The Pen Addict 731/transcript

The Pen Addict Podcast Transcript
Episode:	731
Title:	Can You Just Put Ink in the Thing?
Release Date:	August 27th, 2026
Hosts:	Brad Dowdy Myke Hurley
Guests:	No guests this episode
Additional Information
Official page:	Episode 731
Audio File:	Audio Episode 731
Podcast page:	The Pen Addict 731
Length:	5858 min <br />0.967 h <br /> minutes
Previous Transcript	Next Transcript

Pen Chalet

Myke Hurley: From Relay, this is The Pen Addict, episode 731. Today's show is brought to you by Squarespace and Pen Chalet. My name is Myke Hurley and I'm joined by Brad Dowdy. Hi Brad. Wow, you are aggressively Myke Hurley today. I'm fighting through it, Brad. I'm fighting through it. I'm not feeling very well today. And so I'm kind of just like, I'm trying to just, I'm just ignoring it.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, that's like, no, it's like you're not feeling good, so you have to put on the fake energy, right? And not that you're faking it, but you're like, sometimes you... No, I am faking it. I don't have this amount of energy right now. I am actually faking it. Yeah, so you sent it, you sent it, like you pinned the microphone there for a second. It's like, wow. I'm curious, since you're not feeling well, does fruit help it at all? Like when you're sick, do you enjoy fruit?

Myke Hurley: And that makes you feel better? It's just an absolutely abysmal segue, but you can try your best anyway. I'm happy with it. I'm happy with it. I got my Retro 51 Fruit Edition, the strawberry and the banana. Brad, they rule so hard.

Brad Dowdy: So look, it wasn't a bad segue because they made you feel better.

Myke Hurley: They did. They're brilliant. Okay. Okay. It's just brilliant. And also you got what you wanted, the banana one, which is the superior one, I think, having now seen both of them. The banana is, like the metal is matte.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, it had to be. Yeah. Totally had to be. And the strawberry had to be shiny because of what it represents. Yeah. All right, I'm going to get the banana.

Myke Hurley: The strawberry went to Idina, that was my plan, and the banana is mine. And it is a truly excellent Retro 51. Like, it is just so good. The banana one especially. They're both brilliant, but they really crushed it. Like, they executed at complete top level with this one.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. It's really good. I'm going to have to get the banana. I haven't ordered it yet, but it's on the list. I just need to pick up a few things. So I'm, like, making a shopping list. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, it just looks good, and I'll get it. Maybe get the sleeve. Did you get any of the sleeves or just the pants? I didn't. You're not. Yeah, you're not much of the sleeves.

Myke Hurley: I wouldn't use that, really. It's not for me.

Brad Dowdy: Did you pick up the accessory I tagged you in on Instagram? Do you recall this from last week? The very large knife from our friend Daryl Kasten. Yeah, what was that? It was just a banana knife, and it was kind of amazing. Yeah.

Myke Hurley: No, I didn't buy a banana knife.

Brad Dowdy: I'm not a big knife guy. Well, yeah, seeing that it's, like, very, very much, you know, managed in your country, right?

Myke Hurley: Honestly, I don't know. Like, I'm sure there are rules. We've had this before. Yeah.

Brad Dowdy: Like, when, like, other companies, like, Tactile Turn was making, like, knives. He's like, oh, yeah, we can't really have that, you know, in the UK. Okay. So, yeah. But it's just all of a sudden, like, bananas everywhere. Maybe it's banana season, and we just don't know. I'm here for it. I'm here for it. I am playing Donkey Kong Bonanza. Are you? On my new Switch, too.

Myke Hurley: Oh, that game is so good.

Brad Dowdy: Ooh, banana. So that's pretty fun. Ooh, banana. That game rules. So, yeah. So, yeah. Like, I'm going to get the banana pen. It kind of goes with the Air Steppy pencil that I reviewed. You did review the Air Steppy. I did do the, did review the Air Steppy. Like, look, like, it's just not that good of a pencil. No.

Air Steppy Run

Myke Hurley: I mean, I was so happy about just how soon, like, it was the first paragraph in which you mentioned Air Steppy run, the unfathomable game that they made to launch this pencil. Yeah. Just brilliant. Yeah. Brilliant stuff. Bad product. What more could you ask for?

Brad Dowdy: It's not a bad product. It's just not a good product.

Myke Hurley: It doesn't live up to the amount of effort, surely.

Brad Dowdy: They put, yes. But as we've seen with, like, a lot of Japanese stationery companies, this is, like, the sweet spot. If they can just go hang Air Steppy on the shelf, right, in the vast sea of stationery, like, at the convenience store, right, Air Steppy's gonna do well, right? Because it's a very, it's a few dollars.

Myke Hurley: Yeah. But that is very different to we've created a browser game. That's true. That part isn't needed.

Brad Dowdy: And they did launch it in their annual report, which I thought was freaking hilarious. Like, they are big fans of it. It's just not technically good. Just not technically good. So we'll put a link in the show notes. I didn't want to do a whole other segment on Air Steppy. I think that took, like, two entire episodes back in the day. Not that long ago, earlier this year, when I first got them in. But as a product to use, not my favorite. As a mechanical pencil nerd that I am, it did not hold up to pretty much most mechanical pencils. No. I got something in hand that I ordered way before Air Steppy, Myke. Like, did you back the Endless Maze Kickstarter fountain pen? I absolutely did not. No. No. Okay. Wow. That was aggressive.

Myke Hurley: I have feelings about this.

Brad Dowdy: I think I probably expressed these at the time. You probably, probably.

Myke Hurley: But I have feelings about it still, yeah.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. That makes sense. That makes sense. It's not my thing. Like, this is generally not a product I would go for. But it's very popular in our world. Because look at it. Like, it looks sick, right? And it may not be for you. Like, I totally get that. And I didn't back this when it first launched. The campaign started either, like, in November or December 2025. Because it fulfilled, like, early January. So, it was a late 2025 thing. And I had spoken to Arc Layer at the DC Pen Show, who was teaming up with Endless to make these pens. And everyone that was getting them was very, very happy with them. And, you know, the technical aspects of this pen. You'll have to go look at this to see what I'm talking about. But they're, like, a, is it 3D? Yeah. It's 3D printed internals. Okay. And these internals have different patterns, like swirls and hexes. Yeah.

