This transcript was generated from an audio file by AI, and may contain inaccuracies.
Transcript
I feel like this is an episode that's going to require a lot of typewriter bells. I don't know why. Pens and. And moonshine. Hello and welcome to episode 83 of the erasable Podcast. On hosting duty tonight, I am Johnny Gamber and I am joined, literally, as always, by Andy Welfle. Tim was on vacation this week, but we are lucky enough to be joined by Elaine Ku, our pen expert friend from Jetpens and also the talented artist and calligrapher behind the lovely owlink.com. how are you folks tonight?
Very good. Hey, Elaine.
Hi, everyone.
Hey. I'm excited to have you on. I think we've talked about this for
a while, Elaine, but I am excited to be here. It's timely because I just finished catching up pretty recently, so it's good to be on the show now.
Yeah. Duty calls.
This is like, adventurous territory for me. I don't know much about pen.
Yeah. So I guess some background for everybody listening at home. If you are in. If you follow CW pencils at all. They had a sampler pack recently that is curated by Brad Dowdy of the Penatic Fame. And he basically came out with a list of pencils for pen people. It's kind of interesting how he, like, interprets the characteristics. So we were like, hey, what if we had an episode of Pens for Pencil People? So now we'll have to, like, campaign to get like, Jetpens or somebody else to, like, carry these as a sampler pack. So.
Ooh, that's fantastic.
That's really why we invited you on Harleen.
Yeah. If only we knew someone from Japan.
Yes. No, it's fine.
We do have a lot of samplers because we do want people to try things and sometimes there's just that kind of paralysis where you're like, oh, like, what should I get? So we'll see. Maybe we will do a pens for pencil people sampler.
We have a friend who calls it analysis paralysis.
Yeah, it's true. It's a problem.
Cool.
So before we start talking about ding me out if I. If you have to think from enemy territory, what do we start with? I usually do with tools of the trade. And it's okay to talk about pens this time. I suppose. You want to go first, Andy.
Sure I am. What have I been digging lately? I have been watching the new Star Trek, which I think we talked a little bit about last time. It's really excellent. I've just caught up on the Orville, which is. Did we talk about that last time? I don't remember The Orville. Like Orville. Like Orville Rittenbacher. Orville. Right.
I'm getting hungry.
It's basically kind of like a Star Trek ish parody by Seth MacFarlane who does family Guy. And it's sort of like Family Guy set in space, except it's way better than Family Guy and the production values are like, almost like the pacing and everything feels really similar to Star Trek the Next Generation. So if you're somebody who started watching the new Star Trek Discovery series, kind of like hoping that you were going to get another Star Trek the Next Generation, you're going to be disappointed because it's not. It's a much different show. But you should watch the Orville because it feels so much like it. It's really good. They're both really great shows. So watching those. And we are currently rewatching Parks and Rec, which is just one of my favorite shows of all time.
I've never seen a single episode of that show.
Oh, it's so good. You should watch it.
I didn't finish it, but it is a very good show.
Yeah. If you want to know what it's like to sort of live in like a medium sized town in Indiana, like, it's surprisingly accurate. Does a really good job. So besides that, I am drinking an old Overholt rye whiskey on ice with just a splash of water. It's a brand I've never really known anything about. I just bought it because it was like a super cute bottle and I am wearing my first flannel shirt of the season. It's like in the low 60s here in San Francisco. Bet you miss Bay Area weather, Elaine.
I do. I am also wearing my flannel, but it's because it's like 50ish here, which is cold to me.
Yeah.
From California.
Elaine grew up in the Bay Area. She lived in San Jose and she recently moved to upstate New York. So it's a little bit of a change.
Big change.
Yeah. So. And I am. Right. Yeah. I'm writing in the spirit of our topic. I'm writing with a Baron fig experiment Squire, which is my favorite squire and one of my very favorite pens of all times. And I'm writing in my Baron fig, my field notes dime novel edition. So.
Nice.
Yeah. How about you, Johnny?
So I haven't been reading anything lately, which is terrible. I'm going to gloss right over that. So I talked about Poldark and it turns out that if you have a PBS passport and an app like a Roku or something, you could just straight up Watch all of season three after the first episode drops. So I feel like such a VIP because I've already seen it all.
Oh, Tony.
Promos like.
Sorry, I have a. I have a. Sorry, I have a recommendation for you on the pbs, like, PBS app. Yeah,
what's that?
It is a miniseries. No, it's not a miniseries because they just started season two. We watched the first episode. It's called the Durls in Corfu.
Oh, that was in the newsletter. That looks awesome.
It's very charming to catch up. Yeah.
So we just started watching Mindhunter on Netflix. That just came out. Did you guys see this? It's getting a lot of press.
I've heard a lot about it.
Yeah, it's really, really good. So we watched it last night and the younger male lead was sort of throwing me off with his voice. I'm like, his voice is just, like, really creeping me out. And it's the guy that did Kristoff on Frozen. So that explains why he's giving me the willies when he talks about, you know, serial killers. So speaking of serial killers, there's a new Marilyn Manson album that came out two weeks ago. So that might be distasteful, but if you're a moderate Marilyn Manson fan, it's really good. Except that. Well, not except there's a song that's called we know where you effing live. And you know, they reference global surveillance and a lot of stuff like that. And I just keep thinking about the most famous address in the world, you know, being on Pennsylvania Avenue. I'm like, how did they release this as a single when it's like this weird threatening song about guns saying, we know where you live and you know where that person lives. Chilling. But also it has a funny video with nuns and guns.
Hmm.
Being a Catholic school survivor, I like that.
That's pretty good. My mom used to get this wall calendar every year that it was called nuns having fun. And it was all of these old photos from, like, black and white photos from, like, mid century of, like, nuns doing things like riding a Ferris wheel or like smoking or something. And it was always so funny.
Yeah, I mean, the last Manson album was sort of mature. This one's, you know, loud. Yeah, but, you know, loud is good. Hammy likes it as he does. Moving on. So I'm using a big crystal fine. The orange bodied opaque ones that you can buy from the UK that are made in France and are like the best damn pen on a moleskin. The marauder's map edition from Harry Potter. So, yeah. Oh, and I'm drinking some moonshine that my brother made and wish that I drank a smaller glass because it's weeknight. Yeah. So how about you, Eileen?
Okay, for what I'm drinking, I'm drinking a cider. Since Andy mentioned, I recently moved from California to upstate New York, and one of the things that I found is that cider is a much bigger deal here than in California. I feel like Californians are all about their IPAs or their beers, but over here, there's, like, cider for days. So I've been enjoying that. Some other things that I've been digging I recently started listening to. Is it okay to talk about other podcasts?
Yeah, that's fine. That's fine. We do it all the time.
I recently started listening to a new podcast called Ologies. I don't know if anyone out there has listened to that one, but it's basically where there's a comedian named Alie Ward, and then she goes around interviewing people who work in different ology fields. And so there was one on gemology, horology, volcanology, and she basically just interviews these professionals about their kind of obscure jobs and what they entail. So I was thinking, like, what sort of stationary related ology might she touch on if she was to venture into the stationary world? And I was thinking, like, I don't know if there's. Is there an ology for pencils?
Plumbology, graphatology, graphiteology.
Graphology is like the study of handwriting, like what your handwriting says about you. So maybe that's one that she would get into. Yeah, but, yeah, it's really great. It's like, I mean, I've learned so much about obscure things like volcanology that I never would know. And I feel like that's. That's the great thing about podcasts.
Volcanology, of course, is the study of Commander Spock from Star Trek.
Yes, of course. It's a study of volcanoes.
Yes. Cool.
And then other pop culture things. I just finished catching up on Rick and Morty, and we'll be impatiently waiting for the next season to come out in two years or however long it takes them.
Did you get in line and wait for your Szechuan sauce package packets?
No, I did not. I was not one of those.
Did you guys see the Rick and Morty Simpsons couch gag that was on last year?
Yes. Yes, I did. That was really good.
I don't think I saw. I don't think I saw that one,
but I think it was.
I kind of. I'm A recent viewer of the show. And so some of the, like, crazy fan stuff, I'm like, I don't quite get that yet, but it's a fun show. I enjoy it.
It's a. I think it was on that interdimensional cable episode, wasn't it, Johnny?
I'm sorry?
That. That couch gag, it was on during the international, like, interdimensional cable episode.
Oh, I don't even remember.
Okay.
Yeah, I didn't know what it was at first. That's the limit of my exposure to Rick and Morty.
Yeah, it's one of those shows that I like, and I feel bad about it because there's so many neck beardy, like, bros who watch it.
There's kind of weird stuff associated with it. There's also a lot of really great character development going on in that show.
Absolutely. Yeah. And they have really interesting advanced sci fi tropes. Like, a lot of, like, interesting, like, multiverse type things. And somehow that got translated into, like, oh, Rick and Morty, like, you have to have an IQ to fully appreciate. Like, I have a high IQ to fully appreciate Rick and Morty, which I don't think is true, but I. I think that was, like, the logical step. It make. It makes you feel smart when you watch it. So I think that's a Dan Harmon thing. Always felt that way about Community.
Yeah. So that's one of the shows that I've been watching. I've also been watching, I think, Andy, you mentioned this, like, a couple episodes back, but I just caught up on Master of None as well.
Yeah, it's a good show.
And then so that's what I've been digging recently. And then in terms of writing, the most writing that I do is stuff for work. And so my everyday work supplies are. I have this big yellow legal pad. Like, not. Not even like a nice one. Like one of those giant ones that you get in like a pack of three. Because I burned through paper on that so quickly, I write everything down on there. Like. Like stuff from suppliers or like, oh, I need to follow up with this thing, with this person. And so I have a big yellow legal pad. And then for my pens, I have a Signo and a high tech C. So two fan favorites. Even people in the pencil world probably recognize those names. I have one pencil I currently using a general cedar point, but that one switches pretty often.
