This transcript was generated from an audio file by AI, and may contain inaccuracies.
Transcript
It didn't hurt as much as I thought it would hurt, but yes, it definitely hurt.
It hurt exactly as much as I
thought it was going to hurt.
Hello, and welcome to episode 136 of the Erasable podcast. We're back from Baltimore from getting tattoos, from podcasting in person for the very first time, and sharing local beer with folks at Riot Notepads. I'm Tim Wasem, and I'm here with my absolute favorite pencil related people, Johnny Gamber and Andy Welfle. Hey, guys. How's it going?
Hey. Good, Good, considering. Yeah, my.
My affection for you guys goes beyond pencils. Just want to make that clear.
I was going to say, man, that's an unnecessary qualifier.
If you did pencils, you would still be my favorite people in many, many other categories.
Yay.
I apologize for.
You are my favorite pigeonholing. You guys are my favorite weekend sausage party mates.
That's. That'll. That'll be forever. I think that's a. That's a forever distinction.
That sounds non vegetarian.
Beyond sausage party.
Yeah. Yes. Morning star. Yeah. It's weird to hear you guys and not see you guys after that weekend.
Yeah, it really spoiled. Spoiled me. Like, that was. How many hours were we within, like 10ft of each other? Seems like.
I mean, seems like forever ago, though.
Yeah.
I miss you guys so.
All right, well, as COVID 19 spreads through the US and we're all learning the meaning of social distancing and. And all these different parameters that are being placed around us, we realize that podcasting is perfect. We can hang out, we can chat, we can bring you all the glorious pencil content from across this vast Internet we've got here. So we're glad to be here, and we feel so lucky to be safe, and we hope that you are too. We got a ton to talk about tonight. We're going to recap our amazing time in Baltimore. And there are new releases from all kinds of companies. We have write notepads, field notes, Blackwing. And so we're going to start the way we always do with tools of the trade, and we are going to start with Mr. Johnny Gamber, PhD.
Hey. So before you guys came here, I was cleaning a lot. So now I'm on reading mode again, which is awesome. But, like, if you go in my bathroom, you can tell. So I. Right after you guys left, I had my biannual dental checkup. And those are never fun, even when, you know, they just send you home, hey, you know, you're flossing wrong. Do this better. Blah, blah. So I Read a really cool book called Needing to Know for Sure. A CBT that's cognitive behavior therapy based guide to overcoming compulsive checking and reassurance seeking where they never mention obsessive Compulsive Disorder. But you know, because lots of people have that problem. But we've talked before about a book called Overcoming and Unwanted Intrusive Thoughts, I think which is like so clearly written you have to read it twice. So this is sort of one of those books. It's by the same authors. If you have problems with checking stuff. Especially lately where, you know, you hear different, different sources of information on how dangerous COVID 19 is and what you should do and you know, whether you should eat hand sanitizer or whatever this is. This can help you.
The answer is no.
Yeah. Keep your head on you. And unrelated to that, when Andy and Tim were in town, or before Tim was in town, Andy and I went to one of my favorite bookstores, Normal's Books. And Andy. Yeah, it's got a. Did you go in the bathroom?
No, I did not go in the bathroom.
It's like a broom closet. That's a bathroom. It's so awesome.
Does it have creepy clowns on the walls in the bathroom like it does everywhere else?
It has a lot of other creepy things. I won't spoil it in case you're here again, but Andy recommended Oracle Knight by Paul Auster. Is that how you pronounce his name?
Yeah.
Yep.
Which features lots of stationary porn and a stationary shop. And I just finished it yesterday. It was really, really good. I liked how time travel kept coming up a lot.
Yeah.
And you know, questions concerning what's real and what's not. Because philosophy.
I can't remember if we talked about it here, if it was somewhere else. But like, you know, in the book they keep referring to this blue Portuguese notebook that also comes in like brown and red and stuff. But he, he kind of goes into detail about picking up this notebook. And I know that there are some, some stationary bloggers elsewhere who have read that and then tried to sort of like dissect what kind of notebook that could be. If it's, if it's real, if there's really a blue Portuguese notebook that kind of fit these parameters or if they made it up for the book and. Yeah. I'll try to find a link to that and put it in show notes.
Yeah. When did the book come out? 02 or 03?
Yeah.
So it was before Moleskins.
Yeah.
I wonder how we would have written it if it came out five years later.
Yeah, yeah, I guess. I said.
I said, oh, wait, but that was for the paperback, so. Sorry.
And it was. What was it, 82 degrees?
Yeah.
Yeah. When I was we small and you guys weren't born. So for my third consumption, I watched all of the first season of Hunters on Amazon Prime. Did you guys catch that yet? No, man. So you ever watch something where there are previews that make it look kind of campy and funny, but when you watch the first episode and you're like, damn, that's heavy.
Yeah, yeah, the preview really put me off with that one.
It had a few like, funny scenes in it. Yeah, but it wasn't funny. It was, it was very good. I really enjoyed it. It's 10 episodes and apparently they're talking about a season two, but it could stand on its own.
Wow.
No spoilers. Yeah, yeah, that's how. That's what I'm consuming. And I am writing with our pencil of the month, the Mitsubishi 9852ew and HP. And actually, I don't know which notebook I was writing on, but I have all three of the new notebook releases in front of me and we'll talk about those later.
Yeah. Well, what am I consuming? Well, San Francisco officially, as of May midnight tonight, is in a shelter in place policy, which is like not exactly a lockdown, but not exactly not a lockdown.
So Andy is consuming his apartment.
Yes. So Katie and I'm going to be watching a lot of tv. I assume we're kind of like on to season six. I think of Letterkenny and kind of watching some HGTV just to sort of like, you know, feel better about everything around us. Reading a really great book called the Future of Another Timeline by Annalee Newitz, who is a San Francisco based sci fi writer. And in short, it's about an alternate timeline where there are time machines that people like license people can use to travel back through time. And there's a group of feminist time travelers who are trying to undo the edits made by this group of like, men's rights activists who are going through history and trying to like, erase women's rights. And it's, it's very, it's very sort of like a linear and like, you know, things, like things in the timeline get edited. So all of a sudden there's this whole different, like, future that they come back to and it's, it's really good. It's not like, you know, the Time Traveler's Wife, where it's basically this like a Contiguous story, just kind of like, you know, fragmented. It has like all these interesting, different, like fragmentations. So it's a really good book.
Wearing me out with these book recommendations. I just added both of those last two books you guys talked about on scribd. Yeah, they're both available, so I'm super excited about those for quarantine days.
You're going to have plenty of time to read those.
Yeah.
Yeah. Actually found out Annalee Newitz lives in my neighborhood.
Wow.
They and Charlie Jane Anders, who is their wife, who's another sci fi writer in the Bay Area. Like, you know, I don't exactly know where they live because I'm not going to be like, you know, that. That fan trying to figure out where they live, but I know that they're.
Because you definitely haven't been like digging through their trash and stuff. Exactly.
Yeah. So I don't.
They've written a lot of books.
Yeah.
Yeah. Between the two of them.
Geez.
Yeah. And so I am writing with my brand new Blackwing 840, which we'll talk about in a Leuchtturm red dot, the blue one with red accents that Johnny, I believe, also using for reasons I think we'll talk about later.
Yeah.
How about you, Tim?