TWSBI

Myke Hurley: So, they're essentially clear barrels with a, I'll just say for the sake of ease, a tube inside. And you fill the tube with ink. And so, you end up with, like, DNA-like looking patterns inside of the clear pen. You're not actually putting ink into the body of the pen as such. You're more just filling these little tubes so it creates fun and interesting patterns. Right.

Brad Dowdy: And there were, like, six different patterns. So, DNA, you can imagine that pattern. Twist, swirl, Morse, coil, and party. Yeah. So, I was, like, fine. Like, I will get this pen. It was reasonably priced. I think by the time I was getting into it, I think it was either $79 or $89. It's like, sure, I'll give this a shot. And then they did a little holiday bonus set where you could get one of Endless's bottles of ink, which they've had on the market for a while. You could get the case for the pen sleeve. I don't even know what they're calling this thing. It's a self-winding case. You'll have to go look for it on the page. I think it's called The Labyrinth. But it's just, like, a little 3D printed engineered. Yeah, it's like a video. It's just a 3D. Engineered case. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It is a 3D printed case. No, yeah. It's not just that. It's a fidgety case, right? Yeah. And so, like, my entire, I was all in for, like, all these things. Like, I think it was $129. Oh, and a rickshaw pen sleeve, like a geometric pattern pen sleeve, which was fun. So, I inked it up yesterday. It just came in. They were sending these out in waves. Like, it was a big project. They did, like, $360-something thousand dollars. So, it was a lot of pens. And so, I was in, like, I think that I was in the second wave. And I unboxed it and inked it yesterday on stream. You can go find an entire walkthrough. One of the good things about stream is I can just do these unboxings and just we kind of live the product together. Yeah. You know, live, how I'm, like, trying to figure it out. Chat has to help me, like, figure out, like, giving me tips and tricks. People who already got these pens are telling me to fill it certain ways. Things like that. So, you can go watch that walkthrough on YouTube. But, yeah. Like, the question is, with a pen like this, all you have to, you just start and finish the entire conversation with, does it work? Right? And then everything else is just in between. And so far, it works. Yes.

Myke Hurley: So, what you say it works, it means it has this odd way of filling the pen, but it still delivers the ink to the nib and you can use it.

Brad Dowdy: Yes. And the construction of the barrel is good. It feels solid. It doesn't feel like a toy or something like that. Not that I think it looked like that in the beginning. But I think people will definitely, like, you know, not, you know, just, like, glom onto this pen. Can you? I'm looking at the Kickstarter page.

Myke Hurley: Can you just put ink in the thing? Like, you don't have to fill up the little tubes. You can just pour ink inside. Like, it looks like some images. It looks like there's just ink in the entire, like, barrel, like a full eyedropper.

Brad Dowdy: So, this is actually kind of one of the questions I have. I don't think so. And the reason, I think what you're seeing is actually the barrel color. Oh. Right? So, I chose clear on purpose because I didn't want a red barrel. That is confusing.

Myke Hurley: That's confusing. Yeah, it is. I understand now. Yep.

Brad Dowdy: So, the center barrel where you can see all the stuff has tints. Yeah. Okay. So, there's clear, there's green, there's red. So, but that is actually a question I have. And I don't have any good pictures yet because, like, again, I just did this yesterday. So, there's a regular version that just has the, gosh, I guess the interior design, the tubing. Let's just call it the tubing. Okay. And then there's an upgraded one that has a Japanese eyedropper seal. Now, do you know what that means when I talk about the Japanese eyedropper? They have, like, it looks like a vacuum piston.

Myke Hurley: Okay.

Japanese Eyedropper

Brad Dowdy: In there. But it's not to draw in ink or push out ink. It's just to close off to seal it. So, it's called a Japanese eyedropper. And what's standard?

Brad Dowdy: What's standard on this pen is the non-Japanese eyedropper. Yeah, but what is that? Like, what's the difference? I don't know what you're asking.

Japanese Eyedropper

Myke Hurley: Well, like, the Japanese method is this, like, cool, like, locking system, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Which is actually causing some kind of vacuum. But what is the regular one? The non-Japanese one?

Brad Dowdy: It's just a regular, like, eyedropper. Okay. So, it's just managing itself by the ink pressure within the chamber. Okay. And the eyedropper is one step above that to have, like, a safety seal, if you will. Right. You're not going to have a problem with just a regular eyedropper. It's just like any regular eyedropper pen with where you're just pouring ink into a barrel. And, you know, as long as all the seals are good, your pen is going to flow fine. This just has, the Japanese mechanism has one extra safety step in there. You know, if you're, you know, moving around with the pen a lot or traveling with the pen a lot. So, something like that. So, you know, it's an unnecessary thing, but it's a system that I like. Just out of, like, using, like, an Opus 88, those always had that type of mechanism in there. Even though it's not a filling mechanism, it is a safety mechanism. So, that's the one that I have with the Japanese eyedropper. It's just an extra seal. So, to answer your question about inking, I think was a good question.

Brad Dowdy: So, I got the, let me get the name, swirl pattern. Okay. So, it's just like a coiled tube going up and down the barrel. So, when I open up the grip section to ink the pen. So, all of these pens have to be inked like you're inking an eyedropper pen. There is only openings for where the tubes run.

Brad Dowdy: Okay. So, it's not an open barrel. So, mine.

Myke Hurley: So, it's solid. The barrel is solid and it has, like, a carved tube inside of it.

Brad Dowdy: Yes.

Myke Hurley: Interesting. Okay. I didn't work that out from looking at it.

Brad Dowdy: So, yeah. So, there's basically the exterior barrel and then this. I think it's, like, in mine, the swirl. It's, like, through the barrel walls is where this tube runs. The tube is not separate. I'm only talking about the swirl because that's what I have. The barrel is, looks like it's built into the wall. I mean, the tube. God, this is hard to discuss. The swirl pattern is built into the wall of the barrel. It's not a standalone swirl inside of the barrel.

