of, which most people don't like. I'm on the short side on that one. But Drink Local, I, of course, love. You know, and then the older editions, like Mackinac Autumn with the three-color covers, are just fantastic. So, I really appreciate the simplicity of this book. It's a really great edition. I think it's better than the last two editions, personally. Workshop and Two Rivers. So, I don't know. That's my take on it. I'll be interested to see what you think when you get in, when you get them in.

Myke Hurley: I mean, I need to see them because... Yeah. I mean, I love it when they do crazy stuff, right? And these aren't crazy stuff. They're actually...

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, and I do too. I appreciate the crazy stuff. On my desk, I appreciate the simple stuff. If that makes sense.

Myke Hurley: These are like the most plain notebooks they've maybe done in a couple of years, I think. Like, looking through them now, right? Like, Ambition were plain but had craziness going on with the gilding. Unexposed was super bright and mad, right? Mm-hmm. And then, like, Drink Local had the rubbery covers.

Brad Dowdy: Mm-hmm.

Myke Hurley: And then, kind of, you go back to, like, something like Day Game in 2012. Right. I mean, I know that they did something cool with the cover, like, where they kind of used two pieces of paper, but... Right.

Brad Dowdy: Right.

Myke Hurley: It's just two different colors of paper. Right. I mean, I know I'm going to love these because they're going to be simple, right? Mm-hmm. To use them, I'm going to love them. Right. But I'm not going to put these probably high on my list because I love it when they go a little bit off the wall.

Brad Dowdy: Sure. I can respect that. And I believe in that, too. I love seeing the crazy stuff they come up with because they come up with things that no one else does. You know, they're able to take those risks and they have a history of delivering a great product. So, you believe in everything that they do, right? I mean, that's why we talk about them on the podcast because we love them as a company and what they stand for and how they operate. Right.

Myke Hurley: They come really, really high with the amount they're doing.

Brad Dowdy: I didn't even look. What's the number on this one?

Myke Hurley: 40,000 packs.

Brad Dowdy: That's definitely the biggest ever. It's got to be right. Yeah. Not counting county fairs and all the other random stuff that they do.

Myke Hurley: That is definitely the biggest ever.

Brad Dowdy: I didn't think they had one over 100 before, did they? I'd have to go back and look. They have them all listed on the pages. That's a lot.

Myke Hurley: Wait, 100 what?

Brad Dowdy: 100,000. 100K.

Myke Hurley: No, 40,000.

Brad Dowdy: I know. 40,000 three packs is 120,000 books.

Myke Hurley: Oh, sorry. Yes, I see what you mean. No, you're definitely right. Ambition was 30,000 and Workshop Companion was 17,000 boxes. That may have been more, actually.

Brad Dowdy: What's a 66042? That's 102. Yeah. Yeah. Okay.

Myke Hurley: It's over 100,000, but not... Yeah, this is the biggest edition they've ever done. Nice. That seems really interesting to me because... I don't know. I would feel like one of the biggest editions they've ever done would be one that were flying off the shelves to non-field notes nerds, and I don't know if this is it.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. Night Sky. I always harken back to Night Sky was the one that kind of crossed over the field notes. Yep.

Field Notes Editions

Myke Hurley: And they did 45,000 books when they probably could have sold 45,000 packs.

Brad Dowdy: Right.

Myke Hurley: Because that's my favorite edition, I think, still. I can't remember if I've said that in the past, but I'm pretty sure that that is it.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, that keeps climbing the charts. That's an amazing edition.

Myke Hurley: I don't know if they will ever top Night Sky in my opinion. Because it's so understated, but has a magic that I don't think any other Field Notes book has. The constellations are just stupendous. Very much love those. But yeah, I'm excited to get them in, as I am every other time, and I bought a pack, as I always do. I bought a pack before I... Because I don't usually do it before I get them unless they blow me away, but I always end up buying an extra pack. But I thought, oh, I'll do it before they sell out. I wish I would have seen the 40,000 thing. I wouldn't have rushed. That is a lot, man. They have printed a lot. I assume it's... Do you know, I reckon it wasn't necessarily a choice. Might have been, but they made their own covers, right? Which they've never done before? Is that right? I read something along the fact that they did something that they haven't done before.

Brad Dowdy: Oh, well, I mean, they did the covers they did in two other editions before. The duplexing. Make them thicker, but...

Myke Hurley: There you go. We've used duplex paper before. In our American Tradesman and Ravenswing editions. But this time, we had specific paper and colors in mind. And an off-the-shelf solution wouldn't work. So for the very first time, we made our own. Gotcha. So that's probably why the run's so large.

Brad Dowdy: Well, I think it's probably just because the amount of retailers just keeps picking up, right? They have X amount that's sold every quarter. There's X amount. And then, you know, the subscribers on top. And then whatever the percentage of the run over is. So I'm sure it's close to the same math every time as everything keeps increasing.