Been listen to a lot of music last couple weeks and I've been sort of discovering some new stuff, but also fully appreciating some old stuff that I've been meaning to get into for a long time. And so for the new stuff, I was listening to one of my favorite podcasts, the Working Songwriter, which is done by Joe Pug, which I probably have talked about at some point. But. And I've gotten to the point with. With this podcast that I've listened through all of the people that I recognize, like all the songwriters who I recognize. And he. He basically does an hour long just big deep dive into their process and their history of songwriting and all this. And it's really fascinating and. But I was just really wanting to listen to more because this. I kind of ran out of people that I recognize and so I just on a whim picked one from an author or from a songwriter named Aaron Ray, which was a pretty recent episode and I had never heard of her and was really smitten with her in her. Her interview. And she's super smart and really like her songs are really beautiful and just a really charming person. And I was just had to check out her album and so she. She only has one. One album out right now, which is called Putting on Airs and it is just an incredibly beautiful album. So it's. I don't really know how to classify it as far as genre. It's probably in the Americana world somewhere. But she has a voice that's almost. Almost like. It's like Americana music, but with a voice that can almost be sort of Broadway without the pizzazz, you know?
Yeah.
Without the flashiness, but just lots of clarity.
Yeah.
And just in the melodies that kind of go up and they float around and they go here and there and really beautiful stuff. So, Aaron Ray. And so some of the songs are, you know, pretty. Pretty simple. So I don't mean to sort of overblow that. That aspect of it, but I think I added a song to the. The playlist for Patreon supporters. I think it's called Badminton. Yeah, I think I added either Putting on Airs or Badmind. I added to that playlist for. For Patreon.
Hey, Tim, would you tell us more about what you mean by the playlist for Patreon subscribers?
Oh, I would love to. Yes. I would love to. So those of you who are Patreon supporters, one of the things you're treated to is a newsletter that is sort of spearheaded by Mr. Johnny Gamber, and also a playlist on Spotify, a privately available playlist that is curated by us of songs that we're enjoying and things that we want to share with you, which is a thing that we. I don't know. I've been sort of out of the loop on that for the first few, and I'm really looking forward to being more involved with the next ones. And Johnny's been doing a really awesome job picking some cool music. So, yeah, it's a really cool bonus of being a Patreon supporter of the podcast. So, yeah. So Aaron Ray, she's extremely talented songwriter. You should check her out. And the other one who's kind of in a similar vein but, you know, much more old school is Townes Van Zandt, who's one of those artists that I've always meant to get more into than I have been. I've known about him and I've known about the people that he's influenced. And I've heard people say that he's basically, you know, on par with people. Like, I mean, maybe not an amount of stuff that he's recorded, but, like, Bob Dylan is a really, really amazing songwriter and has a absolutely crazy story just as far as his life and the kind of person he was. So I've been listening to a lot of Townes Van Zant especially an album called Our Mother of the Mountain, which is just gorgeous and really cool. And there's this awesome story of after he had recorded that album in California and he was trying to get back to Texas, that this one, this, like, musician picked him up on the side of the road because he saw this guy carrying. He was like, in the desert in Arizona. It was like walking and carrying a guitar and a backpack. And he gave him a lift. And the guy. He's like, the guy just pulled out a record from his backpack and handed it to me. And it was Arm of the Mountain he had just recorded. It was like, traveling home with 25 copies of it or something like that and had, like, no clothes in his backpack bag. So really interesting character in a. Just unbelievable songwriter. His story is pretty heartbreaking. And actually, if you're. If you're interested in this at all on YouTube, and the whole thing's on YouTube right now. It used to be on Netflix, but you can. You can watch on YouTube there's a documentary called Be Here to Love Me, which. Sorry, I kind of slurred that, but Be Here to Love Me is the name of the documentary, and it is a great documentary in telling his story and his role in the. In the music business business. And probably his most famous song that people would have heard of is Poncho and Lefty. You heard that song that was recorded by Willie Nelson. And was it Merle Haggard or.
Yeah, the. The. Some of the Highwaymen.
Yes, two of them.
Yeah. Yeah.
But so that was a song originally written by. By Townsend's aunt. So, yeah, Merle Haggard. And Willie Nelson's so awesome songwriter. Like, just mind blowing. So there's a song he wrote that will just haunt you for the rest of your life. It's just so amazingly beautiful. And it's on that album, our. Our Mother of the Mountain. The song is called I'm actually Looking Up. I Get it. Want to get right.
Yeah.
Why She's Acting this Way. So Google that, put it on YouTube. Listen to why She's Acting this Way by Townes Van Zant. I have been reading and I actually mostly listening to a book that has just really been a blast. I've really been enjoying it, which is the Rise of Theodore Roosevelt by Edmund Morris. It's the first of the three biographies that he wrote. And the first one won the National Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize when it came out. And so I've been listening to that biography because I've always been fascinated by Teddy Roosevelt, like, a lot of People. He's like a cartoon character of a human being. It seems like he was created in a lab or so. Yeah. Not much to say about it. Besides, it's just really a good read. And it's also pretty inspiring as far as reading about a politician that has their head on straight and is doing their best to make positive change. And he wasn't a perfect person by any means, but his. The point. I'm just reading it up to the point where he's in the New York State. What do you call it? Senate or the. Actually, the House. The House in New York, which was like the most powerful state at the time. So. Really good book. I'm looking forward to the rest of the series.
One of my favorite philosophers called him an imperialist pig. So I didn't know a lot about him. When I was reading William James, I was like, teddy Roosevelt sounds like a jerk. And later on, you're true.
No certain extent, but.
Yeah, but also like, totally badass. And he inspired Hemingway, who inspires lots of us.
Yeah, yeah. I mean, he has a. He has a. Especially from a 2020 perspective, he has a pretty spotty record on some stuff, but in the time period where he was coming up, I mean, he did some pretty amazing things. So. Yeah, I definitely recommend it. It's very long, though. It's very long. He has the same birthday as Lila, which was cool. Oh, that's dog's name down.
Should have named her Theodora.
Yeah. Yeah. So that was why I named what we named our dog Theo. Not really, because I was like that obsessed with him. But I just looked over at the bookshelf and saw this book and it's like, oh, yeah, Theo, that'd be good.
Before we know Rose's gender, Theodore was one of the names in contention for
a boy child, that's a good name.
Teddy.
Gang. Teddy.
Oh, Teddy Gamber. Oh, man. Teddy G. Rosie is one. Seeing Rosie in person, it's like she haunts my dream. She's like the cutest kid on the planet. Those eyes. Oh, my gosh.
Rotten child. Terrible.
So. And I. I am writing with a Blackwing, Volume one. Much chagrined by me Blacking Volume one. And the reason that I'm writing with it is because it was dedicated to Guy Clark and Guy Clark was the best friend of Townes Van Zant. So bring things full circle. So I'm actually writing with one that I had taken the ferrule off and sharpened it on the other side, which I kind of like that for this pencil. It's Kind of a cool look for it. And I'm using a field notes Grand Teton that I bought at the Baltimore pen show.
Nice.
All right, well, now that before we move on talking about our pencil of the month and talking about some of the new spring releases, I thought we all thought it be a good idea to just recap some of the shenanigans of Baltimore and talk about what that. That meetup was like. So we got a few kind of topics we could go through. Johnny, you want to start us out?
Yeah.
So the first thing that we ever did together was to go get tattoos.
Like, literally 10am the next day. Yeah, we get in.
Yeah, we got him.
We did stab a until, like, two in the morning the night before.
Yeah, maybe our first outing.
Yeah.