I like, you said Cyno, not Signo.
No, it is Signo. Yeah, like signature.
Oh, you said. Okay, Yeah. I never knew, like, I've heard so many, like, Back and forth pronunciations. But I'm gonna. I'm going to use you as an authority.
Yeah, we looked it up. Someone asked us that, too, because I think Brad says sino.
Yeah.
And I don't remember what Mike says, but we did look it up. And then in the catalog, how you would translate the Japanese, it is like sig with a hard G. Okay, that's good to know.
Cool.
So I've been mispronouncing it correctly.
All that time you've been saying signo.
Yeah, I always say signal. And when Brad said that, I was like, I'm saying it wrong. But I couldn't get myself out of it.
No, no, you were correct. Just think it's like signature. Yeah, signature.
Signature. Get your signature right here. Elaine, I've noticed that this pen that you sent to me years and years ago is now sort of the new hotness that. That Signo White pen.
Oh, yeah, yeah. Those are great. I've been noticing to use, like, in the. On the inside cover of a field notes.
Yeah, Yeah. I had like, a dark. I think. I think it was like my night sky field notes, and I. Yeah, like,
one of the dark covered ones.
Yeah, I had some, like, really crappy white pen that I was using. And. And Elaine was like my, like, my enabler. So she was like, please use this. And so she sent it to me, and it's so good. And I've. I feel like I've.
Signet white is great. That's a great, great pen.
I feel like people have been, like, really into it on. On the social media as of late.
It's because of Inktober, that's why.
Oh, yeah, I forgot about Inktober.
I'm going to have to ding that out, guys. That's a bad word here. No, I'm just kidding. All right, should we go into fresh points?
You're going to ding it. Can I say something else?
Yeah, no, sure.
You want to go first, Mr. Andy? Sure. Got a lot of good stuff this week.
Yeah.
Especially your number four.
Number four, my butt. I don't know how that got there. Apparently there's a middle schooler who has access to this Google Doc.
It was Tim.
Yeah. Tim is just haunting us. Hey, Tim.
We love you.
We miss you.
Tim's fault tonight.
Excuse me. Oh, man. So the first thing we should talk about is, like, one of the, like, something I've super excited about. Like, I've. I've been like, this is one of the coolest things I've seen in a long time. But Baron Fig Just came out with. It was kind of a joint quarterly release of their Archer and of their Vanguards. And it's called the School Set. And the Vanguards are really great. They have like, you know, a classic kind of like dappled composition notebook cover. There's a really good review of it on Comfortable Shoe Studio on Les's blog. Did Letfast do it too?
Yep. He did two parts.
Yep, he did. He did that too.
I think Dee did too, on weekly Pencil of the.
Of the composition notebook.
I think both.
Okay, I need to.
Don't quote me on that.
I need to catch up on my blogs. So the notebook is really great. It's just your basic vanguard. It has a really great lined inside. They do like the double lined kind of top and. Yeah, it's just really beautiful. Works really great. It looks just like a composition notebook. It's not maybe a true one because it doesn't have like the cardboard cover with the. With the taped edge. It's so good. I like it a lot. But the thing that really, really, really shines to me is that pencil. It is a kind of. Kind of an ode to. To a Ticonderoga. It's like a classic yellow school pencil. It has a green, like, cap on it like archers do. And what I really love is they just. Down the side, they just have. They just went for it. They use kind of like a Ticonderoga ish font and it says like Baron Fig Archer pencil. And it. Yeah, it looks amazing. They. They did such a good job of sort of like taking that classic yellow pencil look and putting just like the Baron Fig spin on it. So it's. It's an Archer. Like, it's. It's better quality, I think. It's not crumbly like the Snakes and Ladders one. It's more like the prismatic and the. The original in that. Yeah. It seems like they get quality control back up to snuff, but have you, Johnny, I know you have a set. Elaine, you haven't. You don't have a set of this, do you?
No, I don't. I do have a few pencils that you gave me at some point in time, though.
Yeah, yeah, they're. Oh, they're so good.
They're super fragrant. I feel like more than the other ones.
Yeah, yeah. They. They smell really good. It's. I guess I wonder if there were some delays to it because it didn't really come out back to school time. They should have released it like a month earlier, but.
And there was a peak of it in an Instagram story they had, like, maybe a whole month ago.
Yeah, it was. People were thinking it was like a Green Bay packers tribute or something like that because they saw the colors. No, it was. It was so good. I don't think anybody guessed that it was going to be like a. Like a tribute to a. Like a yellow school pencil or Taekondro or anything. But, yeah, I loved it a lot. So. Yeah. So good job. Baron Fig. They just came out with a really great new Squire that I don't know a lot about, but it looks really cool. Spooky, has a little ghost on it. It's cute. Spectre, which, like, sounds a lot like Squire, so I feel like people are gonna get confused, but whatever.
Inspector.
Yeah, it's a spectre. It's a Spectre gadget.
Yes.
Yeah. Speaking of Baron Fig, right now, as we speak, Joey is speaking at the Adobe Max conference. He's on a panel about design entrepreneurs, and the host of the panel is a guy who worked, a designer at Adobe, who is the guy who did the Baron Fig unfinished notebook. Koi Vin is his name. If they save that anywhere. I think they probably will. I'll put a link in show notes, so if I can. Should watch Joey talk about being the CEO of a small company and how Baron Fig got started.
Yeah, the pic that you posted was awesome.
Yeah. Yeah, There was just a line of, like, designers at this table, and everybody. The. The top. The front of the desk was completely empty except for a lone yellow Vanguard notebook in the middle and I'm guessing some sort of a sheath for a pen, but he kept. He kept fiddling with it while he was talking. It's awesome. Last fresh point I wanted to mention is, did we. I don't remember if we actually talked about this on the podcast, but we definitely talked about this in the group. There is a knockoff Blackwing now and.
Oh, no.
Yeah. Are you familiar with Tiger? That store in Europe that. It's like a dollar store, but, like European? It's like.
I think so.
It's like Daiso, if Daiso was, like, decorated like ikea, if you can imagine that. So they've. They have. I have a few other pencils that they sell. It's just like, they're usually pretty cheap and they look good. They're really nice. This one has a Blackwing feral on it, and somebody ran into it and posted in the group, and I managed to get a hold of a pack even though there's no Daiso. There's one in New York City and the rest of them are in like England or Europe, I guess. But yeah, they. They're super crappy pencils. The cores are super off center. The eraser instead of like. Or the, the ferrule instead of being like, you know, the barrel being kind of sanded down and glued on. It is just sort of like squished down on it. So it falls off pretty easily. What's interesting is the ferrule is the dimensions are exactly, exactly like the Palomino Blackwing. So I'm guessing that they probably. I was talking about it with Mike Hagen and with Tafer a little bit and Topher brought up the idea of have you ever heard of like midnight manufacturing or like night shift manufacturing where some factories in like, you know, China or Bangladesh or Thailand or like that are a little less like regulated than others. People will come in and just like moonlight on the factory floor and like produce the things and then sell them kind of on the side. And I have what.
I like this idea.
Yeah. It's how you get a lot of like knockoffs out there in the world. And I have zero. I have zero idea if that was the case here. I have no, no idea at all. And I was actually harboring. I was like, do you suppose that like Blackwing sold these to them? I can't imagine. So I emailed Alex from pencils.com and or from. From Blackwing and he says that like, no, they didn't have anything to do with it. They sent Tiger cease and desist. So yeah, they are not. These are not officially endorsed by, by Blackwing. So if you have access to any of these, you should pick some up because they won't be around for very long just to have as like a memorabilia. Like don't actually use them because they're super crappy.
Do they say Blackwing on them?
Nope. They. They have that same kind of like matte dark finish, the same as the mmx. But on all it says. Let me grab it here. All it says on it is HB and gold. That's all. That's the only, only thing on it. And the metal and the ferrule is a little bit golder. And the eraser looks about the same, I would say. And then the clamp is just about the same. So yeah, this thing is like. Yeah. Oh, I can't stress how awful it is. So yeah. So that is. That is it for me for Freshpoints. How about you, Johnny?
So the pencil store is opening back up.
Yay.
For folks that aren't in our group. I think, like Friday. Is that right?
I guess what they said.
Yeah, something like that. So I was supposed to be going to Boston tomorrow, and I'm obviously not, so I think I'm going to head up there early next month. So are any folks also gonna go hit the store up?
I mean, next time I make it six hours on a flight out there. I will totally go there.
You should get there before me because I'm bringing Henry, so there might not be a store left.
I think we should do a crowdfunding campaign to do a live erasable recording from CW Pencils.
Hells yes. Yeah, definitely. We could perhaps get them to stamp some pencils for the event. Boom. Fantastic.
That would be amazing.
Yeah. So if anyone who's listening is headed up the second weekend of November, maybe we could do a little coffee meetup or something.
Elaine, how far are you from New York City?
I'm about three and a half to four hours away. I was actually just in New York City last weekend, and I think the store was closed.
Hmm. You should.
Yeah, I totally thought about stopping because I usually. I usually. Every time I've been to New York City, the two previous times I've been there, I always stopped by and said hi to Caitlin and Carolyn. But this time, well, it was also a really short trip, so I didn't have as much wiggle room. Yeah, I think the store was also closed at the time that I was there this past weekend.
Yeah. Yeah, I think. I can't remember when they're opening, but yeah, they're just, like, starting to get the. Get the facade up on the new building.