Brad Dowdy: Does that work?

Myke Hurley: Yeah, I think so. So, just imagine, like, a very thick wall. Let's take a solid piece of acrylic and drill these holes inside of it, we'll say. Exactly. Yes. Yes.

Brad Dowdy: It's not suspended. Right. Exactly. Yeah. So, and then the center's drilled out for the, basically, the Japanese eyedropper piston rod. Yeah. So, that can move up and down. But you don't really need to move it up and down. It just has to move back and forth, like, you know, a quarter of an inch to seal and unseal the area. So, with this swirl, there are two entry points when you fill it with ink, when you're eyedropping it. Right? So, the swirls terminate up towards the threads in the grip section, right, on the writing end of the nib. Yeah. Of the pen towards the nib. So, I've unscrewed the grip section. And there's two little slots that are where the ink is going to flow when you close things back up. So, you just fill it through one of those slots. And you watch it just swirl down the barrel and back up the other side. And, yeah. Like, every, even though it's, like, obviously really confusing. It's a really confusing product. It's really confusing to talk about in just words without visuals. Everything works once you sort it out. You need to go see it.

Myke Hurley: There's a link in the show on the Kickstarter page. It has a bunch of videos and GIFs and stuff. Like, if you don't understand it from the way we're describing it, which you would not be, it would not be surprising if that was the case. I recommend just going and having a look.

Brad Dowdy: Yep. So, the real question is, does the ink flow properly when you're writing? Well, actually, no.

Myke Hurley: I will stop you there. Because, like, I watched your video. Mm-hmm. Filling this looks really fiddly.

Brad Dowdy: Yes, it is.

Myke Hurley: Like, you're kind of sticking a needle into one of these, like, reservoir holes and pushing the ink in. But airs getting in there, it just, it didn't look like a good experience, the filling of this pen.

Brad Dowdy: It is very fidgety. Yeah. And very particular. And it made me, like, question what I was doing. Am I doing this right?

Kickstarter Campaign

Myke Hurley: And this kind of gives me, this is very loose, but this gives me kind of visionary vibes. In, like, 2,300 people have backed this thing because it looks good. Mm-hmm. And they, I don't think that 2,300 people here fully understand what they're going to be doing when this thing arrives with them.

Brad Dowdy: One of my early offhanded comments when I was going through all this was, this has to be the most highest percentage customer service product I've seen.

Myke Hurley: Yeah. Because this is a, like, me and you, experts, I'll say, right? Mm-hmm. I don't want to do this. And, like, I could tell you weren't enjoying it. Right? Like, it wasn't working in the way that you wanted it to, really. Like, it was, you know, there was air in there. You seemed quite hesitant about how to do it. Like, it isn't, it really feels, like, high expert level. But even then, just, like, hard to execute in a way that is satisfying.

Brad Dowdy: So, the mental challenge I had, and I mentioned this as I was going through it, were expectations. Yeah. Right? My expectations of how to fill a fountain pen, I had to throw all that out the window. Yeah. Because this didn't behave like any other pen that I've tried to fill. That doesn't mean it didn't work. It meant that it's, like, why don't, why can't I get, like, 80 or 90% full? Like, why is there air in the tube on this side? Why do you only fill one side? And those are just, like, questions I had while I was going through this. Yeah. So, like, I just had to be resigned to the fact. It's, like, okay, this is not, like, I'm never going to have ink all the way through all the tubes. Which, you know, maybe that's an issue for some people. Like, you want it to look pretty. But, like, as soon as you write and get air in there, it's not going to write unless air is passing through this stuff. Right? Like, it cannot flow. So, the flow actually worked spectacularly. Like, I've picked it up this morning and it worked just fine. It, like, flows very, very well. So, but yes, it's kind of a mind meld of a, you have, if you ordered this pen, hopefully you had some, some, like, playful expectations of what you're going to need to do. Because this is far and away not, not your standard fountain pen.

Brad Dowdy: But it writes that way. I will say that. I got the architect nib on it. That was another, like, you know, all my little upgrades. I made this, made my $89 pen, $129 pen. But I was fine with that. I don't love the nib. It is an architect with almost no variation. Which is very weird. It's fine. Like, it's enjoyable to write with. But it's not really an architect grind on it. There's no, the vertical lines are supposed to be thin on an architect nib. And they're practically the same width as the horizontal lines. There's no variation. I do like it in that it writes kind of with an edge, right? We always talk about how I like to write nibs that have an edge on it, whether that's a stub or a cursive italic or something fine and in very good shape. Not a rounded tip. But it's, I wouldn't, like, this is not an architect nib. It's just, it's just basic. It's, it's fine. Okay. But it flows well. It's super wet. And, like, this is the, where I ended up with this is, like, I'm glad I got it. But, like, there's no way I can review this pen unless I put, like, months of use into it. Because it's got so much going on. You know, we haven't cleaned it yet, right? You know, am I going to pull my hair out trying to clean this thing, right? Where are we at with that type of thing? So, there's just a lot, a lot going on with it. I mean, they delivered a good product for what you paid for it. Yeah. It's just, do the consumers, are they going to understand it? And I feel like they will because I feel like you wouldn't have backed it unless you were up for the game that they're asking you to play here, right? So, so far, so good. The build quality is nice. You know, it's an acrylic pen. It's large. It's weighted well. Like, all the feels stuff about it are very nice. It's just whether you're going to enjoy the fidgetiness of it in the long term. I doubt I will. But we'll see. We'll see how it goes. I'm actually going to see if I can swap out the nib. I'm not loving the nib at all.

Myke Hurley: Where does the nib come from?

Brad Dowdy: I don't know. It's just one of their nibs. I don't know. I got to see if it's, like, compatible with anything. Like, it's totally fine, but it's basically just writing with, like, a broad nib. Okay. So, I want to write smaller with it. So, we'll see. We'll see if I can figure something out for that or get it modified or whatever. But, yeah, it's good. Who's this for, do you think? That's a really good question. Yeah.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. I mean, it's obviously for someone because they sold two, three thousand of them.