We stopped by Dunkin Donuts and went down to Reed Street Tattoo parlor, where Hunter Spanx, my favorite tattooist, opened early for us. So that was really awesome. And how are you guys? How your tattoos?
I was thinking of us standing at Dunkin Donuts, and Andy and I kind of nervously bouncing from foot to foot, like, ready to go back.
And Johnny's just like, oh, this is so normal.
Yeah, I feel fine.
You guys were really nervous.
Do you want me to. Do you mean to slide in with some background about these tattoos? Yeah.
Yeah.
So. So if you see the COVID art of the last episode or if you check out our Instagram, you can see what it looks like. But essentially, this was a design that a designer that I worked with for a little while at Facebook made. And it accompanied the quote that was often misattributed to Marshall McLuhan, which reads, we shape our tools, and in turn, they shape us. Which is something I think is very apropos of this podcast and about many, many other things in my life. So when we were all trying to figure out tattoos, if you're a Patreon subscriber, you got a bonus episode of us talking about this. We. We talked about this particular design and just, like, what. What we would do to modify a little bit, and, like, who might want to get what. And essentially, it's a. It's a pencil in a triangle with, like, kind of like an Escheresque.
Like, impossible shape.
Yeah, impossible shape. And it's drawing itself. And I got the kind of the original design, which has a bright yellow body and then a pink eraser. Tim got the same thing, but a little bigger because your armor is broader than mine.
Call me fat.
No, you just got broad arms like Popeye.
Just kidding.
And he got his not Filled in. So it's. It's just a really, like, clean line drawing.
Yes. Draplin. Thick lines.
Yeah. Hashtag thick lines. And then Johnny. Johnny got the same thing, but in a kind of a teal and purplish color and smaller on a. On the top of his arm instead of on the, like, bottom of his arm to kind of match some of his other tattoos. So, yeah, it was. It's. It's a. It's something that I. I've got on a poster. I think Johnny and Tim both have that poster too.
Yeah. Mine's hanging in my bedroom. Look at it.
I have some stickers. I have some temporary tattoos that we handed out at the party. All of the same. All the same design. So it's something I've been, like, really feeling for a while, and I was just, like. Just even more special that, like, you guys were willing to also get that, so. Yeah.
Yeah. Really suggested that. It felt like the obvious choice, so we kind of pulled around on different things for a while. But, I mean, I. I think it was an awesome idea, so.
And Hunter really nailed the colors on yours, Andy.
Oh, he sure did. It's. So I've been. I've been reading this. Johnny. This is. I was telling Tim before. Before you hopped on that I've been getting these weird, like, kind of, like, hives and a little mild rash near the tattoo.
Yeah.
I've learned that apparently many people are allergic to the. Like, just slightly allergic to the red ink that they use in tattoos, something in the pigment. And sure enough, I have a little bit of red in that eraser. And I wonder. I wonder if that's it or if it's just. You know, my skin is just really freaking angry with me because I stabbed it repeatedly with needles.
I have that, and I didn't get any red, but my arm doesn't like being shaved. That's often part of it for me.
Yeah.
But how's your healing process going, you guys?
Processes pretty good. Yeah,
mine's about done. Mine's. Yeah, mine's. Because, I mean, I didn't have the. With not having the color fill like you guys got. Mine's moving a lot faster. So basically everything is healed and good to go, except for the. The, like, sort of the graphite part of the pencil. Like, the tip of the pencil. It still has a little bit of a scab, but it doesn't hurt at all. And it's. It looks. Looks great. And I've really been enjoying it. And so, yeah, mine's. Mine's. I'D say by the end of this week, mine will be in great shape.
Awesome.
Mine, I think most of the scab has fallen off, but it was. It was looking pretty rough for a while. Like, I was like, I hope that there's, like, a design under there, because this. Yeah.
Yeah. Terrible.
Yeah. Some of your. The pictures you were sending. Like, send it.
I'd be like, what is happening?
I mean, I think me and you were in the same boat with. As far as. I think we both have generally sensitive skin.
Yeah.
And, like, because mine even, like, mine didn't have the color filling, but, I mean, mice. The scabs on just the lines were, like, really intense and, like, really painful for a long time until, like, seriously, like, two days ago. So.
Yeah. Also, Hunter tattoos very deeply.
Yeah.
Sure does.
I should have told you guys that.
You probably shouldn't have. I think it's better you didn't.
Yeah, I mean, I think you mentioned it, but I just had no concept of what that means. Right. Like, yeah, everybody.
Everybody was like, yeah, I fell hiking, like, the weekend before last weekend, and, like, really tore mine up. There's some pieces of it that were torn off on a rock.
Wow.
But it was one of those things where, you know, I'm 40 and I fell. I'm like, oh, my God. I didn't break anything. And then I didn't break anything. I'm like, okay, I'm fine. And then later on, there's liquid on my arm. Like, what the hell is that? But hence, when I were talking about it, he's like, you just got some sweet wear and tear.
Yeah, that's true.
But I still want to get it touched up.
It's a nice patina with wear. So for those of you who have been asking, because many people have. It didn't hurt as much as I thought it would hurt, but, yes, it definitely hurt.
It hurt exactly as much as I thought it was going to hurt. Yeah. And it was. And I'm going to say this. Maybe this is not good to talk about on a podcast, but, like, I've always wanted somebody to, like, accurately describe to me what it felt like to get a tattoo. So if you are listening to this and you are thinking about getting a tattoo and you don't want to know this information, then Skip ahead, like, 30 seconds and you. And you can. You can miss this. But I feel like exactly what it feels like is that if you take, like, you know, a sharp point, whether it's a needle or whatever, and you push it pretty firmly into your skin, and then like tug it a half an inch to one side and feel that. And then just imagine that for 45 minutes that is basically how it felt. And it was probably a little worse.
But let's say. I mean, let's, let's, you know, let's just use the metaphor we have here. Tim, if somebody took a really long point pencil and just like stabbed it into your arm.
Masterpiece sharp pencil. Yeah, definitely. Like A. Like a 9B. Like a 9H or whatever. What am I?
A fork sign?
The hardest pencil you can get. And yeah, and just so a lot
of people were asking me that night at the pen show, like, how did Andy and Tim do get their tattoos? Do you really think they cried? And if they did that, I would tell you. So your secrets are safe with me, guys.
I definitely just had like an extended like 45 minutes of just being like, oh, man. All right, that. That hurts. You know, just like that. For the whole time we posted that ridiculous picture on Instagram where I was pretending to cry, but I didn't cry. And also didn't Johnny claim that I fell asleep and was like, I. If the. I wish that I had fallen asleep.
Well, I.
There's no way that I thought it
was very important that one of us was over there with you. Well, to distract you while it's happening. Because both of you were there to distract me. And that was really helpful to have that conversation.
You guys left me.
We did. You were just having a conversation with the Hunter.
You didn't went out for lunch?
Yeah.
No. You guys are both like totally calm and collected. Does it seem that way?
And Hunter was. I was talking guitars with Hunter for a while. That was cool. But it was. Yeah, it was. And I. And I'm not going to go into the details on this, like, absolutely not going to. But it was. Had a funny conversation with Andy, you know, as I was starting mine and just like, just be glad that you went first and didn't see what was happening because there's something about seeing it with your own eyes and seeing. Yeah. And then Andy, like as I was getting mine done and he was like, yeah, I totally know what you mean. Yeah, thanks. Yeah, this is great because I can see it in my. The whole time he was doing it, I could see like with like a super zoomed in focus exactly what he was doing to my arm, like in my imagination.