Myke Hurley: But yeah, awesome. I hope that's the case because I like to see them growing as a company and it makes me happy.

Brad Dowdy: And was Jim at XO?

Myke Hurley: Yeah, I saw him a couple of times. We didn't really get any time to really stop and talk. But we said hi and, you know, had a little chat here and there. Good. I'm looking forward to getting these in and I will update with my thoughts and feelings a little later on. I'll be interested to hear what you say. Great stuff. Take a break. Yes. This week's episode is brought to you by Fracture. Fracture is a lovely company with a fantastic product. They are transforming how people print and display their favorite images in their homes, their businesses, wherever they want. And they do it in a way that I really love. Over a trillion photos are going to be taken in 2015. And Fracture wants to help rescue your favorite moments from the dark corners of your camera roll or timeline. Super simple. You go to FractureMe.com. You upload a photo of your choice and they don't just make an amazing print of it. They make an amazing print of your photo directly onto a piece of glass. It kind of feels a little bit like magic. And when you receive these fantastic glass photo prints, you will want to mount it immediately because it looks so awesome. No frame, right? This is just your photo with some glass on it, right? That is all it is. So your photo, the beautiful image that you've chosen, the photo that you love or the photo that you really want to display for whatever reason. You know, maybe you work in a business and you want to put some pictures on your walls of your business to show off your clients your great products or something that you sell. Or maybe it is that you want to print out some photos of your children to hang in your home. And you do that with Fracture. Basically, these pictures, they take up everything that the eye can see, right? There's no frame around them. There's no air in between the photo and a piece of glass. It's laminated directly on there. It looks fantastic. It really draws your attention. And so you're going to want to mount it immediately. And they make that super easy as well. They put everything that you're going to need right into the box to mount or display your photo. Their order process is super simple. They have a bunch of different sizes that you can do. So they have five different rectangle sizes and three square sizes. So they're perfect for any photo that you may want to print. And each Fracture is hand assembled and checked for quality by their small team in Gainesville, Florida. Fracture prints also make really great gifts for family and friends as well. And with prices starting at just $15, it's not going to break the bank. You can help support this show and get 15% of your first order with the coupon code PENADDICT. If you use that at checkout, just go to FractureMe.com to get started. Thank you so much to Fracture for their support of this show.

Brad Dowdy: So I finally bought my first Fracture. I keep saying that. Oh, good. Yeah, I love them. It's one of those things where you get and you open it up and you get that little smile on your face. You're like, yeah, this is pretty good. It's like I made the right decision. Yeah, yeah. It makes you feel good when you get it. It's like, oh, man, they really do a good job. It's pretty cool. So I had a picture, though, that my wife took of me and the kids on my birthday that I got so I could bring it to my office. It's really cool. Very happy with it. So I will be getting that was my experiment. So now I'm hooked. So I'll be getting some more.

Myke Hurley: Good stuff, man.

Word Notebooks

Brad Dowdy: So continuing on the notebook thing, this is a very notebook heavy, very paper heavy episode. We have lots more to talk about. Did you see these word notebooks that I reviewed today? The Blue Mountain and Black Mountain?

Myke Hurley: Yep. I went and read your post.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. So these came out. I don't know. They've probably been out a month or so. And they're just spectacular looking. I mean, talk about something that fits my visual aesthetic perfectly. I couldn't stop staring at these. And even though I'm not, I don't buy all the word notebooks that come out because I don't use the system that much. I couldn't help myself. I had to get these and get them in hand. And they're just freaking spectacular. I think that I said that on my post today that they're the best looking notebooks produced this year. So, I mean, they're definitely the design winner for the year. And, you know, but, you know, in the post I talked about, you know, if you're not going to use their system, you're going to have to decide, is it really worth purchasing? But one of the cool things about word notebooks is I sent them a tweet late last week or over the weekend even. I think it was late last week. And I told them, hey, I'm going to need an image of this for my phone wallpaper. And then like two days later, they're like, here you go. So a bunch of people were asking for that. So we'll have the link in the show notes to the tweet where they built out a mobile wallpaper for their Blue Mountain word notebooks. I thought that was pretty cool. And I was really, really happy about that. And a bunch of people downloaded it. So that was kind of neat to see. So do you have any word notebooks at all?

Myke Hurley: I don't think so.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. I'll send you one one time when I send you a package just to see what you think about them. They're not fountain pen friendly at all, I don't think. But all the other pens work good. And, you know, it's pretty much standard issue memo book. You know, if you think of just a standard issue memo book, no fountain pens are going to work well. I don't use fountain pens in stock field notes even, despite you and I disagree on those points. But they're such a good design. And, you know, if people didn't read the comments or read the entire post, they might want to. And Merber Draws, who is listening in the chat room, she might want to check out some of the images on the post. I'm just saying. I'm not sure if she's seen them yet. But, you know, maybe check out the post. Maybe read a little bit more in depth.