Yeah, it looks a lot larger.
Yeah, I think she said it was like 600 square feet as opposed to the, you know, the. The old, like 200 square feet. And yeah, she was talking. She was on Harry Marks's podcast covered, and she talked a little bit about the store. So apparently there's going to be a few little surprises, like little, like different stations. And I think she said they have a basement, so they're gonna move their. Like their. Their office and like, fulfillment area underneath the store. So. That's really cool.
Yeah. There's a loft bed they're putting in. That's for me.
You're just gonna stay there?
I'm going there to live.
Okay.
This is what you do with a philosophy degree.
You live in a pencil store.
You just live there. I don't even work there. I'm just gonna live there. Yeah. Not going to help. I'll vacuum.
Oh, good.
I'll give everybody coffee.
If, if they don't know, like something, they're going to like shout up to the loft, like, wake up, wake up, wake up, Johnny.
My usual response would be like, I have no idea. Yeah, so we did our usual. Our usual, our Quadrant annual. Is that the right way to put it? Four times a year. Our seasonal release review and Right. Notepads wasn't out yet, so now it's out. So what do you guys think of the new. Right. Notepads, which they call the fingerprint edition?
Have you seen it, Elaine?
I have not. Not yet.
I, I like it.
This one's very divisive.
I like it aesthetically. I like it as sort of like a style, but I don't think I like it as a notebook for me to use.
Right.
Like, I, I guess I appreciate like what he was going for and it has kind of like a mid century look to it. Somebody mentioned what's his name, Eames, as kind of an inspiration. Somebody else mentioned. I can't remember what else. Yeah, it's beautiful, but it's just a little intricate for my usual interests.
Yeah. So for folks that don't know what it looks like, it's a white notebook and they cut off like, what are they, about an inch, 3/4 of an inch wooden dowels and dipped them in black ink, put them in dots and then did one red one and they made that into a letter, a plate for a letterpress machine and stamped them all.
Yeah.
So. And then the paper inside's blank and it comes in a really interesting looking box with a red sticker sealing it. And you know, Chris geniusly made it so you can't reclose it, so you have to use your notebooks, which is cool. And there was a little, there was a surprise that nobody's figured out yet and which is surprising. I guess People aren't opening their boxes.
I opened my box, I took them out.
I'm not supposed to say anything, so I, I'll leave it at that. I did not get the surprise. I only know about it because I saw it.
I feel like thematically it's a really interesting addition because it's like a huge break from what he usually does. It's not a tribute to something concrete or specific. It's not even a tribute to something abstract like an era necessarily. It's just some cool thing that he wanted to do. So it's kind of more like, like
pure
designy, like pure aesthetics. Yeah, yeah.
I think it's just like they're just a really cool looking sketchbook.
Yeah.
My only gripe is that the COVID stock is so heavy, it makes the book really stiff for opening and closing. You really got to break the binding in on this one.
It smells really good. It smells really like a print shop, like his, the royal blue edition.
And there were no pencils this time, which is disappointing.
Yeah, that was super disappointing.
I haven't talked to him. It could very well be that Musgrave screwed something up because they have delayed one release because of Musgrave not getting the pencils in time.
Yeah.
But that was also the release where they had cedar and they were really nice pencils.
Yeah.
So, you know, it balanced out. I know they were. They had a different idea in line for fall that. That they scrapped or put on the back burner for a while. That would have been super awesome. Now I'm putting my foot in my mouth. Yep.
Anyway, don't say anything you can't finish, Johnny.
Yeah. Damn. So also at Write Notepads, they have a thing on their website where they have notebooks for the different boroughs of New York. And for a little while, they were doing that for Maryland. There's one for the neighborhood where I used to live called Hamden, that was sort of bizarre looking. I think they made like one batch for one shop, and then they did some for Fells Point. Famously, Frederick Douglass and the Baltimore clipper ships manufacturer. So that was actually Frankie's. My first date, which was 20 years ago on the 4th. So Chris hooked me up with the notebook from their archives from Fell's Point. I'm much a nice shout out for Mr. Chris.
Yeah.
So I showed up down there, and Chris is outside with. Drinking out of like a Big Gulp with no straw. I'm like, damn. And then I come up and it's not a Big Gulp. It's a cup of coffee that's like, you know, 40 or 50 ounce cup of coffee.
Damn.
Awesome. I didn't know they made such a thing. I learned two things that day.
This is America, and in America, we're known for our big drinks no matter what.
Yeah. There was a crossover yesterday. Vito, our friend from Story Supply company, was in Baltimore yesterday or the day before. They stopped by to get a piece of equipment from. Right. Notepads, a saddle stitcher.
Did you get to meet up with them?
No, they came in and came out. But Vito is the poet laureate of York, Pennsylvania, which is not far from here, really. So, you know, one of these days we're all gonna get together and drink beer and brag about it on the Internet.
That's awesome.
Yeah, but they're, they're, they're in downtown York. Apparently there are a lot of good beer joints around there, but it's too far to drive if I have had beer.
So I have no. Yeah, I have no concept of how big York is.
York's weird. Really weird. My wife is from York and you could tease her about it when you see her, but so also, I don't know if this was in our group or other groups, but apparently you can get loic terms at Home Goods TJ Maxx Marshalls super cheap right now. So I ran out last night and found some soft cover pocket ones for $4.99. Good deal.
You can also get moleskins at TJ Maxx. I've seen them. I almost picked some up. They have like the little, the little like Traveler's Notebook size 1, the slim, a 5 size. It was very interesting.
I saw two superhero themed ones yesterday at TJ Maxx for $7.99. For the large one, which is a crazy steal. I left them there for someone who is dorky enough to want that. Sorry. My last fresh point is that I poached Harry for one post. Harry put up a very nice article about the timber twist. I realized that. And we talk about, you know, the bullet pencils so much on the podcast. I don't think I've ever mentioned owning a handful of them on the blog before. And you know, Harry's Harry. So it was a really, really awesome post. I was really happy to be able to put that up.
His review on my blog was better.
I don't know, man. We're going to fight about this like we fought over volume one.
I think what this is, I think what this is, is Harry just needs to have his own blog because, yeah, he doesn't need one. He can travel. It's fine with me.
I would read the crap out of that blog. No, I teased him. I was like, what? No love over here?
Yeah, he's like, what?
I was at Target today. I got a message and like, sweet. So yeah, that's all I have. How about you, Elaine?
My freshest point is, has been touched on earlier is that I moved from California to upstate New York. I now live in the Southern tier area of New York. And so I guess one of the things that I sort of wanted to talk about was the difficult process and Andy probably understands me very well on this, of moving a growing stationery collection halfway across the country. Yeah, I already had a pretty sizable pen, pencil, watercolor art stuff Collection even before working at Jetpens. And since working there, it's just kind of ballooned.
I can't even imagine.
Yeah, it's pretty bad. And so I was kind of limited in what I could fit into suitcases. And I shipped my car over here. Like on one of those cars that carries other cars.
Yep.
And so I shipped it over here. And so I was kind of limited to what I could see stick in the car. And so it kind of became like this Konmari, you know, from the, from that one book, the Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up. Oh, yeah, the Konmari process, where I had to like, pick up each pencil and be like, does this spark joy and just kind of, you know, create piles of, oh, these are the ones that I use all the time, and these are the ones that I kind of use. And these are the ones that I love. And I'm not going to, I'm not going to donate because I did end up donating some stuff. Like the public library in San Jose will take donations of pencils, colored pencils, art supplies, markers, that sort of thing.
Oh, that's fantastic.
Yeah, so I did donate some stuff, but there was also some other things that I just wasn't quite ready to let go yet. And so that was quite a process. It was pretty funny because I feel like anytime you move, you start out pretty organized at first. You have everything in little boxes, and then by the time you're like, you know, a day before the move, you're just kind of throwing things into like canvas bags and like, just cramming things where there's space. So the first, the first box I packed had all my pens and pencils sort of neatly lined and. Or like I rubber banded some together. And then by the end, I think I was just like, is there like 3 millimeters of space? I'll drop a pencil in there. Like, will this box close? Okay, it still closes. Let me throw another washi tape in there. And so that's pretty much how I got my stationery collection from California over here to New York. And the unpacking has been another process because like I mentioned, I have like one pencil here and like one washi tape and like the box of kitchen stuff. And so as I unpacked, I would randomly find stationary, like all throughout the entire unpacking process. Like, I unpack bathroom stuff and then along with like the, you know, your little travel size toiletries, there was like a bottle of ink in there because I was like, oh, things that might leak I'll just put them all together.
Yeah.
Smart. Yeah. Did you, Elin, did you move to a larger space into a smaller space than you were in before?
Kind of a bit of both. The house that we moved into is smaller than my house at home because I used to live with my parents.
Mm.
But because now the entire house is mine.
Yeah.
Like I feel like it's net more space.
Gotcha. That makes sense. Yeah. We moved from a house in Indiana where we had like a semi finished basement where I just kept all my stuff into a one bedroom apartment in the Bay Area. And so yeah, I definitely like, I did get rid of some things, but I also just like organized them a little bit better. I basically I had them all in like in cigar boxes and like small boxes and when they got here I sort of like transitioned them into those square boxes that, you know, you buy the Ikea shelves. Yeah, yeah. The malls. Yeah. And so yeah, it's pretty, it's a lot better. There's sort of just a way out in everybody's business now. Like they're in the living room, but they're all in boxes nicely. So they, they look good. But yeah, it was definitely a haring process. Like I, at one point I just got tired of it and I was like, you know what, I'm gonna send all these to California and I'm going to deal with it later. So I never did deal with it.