So that was that ritual scarification.
Yeah, but Hunter was. Hunter did an awesome job. It looks fantastic. So I mean, the few of you were in the. The Baltimore area He. And. And I talk about how much it hurt also being, like, a noob. So it. It was just. He did really good work. And people who've seen it, like, co workers who I've showed it to, have just been like, man, those are just some, like. Like, the colors, like, the. The black and the white of my skin and the black of this tattoo. It's like a really sharp contrast and really dark lines. And so they could tell they did a good job. So he's. And, Johnny, you want to tell us about Hunter's setup now?
So Hunter is. You can find him on Instagram and HR Spanx, and he was at the Bob. I'm sorry, Reed Street Tattoo Parlor, which is a pretty old shop in Baltimore. And he just moved this week to the Baltimore Tattoo Museum. Although if you're hearing this real time, yeah, they're closed until the 27th. But, like, Hunter does really awesome work, and also, he's. He's awesome to work with because he knows what the hell looks good. Yeah, there have been many times I'm just like, you know what? Wherever you think it looks good, I trust you completely.
The other day, me. He was really helpful with me deciding on the size of mine or, like, I almost went actually bigger. And he was like. He sort of suspended his. I'm not going to give you an opinion. Like, you just need to decide this for yourself. Whatever's good for you. And he, like, looked at it. He was like, I think you're gonna get some wraparound if you do that size, so I think you should go with the other one. And he was totally right.
So he was. So I work with a lot of designers, right? Mostly, like, digital designers, but he. He's definitely, like, the areas where he gave his opinion versus the areas where he was sort of, like, deferring his opinion to what you want was just perfect. He was super collaborative, and definitely we were a little nervous because he himself is an artist, and coming to him with something that's very much like a set piece of artwork, and I was trying to be like, oh, I would love your interpretation of this theme.
Right.
Like a pencil drawing itself. And he just kind of stared at it, and he was like, you know, I would just keep this as is. And, yeah, he's. He's. His judgment and his kind of, like, ability is just so good. So I don't know if Hunter listens to this, but if. If you do, Hunter, thank you. Thank you so much. This is really happy with this.
And I. I actually only go to Hunter these Days.
Yeah.
And, Johnny, did you say you just got another tattoo?
No. Frankie and my mom went.
Right. No, I knew about that. When you said the. Just the other week, I was like, yeah, another one.
If you see a crab that has flowers in it on Instagram, that's Frankie.
It looks so good.
Yeah, it looks awesome.
Yeah.
It's actually, like, pretty damn huge in real life.
Yeah.
I was imagining, like, I was just so thankful just for my own edification, just like. Or just my. Just my own feeling that I'm being empathized with or whatever, when Frankie came and, like, asked about her tattoos, and she's like, you wait, you all went to Hunter? It's like, yeah. She's like, oh, man, that must have hurt. It's like, yeah.
Any tattoos from here on out that isn't now Cakewalk.
Right? Exactly. Well, but also, like, with all honesty, like, after you go, I can totally see, Johnny, how you're, like, so loyal to somebody because, like, if I get another one. I know. I mean, these lines are perfect, you know, like, super sharp lines. And, like, I would get another one from Hunter in a. In a heartbeat if I get another one.
Well, that was my next question. What are you guys getting next?
I know what I get.
That first one. You're like, let's do it.
Yeah, I've got two more. Two more that I'm gonna get one at some point. It could be 10 years from now, but, like, I know that I'm gonna get a. A quote on my arm, like, in a typewriter font. I'd like to do that. I'm not sure what it is yet. I'm kind of flip flopping between some. There's like, some Bob Dylan lyrics and a John Steinbeck quote and a Mary Oliver quote and stuff like that that I'm think also have an idea for this based on. I. I showed you guys, but it's like a Sam Larson drawing of a. A buffalo in profile, and then on the inside, it's got the Smoky Mountain outline. So those two. At some point, probably, but I'm in no rush. Like, just not because I wasn't out. I just.
Someday, if you saw my. My brain tattoo, that font is called American Typewriter, and I think Hunter bought it for using that tattoo, so he's got a really great font ready.
Time to go back to Baltimore. Yeah. Yeah. Should we talk about the pen show? Yay. So. So that. That same. That same day, later on. Later on that afternoon, we, you know, went to the. The Marriott that was by the airport where they're holding the pen show and, you know, walked around, check things out. That's where we met date in person for the first time. Well, that wasn't your first time, Johnny. That was my first time meeting date. And he was. He and his wife Gina are just, just the most wonderful people. We saw Ana Reinert, we saw Brad Dowdy.
Conan o' Brien needs a friend fame.
Yes. Congratulations. That's amazing. Our friend Dr. Hans Noodleman was there. Tiffany Babb. Just so many, so many people. Jacob Cecil was there. Joe Crace from the Gentleman Stationer was there. Jacob, who, you know, has been this show before. Yeah, it was. It was great. The AV folks were super helpful. I think the two things I had the most anxiety about was A, the tattoo and B, just sort of the audio visual setup because we wanted to record the podcast, you know, as well as actually. Or record the live show as well as, you know, do it. So all of those things happened within one day. And so I was just sort of like after that day.
Yeah, like that night when we were having a drink afterwards, you were like,
yes, just give me all the drinks.
Yeah.
So, Johnny, do you want to talk about when we were walking around the pen show floor?
Well, there was this obnoxious guy who had sort of a bizarre tool apron on. And in the pockets of this tool apron, there were some red and yellow pencils that said erasable live 135. And some really cool pins that another cool guy got designed that said graphite is right and stay sharp. So this obnoxious guy also had a crank sharpener, and he was walking around sharpening pencils for people and catching, like, lots of shade.
Did you catch. Did you make an id?
David Rees. Yeah. Did you make an id?
He was channeling a much less funny David Rees.
That is officially my. My favorite picture of you ever. That picture. Sharpening a pencil. That's like, I'm very happy about that one.
Yeah. But it was like, it's bizarre, like, to see all of these very expensive things that I've only seen on the Internet all lined up on tables. So it's always interesting to just go walk around, look at all the colors and stuff like that.
To me, there were a couple El Casco sharpeners there, which was pretty cool. Almost bought one, but I just. Just didn't want to spend $275 right there, which is a good deal for those sharpeners.
But I don't think I'd seen one in real life. But I did not almost buy one. Well, okay. I Almost, Almost bought one.
Yeah. There was a surprising pencil selection. They're just from different, different areas. I'll talk about one later that I guess I could talk about now and just not talk about it later. But I mean like there were, there were, there was one vendor who had a lot of vintage woodcase pencils and then had like those El Casco sharpeners and other sharpeners as well. I stumbled upon a guy who was selling some, some vintage mechanical pencils that were, I mean some of them were 100 years old. So I actually ended up buying one kind of a dented up vert, which I love that part of it. I got it for cheaper too, which was great. But a 100-year-old ever sharp mechanical pencil, that's so cool that I, I just fell in love with. I've used it a lot since then and bought it from a guy named. It was, it was, it was John Vely. Was that the name?
Yeah, Yep.