Myke Hurley: All right. I didn't pay enough attention either.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. Well, it was a note just for her. She's a special flower. So she'll have to check it out. And then other people should also check out because I might be giving away a couple of packs. But I didn't do it in a normal way just to see if people are paying attention. Some people are. Clever. Very sneaky. I do that every now and then. I'll just drop it in at the end of the post. Like, hey, you know, leave me a comment. I got two extra packs. I'll send them to someone instead of making a big giveaway thing. So before you went to XO.

Myke Hurley: I want to mention these. And we'll talk about these for a second.

Myke Hurley: I basically went to these and I was reading a review. And then I opened a tab to buy them. Right. They look fantastic. Sure. But that system. Like, I don't like it when a notebook. A notebook manufacturer forces you into a thing. Right. Right. And I made a comment about that. Because these aren't called, like, I don't know, like the word system notebooks. Right. Or whatever. But, like, it seems like this, like, to-do system, basically. Which, I don't know, is kind of frustrating to me.

Brad Dowdy: So I made a comment on that in the post that what is the long-term vision of word notebooks. You know, I'm not looking straight at my post. But I essentially said, are they just going to continue? Basically, they make covers for notebooks. Because the insides never, ever change. Right. Right. So if that's the long-term thing, that they're going to do one thing, do one thing well, that's great. But at what point does everyone have all the word notebooks that they need? Are they going to keep buying them for the covers? You know, with other brands, you can get some different things sometimes. So it was just a point that I wanted to bring up, which is the point that you're making. Pretty much, you know, it's a fixed, rigid system. You know, you are certainly allowed to do other things within the notebook. But you're still doing it around their to-do list, task list setup. So I think we're on the same page as far as the system goes. It's certainly simple enough to use. That's my kind of system if I was to use, you know, a regular system.

Myke Hurley: Yeah.

Apple Pencil

Brad Dowdy: All right. So before you went to XO, you had the big Apple event in San Francisco. Yeah. Were you still in the UK at the time? Or were you in routes? I was on a plane. You were on a plane at the time it was happening. So did you land to a bunch of OMG pencils, pencil talks?

Myke Hurley: A little bit, actually. A little bit. I mean, people were more commenting on the fact that I was right about my predictions of the iPad being announced at all at that event.

Myke Hurley: I mean, I've spoken about it at length all over the place.

Brad Dowdy: Sure. Yeah, we don't have to go into it too much, but I was just kind of...

Myke Hurley: I'm interested to know what you think of it, though.

Brad Dowdy: I think it looks pretty impressive. You know, a friend of the show, TJ Cosgrove, and I meant to put this link in the notes. Oh, so good, right? He did a parody of the pencil with Blackwing, and it's just freaking brilliant. And I've actually talked to him a few weeks back. We're going to get him on the show pretty soon to talk pencils, and he's one of your countrymen. So we should have some good time zone fun with him. But we'll get him on. But he did a nice parody of, basically, look what you can do with a real pencil. It's kind of the same thing. But in general, how much is this going to cost? Do we know yet?

Myke Hurley: The pencil is $99. $99. But it can only be used with, like, the $800 iPad Pro.

Brad Dowdy: Right, right. So I'm not about the Pro at all. Okay. I don't really, I mean, I say that now. I don't have any interest in it. I don't need too many devices. That would be an extraneous device to me because I would still, I'm still looking to do my most difficult, air quote, work, you know, uploading, you know, recording audio, video, things like that on a MacBook. You know, I want the standard computer. I don't want to have to buy the keyboard accessory. Um, I would consider the pencil if it worked on, like, the iPad Air eventually. Um, but, you know, I do have the paper, uh, paper by 53 and the pencil by 53, which I think is a really good stylus. And it has a lot of the pressure sensitivity and, um, a lot of the things, you know, it, the pencil and the iPad Pro don't, don't, um, don't really speak to me for the way I use things. Right now they would be extraneous items for me and I don't need that, um, in my life. So they're not even on my shopping list. But the only thing on my shopping list this day, these days is, um, you know, a new MacBook Pro I might upgrade here, um, in the next year or so. Um, that's about it. Otherwise I'm, I'm pretty set with my workflow, um, and, and how I work and what I need to get that work done. So what are your, what are your thoughts on the pencil?

Myke Hurley: I am mainly undecided and put a link to two episodes where I've spoken about it, two different shows, one upgrade, one on Cortex.

Myke Hurley: I am definitely going to get one to try out because, you know, on all the shows other than this one, I am the pen guy. Right. Right.

Brad Dowdy: Right. Right.