Yeah, the unpacking is pretty hard. I think I unpacked. I did unpack a few things like early on, like the things that I use most often. But there's, I just have so many different, like paints and glues and tapes and stamps and like letter writing supplies and a lot of that stuff is still tucked away, but I'm slowly, slowly getting there. It's been about two to three months since I moved. I've been here for about two to three months now.
Yeah.
Cool.
Is it called Konmari because her name is Marie Kondo.
Yeah. And so she, she made this, this name for this method in the book that she talks about. And so it's kind of become, it's one of those things that's kind of become a verb like Google, like Konmari. Something is to go through her process of cleaning and decluttering and deciding what you truly want to keep.
Yeah. That's amazing, huh?
Yeah. The other thing I wanted to touch on was. Well, I kind of talked about this earlier, but I was in New York City recently and it's a really, it's A really nice drive from, from where I am into New York City. And we were there for a few days. And so because CW Pencils was closed at the time, I went to McNally Jackson, which is one of the other New York City stationary destinations. And so apparently they have two shops and.
Yeah, they have that desk one for the desk.
Yeah, there's one that's. Yeah, yeah, there's one that's just like a pretty narrow store. And then they just have a bunch of different desks and it's really nice. Each desk is kind of curated with a selection of things. Like there was a desk that had all like leather stuff, like leather pen cases, leather pencil cases, and notebook folders. And then there was another desk that had all things in the color green. So there were like dark greens and light greens. And then there was another corner that had all your brass stuff. So there were like the brass pencil sharpeners and the brass Kaweco fountain pens, that sort of thing. So that was really fun to visit. And then they have another one, like a section that's inside the bookstore. And so they have like a normal bookstore out front. And then there's a, there's a corner that you turn downstairs and then in that corner, tucked away, there's various types of notebooks, sketchbooks. There's, I think there's a few pens and pencils. Not as many as the other store. It's mostly books in the other one. And so that was really fun to look through too. Just there were Moleskins, Lois Terms, Maruman, some of the other Japanese paper products were there as well. So if anyone is in New York City, I would highly Recommend stopping by
McNally Jackson I met, when I was there last November. I went into McNally Jackson and I met Sarah McNally, the woman who started it.
Huh?
Yeah, she's, she's an interesting person.
Yeah, I don't think she was there when, when I was, when I was there, but there were a few other employees who were there as well and they were, they were talking to some tourists. I think there were some tourists that had wandered in and I don't know where they were, I don't know where they were from. But yeah, she was just kind of explaining, oh yeah, we're a store and we sell, you know, stationery and books and things. And I think they got a kick out of it because they were probably thinking like, oh, New York City is this bustling, you know, fast paced city. And then they find themselves wandered into like a bookstore.
Yeah.
Awesome. So you want to Jump into our main topic.
Yeah,
so our main topic tonight is pens for pencil people, which sounds, you know, unnecessarily divisive. Like there are pen people and pencil people. But, you know, our friend Brad Dowdy from the Pen Addict has a sampler pack that's CW Pencils, where he sort of suggests a list of pencils for people who like pens. Just sort of get them started onto the higher road of graphite, because fountain pens are silly. So we were sort of thinking, you know, what would be some good pens for people who like pencils? Not that, you know, it's like, hey, you like really good bourbon. Why don't you drink this crap now? But you know, sometimes you need crappy bourbon or pens. So we're sort of split this up into topics that I won't bother listing right now because it's a lot and I'll forget one. But to start it off. So a lot of times people will say, when you use pencils all the time, well, what about when you need a pen? So what are some of the instances in which you need or, God forbid, prefer a pen? You want to go first, Andy?
Yeah, I was trying to think about that. And you know, sometimes there's things that are obvious, like legal documents often will require pens, or when I worked at a high school and college and like you had to use a pen there. I think that Les has talked before about how there's like acceptable pen shades, so like blue or black for something like that, which you know, is maybe a little bit of a, you know, an old wives tale, because guess what is more archival than ink is graphite. Of course, as long as you don't like, rub it or, you know, move it around. So I guess if you're shuffling papers a lot, maybe pen is better. But like, sometimes I guess I want something to be a little bit higher contrasting. So if I'm using paper that's maybe a little darker or as we talked about before, if I have like a dark piece of paper that I want to write bright onto, I would use like a white pen. Graphite is like pretty, pretty specific. And honestly, sometimes I do like, I love green ink, as I've talked about here before, and I just like to use that. So I usually have a couple pens, like either on my desk or in my little like pencil pouch that I carry around in my backpack. But I would say probably like 30% of the time I'm using a pen, but 70% of the time I'm using a pencil.
That's a good Percentage?
Yeah, I think so.
Yeah.
What do you think, Jenny?
So I put envelopes on here, but I also keep around an old Sanford Noblat ink pencil for envelopes, depending who I'm sending it to. So that forms, you know, sometimes for some reason, you know, someone will hand you a card to sign for somebody and it's like, you know, sandpaper. And you can't use a pencil on it because you won't be able to read it. And also like when I hate myself, I decide to use a pen.
Johnny's the most fundamentalist of the erasable hosts.
Yeah, I say that, but I use pen. Yeah.
You like gel pens a lot?
Yeah, yeah. I mean, no. Sorry.
Okay.
What do you think, Elaine?
How about you, Elaine?
For things that you need a pen? I think any sort of anything that involves a signature. I've had to do quite a lot of that recently because, you know, moving again, like anything like writing checks or forms. As previously mentioned, blue or black is pretty much standard or filling out. You know, if you're like at the doctor's office or anything like that, those are the times that you need a pen. And then there are just some things that require pens. Like if you're mailing something or if you're trying to write on one of those kind of slick like bubble mailer type packagings, it's kind of more plasticky. Yeah, that usually calls for like a Sharpie or something like that. And then personally I just prefer pen for anything work related, mainly because of the color selection. So like I don't really count different shades of gray as different colors. Like how you can have, I know you can have like B and 2B and so on, but that doesn't quite compare to having like blue and then orange. Like if I need something a little bit more urgently, I'll try to use a brighter color like red or orange and then blue or green or purple for, for the other stuff.
Yeah, yeah, that's a, that's a good point too. Like there's, there's definitely like. I feel like pens with colored inks perform more consistently than like colored pencils compared to graphite pencils. Like, I'm not a huge colored pencil fan, so if you want to get a little color into it, like a, like a pen is probably a, like a closer experience.
Well, see, that's your Wopex prejudice biting you because the Norris, what do they call it? The Norris something. Basically the colored Wopex is you can buy for adult coloring. You can write with them and they work pretty well, most of them work pretty well.
I need to get a hold of some of those. I have not tried those specifically.
I mean, they're cool. My kids like them because, you know, the point lasts forever. And that's basically the kid requirement. How long can I color with this? Some bitch. Yeah, like the big extra funds.
Daddy's forcing OPEX on us.
Charlotte likes him a lot. Yeah, well, and she also likes the Blackwing Pearl. Yeah, she likes the Pearl. That's my least favorite Blackwing.
Yeah. Yeah.
So we talked about when, you know, life sucks and you have to use a pen. So in that situation, what do you look for in a pen?
Yeah, I, I was, I was thinking about this and I was like trying to think of specific characteristics, but I honestly don't know if I have like one really, like, defining characteristic of pens that I like. I generally do go for like. I don't know if disposable is the right word. Like, I mean disposable pens instead of like really fancy fine pens. Yeah, I have like my squire, but that's about the only fancy, like, pen that I use regularly. I generally like something that, you know, is plastic and you can, you know, toss it if you want. I never get to the point where I have to do that, so I generally go for that. I think I like the ones that are thinner, like closer to the barrel of a pencil, maybe a little bit thicker compared to some of the bigger ones, like the doctor grips that are out there. I'm not a big. And I think that's why I don't use a lot of fountain pens is I just don't like that really big grip that they often have with them. And honestly, like, I think mainly I'm attracted by rollerballs. Rollerballs. Although I do. There's. There's some ball points, which we'll get into this later, that I just love. So, like, like the bit crystals, like, we'll talk about.
Yes.
But I would say that like, almost, almost all the, the pens that I like are like really smooth gel pens or rollerballs. And Elaine, you might remember this. I feel like gel pens from back in the early days of. When gel pens are around. They skipped bad. Badly.
Oh, yeah.
As a, as a left hander, I could not like, I don't know if this is because I was left handed or because I was just inept at using pens. But like, I feel like I could never really use gel pens like those early ones because they just skipped really bad. And that's kind of like clouded my, my feeling about most gel pens, like today, even.
Yeah. And there's. There's often a smearing issue with lefties.
Yeah.
Like, gel ink just dries slower than pencil, obviously.
Yeah. So I guess. I guess if that's my characteristic, like. Like, yeah, probably. And I was trying to think if I like a certain point better or not. I think, like, I've. If I go to, you know, if you go to Mito in San Francisco or San Jose, they have them from, like, point two all the way up to, like, one millimeter, which is like a marker, basically. And I think I like just a plain old 0.4. Like something almost right in the middle.
Yeah, I like.42.
Yeah. 0.28 are so, so thin that you can write really small, and it's great, but, like, it. It's almost scratchy because you feel like you're just, like, carving it. It feels like you're using a hard pencil. Right. Like, it's so hard. But yeah, I. I don't have, like, a specific point that I go for. Yeah. What about you, Johnny? What is your, like, your character, defining characteristics of pens that you like?