Yeah. Jonathan Vely, who had this really amazing selection. He helped me like talk to through it and like showed me like these are the parts that need to be working and you need this and that. So he, I bought that for him and he also had a really cool selection of graphite. Like and they're in these little tubes and I was like, oh, this is interesting. And they're in odd sizes because of the old fashioned pencil, mechanical pencils and all that. And I asked him about them and he said, yeah, you know, the interesting thing about these is that the, the Panda Pencil Company, which was the last American pencil lead manufacturer, when they shut down their factory, sort of went into just. They put it in mothballs basically. It wasn't really being used, but. And then 20 years later it was sold in the mid. Well, when was it? 2016. Yeah, like I think it was like 2016. Like they finally sold their factory off.
Off.
And when they sold it off, they had millions of sticks of graphite left over. Wow, I like that number. Yeah, millions. And, and so he, the Jonathan Veeley bought up all of that and is now selling it at pen shows around the country. And it's. So you're using graphite that's, you know, vintage graphite and it fits perfectly in these ever sharps and it's really great. So I bought two tubes of two.
So it still works well, right? Like the clay didn't like dry up?
Yeah, no, no, I would say it feels a little harder. Like the 2B is a little harder than I'm used to with a 2B. But I really like it. And it's a thick gauge, so I'm really enjoying it. And also the. The lit literature nerd in me is really happy because it makes me think of Gatsby. Because this is the pencil that Gatsby, or I mean, sorry, that I do that in class too, like every single time. That Fitzgerald would have used. Yeah, that Fitzgerald would have used it. Also, there's a scene in Great Gatsby where Daisy is at a Gatsby's party and Tom is like, hey, I'm gonna go over here and eat with these people. And Daisy knows what he's up to and looks at him and says, here, take my little gold. Take this little gold pencil in case you need to take down any phone numbers, basically because I know you're gonna be sleeping around town with people that you're meeting here. And so that was presumably what she would have handed him was one of these gold, ever sharp pencils that even come in a small kind of pocket size, which I was really tempted to pick up one of those. And I might do that someday. So.
Yeah. Nice.
I was really. Yeah, I was. That was a really cool find for me. I really enjoyed that. Yeah.
So we. So we eventually, you know, got back to the room, we started recording, started our show. Probably had about 60 people there, which is really great. It was. It felt like an intimate crowd, but it also felt very like we had so much good, just like instantaneous feedback, which is something that we don't, you know, we don't get here, really, which is, you know, except from ourselves. But that was. That was really fun. We had Brad and Anna and Dade as guests. We basically. We had talked amongst ourselves the night before and we were like, you know, the thing I think that we want to try to do at a pen show is to make. Make the case for woodcase pencils. So, like, if you, you know, are into $400 fountain pens and you just really haven't picked up a pencil because the last one you used was like a crappy Office Depot. And you don't really like pencils. Like, let's. Let's try to convince you to pick one back up. And I think most of the audience was already pretty friendly to pencils anyway. But I think that we got some people interested in a few things.
Yeah, Yeah, I got, like. To be totally honest, I was caught off guard and almost a little choked up when we were recording our episode and we said, like, how many of you are in our Facebook group? And it was like over 90% of people, people I feel like raise their hand. I was just like, holy moly. Like that is really overwhelming and really sweet. Like that just made me kind of step back. So when you, when you asked that question, Andy, when you asked that question, it just kind of blew me away. So it was really, really great to see.
I was not expecting that.
Yeah. And so many people that we ended up talking to and having long conversations later in the night just who we never would have gotten to meet if we hadn't done this thing. Who had come from New York or had come from D.C. to like see us and talk to us. And I found myself kind of going up to people just as like a stranger and just be like, hey, how's it going at the pen show? And they'd be like, hey, we're here to see your show. We're really looking forward to it. And that was overwhelming. So your celebrity, Tim, I mean that's what I was hoping you would say, but I just. No, that's definitely not. It was just like really, you know, that gratifying feeling of being in the like imagine like feeling of being in the Facebook group and hearing from people who are interested in the same thing like that times, times 10. Because you're face to face and you can just like go full nerd on each other and not feel, not feel, not feel a thing. So.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. So that was, that was really fun. But you know, not even as fun as the next night. Johnny.
Whoa.
So we co sponsored an open house at Write Notepads with Mohawk paper. Which makes us sound very huge. But so our co sponsorship involved us bringing just like a crap ton of beer. So.
Which was a fun shopping experience.
We got a cart and went to a really cool beer shop near my parents house and yeah, we bought tons of beer.
So filled that cart up to the top.
Yeah.
And by the end of the night there were only a few left. So we'd never do it.
Yeah, it was a drinking bunch for sure.
I, I, I only had half of a beer.
Right.
I myself do not drink.
You didn't?
No, that is a joke. Oh. What?
There was delicious things in those tubs. So.
Right.
Notepads had set up a nice table for us with a sign and some big tubs full of ice to put the beer in. And coasters, which were really awesome. Or as we say in Baltimore, coasters.
Oysters. Huh.
Put that beer on a coaster. Don't mess my table up. But yeah, it, we met lots of the same folks who were in town for the weekend. Lots of Folks who we had never met, including Hunter, who I talked to for a long time. Different Hunter.
Hunter was so great. Hunter from New York City.
Yeah.
Yeah. That was really cool. Yeah.
And that night they released Runopets, released Amethyst, their most recent edition that we'll talk more about later. And we got the chat with Derek, who is. I don't know what his job title is, but he works at. Right. Notepads. And it was his idea to come up with the Amethyst.
Oh, yeah, he was great.
And actually, I think he's like. He lives right down the hill from me.
Yeah, we saw Gary there, Gary Varner, who has been on this very podcast before. Actually, he was at the recording the night before, too, but him and Bill were there. Tiffany Babb came back. Got a really good chat with Ian Schoen from the Shown Pen company.
Yeah, he's a cool guy.
He's talking about good ideas, doesn't he?
Yeah, talking about some stuff.
Yes, talking. Let's talk some stuff.
And he's from Baltimore and he was in Boston, but now he's in Philly. So the things we have to talk about we could talk about in person.
Yeah, well, you're socially distancing yourself, for example.
Yeah.
Talking about in person on Skype. Yes.
And so we should mention, also write notepads. How we were able to buy the notebooks that night is they set up a little shop which was. Oh, yeah, pretty awesome. And there were some things in there that are not listed on the website, such as the lawn, which is listed as sold out.
One thing, one thing. Tim and I went snooping around a little bit. Were you going to tell us?
Yeah, go ahead, go ahead.
We went over there to look and we. There's a little storage room just right next to the little shop area. And Tim and I just kind of sneak in and we saw a box of pencils that just said Lenore on it. We went over and we opened it up and. And sure enough, there's a huge box of the really beautiful matte black copper pencils.
Their secret stash. We were like rifling through all these boxes and Moses kept coming in. Be like, what the hell are you guys doing?
Like, oh, I see what you found. We're not going to steal it. We just want to look at him.
I just want to put my hand in the box.
He's going to come around the corner and it's like Andy pouring a box of pencils over my head and I'm just like dancing underneath him. Scrooge McDuck and some pencils over here,
man, to make sure they're not pre sharpened.
Yeah, definitely. That'd be tragic, but we were there all night. That was a very long guitar a little bit.
That was really good.
Yeah, I was rocking. So I was running 1955 Gibson that he had there. I was plugged in playing some Grateful Dead, playing some Tom Petty. It was a good time. And then it devolved, as any good night of, you know, having. Having a few drinks does, devolved into taking turns putting on YouTube videos.