Myke Hurley: So it's, you know, it, it kind of feels like I need to be a person to try this, to see if this is actually anywhere near the experience of writing on pen and paper. I mean, not to tactile experience, but like, can you write notes small? Can you write them reliably? Because a lot of Apple stuff is focusing around art. Right. Which is definitely the place they should focus it. I don't think it would work from an advertising perspective to be like, here's someone taking notes. Like, I don't think that works. Right. You've got to show beautiful artwork being created to sell it.

Brad Dowdy: Um, so real quick, just for clarity, you recently purchased a Wacom tablet.

Myke Hurley: Yes, but not one with a screen. Okay. Just the pen tablet.

Brad Dowdy: Just the pen tablet. Okay. Yeah. And what are you using that for?

Myke Hurley: I was using it for editing. Okay. But I prefer a mouse still, but I'm hanging on to this thing because I have some other ideas and stuff I'd like to do in the future and maybe having this thing because it wasn't expensive and the business paid for it. So I'm just going to keep it around because I think it will get some use in my, in my future, but not, not for the time being, um, I'm interested and I'm kind of undecided, but I know I want to try it. Uh, I don't even know if I would use it. Even if I kept the iPad, I don't even know if I'd use the pencil.

Brad Dowdy: Right. Right. Yeah. I I'm, I'm with you. I will. It's a, it's a definitely a wait and see. It's certainly something I'm not chopping at the bit for. So, um, what I am chomping at the bit for is I didn't see this link until now. I thought it was related to the pencil that you put in a link about the, uh, Apple pens and notebooks that were at the Apple store, the Mashable link.

Myke Hurley: Apple have redesigned their company store in Cupertino and it's now an Apple store, which it wasn't before. Uh, it was just a store where they sold stuff, but now it full on sells Apple products. Uh, like Macs and stuff like that. But now they have also revamped the line of stuff that they did sell t-shirts and stationery and things like that. If you scroll down to the bottom of this post, that'll be in the show notes as a Mashable link. Um, there's a couple of pictures. Uh, there are some notebooks, which are the same sizes as the iPad air and the iPad mini. Mm-hmm. And there are also, uh, some pens.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. So you're asking me. What are these? These are retro 51 hex.

Myke Hurley: Are they definitely?

Brad Dowdy: No, but they're dead on. I have one. I just, if I would have looked at it before the show, I would have gotten mine out to see if they have that flange at the top near the knock. That's the only thing that's throwing me off a little bit, but the packaging is the same. The, the knock is the same. The hex is the shape is the same. The clip looks the same. Um, if they have that little flange. Yeah. I, at you, at right at the top, um, where the knock meets the top of the barrel. Um, I'll look at that afterwards, but it, it's a dead ringer for the hex, uh, retro 51 hex ballpoint, uh, pen and pencil. So, I mean, dead ringer and even, they even have the round, uh, tube storage, right? The packaging it's, it's the identical packaging.

Myke Hurley: So all of that is what made me think that it was retro 51, but I don't know is, is, are retro 51 making these or is Apple making those? And so that's more interesting to me. If retro 51 are making these, I need them.

Myke Hurley: I mean, if Apple are making them, I would maybe get one at some point. If these are made by retro 51 with Apple logos on them, that's a whole different ball game for me.

Brad Dowdy: One of each. Now the paper that's in the picture, I can't tell. I can't tell enough to say anything about that. Yeah. It's a, it's too hard to see.

Myke Hurley: I feel like the notebook, no paper notebooks are easier to white label.

Brad Dowdy: Sure. These pins are awfully, awfully. I mean, when you throw in the packaging, it's, it's gotta be, it just, I mean, I don't see any, any way it's not, which is good. Cause that's a sweet, sweet pin.

Myke Hurley: I mean, I have 100% ripping them off, which is completely possible, but that would be really I don't think it's ripping them off.

Brad Dowdy: I think they're probably whoever's manufacturing is manufacturing from them. I don't think it's a, I mean, I think it's more of a, in conjunction with, or white labeling.

Myke Hurley: Oh, do you say retro 51 not make their own stuff?

Brad Dowdy: I don't know.

Myke Hurley: I kind of doubt it. I kind of just assume that they did, but that makes now, now I'm thinking about it. I'm like, why would they?

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. Yeah. I doubt it. So Dan, Dan says he's a hundred percent sure this is white label. And I tend to agree with him, but it's a well, it's man, it's well done. I'd be all over that. I mean, it looks like a, just as we talk about the, the white labeling thing, it's, it's straight up a Muji shelf right there with all the coffee cups and crafts and everything. So, yeah. So, which is cool. I'd be all about it. You know, Myke Dudek sent me one of these pins a year or two ago and out of the niceness of his heart, cause he wanted me to have one. And, uh, I would be all about getting one of these Apple ones. So that's pretty cool.