Brad Dowdy: I don't know. Like, if I'm making that list. You sell it because it looks good, right?

Myke Hurley: Like, it looks really cool. Like, it's a cool looking, very unique pen. Yeah.

Brad Dowdy: It's for, like, the nerdy visual type of person that wants to, like, be a little bit showy. But I don't know.

Myke Hurley: I feel like if you are a scientific researcher who likes pens, you know what I mean? This is, like, a good, like, you know, this looks very science-y, I think, you know? Like, I feel like it would be a nice talking point. Right.

Brad Dowdy: This is, like, the sharper image pen. Are you familiar with the sharper image? I'm aware of it, like, tangentially. Where they make, yeah, where they make just, like, the very specialty niche gift products. Yeah. Right? It's very popular during the holidays for gifts. Oh, you know, Bob likes pens. Bob's an engineer. What can we get him for Christmas? Yeah. You get this pen. Yeah. Right? Yeah. And that's, like, the whole premise of the sharper image catalog. It's not necessarily the best pen or the most functional pen, but it's one of the more unique pens, and you give it to someone to see, like, the surprise on their face. Yeah. Type of thing. I don't think this is, it's not a daily driver type of pen for me. Because I'm looking, it's, that boils down to the nib. And I still wonder, like, we haven't gotten into cleaning it yet. Again, I just, I've had this inked up for less than 24 hours at this point. So, we have a long way to go. I will say, like, I'm not knocking this at all. I think they executed it well. Right. Like, for what it is. Right. And so, now we'll see long term how it goes. That's the other thing is, like, what do you do next? Is there a next type of situation for this? Right. Like, you kind of, this was like a full send type of project.

Brad Dowdy: And, like, I'm wondering, like, okay, we did good. And, like, we'll continue to sell, like, a few of the patterns, like, going forward. But I don't know what else we can do here to change things.

Myke Hurley: It raised a lot of money, though. So, people wanted it. They did. They did really well. Yeah.

Brad Dowdy: It was good that they, so, it was good that Arc Layer and Endless, like, kind of teamed up to do this. Yeah.

Brad Dowdy: So, yeah. It's good. It's good. I don't know that it's great. Like, it's totally fine. It's just, it's a pen and a long lineup of pens that I have.

Myke Hurley: Yeah. What I would like for something like this, I would like to see, I think this pen would work if you could find a way to get it to operate with a more standard filling system. Like, can you make a vacuum filling system version of this pen or something? Like, I have no idea how you would do it, right? Sure, sure. But, like, is there some way to fill this pen that doesn't include a syringe?

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, yeah, yeah. That, like, this is an eyedropper only fill. You're not drawing this up. Yeah. It doesn't have a converter or a cartridge. Yeah. Like, you have to get messy with this.

Myke Hurley: Yeah, and I think if there's some way to do it differently, I think they're on to a winner. But I just think it's really complicated when you've got to introduce another element, like a new instrument, to be able to make it work. Yeah. That becomes quite complicated, I think. Yeah. You're asking for a lot.

Brad Dowdy: I think what I would like to see in the future is, like, they, like I said, they full-scent the Kickstarter with all the patterns. I'd like to just, like, see a heavy focus on a singular pattern and then, you know, maybe tweak the filling system for the normals or something like that.

Myke Hurley: Simplify it some way. And just use one of the Helix patterns or something.

Brad Dowdy: It's cool. It's fun. I'm glad I have it. But it's not going to rate, right, against, like, every other pen that I own. Like, it's fine. Like, I'm totally happy with it. And the best, like, I wanted to make sure it worked. Yeah. Like, that's all I cared about. And so far, it has succeeded on that front. So I think that's a good place to start from, right?

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Talksmot

Brad Dowdy: All right, Myke, we got our shout-out of the week. Shout-out of the week. Talksmot on YouTube. I've been following them, I don't know, a very short period of time, and they're a stationary YouTuber. And this week, they had a couple of videos. I put in one in the show today because it's going to line up perfectly with what I want to talk about next. They did a Hobonichi preview chat. So it is Hobonichi season, Myke. It's like Super Bowl time for a very specific part of the pen community, right? It is. It is. And I feel like, well, we'll just maybe just finish with Talksmot. They did a great preview video. So what Hobonichi does is they prep, and they tease all of the things. And the product offering is massive, which we'll talk about in a minute, up until the whole month of August, up until a September 1st launch. So every day is a new release. So Talksmot was going through all the things. And it's actually very helpful to have a video like this where they just kind of like, even if they're doing it just like on a screen, like they did a lot of it on an iPad, just like flipping through all the offerings because it is so deep in what Hobonichi does. But I thought this was a really well done video. And it's like 30 minutes long. And trust me, if you went to Hobonichi's site, you couldn't figure everything that they had going on in 30 minutes.

Myke Hurley: It's overwhelming. Like I went and looked before the show today. Yeah. And like you have some stuff in there. And it's like, I don't even understand how you found the things you were excited about.

Brad Dowdy: So this is the exact conversation I want to have. So thank you, Talksmot, for making these videos. Go follow Talksmot on YouTube. So let's get into Hobonichi's season. You're 100% right. So I wanted to talk about a few specific things. When we get to these links that I want to talk about, Myke, I did not find any of those naturally. Like, and I tried. I tried to go through the hierarchy of the website to find the things that I wanted. I just ended up having to do searches and to land on the pages that I wanted because it was that complex. So good luck on September 1st, everyone. This is why they give you a month head start because it's going to take you that long to figure out what you want.

Myke Hurley: Really nail down what you want.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah.