So I typed this up, but it says something that dries quickly, doesn't skip, and can be used across a wide variety of paper types and textures, which is essentially a pencil. But I suppose more specifically, I like, you know, rollerballs, ballpoints, and gel pens, as opposed to fiber tips and felt pens and, of course, fountain pens. I like the rolling action. And one of my other Catholic school haunts is that we can only use blue black ballpoint pens, so anything else just feels weird. And my handwriting looks better with something that has a little more. Not friction, but that doesn't flow super smoothly because, you know, in the mid-80s, ballpoint pens were junk, and those are the only ones we were allowed to use. So, yeah, if I write. If I write too fast, my hammer then looks like someone else. So ball pens and gels, but then I have to slow myself down sometimes. Rollerballs, but really only, like, two. Yeah. Balls. Rolling action. Rolling action.
This is going to deteriorate, Johnny. I just knew.
Oh, God. Yeah, they see a lot of F words coming up. Fountain, fussy. Elaine. How is it about you, Elaine?
Oh, sorry.
All right, moving on. What I look for in a pen? I kind of thought about this question a bit too, and I was thinking, you know what they say about cameras where they say, like, the best camera is the one you have on you?
Mm.
I think a very similar saying could apply to pens. Like, the best pen is the One that you have on you, and on top of that, like, the one that you have on you that works. And so I think the, the ideal pen is on that. Like, no matter when you take it out, it'll write. And so as much as I do like fountain pens, like, I think sometimes fountain pens do have that little hiccup in the beginning where they don't. Where you might have to scribble a bit on a piece of scratch paper to get the ink to start flowing, especially if it's been sitting tip up in your pocket or, or in a pen cup for a bit.
Yeah.
And so it doesn't, it doesn't start right away. Um, whereas for a lot of gel pens, like, I find that my signals are usually the ones that start right away no matter what. Like, whether they've been in, like, my hot car or if they've been, like, in my purse or my pocket or whatever. If I can just take it out and just start writing, it'll usually write right away. So I think that is the most ideal pen for your everyday uses. Whether you're writing like a checklist or if you just need to jot down someone's contact info, the one that works is the best. But if I wanted to delve into what I personally prefer, kind of like you, andy. I like point four ish, like the 0.4 ballpark. I like 0.35, 0.38 to 0.4. I find 0.5 just, like, a little too gushy.
Yeah.
And the 0.2, like the 0.2 just, you know, just kind of feels like writing with the tip of a needle.
Yeah. Yeah.
Not very, not. Not quite as, as pleasant.
Yeah, I agree.
Yeah.
I, I'm interested to know, Johnny, if you would be willing to expand upon this a little bit. I feel like. I feel like when people listen to people talk about pens, they often expect people to talk about, like, as you said, like fancy or fussy, like fountain pens, like expensive pens. And I feel like generally my world is mostly just, like, narrowed in on those disposable pens, like, like a, like a nice, but ultimately just like, plastic pen. And I feel like we've had some discussions before about why it seems like dyed in the wool pencil. People really like those kind of pens. And I'd love it if you, like, had any thoughts you wanted to share about that. And that's putting you on the spot. So if you don't, that's fine, but.
No, no.
Yeah.
So enjoying pencils. You know, pencils are ephemeral. So I don't like a pen that I've got to take care of or, you know, like, oh, crap, this one's got a scratch on. That was 400 bucks. Or, you know, it fell off the table, now it's ruined. So I think, you know, when you use a lot of pencils, you're just like, look, I want to use this thing, throw it in the recycle bin, forget about it. Or like, I lost it now. Someone just found a cool gel pen at the coffee shop. Yeah, but the only ones I have that are, I guess, nicer ones but not super nice, are space pens because, you know, they're supposed to last forever.
Yeah.
And they're cooler when they get a little busted up. But I mean, I really don't understand why someone would want to write with something that costs as much as a down payment on a car.
Yeah. If I, if I lose even, even if I lost like, like a, like a nice, like Blackwing, maybe not the two, maybe I'd freak out if I lost the 211 at this point. But like, if I had a Blackwing 602 and I like dropped it, like, it would be like, oh, where's my pencil? But it ultimately, like, oh, whatever, you know, it cost $2. I can get another one. But like, if I, and I love some of these nice fountain pens as sort of a, like, work of art. Like, I, I think I gushed a little bit about those pilot, some of those, those pilot continuous nib pens here. And like, they were gorgeous and beautiful and if I had them, they would like, live in a very secure place most of the time. Um, but yeah, I, I, I think I, I like something that is like, definitely more practical and functional and like, I can just like, carry with me and like, if I leave it behind somewhere, that's fine, right? Like, yeah, yeah.
And even if, even if you have something long term, like space pens, they, they're constantly kind of tweaking their refills. So I have one that I got in like 2002 and it writes better every time I refill it because the refills get better. But if you have a fountain pen, I guess you could get them reground. But like, you know, if it sucks, it sucks. Yeah, it's always going to suck.
Yeah. So, so speaking of, Speaking of sucking, Johnny John, one of the questions Johnny asked is, is what is your least favorite type of pen? And I, I think that, I don't know. I, I think that the pen doesn't feel particularly like, well, Put together or very lightweight. I'm not, I don't like it. Like I, I think those inkjoy pens perform really well. Like the ink is really a really great color and it comes out really nice. But like I really don't like the way they feel. Like the clicky ones, they just feel super cheap to me.
The gel ones?
The gel ones, yeah.
Really?
They're kind of like they felt a
little ritzy because of the width.
Yeah, maybe that, maybe. I don't know. That's it. Like that rubberiness, something about that I just don't like very much. So I like something that's a little bit more of like a hard plastic. Like the bit crystal or like a lot of the signals almost said sino and then. And then also. Yeah, like the pens where the. What am I trying to say? The tip. Like the, the refill is not secure in the pen. And so when you write it just sort of like moves around a little bit as you write. So some of the paper, some of the paper mate knockoffs of like a bit crystal or something is kind of like that. And it just like that. To me that, that's the same pet peeve I have like with a Office Depot pencil. Like, it just feels so cheap. And it's clear that they didn't have any like interest in trying to make a quality pen. So yeah, generally I would say those are my two like least favorite kinds of things. Oh, and you guys remember the paper mate erasable pens, right? Like I think, I think they still
make them the worst.
They just do. They're just so oily and like nasty. Yeah, I, I love them because they were erasable when I was young. Just sort of the like novelty of that was, was so good. But like look, using like a pilot friction now which is also an erasable ink, it's just so much better. So. Yeah, I, I guess those are my, my pen. My pen peeves. Yeah. How about you, Johnny? What are your least. Least favorite?
So I put fountain pens or anything fussy, but really just anything fussy. And I think that's why I don't like fountain pens. Yeah, like, I don't know. I don't get to sit still a lot with all these children running around me and all the time I spend in the car, so.
Oh, and children can ruin your fountain pen?
Yeah, like anything that my kids can color with and not ruin. Like if they drop a space pen. Like whatever, it's a space pen. Well, except that one that shows the phases of the moon. They're not Allowed to touch. But anyway, yeah, anything fussy. And I realized that sometimes pencils are fussy because you have to carry a sharpener, an eraser, a point protector. But you could always just be like whatever and forget those and just use the pencil. But if you have a fountain pen, it's always fussy. I realize perhaps I'm looking at the wrong fountain pens. Like people that don't like pencils are looking at the wrong kinds of pencils. And maybe that's fine. Maybe I just don't like them. Maybe I think they're snotty. I don't know. Yeah, fountain pens and anything fuzzy. How about you, Elaine? I see yours is at the opposite end of the spectrum.
Yeah, I just, I think my least favorite are like, if you've ever picked up like a really cheap ballpoint pen, like sometimes, you know, like the free ones that they give out at hotels or like if you buy something, they give you a free pen and then like it starts out great and then halfway through a word there's just like this chunk that just comes out of the pen and then you keep writing and just kind of sits there and then, and you keep writing and then, you know, maybe a few letters later there'll be like another blob that comes out. Those are my least favorite ones because it just, it just kind of interrupts your writing experience. Like you'll be writing along and it just, it's just now there's this spot on the page and then you have to be careful with, you know, because that spot's going to take longer to dry than the rest of your words. And so if you're filling out like a multi page form or something, you have to kind of be careful when you flip it over. It's just kind of this think that's going to be in the back of your mind as you continue writing. It's like, oh, there's this random blob, you know, three lines earlier that I need to remember later on. And it just kind of breaks your train of thought. And so, yeah, I'm not really not a fan of those. And to reiterate Andy's point about the really terrible paper mate. Erasable pens. Yeah, I don't think I've. I haven't seen one of those in a while. I don't even know if they still make those.
Yeah, they still make them. Target has.
Do they? That's crazy.
It just seems like why would you bother when like those friction pens are so much better.
Yeah, like ever since I used friction pens like, there's no way I could ever go back to those. Those other erasable pens. Yeah. And then I'm also not a fan of anything that's too scratchy. So any, like, any tip size that's smaller than 0.3 can come across as a little scratchy. And then the scratchiness also kind of does also lead to the rattling because there's just more friction on the page. And it's just also kind of an interruption to what you're writing. I think that's like, the general thing is if there's something that interrupts or like draws my attention away from the thing that I'm actually writing, I'm not a huge fan of that.
So now we can get specific.
Yeah.
Can we talk about your top 5.5ish pens and why?