Myke Hurley: Yeah. I'll pick one up one day.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. Yeah. Do they, do they sell those online or those physical? Yeah. They don't do any of their store. Yeah. Any of their Cupertino shop is all in person, right? Yeah.

Myke Hurley: One hundred percent. Yep.

Brad Dowdy: Yep.

Myke Hurley: Apparently, uh, Dan is saying retro 51 manufacturer to specification.

Brad Dowdy: So yeah, they make, they make a lot of pins for a lot of people.

Myke Hurley: Yeah. But that's what I'm saying, right? Mm. Is this retro 51 making them? Not with their branding on. Sure. But I want to know if retro 51 is making these.

Brad Dowdy: You want to know if retro 51 is involved or Apple's just going to the factory and saying,

Myke Hurley: I want to know if retro 51 are involved.

Brad Dowdy: Right.

Myke Hurley: Because if they are, that is a, that is a, that is a grail pen right there.

Brad Dowdy: Well, I'll see what I can find out for you. Let me write that down. Retro 51. I need to email them anyway.

Myke Hurley: Because I know I'm, I know some people who I could maybe beg and plead to pick one up for me and maybe send me one if I'm really, really nice.

Brad Dowdy: Yep. Yep. Yep. Cool. So we, man, this is a good episode. We got so much more to talk about, but let's, um, let's talk about some, uh, some new Kickstarter And Indiegogo goodness. What do you think? Some, uh, some crowdfunding projects that I think are pretty cool.

John's Wallet

Myke Hurley: Yeah. Let's talk about this John's thing.

Brad Dowdy: You sound, um, oh, what's the word? Uh, it sounds like you might have an issue with it or you're very, super concerned or what do you got? What do you got? What do you got for me, Myke?

Myke Hurley: I mean, I think I said this last time. Just your favorite John. It's just the worst name.

Brad Dowdy: I got some feedback on that on Twitter that agreed with you.

Myke Hurley: It's just like you. Like it's difficult to spell it and write it, let alone saying it. John's. John's. Like it stands for something, right?

Myke Hurley: Yeah. But just a wallet. No, just a solution. I don't know. Yeah. Yes. But I, you know, uh, where did we see these before? How have we come across these? I know that we have.

Brad Dowdy: From my site. I, I talked with Daniel, the guy who makes them like a, over a year, year and a half ago, he sent me like one of the prototypes. So I reviewed it and I talked about it on the show. And we'll put that link in the show notes to my review of it. And I like it as a concept. Um, I think it's a cool, cool concept. And then, you know, like I just had a plain white cover one. That's when he sent them to me. He was just making a, making a handful of them, sending them out to people. And I think he sold a few. Then he kind of went away and it's been like a year and a half. And now he's got the same concept with finally a bunch of different covers and styles. And I, I'm all about it. I mean, I'm a backer for sure. Um, you know, I like the, uh, there's four different, uh, colors. Um, there's four different, there's an air, land, sea, and a midnight one. And then I think there's maybe a plain one, but you know, I'm looking at like the air and sea or something like that. I just think they're pretty cool. Like when I was in Vegas, I could have used this, you know, if I would have remembered to bring or dug out my old one, I totally would have used this as a wallet replacement. Cause I ended up with so much other paper in my pocket alongside money and credit cards. I could have used like a one, one stop, uh, companion like this. It would have been dead on perfect. I would have been a happy camper if I remembered this beforehand. Um, just for what I was using. And, you know, I ended up using a, my wallet plus a notebook, but just a standard notebook. Which we're going to talk about in a minute. And then stuff like paper, just like folded it up in there and hope it stayed in, you know, the Johns would have been perfect for that. So I like them. I'm in. Um, and yeah, I mean, it's not something I need a million of, but you know, I'll get a couple and, uh, use them as needed. So I'm not going to carry it every day as my primary wallet, but it's going to be a use as needed thing. And, uh, I think I'll get a lot of use out of it to be quite honest.

Myke Hurley: So their Kickstarter page has sold me on it. No, I'll tell you why. Passport holder.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. It's a, it's, so it's made to be the passport size, whatever the past standard passport dimension is. I don't know that exact dimension, but that's what it's based off of. So, so your standard passport dimension, it's made to, to cover that. And as well as, you know, having the other pockets, you know, to correct, to credit card slots, notebook, uh, cash slot, and then, uh, just a folder pocket.