Brad Dowdy: So, and like I said, like, I'm less dialed into this than I ever have been into what Hobonichi's doing because I don't use the planner right now. And I have in the past, and I think they're great. They're obviously maybe the best at what they do as far as, like, scope and scale and design. Yes. Yeah. But, I mean, and they built it, like, I mean, they built it from the ground up. So, like, you know, good for them on, like, what they're doing. And it's impressive. And it's just like other companies that are big in the stationary space that I may not use. I still follow what they do because it's kind of important, right, in how they do things. And a lot of people follow, like, what they do. They set the track. They do. They really, really do. So, what I've done for this one, since I'm not even looking at any of the notebooks, but I will probably end up with some accessory somehow. I pretty much end up with something every year just because they have such cool designs. They have such cool collaborations. They have two things, Myke. They're doing the Tsuki no Iro collection, which I think started not this year, but in previous years. But I don't know. When's the last time you've – have you ever used a Hobonichi? Yeah. I don't know that you ever have.

Myke Hurley: I used a Hobonichi before I created the theme system journal.

Brad Dowdy: Okay. So, one of the things that they've done for a long time, and you see when you go to this link on the page, and a lot of people don't notice this until they actually get the notebook in hand, is they color code the month tabs on the edge of the book. Yeah. And so, each month has its own color, so it's easier for you to flip and see where things are.

Myke Hurley: Which of the notebooks has the colors? The Techo? Yeah, the Techo, I believe. It didn't when I used it, I don't think. It's gone back a long time.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, true.

Myke Hurley: Like 2019, maybe, I was using one?

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, so I wonder how long the actual – the colors look more vibrant than I've ever seen them, so it's at least been a couple years that they've done this. Because one of the items that I like is the Uniball 1 set for the Tsuki no Iro. They do the 12-color matching. Yeah. So, each month on the Techo has the color tab, and Uniball made a color to match that color tab. Yeah. Like, it's kind of sick. It's pretty cool. You know, a lot of the colors are, like, bright and, you know, pastel-y and things like that. So, it's pretty neat. It's a case, too, the pens. Yeah. And it's funny, and they do this purposefully because I think it's the Avec or the Cousin that comes in two six-month editions, like, first half of the year, second half of the year. They actually do the pens six and six as well, which I think is funny. And then, on top of that, new this year is Kakamori has collaborated with them to do fountain pen inks.

Myke Hurley: Yep. And they have a pen, too.

Brad Dowdy: And then they have a pen, too, with the kind of, like, the Hobonichi logo, the Tsuki no Iro logo. There's, like, a little design on there that's on the barrel.

Hobonichi Merch

Myke Hurley: To kind of get an idea of the scale of Hobonichi, they are making merch for their merch now. That's where we are, right? Yeah. Like, they are making products that emulate and celebrate their products. Yes. Like, that is unbelievable kind of level of success, right?

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. I have one later that definitely hammers that point home. Yeah. But, yeah, 100%. And, like, this is, I don't know. I just look at this Kakamori collaboration. That's, like, pretty big, right? Like, Kakamori is a great shop. Oh, and the Uniball.

Myke Hurley: I mean, Uniball's, but, like, they get Uniball to make pens for them. Like, it's unbelievable, right?

Brad Dowdy: Yeah.

Myke Hurley: And I guarantee you, Uniball's happy for the business, right?

Brad Dowdy: Like. Oh, this is such a big deal, yeah. That's why, like, Uniball's been with them for a while. They'll often do, like, a Jetstream collaboration. Sure. And they'll just do different barrels and different stampings on the barrels. Exterior designs. Yeah. Yeah. Now we're in the ink. Now we're formulating new colors for you. Yeah. Kind of thing, right? Yeah. That's crazy, like, when you think about it. Yeah. And then Kakamori, who, one of their things that Kakamori does is you can mix your own ink. Well, they've made 12 colors. Again, just like the Uniball, it's two sets of six. Yeah. They're very small ink bottles, but they're designed to be used for that month and to match the colors. I think it's just a crazy good idea. Yeah. Like, I'm 0% interested, like, in any of this, but man, it's fantastic.

Myke Hurley: I love this idea, right? Of having the matching color for the month. I think that's really nice. I think this is very good. I do, too.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. I do, too. And I like that they've leaned into it, so that's really good. This is so random, and I think I meant to buy this last year, and this one I did just happen to run across. I really want their stencil set. Okay. They have a cool little five, like, five ruler stencil set. It's very small. It fits. Like, all of these are, like, really tiny, and they have really tiny shapes and designs just to be additive to your notebooks and journals and planners. And they're small enough that they fit in, like, the credit card pockets in, like, cases. You know, they're not that short, necessarily, but they're not, these are not big items, and you can put them in any, like, notebook or system that you have. And I don't know. I've seen these before. These look like a little bit different patterns than the one I was looking at before.

Myke Hurley: It's very funny. Like, one of them is because they've got names, right? So, it's, like, depending on what they are, like, schedule, activities, speaking, like, and they're speech bubbles. And there's one called Travel, and there's a stencil only of Japan. Yeah. I was going to say, what is the Japan one called?

Brad Dowdy: So, it's just like, oh, you can travel, but only in Japan. Yeah. It's Japan. Then it's got flower, tree, mountain, ocean, firework, spa, tower, which is, of course, like, Tokyo Tower. Tokyo Tower, yeah. You know, barbecue, which doesn't look like yakitori. It looks like a candy.

Myke Hurley: Well, it's like meat on a bone, right?

Brad Dowdy: I guess. It's like cartoon meat on a bone. Yeah, yeah. It's a Fred Flynn's. It's a Bronto. It's like the emoji of, there's an emoji. Is it like that? Okay. Then bag, camera, flag, mark. So, anyway, it's, yes, it's travel for Japan, which is great. So, I like that one. This is the problem one, Myke. This one right here. So, I'm relying on other people to show me stuff because of the volume of things, which we've discussed. Right. There is a Hobonichi Techo store in the Tokyo Station.