Sounds good. I have no particular order on this, and this first one is one that I've. I feel like I've talked about pretty extensively in various groups and on various blogs. And I even did an ask tpa ask the pen addict about this. I really love green ink. Before I sort of like, got deep into pencils, I considered like green pens to sort of be my. Be my thing. And my favorite one ever was the Uniball Vision rollerball pen, specifically in Evergreen, which is like a darker, richer green than their current green, which is a lot more like sage colored, we'll say. And it seems as though they are not made anymore. Where there are some stores, like Amazon stores that still sell evergreen green pens, they say it's evergreen, but it's not. And Brad even looked into it and we just have no idea why. Like, Evergreen is not something you can get anymore. So I still have a few sort of hoarded away that still work. The last time I managed to buy pen a proper evergreen Uniball was probably. Probably like eight or ten years ago. Like, it's been a long time. But I have a lot of them, so love that if I could still get them, I can't. I. The thing that Brad recommended to me that I did buy and I love is a zebra Sarasa in dark green. I know that you guys sell this at Jetpanz. Elaine, so have. Are you familiar with the Sarasa? The Sarasa clip specifically?
Yes, The Sarasa clip is the one. The Japanese version there is the regular Sarasa that doesn't have the binder clip. That's the American version. And it's not as good.
Yeah. So if you. If you have access to nice Japanese stationery either on like, like here in San Francisco and Like the Bay Area, we have Mido in. I don't know if there's like, a good New York, like, East Coast Japanese stationery store.
There's Kinokuniya in New York City.
That's true. Yeah. Yeah. That. Which is run by the Mido people. They're like their office supply section, but also Jetpens. Like, honestly, like, go to Jetpens and look at all of people at work. When I find out they're like closet, like fancy pen people, I always tell them about Jet pens and the. They'll go, andy, I just spent $60 at JetPens.
Yay.
So, yeah, the zebra Sarasa clip is really good in dark green. I've joked with Mike Hagen about starting a green pen blog someday. I think I'll make that happen.
But, well, there was that black cover.
Yeah. Black cover blog. Yeah. Which is fantastic. Speaking of green pens, I also really love the Experiment Squire, which is kind of a hot commodity now because they. I guess they produced it in pretty limited quantities and it sold out super quickly. I managed to get one. I love it and I use it probably once or twice a week. The Schmidt refill that it uses has a pretty good green, but it's not exactly the green I like, but it's pretty good. I like that. I really. This is. Johnny and I share a love of Lipens
Oriental Blue. Offensive, but very pretty.
Yes. I love that, like, gray blue that they use. It's funny because during the last French presidential election, there was somebody whose last name is Le Pen, and there's also somebody whose last name is Macron, which sounds like Micron, which are of course, other two, like, like little, like fine line markers. So I. I do love. I didn't put this on here. But honestly, like, I like a good Sharpie. Like, I. I always have, like, just a nice Sharpie with me. And if I can't, if I can find one, I'll get one with, like, both, like the regular tip and then also the fine tip on the back. But, like, if I can't, like, just a good black Sharpie is really useful. Always using a Sharpie. I also, like I mentioned this before, but the pilot frixion pens, F, R, I, X, I, O, N. Yeah, they're super good. I didn't even know it existed until I visited Mito and I was like, oh, it's an erasable pen. And I'm sure most of you listening probably know this, but I didn't until I think I listened to the pen addict. It doesn't actually erase the ink, it's a little rubber tip, and you kind of rub it against the ink and it disappears. Apparently the heat generated by the friction makes the ink disappear.
So.
So if you were to. You can actually reactivate it by putting it in extreme cold. Or you can stick your notebook in, like, the microwave for a minute and it also erases it. So magic. Yeah. I don't recommend putting your notebook in the microwave, especially if you have stuff. Yeah. If you have staples or, like, spiral bending.
So I wonder what would happen to a Write Notepads book if you nuked it.
Oh, I don't know. Yeah. Probably just the glue would melt and it'd be a mess.
Next time I'm near a microwave, it's not mine. I'm going to find out.
You should go to.
I've been trying to bust those up.
You should go to Write Notepads. And if they have a microwave there, just run it through.
They do.
Yeah.
They have a fridge full of Coors Light. No, wait, they've moved on to Amstel Light. Moving up.
Moving up very slowly. Yeah. So that. And I think that's all of my. That's my top, like, six pens, but there's others that I just, like, use every now and then. I specifically didn't mention the bitcrystal because I know Johnny's going to talk about it. So I will shuffle off to you, Johnny. Yeah.
So also, in no particular order, I really like the papermate inkjoy gel pens, largely because I like the. The feel and the form factor. And also, you know, the inks are so nice, but I've run into a problem where I feel like they dry out pretty quickly if you don't use them. And if you've had that, you know, the little plastic ball or wax ball off of them. So I haven't verified this, but ones I bought, like a year ago. Ish. Like, all the colors, I tried them all out. Half of them don't write very well anymore, which is sort of alarming. I store them correctly. But also Fisher Space pen, which was my first nice pen. The one I have that was my first One was from 2002. Like, the Chrome is wearing off. It's my favorite thing in the world. Well, one of them Pilot precise V5 in blue, which is perfect. And also red Pentel sign pen, which I like to draw cartoons of my children not eating their goddamn breakfast.
The sign pen is so good. You sent me my first sign pen, Johnny, and I love it.
Yeah. And they come in a lot of colors. Most of them are, you know, good, usable colors. Except the yellow.
Whenever I send out erasable mail, I always address the envelope with a sign pen.
Oh, dude, that's awesome.
It's sort of. I think it's probably like in the middle in thickness between like a sharpie and like a lip pen. Yeah.
And they don't bleed.
Yeah.
I feel like as the point breaks in, it writes even better. And like, man, they have a lot of ink in them, but they have one that's pigmented. I don't know if it's waterproof, but that could be really good for envelopes. But it's a lot more expensive and it's not as cool looking.
Yeah.
Do you guys know why sign pens are called sign pens?
No.
For signing stuff.
Yeah, it's like, it's kind of this English term that was adopted into the Japanese language. There's a few of these things in the stationary world, actually. Like, another one is sharp. Like, sharp has kind of become the casual term for a mechanical pencil. So sign pen is another one that another English term that the Japanese have kind of adapted. And so a sign pen is a felt tip marker, generally.
Okay. Yeah. That's interesting.
Yeah. And which president was it? Was it LBJ or Gerald Ford that had them ordered for the White House to sign documents? It was like a big thing. They were like the Time magazine product of the year or something. It was the first marker that you could just go buy.
I don't know.
They're so awesome. I really like those pens. They have one at the end of Amelie when Nino writes Amelie a note and slides under her door. I spent a long time trying to figure out what that pen was. Oh, it's a sign pen. They're like a buck fifty at the art store. The more, you know, the brush tip ones, you can get the brush tip ones at Target now, like a pack of all the colors for like 20 bucks.
Oh, yeah, those are great.
I keep walking by going, don't need them. Don't need them. One day they'll get in the cart next to, you know, baby food. So I saved my best for last. The bit crystal.
Yeah.
But I under that. I'm including, you know, your standard bit crystal, medium blue, and also the orange bodied fine ones that you can't buy in the United States anymore. But they're like the best damn pen you ever used. The biros, everyone I ever give one to, they're like, oh, this is the greatest pen. I'm like, yes, it is the greatest pen. Give it back. Or like, Be nicer to me and I'll share one. So every couple months I buy a box from the UK on Amazon and wind up giving away almost all of them because it takes a long time to use one of those up. Yeah, but the fine ones, I feel like when you write with them, the ball turns more, so there's less skipping, there's less ink to smear or ghost around, and the material is nice. They're just so pretty. Except that they stamp BIC fine on them really pretty indiscriminately on the corners and don't do a good job. But other than that, very nice pen.
So a little bit later, I kind of want to talk about specifically the bitcrystal and why it's such a thing. Like, I feel like Johnny and I connected on a whole deeper level when we found out that we both, like, love the bitcrystal, which is, like, pretty pretty. It's a pretty cheap pin. So. Yeah, we'll talk about that here in a minute. But, Elaine, whatever. I know it's probably hard for you to, like, narrow this down, but what are your top five ish pens?
Yeah, that's a really, really hard question. And I kind of have a similar, like, dilemma as Brad. And in a recent podcast episode, Brad was talking about how he has his top five pens page. I don't know if you guys have paid a visit to that, but yep, it's hard because there's like his. They're like, is it like top five, my personal favorite, or top five that I would recommend to someone who's interested in and pens? And so I kind of also have a similar thing where there's so many pens that I like, but if I had to narrow it down to a few, I think my top pick would probably be the signo, specifically the 151, or it's also known as the DX model. I have many of them in many colors. I have the, you know, the basic blue, the black. I have the limited edition hello Kitty ones. I have the kind of off black colors, which are really nice too. There's like a purple black that I really like, and I just really like them because they're so reliable. Like I mentioned earlier, I feel like I can pick it up at any time of day, like, no matter where I am and it's going to write. And other than that, I also really like the Hitec C. I have the Mica one, which is kind of the girlier version of the regular hi Tec C. It has, like, a little jewel at the top and it's just so cute. And um, but I like that one because the, the barrel is rounder than the regular high tech C. Um, the, the regular high tech C has kind of like this rigid part of the barrel that I'm not a huge fan of. And the mica one is just a little bit wider and a little bit longer. So I like that one too. That, that one is the one that I use for a lot of my work. The next one would probably be kind of like how Annie mentioned a Sharpie purely for its many uses. Like if I'm labeling something, if I have to, like, you know, I had to write my name on the mailbox when I moved here and so Sharpie was definitely the pen for that job.
Yeah.
A question I get asked a lot like in relation to the art and calligraphy stuff that I do is like, oh, what pen are you using? And so I have like my other subset of top favorite pens for calligraphy and lettering. So I won't get too far into that. But I feel like at least two needed mention here. And one of them is the Zebra brush pen. It's the little pocket size disposable one. That one is really great because it has a tip that springs back. And so when you're doing brush lettering with the, the thin and the thick strokes, if you have a brush pen with a tip that springs back, that will just make your writing look much smoother.