Myke Hurley: So I'm not going to buy one though, because if they were in a store, right. And it wasn't, I would buy it cause I'm going away again in like three weeks. Right. Right. So I would just buy one now for that trip. But like it would be shipping in December. So probably January, uh, because Kickstarter, right. Um, so I'm not going to need it. So I'm not going to get one. And then maybe this will come across my path at some other point in the future. And I'll pick one up then. The reason is I didn't consider the passport holder aspect of this before, because as a notebook, I don't understand this. It doesn't make sense to me as a passport holder. That could also keep some stuff in it, like paper. Maybe you could also try and find a way to hack a notebook in there as well. Or, you know, and it's made out of paper. It's really lightweight and thin and you can kind of keep all your travel documents in. I think that's kind of cool. But like as a notebook, I don't get it. I just don't get it. Because it's like, if it's a notebook, right, I'm not going to put my stuff in here every day. Like it doesn't feel strong enough, like as a wallet, you know? Right. At least that's my feeling. I wouldn't want to keep my credit cards in there.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, I agree. A lot of people have this set up in a leather wallet, which I find too big and cumbersome, right? Yeah, I've tried that. You can get this type of setup, but that's just way too big for me. I don't carry anything in my back pocket and that's where that would have to go. So, yeah, I mean, I think it's interesting. And yeah, we're interested to see how it goes. I mean, it's definitely going to fund. They're only like $1,000 away with 24 days to go. So, it's definitely going to fund if you're interested. And we'll have the link in the show notes for it. And we have a few more crowdfunded projects to talk about. Well, let's talk about one of our good friends before we get to there.

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Brad Dowdy: All right. So we talked about the Story Supply Kickstarter when I got back from Las Vegas. That was a notebook I had taken with me. And at the time, it hadn't launched on Kickstarter. So I just wanted to mention that. But it's a really great notebook and also with a great story that they – for every pack they sell, they send a supply kit to a kid with a story to tell. So they send out notebooks and pencils to kids. They work with a group called – what's the group? Oh, man. It's a charity group across – 826. And they're in like a bunch of major cities in the U.S., Boston, Chicago, L.A., D.C. And they're partnering with them to send out these notebooks and other kits to kids who could use them and, you know, use them to be creative and use them to get their brain firing on all cylinders and get their heads out of the digital devices or out in front of the TV and get their creative side engaged. So I just wanted to throw that out there because we had talked about it, but it wasn't live when we had talked about it last. And it's a real high-quality book. I enjoyed it when I carried it. It worked well with lots of pens, pencils, everything.

Myke Hurley: This is really interesting, and I don't know how they're making any money.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, maybe that's not their goal, you know?

Myke Hurley: I mean, yeah, sure. But it's interesting to me. I think this is great. It's a great project.

Brad Dowdy: It's, yeah, certainly noble cause. And like Dan says, you know, just like the Paper Stacks project, which we talked to in the past, you know, that's also, you know, kind of like you buy notebooks and they donate notebooks to kids in need. And it's really great to see these types of things take off in our community. You know, we certainly love seeing that and getting the kids more involved. I mean, I think that's super important. We'll both agree on that, that it's super important to keep the kids grounded, I think, and, you know, get some of the creative aspects of their brains going. And I think pen and pencil and paper are one of the best ways to do it. Speaking of which. Speaking of which, our good friend, Linda Shrewsbury and her daughter, Prissa, who we met at the Atlanta Pen Show, who everyone knows as the Cursive Logic people who have done an awesome job at kind of resurrecting cursive handwriting. They have a new project that's on Indiegogo. It's called Cursive to the Classroom. And what they're doing this time is not just crowdsourcing the book creation like Kickstarter. You still can get books and things. But what they want to do is they want to get these books into more people's hands. So more students' hands. So they're asking you to sponsor books to send out to kids. And there's also different backer levels where you sponsor a book for a kid. You get a book for yourself. You get access to the online classes that they're doing. Linda has done an awesome job. And she's traveled around. She was at the DC Pen Show. So I got to see her there. And she is just really, really kind of taking this by storm and just really going after it. So I wanted to point this out for everyone that was a fan of the Cursive Logic project when it first came out. This is another way to get involved with Cursive Logic. Get this cursive workbook into kids' hands. And teach them that there's other things that they can do besides typing away on our computer. Which we, all of us, end up doing most days, all days. But we certainly, people that listen to this podcast, certainly find the time and understand the importance of handwriting. And being able to write cursive. And being able to read cursive. And even if you don't use cursive for the rest of your life, it's a skill you need to have. I firmly believe that. It just makes you a more rounded individual. I think it's a really, really perfect project that Linda has done. And I love to see this succeed. So definitely take a look at this when you get a chance.