Brad Dowdy: Ginza? In Japan. Yeah. No. So, Tokyo Station is like the huge, one of the huge subway stations there. Oh, sorry. Grandsta. Grandsta Tokyo. Grandsta. Yeah. I misread it. Yeah. So, and they have exclusive items just in that shop. And what they've done this year is they've done this character called Suica. Suica is their transport card, right? Yeah. Like, you know, other parts of the world have their transport cards. And they have a mascot, obviously. Yeah. So, the mascot is a penguin. Penguin, yeah. Suica penguin. Yeah. So, they have all this Suica penguin merch. Mm-hmm. This is the, I don't care if you're even into, like, the, you know, the transportation, the trains, the Tokyo Station thing. This is just one of the coolest designs, period.

Myke Hurley: He's just a fun little guy.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. It's just a fun little penguin guy hanging out there. And this was the merch. We make merch for our merch, Myke. Yeah. They have a Hobonichi key ring for your Hobonichi. So, the little key ring. Oh, my God.

Myke Hurley: And it's a tiny Hobonichi.

Brad Dowdy: And it's a tiny Hobonichi, and it's filled with paper, and that little pen actually writes. Oh, my God. Or it's a pencil. Writes in there. Hilarious. So, it's like...

Myke Hurley: You could hang one from the Hobonichi. You could hang a Hobonichi on the Hobonichi.

Brad Dowdy: Yep. Wow. So, it's like a Hobonichi-ception or something. Yeah. But this, you know, only available at the Tokyo Station Store. And that is one of the hang-ups with a lot of this Hobonichi stuff, which I think the next one is the big one, Myke. Like, they did a big Hello Kitty collection this year. It is one of the best sets of art I've seen. Yeah. Like, this is my kind of artistic style. It is maybe, like, the number one thing that I've seen this year. Like, better than, like, all the One Piece stuff and just all the other things that they've done. And this is Japan only. Yeah. Like, which... I am shocked that the Hello Kitty is Japan only.

Myke Hurley: Well, you know that's not Hobonichi's decision.

Brad Dowdy: But still... This is Sanrio. This is Sanrio telling them. Yeah. Like, this is so good. Yeah. Like, everyone should have these. Like, who wants this? Yeah. And, like, this one actually stinks. This is the problem with IP. Right? It is.

Myke Hurley: Like, different companies hold the licenses in different places. And it's like, you can do this, but it's not going to be geolimited.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. Yeah. So, they... Like, way down, they have, like, this desk toolbox, which is a popular thing, right? For, like... You know, they... I hate this word. I'm going to say it anyway. Hot desking. I hate that word. Hot desk, baby. Yeah, yeah. God, that is one of the worst words ever. I used to hot desk. Yeah. Good luck. But this is, like, your little portable... You know, it looks like a little lunchbox. Yeah. But it's kind of... You could also kind of fill it with, like, portable stationery, too. This page also doesn't end. If you start scrolling, I have yet to make it to the bottom, Myke. Oh, yeah. It keeps... So, yeah. What do they call this?

Brad Dowdy: They're just calling it a pouch. The names... Oh, no, Myke. I figured out what it's called.

STAPO

Brad Dowdy: They don't have to do this, but they did it. It's called the STAPO, Myke. Do you know what that stands for? STAPO. Yeah. STAPO. It's a portmanteau. Oh, I see it now. It's a stand and pouch. Yeah. It combines the word stand and pouch. Yeah, yeah. Let's not do that. How about we don't do that? What do you think? STAPO. STAPO. STAPO. STAPO. STAND pouch. I love it. But they also have the flat pen case Komodo. At this point, I'd rather call it the hot desk case than the STAPO. Hot desk STAPO. STAPO sounds like an infection. STAPO?

Myke Hurley: Like you think of STAPO? Mm-hmm.

Brad Dowdy: Mm-hmm. Interesting. Interesting. So, anyway. Oh, no. What is the Komodo? It is- Okay. That's at least a translation thing. Yeah. It's in a musical term. Okay.

Myke Hurley: It means easy or comfortable. It's like a little pen case that you strap to the front. So, we're going like- You know, it used to be people would want like one little pen loop that you could strap to the front. Now, it's just like a whole pen case. You just strap a whole pen case to the front of your notebook.

Brad Dowdy: I think at this point, just strap the STAPO onto it and call it a day. That's a good point. That is a really good point. Call it a day. But, like, what did we cover? Did we cover one half of 1% of what they're breaking out this year?

Myke Hurley: We haven't even spoken about the notebooks. You know what I mean? Yeah, I don't even care. We're not even talking about like the thing itself. It's just all the stuff. I have a question for you, though. Sure. Is there paper drama now or no? TBD. It's always TBD. Is it understood what is inside of these?

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, Sans and TR. They stuck with that. Okay.

Myke Hurley: So, this was the replacement for- Wait, no. Sans and TR is the- We're going to keep doing tomorrow, River, right? Yeah. That's them. Yeah. But it's like it's the new formulation, correct?

Brad Dowdy: Yes. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay. And then they- What was it? Last year or two years ago when they had the Bad Batch? There's this Bad Batch going around. Yeah. So, I've heard one anecdote, but until these get into the wild, it's not worth repeating, right? Yeah. You need like confirmation of stuff. Yeah. So, hopefully it's good. Like, we won't know till next month sometime.

Myke Hurley: It's the real deal, though, gang. It don't matter. Yeah, it don't matter. It don't matter. It don't matter. You know, it's like the scale- I just look at the offering. Yeah. If you're operating at this scale, you're fine. Like, they're selling these products to so many people now. And like, I've got to assume at this point that fountain pens are the minority of product used inside of these. Like, just because-

Brad Dowdy: Well, you know-

Myke Hurley: Where we're at.

Brad Dowdy: Where we're at. You know what the most popular journal in Japan is. Jetstream, probably, right? Nope. Go on. One more guess. Is it Zento? No. It might be in the future. It's Pilot Friction. Ah. Because they call them out specifically in their marketing, which I find this interesting. I want them to do a Friction collaboration, but I think they're pretty tied in with Uniball, so that's not going to happen, right? They do a lot of, like, Uni collabs and have been for years.

Myke Hurley: But if they do so much from Uni, then why are they calling out Friction anyway?