That's a great idea.
Yeah. So I like that one. And I also like the Tombow Fudenosuke brush pen. It does something similar. So yeah, those are my two, like art and calligraphy pens that I feel deserved a mention here. And the last one that I would say is this is a new favorite. There's. So Andy, you might be interested in this. So there's the Sarasa pen and then there's a new pen that came out called the Sarasa Dry. And the whole thing about the Sarasa Dry is it's supposed to dry like even faster than a regular Sarasa.
That's a really good idea.
Yeah. And it's true, like you can write something and before you even finish writing the word, like the first few letters are already dry. It's crazy.
That's great for left handers.
Yeah, it's really great for left handers. We've been like, if any left handed people email into Jetpens and they say like, I need a pen help, that's one of the ones that we really point them to because it's like it's insanely fast. Like, it's. It's like pretty much instant if you get one of the sizes, like the 0.4. So I really like that one. That one's one of my new favorites.
Nice. Okay. Yeah. And we will have as many links as we can find in the show notes to all of these pens. Yeah. That's interesting. I did want to recommend. I'm sorry, Elaine. I guess I should ask. Are you done with your recommendations?
Yeah, I think so.
Cool. I did forget to mention, I do like, there is a kind of like a weird fake ish fountain pen that I really love. It's a Pentel plastic fountain pen.
They've.
I've started noticing them at, like, some stores around. There's a craft design and technology, like, branded one that.
Oh, yeah, that's called the Tr. Trottio Tradio.
Yeah, it's. It's weird because it sort of feels like a fountain pen, but it's not a fountain pen. It's like a. Has like a. Like a blade tip that's plastic.
Yeah, I know exactly what you're talking about.
Yeah. Also, I wanted to. To read a little bit. Of course, we are live streaming this and we have a chat going which is at Erasable Us Live. And a few people have kind of weighed in here. Natalie, for example, has talked about, like, some of her recommendations. She. What did she say? She says she wishes that we were using better pens. And, like, that's understandable. So I asked her for, like, some of her recommendations. She says Pilot Metropolitan fountain pen is something she likes. She likes a Pilot High tech C, which is a gel pen, Pilot Juice, which is a gel pen, and then a TWSBI fountain pen. I do have a Twisby fountain pen. I do. I do like it. I think it's very. I have one of the, like, little. Oh, what are they, Elaine? The ones that are really small that like fold up small Eco. Yeah. No, I don't think it's the. It's.
Or is it the mini one? The Twsbi Mini.
I think it's the mini. I remember I actually won it on the Pen Addict once. I won a contest and he gave it away. It was a. It was a Jetpens collaboration and I like it a lot. It's very portable. It's really nice for a fountain pen. So she recommends those. She goes, I would have suspected that the pencil people would like a fine nib because it's more toothy and it gives more feedback. Which, Which I do agree. I. I generally like gravitate toward the fine, fine nib fountain pens instead of like the big wet ones. And also because I think I like write quickly and messily, I don't do a lot of like, nice like calligraphy writing. So. Yeah.
And then
she wonders if some people like Elaine might prefer a smoother experience. So like a medium or a broad fountain pen. So I don't know what your particular fountain pen preference is, Elaine, but that's.
Personally, I have a, I have a lamy with a calligraphy nib which is like the 1.5 mm one. And so that one is definitely not like I can't write fast with it at all. Like if I want to use that one, I have to like sit down, like get a nice sheet of paper and like slowly write with it.
Yeah.
So I have one of those for that specific use. And then I do also have one of the little like Jetpens branded Chibi ones. And so for like the price point that that pen is at, it's surprisingly good.
Yeah. And I guess, I guess I do have to correct myself here. I'm just looking at people's like, notes here. Micah Thomas mentioned the Kaweco sport pocket pen and actually that is what I have. I do not own a twsbi. I don't have a Kaweco.
Oh, okay.
I think I'm getting them confused. So yeah, I have a really nice like, like kind of iridescent brushed aluminum sport, which is really nice. What else? People talked a little bit like about copic multiliners. They really like.
Oh yeah, those are nice because they come in a range of tip sizes and they also come with gray ink. So if you're a die hard pencil person and you're not quite ready to let go of the, the look of gray on your paper. Yeah, the copic multiliner does come in gray and it also comes in the nice like brownish sepia tone as well.
Yeah. What. What else? Oh yeah, somebody in here mentioned the pilot High Tech G as in, as in gourd as it. Do you guys have those Jetpens? The High Tech G?
Oh, no, it's the GTECH C. The GTECH C and the High Tech C are pretty much the same. The G Tec C is just the European and occasionally US version of the pen.
Yeah. So probably I would assume that if it's a. I've assumed it's a European version, it's probably better than the US version.
I don't know if there's any difference like in the way that the, like the Sarasa US versus Sarasa Japan. There's like, a noticeable difference. I don't really know if there's too much of a difference. It might just be a name thing.
Yeah, makes sense. So, Johnny, can we. Can we talk for just a second about why we love bit crystal so much? Sure.
I would love to wax philosophical by the crystal with someone else who gets it.
Yeah, yeah. I feel like we have brought this up before in groups, and there's a certain, like, subset of people who are just like. Like, they just can't imagine why we would like, a bit crystal being like, sort of the ultimate cheap pen as opposed to, like, a fancy. A fancy pen.
But, yeah, they're not, like, they're for cheap pens. They're so good.
Yeah, yeah, they're. I frequently always just say that they're like the pencil of pens because they're. They're so consistent and they're really good for something that they make millions of at a time.
And.
And to me, like. Yeah, I. I'd be interested, Johnny, if you. Do you have any, like. I'd love to get your philosophical waxings on the bit crystal.
Oh, I don't really have any philosophical waxings, but no. I mean, it's, you know, it's cheap. It always works. It's hexagonal. You can vary the tone the. In a way that you can't with anything that's liquid or gel, which is really nice. I know a lot of artists are really into bit crystals. I don't know. I like the design. It's so simple.
Yeah.
Really, really iconic. I feel like, you know, for all of these, like, fountain pens and pencils, and this is like, the one thing that gets better all of the time, as opposed to, like, Ticonderoga, which is sort of good. Not good. Black wings that went away and they came back. And some people don't think they're the same. Like, the crystals just get better all the time if they change them. Like, now they have easy glide and they write really well. The blue is a lot nicer. The black is actually black now. They don't skip.
Yeah, it's awesome.
It's like a nice constant.
But it evolves to me. To me, bit crystal is sort of like the ultimate distillation of what a writing instrument could be. Like, it's. It's so like, I think the New York. The New York MoMA, like, inducted it into, like, this. This, like, Industrial Design hall of Fame, right? Like, it's. It's sort of the ultimate expression of, like, how simple A writing instrument can be. It's really iconic, like you said, but, like, the cap functions as the pocket clip, and it's just like a super pure expression of, like, a writing instrument. And I also think it's interesting how iconic that blue is. Like, I feel like. I feel like a Bic crystal blue is different than, like, most other pencil blues. And you can just. You can just see it like. Like, there's a shirt that they have at Uniqlo which is, like, has this, like, blue scribble all over the shirt, and it just looks like a bit crystal scribble. And, you know, the Baron fig askew, like, that color of the COVID and the inside, like, has a particular blue shade scribble. And it's just, to me, just super, like, representative of, like, bitcrystal blue. So, yeah, I like a bit click a lot, too. I think that, like, a lot of really great advertising things happen on a bitclick. It's kind of like the bullet pencil of pens, I guess.
Yeah. And you can. You can write your way to companies and get samples.
Yeah.
But I thought of getting pencil revolution pens because I thought it'd be funny.
That would be funny.
But they sent me the wrong stuff. So it's like, okay, screw this up. I'm definitely not gonna buy a couple hundred pens from you.
Yeah, yeah. Micah in the chat just said it's a happy blue, and it sure is. Like, that is a super, super happy blue. That's a really good way to put it. Yeah. So I.
You guys seen artwork that people have done with Bic ballpoint pens?
Yeah. Crazy.
Yeah, it is crazy. It's because, like, the. Like, with ballpoints, there is that kind of, like, if you use a very light touch, you can get a very, very light kind of brush of ink on there. And then if you press down hard, you get. Yeah. Like John saying in the chat right now, if you press down with a. With the harder line, you can get that thicker pen stroke. And so people have created, like, really lifelike portraits and, like, landscapes and stuff with these ballpoint pens.
Yeah. I watched there used to be a How it's Made video that was about making the little, like, tungsten ballpoint that goes in a bit crystal. And I feel like it's been taken down since then. But it was really interesting because they make millions and millions of these things at a time, and they have to be so exacting in their, like, dimensions. So, like, there's so much that they use, like an electron microscope to make sure that the tungsten Ballpoint. In ballpoint, like, in bitcrystals are exact. So it's. It's really interesting. One of our first offshoot, like, erasable groups on Facebook. I think Johnny started a bit crystal lovers group. I'll have a link in show notes, but I think we have 122 members. It looks like it's just like a really.
Yeah, that's like the epitome of nerdiness.
Yeah, so. So it is. It's a good point. Yeah, sorry, go on.
It's how they do it. That's where it is. The bullpoint.
Yeah, they. Yeah, it's such a. It's sort of like what we all wish the Ticonderoga would be like. Ticonderoga is a very iconic brand, and it's all over the place.
Yeah.
But it's just kind of crappy, and it varies wildly. Whereas the bit crystal is also iconic and it's ubiquitous and. But it's always the same. It's always really good.