Oh, yeah. I want to thank. Thank you, Breck, for putting on Fishbone. I have never, ever, ever heard that band before. And that was such an interesting. Such an interesting time. Very, very post apocalyptic. Very relevant, I think, to. To today.
That was. I was. That was one of those moments where somebody shows you something and you're like, I haven't. How have I not ever come across this? That's really cool.
Yeah. Yeah, that was. Yes. That was the latest I've stayed up in a while. Yeah.
Yeah. I was. I was up for a couple hours after you guys being like, oh, in case.
In case anybody here has not heard me say this already, Johnny Gamber does not sleep.
Yep. I slept while you guys were sleeping.
Okay.
I just got up like five minutes ahead of you, like, hey, where you guys been?
And fell asleep four hours after us. Yeah, yeah, that was. I mean, all those nights of just coming back to Johnny's beautiful apartment. Just like coming back there and hanging out after. The things that we did were so great. It was just. And I'll forever be. Will cherish the next morning too. Like the moments like getting up and drinking coffee and sitting at Johnny's table and playing with pencils in my underwear while Johnny is waiting for my clothes to dry downstairs.
Oh, yeah, I forgot that happened. I do have pictures of that for anybody who's got five bucks.
Oh, geez. All right. It's not worth.
Or I don't have pictures. If you have 500 bucks.
There's a special. There's a special tier of Patreon just for Tim underwear.
But that was.
I.
Seriously, though, those moments were really great. Like those mornings of Johnny, like, putting so much thought into making our coffee in the morning where he's like, do you want this or you want this or you want this? You want this, man? Just make some coffee. It's going to be great. You're a great,
super thoughtful host.
Yeah, he should get a gold medal for being a thoughtful host. And also a big thanks to his parents and his family for being so accommodating to us being there.
I wish we could have spent more time with the kids, but next time.
Yeah, see, they'll have me next time.
Yeah.
And you guys can get more hunter tattoos. Brace yourself.
Yeah, if goes a little lighter, maybe
if you guys come back to town from our Hunter tattoos, I'll get something on my back or chest. Like, this is the verbal version of this being in writing. Like, I'll do it.
Oh, here we go again. So five years from now, we'll be getting a tattoo in Baltimore.
Oh. Happy late podcast birthday. We turned six last week.
Six.
Now we are six, man, like, halfway to puberty.
Yeah, we're just a little bit. A little bit younger than my. Than our sons. Just crazy.
Yeah.
All right, well, you guys want to switch over and talk about our pencil of the month?
Yeah, it's a little overdue because we were supposed to do it last month.
This is February and March.
We made the executive decision that doing a pencil of the month at our live recording at the Baltimore Pen show with all the other great things we had with our interviews with Anna and Brad and Dade was just like, well, let's just save that for later. So our pencil of last month was the Mitsubishi 9852. Ew. So, I mean, I guess I'll start things out. This is a pencil that I've been a huge fan of for a couple of years. I've got multiple boxes up in my. In my cabinet. This is one of you.
Juice.
Yeah. This is one of the ones that I've seen is stash worthy. So I've got. I think, oh, wow.
I have one.
So one box. I've been a fan of, you know, naked pencils for so long, natural pencils for so long. And this is one that really hit a sweet spot with being a. An hp. That's probably. It seems to me more like. Like a B. It's a little softer. Holds a good point. And I really. So I really enjoy the fact that it has a. The best way I can describe it is a. A perfect balance between being like a lacquered naked pencil and being a naked pencil. You know, like a cedar point is a naked pencil. It's just like you. You touch that once and it changes colors. And then the like 211 or something is like deeply lacquered or whatever. So it's right there in the middle. And so it has kind of a feel to it a little bit. So I really. I really enjoy. Enjoy that aspect of it. So it holds a point like an hpe, but it's way more. It's way smoother than you'd expect it to be.
So I'm going to jump in, speaking of the point, and you guys could make sense of this statement and probably most of the people who listen to our podcast. It doesn't feel like a Japanese core. It feels like a German 3B. Like, it doesn't have that sort of, like, soft polymer feeling of a Japanese lead. It feels like it's a little more gritty. Gritty. It feels like the smoothness is waxy, not plasticky.
Yeah, that's a good point. Okay, sure.
That's a distinction only we can make.
You heard it here first, folks.
When you first said that, my. My initial thought was be, like, that stupid. Isn't a 3B in. In Europe just like a B in Japan? Or, you know, or like. Or not. That's. That's. That's wrong. That's the opposite. But, like. But that. You're totally right now. The more you talked, I was like, yep, yep, I'm with you.
I'm.
Absolutely. Makes perfect sense.
I just. I just really like the. That kind of, like, recycled wood. What am I. What am I trying to say? Like, the. The connections that the wood has into each other. Like, the way that they've sort of
joined, that teeth that fit in together.
It's very much like the Tennessee Red in that. It's just sort of, like, perfectly imperfect. You can really see it, how they kind of engineered it, and I think that looks really cool.
It always kind of lands at a different point in the pencil, which is cool.
Yeah. Yeah. And who. Yeah. Who wrote that here? The color of the feral alone justifies its existence.
Oh, that was me.
It's so true. I mean, I love that, like, purpley, kind of bruisey color.
Yeah, that's the best word for it.
Bruisy.
Bruisy.
And, you know, it's got their really cool green writing. The box is so pretty.
Yeah. So what y' all should do is, you know, go buy this pencil from CW Pencils right now, because they are. Their storefront has been shut down for the foreseeable future.
So buy in bulk.
Yeah.
Yeah. And Caroline said if you ask for it, if you buy a dozen, they'll give you the box. And the box for this one is really cool.
Such a good box. Yeah.
Yep. It is a. This is a pencil that I. I give a solid A to my teacher parlance. It is a great pencil, and it's one that I. I'm glad I stocked up on it.
So, yeah, I would give it an E for Exceeds Expectations. I don't know.
It works.
All right, now that we're done reminiscing on a wonderful time, let's. Let's do our fresh points. We decided to make this episode a fresh points episode because we got a lot of new stuff to talk about, new releases, and also just kind of news that's been coming out in the stationary world. So let's dig in. So, Johnny, start us off with some field notes. Action.
So last night, last week, the field notes vignette came out, which is their spring 2020 edition. It's a three pack of notebooks where. How do we describe this? You can. There's a circle cut out on the front, and you can slide an image of your choice into the COVID which is made of two sheets of COVID
material, has an insert or you can put an insert.
You get three with your notebooks. And like, when I first saw them, I was like, eh. I was kind of hoping they would go with a theme. And then when I had them in hand, like, these are really, really well thought out.
Yeah.
Like really.
The control was very good.
Yeah, my corners were cut much better than they usually come cut. Yeah, that's. Yeah, that's intelligible. My only, like, I don't like when people throw an OCD as an adjective, but like, my OCD does not want two of one color and one of the other. Like all one or three different ones. So, like, this is bothering my sense of symmetry. But the notebooks are one green and two gray and the same gray.
I thought that was a really interesting choice. Like, I wasn't quite sure how they came up with that, but I was, I was interested in, in their reasoning. Right.
Yeah. And the stock is very thin and sort of plasticky. Like it's leveled up on itself except on the spine. So I wonder if maybe that stock just doesn't come in a lot of colors because everything is so specific in the paper world, which is interesting.