Brad Dowdy: Because of the paper, and that's what they want to sell it with. They want people to know. Yeah. Like, in last year's, I haven't looked at, like, all the product launch, like, PR stuff, but they called out specifically the Friction last year or two years ago in, like, the main PR packet. Right. Like, this is, like, the best for, like, the most popular pen, and it's the Friction, which is pretty wild to me. Mm-hmm. So, yeah, that's the most popular, like, pen that they see people using in their Hobonichis in Japan. So, very cool. I think that's super cool.

Myke Hurley: They're doing their thing. It's amazing. Doing their thing. It's amazing. If you need a pen to write in your Tomoe River Hobonichi, let me tell you where you can go. Pench LA. They sell authentic, amazing products from your favorite brands. They do discounts all the time. You're always going to be able to go to Pench LA. You're going to find new products when you go to the website. I'm sure we'll talk about some of those in a moment. They're always adding new stuff, but they're always doing the best discounts that they can do. Got closeout specials, special discounts all the time over at Pench LA to make sure that you're getting the best prices on high-quality products with the best customer satisfaction around. 100% satisfaction guaranteed from our friends over at Pench LA. Low prices on high-quality products. They sell international with great shipping rates. They do free shipping on orders over $100 in the US. Take yourself over to pench LA.com slash penaddict. That's P-E-N-C-H-A-L-E-T dot com slash penaddict right now. And you'll get the code that you need to save 10% off anything at Pench LA. Pench LA see some offers because you listen to the show and what else are they going to find over at Pench LA right now, Brad?

Pen Chalet

Brad Dowdy: So you mentioned their new products and over at Pench LA, they do this maybe better than anyone. They don't just do new products. They do new product collaborations and a lot of them are exclusive to Pench LA. Some are, some aren't, but they do so many cool projects. And this one, maybe I'm becoming a Delta fanboy after I bought my Delta Tiger King of Pen from Pench LA. They have a Delta limited edition reflection pool Duna fountain pen at a crazy good price over here. It's a beautiful material. It's got wonderful trim. It's a piston filler. This, this looks fantastic. It's like, I need to get into the Delta review game and see, see what's going on here because I've really enjoyed the one, my first one that I bought. And this one looks just as good if, and at a better price than, than what I just got. So this is great. They also, speaking of the collaborations, they did this Mayora Aqua De Mar fountain pen, beautiful, stunning blue with an ink collaboration. I don't even, I like, this is the, one of those materials that you just stare at. And every time you turn the pen, you see something different in the pen. It's just a really, really beautiful, complex kind of acrylic. They call it blue hot, blue Hawaii spaghetti resin. And it, and it had, which I know what they're meaning. They do these, like these cross sections and, you know, other companies have done this type of thing that they call it spaghetti. It doesn't really look like spaghetti, but that's how they call like this stacking and the way the acrylic ends up looking whenever you're done with it. What's interesting about this one is it's insanely expensive. It's got like a 14 carat nib. It's a limited edition, only 38, only 38, Myke. But that's why I wanted to point it out. Yeah. Because that's why I wanted to point this out in the end because like, I can't stop looking at it like, but it's crazy expensive. They have like a etched, like engraved nib, not like a hand engraved nib, but it's like, I don't know what you call it when you like deboss metal, but like there's raised areas, lowered areas. It's fantastic. Last one. Well, not last pen I want to talk about. I want to talk about something else. This Penlux Elite Black Knight. So Penlux makes some very cool, you know, like acrylic pens. So this one kind of caught my eye. It's like a black striated material. And let me read this because I don't know what this means. These are words I'm unfamiliar with. The Penlux Elite Black Knight fountain pen is crafted from an innovative multi-compressed PMMA resin featuring 26 individually mirror polished layers, Myke. If that doesn't entice you, well, just go look at the pen. It's, again, I can't stop looking at it. You know, it's a different type of material. It almost looks vintage-y in style, but it's a very modern, sleek look. I don't know. I kind of like it. But lastly, lastly, Myke, the Diamine color vent, the ink vent that they do, at the end of the year, they always release the inks the following year in like regular bottles. So those are out. It's called the Diamine Teal Edition. So they have a bunch of the inks from the previous set where you can just go by the individual inks. I have bought a molten basalt, which is a really weird blue kind of copper sheeny fountain pen ink. And it's really, really fun. So they do a lot of different colors that I don't know how long these stay. They're not like super limited, but I don't think these are around forever, right? Because they turn over this whole ink vent thing every year. So I don't know if they just have like some batches. And then when they sell out, they sell out. And then they'll do, you know, the following year. So anyway, go check that out over at Penn Chalet. There's a ton of good stuff right now on the market.

Myke Hurley: That's over at penchalet.com slash penaddict is where you've got the code. And you can use that over anything over at Penn Chalet. Our thanks to Penn Chalet for their support of this show and Relay.

Brad Dowdy: All right, Myke, we started the show with a pen that I need in the banana pen from Retro 51. I'm going to need these Blackwing Volume 143 Frida Kahlo edition. Yeah. Like 100% lock it in. Like best ever. They're really good. It's too new to call it that. But I love a super colorful pencil. And I love Frida Kahlo. And I love this style of art. And I love like the color presentation.

Myke Hurley: Let me tell you what I like about this edition specifically. Is they didn't go with the complete obvious thing to do. Which is to use Frida Kahlo's face on everything. Yeah. Because that is the very obvious thing to do. Right. For me, that style, I don't even know what you would call it. But like of Frida's work is overused, I think. Yes. When she's so much more than that. And I think that they are focused on the more kind of graphical work and color. Yes. And I really like that. I think the motifs that they have chosen are really great. And obviously, they have an image of her, like an illustration of her on the front of the box. But like not on the notebook and not on the pencils. So, I think they have used her work correctly for this product. That's what I would say.

Brad Dowdy: I agree. I agree. I agree completely.