Brad Dowdy: All right, Myke. We're going long. But that's good. Because I want to end on this topic. Because I want to put a call out to the listeners. So I've noticed in the past, really in the past year mostly, that the adult coloring has become a thing. It sounds so, it's a ridiculous name, right? To say adult coloring. It sounds funny. But I remember when I was a kid, I loved like the super detailed coloring books that I could use markers with. You know, this is way, you know, more than, you know, like your Disney coloring books. It's like, you know, coloring patterns and shapes and designs. Super intricate stuff. Well, that's coming back as more people are getting into these analog tools that we talk about on this show. And it's kind of had a renaissance for people, you know, that correlate with the listeners of this show. To have that peace of mind to break out a coloring book, sit down at a table for an hour, and just start drawing. It's like a, it's a meditative thing. And it's really become a huge thing. And I remember vividly years ago reaching out to Joanna Basford, who has become the superstar of this industry, the adult coloring industry. And it was at a time before she was doing any of the adult coloring stuff, she did all these detailed drawings. And back when I was doing Inklinks, I would link to her. And because she would do pen reviews like of Pilot High Tech Seas. And, you know, she now is sponsored by Statler using their pigment liners for her drawings. I want to get her on the show. And I'm going to do that. It's funny. I've gone to, like, her PR page, like, several times and started typing an email. Then, like, stopped. I was like, oh, she's got this book coming out. You know, her latest, her newest edition comes out in October. It's an ocean-themed one, I believe. Like, she's done Enchanted Forest and Secret Gardens. And she's done about four or five releases so far. So her new one's coming out in October. So I want to try to get her on the show. So I want to hear, like, this is a new thing to me, the coloring part of it. I've been familiar with Joanna's work for years and years and years. But the adult coloring part is new to me. And I want to hear what our listeners think about this, what they, what products they use, what pens work well in these types of books, things like that. So, you know, Cult Pens is actually jumping into this because Joanna is a Brit. She's good people, Myke. So Cult Pens is in there. They're, you know, promoting her and some of her work and, you know, some of the pens. So what do you think about this? Can you, can you, I can see you getting into this, Myke.

Myke Hurley: So this is why I put it in the show notes because I'm, I'm considering it. I might just go ahead and do it. Or maybe buy one of Joanna's books.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. I'm trying to wait till the Ocean one comes out or pre-order it. I think I would enjoy that better than the Garden and the Forest. But they're so cool. And people, I'm starting to get a lot more emails. What pens should I use for my adult coloring books? It's pretty amazing to see, like, my inbox start to get into these little genres. And, you know, like, like Miss Soup says in the, in the, in the chat room, the Stabilo 0.88 and Statler, Tri, Tri Liner, Tri, I forget the name of that pen. And those seem to be like a really good, really common theme. I know Joanna uses Statler to draw her stuff. So I'm sure she recommends that to color it as well. Yeah.

Myke Hurley: So yeah. Yeah. Statler Tri Plus color pen desktop box. Yeah. 20. Yeah. They have Tombow. Okay. Although.

Brad Dowdy: So there's lots of rainbow sets of markers. I'm just kind of curious what, what kind of works best. Cause I haven't used any of these to know what the paper's like. So I definitely would like some feedback on that from all the listeners. And, you know, me and Myke might start an adult coloring segment here on the show where we just color for like five minutes and it'll just be silence. You just said.

Brad Dowdy: Oh, okay. I'm switching to pink. Hang on. I'm coloring the butterfly wings. Hang on. Hang on a second.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. Adult coloring. We need a better name than adult coloring. I'm up for suggestions there. Yeah. That's I'm having a tough time with that name. I'm going to admit that that's what we'll have to figure something out. Maybe we can maybe we can invoke change on that. And I promise you as soon as tonight, I'm going to email Joanna's people because I can't reach her directly anymore because now she's a big deal. Back in the day when she was just Joanna. I look for some old emails. I've switched email addresses a couple times and I can't find like her direct email anymore. And it's probably long gone. But that was years ago before she was world famous. And now she she is at the forefront of this movement. So I will do my best to get her on grown up coloring. Okay. That's better. Grown up coloring. Definitely better than adult coloring. Adult coloring is what you do at Dr. Sketchy's. Those are those are pretty cool. I'm all about the adult adult coloring at Dr. Sketchy's. If you don't know what that is, Myke, you can look that up.

Myke Hurley: I have no idea what you're talking about.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, you will after the show. Just go look it up. It won't break your internet or anything. It's not that bad. But that's adult coloring. So we'll go with grown up coloring for this type of work. And maybe we'll find some other things.

Myke Hurley: Colt pens is out of stock on most of the Triplus fineliners.

Brad Dowdy: I'm telling you, this is it's becoming a thing. Yeah. How about just coloring? That's totally appropriate.

Myke Hurley: Well, in the UK, we call it coloring in. Yeah. That's how it's known as a kid. You call it coloring in, not coloring. You're coloring in. So now I want to buy some of these, but they're all the ones I want out of stock.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. I might just have to go preorder the Ocean, whatever the Ocean one's called. I'm not looking at it.

Myke Hurley: So I want to buy some of these Statler fineliners, but they're all out of stock, Brad. Yeah.

Brad Dowdy: My worry is, you know, the kids are going to want to color in my adult coloring book, and I'm not going to want them to.