I honestly think Less and I were talking about this a little bit and like, it's. It. I think it's one of their most innovative things in years. Like I, I. A lot of people in the field, nuts group and elsewhere are just like, meh, like, it's fine, it's whatever. I thought it was super cool. Like just how, how it's a level of personalization. You know, usually I just put a sticker on the COVID and I'm like, oh, I personalized it that this One you can. It's like that, but, like, over and over again. Like, you can put a whole bunch of different ones on there.
Yeah. And I think sometimes they've had situations where they had a really good theme and the execution was kind of blah, but this is probably the best execution of a theme ever.
Yeah.
I don't know. Aside from having a third color, I don't know what I would change about it.
Yeah. So has anybody used the app that came with Vignette? Like the. It's vignette.fieldnotesbrand.com. yeah, it's really great. It's like the digital version of that little spacer that comes with it. Like, you can upload an image and you can crop it just so, and not only does it give you, like a preview of what it would look like in the notebook, but it actually formats like a PDF or something for you. So you can print it off and then cut it out and then it fits right in there. I haven't done it yet, but it's such a cool little, simple, simple app.
Yeah. I appreciate the little image alignment tool. They give you the piece of card stack with the circle. It's perfect.
Yeah. Yeah. Such a good execution of that theme.
That's why I haven't gotten to play with it much.
I didn't realize they had the site. I'd missed that because I didn't get these. I don't have these ones in hand, but I didn't realize there was a site. And I went and checked it out, and it's a really cool idea. It reminds me of that. Have you already seen that? Is this a cat.com?
yes. Oh, that was on John Oliver last night, wasn't it?
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Is this a gat.com, just yes or no?
Yeah, you just have to put a picture and it tells you if it's cat or not. Yeah.
And there's. There's a. I don't know what. What would you call it? An extra item, along with this release where there's a T shirt with the image missing logo on it, which I'm, you know, wishy washy about whether I'm gonna buy it.
Yeah, Looks. Looks good.
It's very.
Just very simple. So they had a lot of fun with that one. You can tell.
Yeah. I mean, it looks like it was a giant pain in the butt to get all of the spacing right and the slit right and everything, but looks awesome.
Yeah.
Yeah. So moving on, we're. We're all stuck at home, probably everybody listening to this. So I'm, I've been pushing my kids to write more letters, which is fun, but like, you know, they're kids and they get a little bored pretty quickly. So some of them are basically just pictures that have some words too. But I've been writing a lot more letters, which is awesome. While you're stuck home, the postal service will deliver stamps to you for A$30 in a nice big envelope. But yeah, I'm like, you know, finding new pen pals and also just dropping letters to people that have no idea I have their address. Like, hey, what's up? Because if that was me, I'd be very tickled by it. And one person who is becoming one of my new pen pals told me that he was at a pen store and that the proprietor said that a lot of people were buying stationery and journals during this, you know, scary time where you're stuck at home because a lot of people want to write and they see the value in journaling when you're trying to keep your yourself balanced.
Yeah.
So that's, that's heartening. And my last fresh point is not pencil related at all. And that is that I've discovered the tool gel pens. They sell at Office Max slash Office Depot and they are amazing. Have you guys tried these yet?
Yeah, I've had. I picked one up a while ago, I think.
Yeah, try like three years ago when this first started coming out or whatever.
Yeah,
felt strongly either way about them. I did really like the, the capped liquid pen, like the rollerballs they.
Oh, and try those.
I liked, I like those. I don't even know if they still make them, but they were like real chunky, kind of like a big fat rollerball pen. Really cool looking, kind of clear style. So I haven't bought one since then though.
Yeah, they're, they're, you know, two bucks a pen, which is, you know, pretty average for gel pens. But they were store brand. It's like I'm not paying that much for a stor brand. But I saw Openstock and they had a dark blue and I tried it and now I have since acquired quite a few more.
Yeah, color's really good.
Yeah, they're really, really nice. They have a really comfortable grip. They're not like a lot of gel pens. There's a lot going on on the grip section. A lot of different shapes and curves. And this is just a grip section.
It's like sometimes when people make like over engineered toothbrushes specifically, just so they like.
I'm like, I don't know how to hold this.
Yeah.
But yeah, actually I just recently picked up the limited edition set that's black with different colored metal accents. I'm really, really just unreasonably excited about that. So, yeah, those are all my fresh points. How about you, Andy?
Well, I want to get into the Blackwing 840, but before I do that, I'll just do a couple simpler, shorter ones. One plug for two brands I really like kind of coming. Um, you know, we talked here before about balsa bags, which is made by Paul Smith and they're just really simple, super well made little pen bags and a little smaller one that holds like a sharpener and an eraser in it. They are now selling those balsa bags at no Geist Gary, Gary Varner's online shop. We got to chat a little bit about it in person when we ran into Gary at the pen show and yeah, and so I'm excited to see that I bought a couple more in a couple different colors from Note Guist. If you want to support two kind of like independent makers and proprietors, buy some bolster bags from Note Geist and you'll be supporting both kind of Gary Varner's business and Paul Smith's side business. So Paul's, I assume is going to be pretty busy for the next while since he's in the medical field. His day job. Yeah. So speaking of supporting businesses, CW Pencils is physically closed until further notice. So if you want to make sure that they have a shop to come back to and that Caroline and her crew, because I think she's continuing to pay her employees even though they can't be present, there's still a lot of fulfilling to do. Keep them employed and keep them occupied and make that, that pencil purchase you've been considering.
One of my favorite tips that I've come across in this whole mess that's going on with the COVID 19 is the idea of if there are people who you would typically support who need your help because of whatever it's thin margins or just it really hurts to close down a physical place like they have at CW Pencils or whatever, that to go out and buy a gift card and just, absolutely just go ahead and buy up gift cards. I heard that idea originally with, with, with restaurants to go out and you know, the restaurants that you would typically be going to like buy a gift card and then once this, all this whole mess shakes out, then you can go and cash in that, that gift card. Because small businesses and shops really, they need our daily Support. And when something like this comes around, that shuts down their. That shuts their doors. That can be a pretty insurmountable thing to. To bounce. To bounce back from in certain situations. So this is buying. If you don't know what you want and you want to support them, then buy a gift card from CW Pencils.
100%. Yeah. Johnny mentioned earlier that people are spending more time at home and picking up journals and picking up stationery, and I'm definitely no different. I decided to kind of treat myself, and I've had this lich term red dot journal in cold storage for a few months. My friend and co author Michael Metz bought it for me at some point and found out later Johnny has the same one that, you know. Did you. Did you start it already or were you just.
Oh, that's on deck for my next one.
Okay, cool. So I. I just started it. I'm gonna, I think, talk a little bit about it in a future episode about kind of like what I'm trying to do in it. But essentially I, you know, sat with Johnny while Johnny was doing his kind of bullet journaling his morning pages. So I want to start a real authentic Baltimore bujo as a bujo han.
Baltimore bujo han.
Yeah,
that was delightful.
Ain't got no fancy field notes up
here,
so that's what I'm trying to do is just bujo a little bit with a little bit of journaling, a little bit of to do list, and kind of see where that takes me.
So I want to hear about this.
Just started that today, so talk about. So let me get into my kind of meaty, fresh point, which was the Blackwing 840, which is newly released. Before we actually talk about the pencil, there's so many different differences in the. Just like, kind of the brand in general. Right. Like, they have new logo that they're doing. They switched the archival tubes, which is really interesting. They're no longer sort of like this plastic tube with rubber stops at each end. It's like a literal test tube with a cork on it now, which is really interesting. Did you. Did you guys get.
I have not yet.