Brad Dowdy: And they did the full batch collection. Which I guess they do this on all the volumes now. Where you get the notebook, the sharpener, the, what do they call it? Like the point guard, like the tip protector. I didn't notice that apparently for the last three editions, they've done a zine now. So, they call it the Blackwing Quarterly Zine. So, this is issue three. So, that means that I guess they've done it for the last two. But they do it to like expand the storytelling. Tell you more about Frida. If you're not familiar with their work, you can like learn about it. There's also coloring pages in there. I don't know. It's just like a fun add-on to do this. To kind of just expand it. I don't know. I just think the pencils are super great. I was very much hoping they were going to be one of the soft cores. You know, because Frida is an artist, right? And I didn't want like extra firm in there. And it is. It's the soft core, which I think is great. So, I don't know. It's kind of a perfect addition for me. Like I really love it. The colors are just fantastic. It's very interesting. And the execution is one of the best that they've done. Yeah. Which that's actually what, I mean, that's their job, right? But, you know, it's hard to nail that every time. Yeah. You know, when you have to do this four times a year, that is insanely hard. I don't think people can grasp how hard it is. Like field notes and Blackwing, all these quarterly stuff. It seems hard. It is really hard to execute at a high level repeatedly. Yep. So, and it's cool. Shout out to Blackwing. They did a good job on this one. So, I'm going to pick up the pencils. I love the sharpener. I'm not going to get the sharpener. But I love like the white accessories, right? Yeah. With the vibrant paint on there. I'll say this. If they did a full around the cylinder paint job, I might have had to buy it, right? It's just like a one facet paint job. Yeah. With like one thing. If they just sent it on the sharpener, I might have had to do it. But like, I'm good. I already have one sharpener. So, I don't need two like $30 Blackwing sharpeners. I got the one I have.

Myke Hurley: Here's a fun thing.

Myke Hurley: They chose her for this one because there are 143 paintings commonly attributed to her over the course of her life.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. I thought that was interesting. I didn't know that. Nicely done. Yeah. Nicely done. Pretty low, I guess, from like what my assumptions, right?

Myke Hurley: I don't know. 143 paintings feels like it takes a lot of time.

Brad Dowdy: That's true. And I'm sure that's not counting like all the other artwork. Yeah. That's just like, I guess, paintings. All right. Last little bit I wanted to talk about today is I updated the analog defaults page on the pen addict. And it's interesting, as I was going through this, that there was not much turnover. There was. There was like four. I don't know how many total topics I have. Let's see. Four, seven, eight, nine, 10, 11. Okay. So, for the 11 things swapped. So, I guess that's a decent rate. So, what I'm trying to do with this page is see what products I use the most in certain categories. Yeah. And keep a list of what I'm using. And I think that's probably a better way to phrase it than favorite because things do change and rotate over time. But I like to do this page. But I like to do this page because what it ends up showing is what I'm reaching for the most in these product categories. Like, the categories would be like gel ink pen, ballpoint pen, rollerball, fineliner, fountain pen, mechanical pencil, wooden pencil, highlighter marker, planner, journal, pen case. Right? That's like a core setup. And like, somehow I was able to fit everything into one picture barely on this. But I like thinking about this in, like for me particularly, in how I use things and what keeps like matriculating to the top. And like, does, do I end up using a pencil more than the Blackwing Eras? Do I end up using a fineliner more than the Secure Pigment Micron? Sometimes it's yes. You know, one comes, you know, not out of style, but out of usage for me and something else replaces it. Or do I use 10 other fineliners but keep reaching for the Secure Pigment Micron over and over again when it's something that I really want to do? And that answer is yes. So it's like, that might not ever change. Like, it's going to be pretty tough. So it's a fun way to look at my personal usage. And this isn't an all-encompassing usage, right? I use a ton more fountain pens that aren't shown on here. But what fountain pen, like I have the Lamy Safari in here, that's my most traveled fountain pen, maybe my most inked fountain pen. And I feel like it like deserved a spot. Like we just talked about the Tiger King of pen. Like I love that pen. I use it a lot. But it's not going to fit this slot, right? For what I'm thinking about as far as like what are my default products that are just easy to grab, use. I know they're going to be great. And kind of like, I don't know, narrow down like the best of the best and my favorite things to use. So I don't know. It's been a fun page to put together. It doesn't change a lot. This is kind of only the first big update I've done to it. And I'm really happy with everything in here. Like I don't know what's going to change. There will be something.

Brad Dowdy: And yeah, we'll see. But anyway, you can go check that out over at penatic.com. And let me know if you do an analog defaults page. I always like to look at it.

Myke Hurley: I want to do this at some point. I've been meaning. I keep putting it off. But I've been meaning to do this because I think I would. I think it would be an interesting experiment for me to maybe even make some decisions. Like there may be some things where I don't have one. And maybe I need to think about one. You know?

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. Yeah. Like I posted like a little short article today on the blog just saying I want to add some more categories. Like I don't have a multi-pin in there, which I should because I literally use multi-pins every week. So like that kind of thing, I need to think about adding a couple things. But this is really going to be best served as a long-term view of like what stationary I use the most. Right? It's like the first article or the first post isn't as important as what it's going to be in a couple years. Right? Because as things get refined and narrowed down and things like that. So it's a good snapshot of the now. But I think in the long term, it's going to be even better. Right? It's even though that might mean less change and maybe that's less interesting. But I think it's interesting to see to me that, oh, yeah, nothing's beating, you know, Alami Safari for like what I want to use on a day-to-day basis kind of thing. So anyway, it's like a fun little project. I like it.

Myke Hurley: People can go check that out in the show notes. And maybe you can let us know some of yours or if you have suggestions for categories to add, you can go to penaddictfeedback.com. And you can send them in there along with any follow-up or ask TPA questions. That you may have for us. If you want to find anything else that we've spoken about in today's episode, the show notes will be in your podcast app of choice or over at relay.fm slash penaddict slash 731. I want to thank Penn Chalet and Squarespace for their support of this week's episode. If you want to find Brad online, go to penaddict.com, twitch.tv slash penaddict and spokedesign.com. You can find me here at relay at theenthusiast.net and also at cortexbrand.com. Thanks so much for listening to this week's episode of the Pen Addict. We'll be back next week. Until then, say goodbye, Brad. Goodbye, Brad.