Myke Hurley: Because they have the box of 10 colors is in stock, but I feel like 10's not. I feel like 10's too few. I need 20. 20 colors. This is going to be great. How about I start off with 10? How about that?

Brad Dowdy: There we go. Have you seen how detailed these drawings are, Myke? Why are you doing this to me?

Myke Hurley: But it's the case of I can't buy them at all, otherwise.

Brad Dowdy: Yep. Yep. You can always start with 10. And when you wear those out, then you can just go for the 20, replace the first 10, and then you'll be in business.

Statler Tri Plus Fineliner

Myke Hurley: So there we go. Right. Okay. So I'm buying Joanna's The Secret Garden book and the Stetler Tri Plus Fineliner pen assorted box of 10. And I'm going to buy them from Colt Pens, because obviously. Yeah.

Brad Dowdy: You'll have them tomorrow at this point, even though it's like midnight over there. The way they ship, you'll have them tomorrow.

Myke Hurley: I will definitely have them within the next two days if I'm ordering it now.

Brad Dowdy: And I'm making a note to email Joanna's people and see if I can get her on this show for at least 20, 30 minutes. I feel like she's probably going to be traveling for the release of this, I would imagine.

Myke Hurley: I feel like I have a very forgiving girlfriend. I don't know if she, I don't know what she's going to think when these arrive. I feel like she forgives a lot of the weird things that I buy, right? Like she's kind of, she's over with the pen thing now. She just knows, you know, he just gets his pens, he throws his pens. But when a coloring in book and a set of 10 colored fineliners arrives, I don't know what she's going to think.

Brad Dowdy: She's going to join you. You better, you better double the order.

Myke Hurley: You know, maybe she will actually. So I've, I've ordered those and then I'm going to put a little, uh, email me when in stock for these.

Brad Dowdy: For the big set. For the big, for the big boy set. Oh, that's how you justify the big boy set. You're going to share it with her.

Myke Hurley: Yeah. Look at that.

Brad Dowdy: Two books, one 20 pack. Done. Nailed it. All right.

Myke Hurley: Look at us.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. Look at us with like a whole page left of show notes. Um, I was planning on having to guess this episode. Then once I started to see our notes, I knew I should probably, uh, we haven't talked in a while. So, uh, we had a lot to cover and we got a lot more to cover, but, uh, this was a great episode. And, um, you know, lots more to come as you always.

Myke Hurley: Now there was this whole self-promotion thing here at the end, which I guess we can keep, but there's something that I did really want to mention. Okay. Uh, which is that we launched a new podcast at Relay FM today. Yes.

Brad Dowdy: We were talking about that in the chat room, uh, prior to your arrival.

Myke Hurley: It's called Thoroughly Considered. Um, and it's a show that, uh, I am kind of narrating and helping put together for, uh, with Dan Provost and Tom Gerhard of Studio Neat, who, uh, you may know they're makers of the Cosmonaut, the Glyph, the Neat Ice Kit, um, and projects like that. Uh, they've been developing, simple bracket. Yep. They've been developing a new, uh, project for Kickstarter, which just launched on Kickstarter today called the Obi. Um, and Obi is a smart laser toy for pets. That's what it is. Um, and we have been working together for a few months on a podcast. And so the show will feature a mix of kind of interview, but also clips from the, from telephone calls and Skype calls and in-person meetings between Dan, Tom, and myself over the last six months. So they've been recording all of the big conversations they've been having about the design of Obi. Um, and we're going to be using those to help tell the story. So Obi is currently available on Kickstarter. We're going to be putting out an episode a week during the campaign period, and then we might change it up a little bit to the frequency of the shows. Um, so we're looking to tell the story of how the product came to be, tell the story of being on Kickstarter and then telling, uh, all things considered if it gets funded, which I'm sure it will, uh, we'll also be telling the story of how a physical product is manufactured, um, which may, uh, if all goes well, include me going to China with the guys to, to detail what it's like to get manufacturer done in China.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. I'm pretty excited for the show and knowing, uh, Tom and Dan, like I do and how helpful they've been to me when I've had questions about, you know, making physical, they make physical products and, you know, they've been helpful to me, you know, with some questions I've had with knock and with things that I'm doing. So I could not be more excited to, um, to hear them on this show. It's going to be great.

Myke Hurley: Yeah. So go check it out. That's a relay.fm slash T C. Um, and if you want to find that and the rest of our show notes for this week, head on over to relay.fm slash pen addict slash one seven three. Um, if you want to find Brad online, he is at dowdyism on Twitter, D O W D Y I S M. He is pen addict on Instagram and over at pen addict.com as well. And I am at I Myke I M Y K E on Twitter and Instagram. Thanks again to our sponsors for this week. The great people over at fracture and Squarespace, and we'll be back next time. Thank you so much for listening until then say goodbye, Brad.

Brad Dowdy: Goodbye, Brad.