Sometimes I get frustrated, Podcasting, blogging, all this crap. Like, I'm just going to throw all my crap away, get some bit crystals and some moleskins and retreat and try to write for real.
Yeah.
But then their black wings come out and like, Ooh.
Yeah, I understand. Okay, so enough about bit crystals.
Oh, never enough crystals.
That's true.
So maybe our second to last topic. So, like, for me, if I sit down to write with pencils, I take a box of them, sit on the couch, and I have, like, one of those giant artist clipboards as a writing desk. So I use that when I write with pencils because you don't need a sharpener nearby and et cetera, et cetera. So if you're going to use ink versus graphite, what are some logical or illogical considerations that you feel like you have to take into account?
Elaine, do you want to go first?
Sure. I think the biggest one is probably just drying time. When you use pencil, there's no dry time.
Wait.
You don't have to wait at all. The moment the graphite is on paper, it's dry. It's there to stay. I guess you do have to kind of worry about smudging.
Mm.
But it's not quite. It's a little different when you're using pens, especially if you're using, you know, the more liquid inks, like rollerball fountain pens. You do have to think more about dry time. So it's just like with lefties. It's like being careful of where you place your hand or if you're taking notes in a notebook, it's about making sure that the ink doesn't transfer onto the other page on the. On the opposite side. I think that's probably the biggest one that I can think of.
Yeah, that's a good point. Yeah. I feel like for me, it's mostly if I have access to it. Like, if I think I'll have access to a sharpener. Like, I've been in some meetings or some things where I'm like, I'm going to be taking a lot of notes very quickly and I just won't be able to stop and sharpen. Um, then I'll usually take a pen along. Um, and often I'll have a pen anyway, just like in my. In my backpack. But I've definitely found myself picking up a pen when I just don't have time to stop and sharpen.
Yeah.
How about. What do you think, Johnny? Is that a similar thing?
Um, yeah. I mean, I. I wrote a joke in the doc that I'm not going to repeat about poopy diapers and pens. Yeah, I mean, I guess it depends. Like, if you're using a gel pen, I usually use a page in between the things that I've written on. Like, I will with pencil, because gel pen doesn't dry really fast. But, you know, if you get a bit crystal, that's it. You don't have to do anything. Grab a pen. You can even see the ink supply you can roll. You can't even do that with a pencil. So I suppose that's the answer of if it's a bit crystal. Less consideration.
Yeah.
So to wrap it up, although we've talked about this a lot already, so maybe aside for the bit crystal, what are some pens of pencils, whatever that phrase means to you.
Yeah. I don't know. What do you think, Elaine?
Oh, I have a lot. There's a few. I guess there's a few different ways to interpret how you want to think of the phrase pens with pencils. Like, are you trying to replicate the experience or are you trying to replicate the feel of tip on paper? So whatever that means to you. There's a few different recommendations that I would have. I think if you're. If the thing that you want to replicate the most is the erasableness as the name of this podcast, then the best pen would be the frixion, which we kind of touched on earlier. But the frixion erasable pen, if you've never used one, is like leaps and bounds better than the crappy erasable pen from like the 90s, it's. It's got this black ink that. It might be because of the ink technology, but the black ink isn't like a true, true black. It's kind of an off black, like, grayish black. It might be, because that way, when you erase it, there's no trace that's left behind. So that kind of off black is a little reminiscent of graphite gray. They even make a. They call it the frixion pencil, like, gel pen, because it has, like, a hexagonal barrel and a slightly wider tip. And so it's supposed to be reminiscent of colored pencils. So if. Yeah, if the. If the erasableness is what you're trying to replicate in a. In a pen, then I would definitely go for the friction. If it's the, like, feel of the tip on paper that you're trying to replicate, I think a felt tip is probably your best choice. And the felt tips that we've mentioned earlier on in this podcast were like the Pigma Micron, the Copic multiliner, and then the LE Pen. So all of these are felt tip pens. And so the felt tip has a little bit more grippiness to the paper, whereas, like gel pens, rollerballs, and fountain pens, they kind of have more of a gliding motion across the paper. Felt tips do grip the paper a little bit more similarly to the way that a pencil does. And so in addition to the ones that we covered earlier, a few other ones that I wanted to call out are the triplets fineliners, which. These are really popular last year in the adult coloring craze, but they're by Statler, and they come in a bunch of colors. And then the. The. The barrel of that one is triangular. So it's like. Is it the golden bear? Is that the one that's triangular?
They had a triangular golden bear, which they don't make anymore.
Oh, okay. Yeah, it's got that triangular barrel, which is kind of reminiscent of the old golden bear, I guess.
Yeah.
Another one is the Stabilo or Estabilo Fineliner. These also come in, like, a bunch of different shades of gray. There's, like, a light gray. There's a dark gray. There's, like, a brownish gray. And so that also has that fine felt tip kind of like the triplets or like the Copic multiliner. So those are two other ones to consider. And if it's the. I guess the last point that I wanted to bring up is if it's the kind of muted, like, vintage Y look of gray on white paper that you're trying to go for any gel pen with gray ink or marker pen with gray ink will have that effect. We do have a gray ink sampler coming along at Jetpens coming soon. Yeah. Or you could do a fountain pen with gray ink inside it. So I think I know Caroline of CW Pencils has a fountain pen now. She has a bright yellow Lamy safari. I don't know if she has gray ink in it, but that would be one way to kind of get that pencil feel in a pen.
I do. Yeah. I remember when she talked about how she has that fountain pen. That's a perfect one. I feel like.
Yeah, it's this really fun, like, bright, bright, like pencil yellow color. And so if she does have gray ink in it, I would get a kick out of that.
It's funny. The sampler packs that you guys have at Jetpens are, by the way, just like, fantastic. I love. You have like a blue black sampler pack. You have a green one. It's. It's really good.
Yeah. There's going to be a gray one coming. So I think my personal favorite is the brown one. We have a brown ink sampler. I really like that one.
That's cool. Yeah. Johnny, what are your pencil of pens?
So aside from the bit crystal, the space pen. Because like a pencil, it writes in unexpected circumstances. Like, before social media was a thing, there was a website called the Writer's Edge. There was like a store in Las Vegas or something. And they would do things like somebody would put one in a pizza and then pull it out and write with it.
I may have told this story before, and if I do, I apologize. But, like, in the fourth grade, I went to the, like, Cleveland Museum of Science and Industry. Maybe it's Cincinnati. It was Cosi. It's in Ohio. And I bought. My parents bought me a space pen, a Fisher space pen with the space shuttle logo on it. Like an outline of the logo of the space shuttle. And I loved it so much. And I put it through all the tests. I, like, wrote with it. I went to the bathtub and wrote with it underwater. And I wrote it on upside down. Obviously I didn't write it with it in zero G just because, like, I didn't know how to do that. But yeah, it was maybe my first ever, like, prize possession writing instrument. It's a space pen. I loved it so much. I have no idea where it is, but it was so great.
Yeah. They even write on. There was one where they wrote on ice. They took ice. They wrote on it. They Put it in a bucket of ice. Put it out. You know, it's like a pencil.
Yeah.
Because I'm sure you've been in situations where you're, you know, you're in the car or outside and you have a pen. And it does. Right. Because it's too cold. It's not even freezing. But, you know, it doesn't work. So they're fun in that regard. And also that. I don't know. I write upside down sometimes.
Yeah. Who doesn't?
Moving on. So also the pigma microperm, which is the same thing as a pigma micron, but the barrel is gray. And I think they only come in black, but you can write on different surfaces with them, unlike Micron, which usually uses paper or something. So I don't know why I feel like that's a pencil, but it's sort of like grease pencil. But it's a pen.
Yeah.
And like a pencil, it literally is forever, which is not something you can say of most pens. Yeah, they fade. They react with paper. So. Yeah. Cool. So this was long.
Awesome. Yeah. We had a lot to say about pens. Who knew?
Yeah.
Yeah.
So, Elaine, can you tell folks where to find you on the Internet and social media?
Sure thing. I am on Twitter Owl, like the Bird Inc. Design. And then I'm also on Instagram, though I haven't really been posting very much lately, probably. I mean, I'm gonna blame the fact that half of my art stuff is still not unpacked, but I am on Instagram owl.ink.
you should definitely post some pictures of your kitten, your new kitten.
I should. I just got a kitten.
Super cute. So cute.
She keeps me company.
Yeah.
How about you, Andy? Sir?
I am@woodclinch.com. that is my blog. You can find me at wealthfully.com or Andy Coffee as well. And then on Twitter at awel F as in fine line LE on Twitter and Instagram that. How about you, Johnny?
So I am on the Internet@pencil revolution.com on Twitter Pensolution. And I'm on Instagram at my name. And we are the Erasable podcast. You can find us at Erasable Us. This particular episode number 83 will be at erasable us83. You can find us on Twitter at Erasable Podcast, on Instagram @erasablepodcast. On Facebook at facebook.com erasablepodcast go figure. And if you enjoy things that are awesome or if you want to justify having a Facebook account, which is what I do on facebook.com groups erasable, you can find our 247 group of pencil and stationery folks for literally constant discussions of pencils and various notebooks and things like that. So thank you for tuning in. Check us out on itunes. Overcast. Give us good reviews. That's awesome. Then we'll start posting every five days when the reviews are awesome. You can quote us on that. So thanks for tuning in. Good night. The intro music for the Erasable podcast is graciously provided by this Mountain, a collaborative folk rock band from Johnson City, Tennessee. You can check out their music at www.thismountainband.com.
I can taste the days below half summer if I could just count the time this has happened before.