Mine came today, and it was rattling a lot as I came up the steps. And I was like, oh, crap, I bet it broke. And it was rattling because there's no cork.
Oh.
So the pencil was rattling around. But I mean, of course it's Black Wing, so they're sending another one, which seems, like, nitpicky, but I want to take pictures.
But the cork is. This cork is so cool. Because they actually like, stamped or branded the Blackwing logo into the top of the cork.
Okay. This is not a small deal.
Yeah.
Which is super fussy, but no longer a small deal.
Yeah, they're a better fit, I think. Think for the pencils.
Yeah, yeah.
I mean, literally, I like to think
that, you know, somebody was just on Amazon and they were like, oh, my God, there's a test tube that fits this pencil. And Charles just went and been like, purchased 20,000 of them. Yeah. So they're, they're, they're really lovely. Super high quality, looking like these, these archival tubes still, like, pretty unnecessary, but still fun.
So. Yeah, that was actually my push for getting one back in 2015 for getting a subscription that was like. Well, yeah, they're gonna. So there's a pencil, an extra pencil in the tube. So I can just use up the whole dozen and I still have one for a collection. That's a cool idea.
Yeah. Yeah. They're kind of trying to, you know, strike that balance between, you know, using and collecting. And I guess somebody who has like, you know, the. The entire collection in archival tubes. I know that, like, you know, those are. Those are worth something on ebay right now.
I don't even think of that. That part. Yeah, that's my kid's college fund.
Yeah.
Sell them anytime soon.
Yeah.
But can you talk about that extra for subscribers? Because that was my favorite part.
Yeah. So, you know, they do. Oh, shoot. Johnny, what's it called? The clutch.
Yeah, that one's the Clutch.
Yeah. So maybe we should first talk about these. The theme, and then I. The subscriber extra goes into it. So. So it's. It's called the surfing pencil and it is. Remind me what the 840 stands for.
What is it?
Is it.
It's at the. The length of the attribute to this dude. I actually have no idea. Oh, there's California's 840 mile coast.
Yes. Okay. And so it's similar in the 211 in that, you know, the 211 is about the. The 211 mile Muir Woods Trail. But yeah, this is a surfing pencil and it is a tribute to the Gold coast, basically the coast of California from the California coastline. And it's kind of this like kind of seafoam green, really gorgeous color and gold foil accent that kind of like runs down it in the shape of the coast, roughly. It's. It looks a little weird on the pencil because, you know, it's. California is not a straight line. It's just kind of like zigzags and it's kind of wrapped around the pencil in an interesting way. So it kind of reminds me of what's the Japanese method of repairing something using gold, like, you know, gold foil to, like, repair a pot, just to, like, give it a good wabi sabi feel.
Oh, I don't know.
I have to look up the name.
I don't know. I want to know, though.
I'll look it up here in a minute. But it's this. It's just kind of like. Is this uneven kind of like crack that runs down the pencil and it runs unevenly through the lines?
Yeah, it's Kintsugi.
Yes, yes, Kintsugi. So if you, you know, crack a cup or a bowl or vase or something, you repair it and you kind of, like, fill it in with, like, this kind of, like, gold. Gold paste to just, like, you know, show that, like, hey, it's been broken and it's been reassembled and it's loved. And it has, you know, like, you know, life force. And that's kind of like what it looks like here. And so the subscriber extra is. And it's the pearl core, which is my favorite. But whatever, it's nice. The subscriber extra is a single Blackwing clutch in the same theme. So it's that same seafoam green color with the big California gold coast line kind of running down it. So it's really, you know, gorgeous. I think it looks better than the notebook than it does on the pencil, but I think it still looks nice in the pencil. What do you think of it, Johnny?
Oh, I love the notebook. I'm already a really big fan of the clutch.
Yeah.
Even though I keep forgetting that it's not that expensive because they've always been 15 bucks. And when they came out, field notes were 10. I was like, whoa. It's a big price difference, but not a big price difference anymore. Yeah, but the green looks so good on that matte finish.
Yeah, let that green. The. They came with the new box, that new kind of, like, squarish box, which is gorgeous. They did a really amazing job there. And it's so original looking. And I bet when they put it on a store shelf, it just stands way out, so. Which I'm sure is why they did it. But. Yeah.
Yeah, A lot of folks didn't like how the. The new boxes, when you sort of take the lid off, if you want to stand on your desk, it doesn't say blackwing. It says, like, ving.
But, yeah, yeah.
This is the Box is black and it looks super cool.
Yeah. I think if anybody, if anybody out there is thinking about a subscription, this will be a really interesting start to a Blackwing volume subscription. Just because, you know, they're starting off the test tubes. They have these, this new box. So it's gonna, it's gonna feel like a completely different. I remember the first Black Wing subscription, the, the 725. The box was too big for the pencils inside because they just switched to a different box. And so, yeah, this is just kind of the next evolution of it and it's just, just gorgeous.
Oh, gosh, I'm sorry. I'm gonna need to figure out how to do this.
And so you can also, as soon as possible, you can buy the notebooks as a set, which I did like immediately because they're so damn pretty.
Yeah.
I think you get one. One dot grid, one ruled and one blank, I think in your package, which is cool. What did you get in your sub pack, Indy?
Oh, that's a good question. I actually haven't opened it yet. I'm opening it right now and it is a dot grade.
That's what I got. So how much was it when the 725 came out and they released a slate, it was like oddly expensive. But these are the same price as the regular collection of books. So if you need some pocket notebooks, it's really a no brainer.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. These are super nice. I know a lot of people really, really don't like the new Blackwing logo. And I totally see, see why that is. It's a kind of a departure from, you know, sort of the legacy brand that they were trying to kind of trying to impart. And this is very modern, very clean. I like it a lot. But it's definitely just different. Right.
So I've got kind of used to it.
Yeah.
By now. And they put the, the B logo on the front of the notebook, which looks really, really good. They used to just have the sideways logo on the back like a moleskin does.
Yeah, yeah.
Cool.
So that is, that is it for my fresh points. How about you, Tim?
Nice. Hi. One really brief one I want to have before I talk about. Right. Notepads is that I just finally got my hands. We were the Baltimore pencho on the fourth group of National Parks Notebooks, the Field Notes 59 Parks Edition. Which you know, that was, it was almost comical when that, when this one showed up, I saw it and I was like, that should have been one of the original ones. Like that all three of those look so amazing. It was just like. Like it was. Maybe that's why they did it, because it was just. I loved the first three sets, and then this one showed up. It's like, well, I obviously need to get that at some point. And they are even more beautiful in person than they were online, and I'm really, really loving them. The Grand Teton edition I'm using right now looks really good. And my. My previous favorite is the Smoky Mountain one, which I think is just coincidental the state park that is or the national park that is closest to me, because I just really love, love the look of that edition. It's just the bear and the mountains or whatever, and the Tetons has the mountains as well. So I guess I know my leanings, but all of them look really amazing. I know you guys really like the. The cedar. What's that one? The. Oh, gosh. That's what I. Yeah, that was pretty. Yeah, that one's. And I love that one as well. But that's probably my least favorite of the three, but it's still awesome, so
it's
because I really, really love those other two.
I'm waiting for group E, Tim, which should include the Indiana Dunes State park, which we are both familiar with. I have the poster that they made for it, and it's just sort of this bright, kind of like sunsetty orange with, like, a heron just sort of, like, flying across it. So that would be a super good, super good feel.
Power plant in the background.
Yeah, exactly. That is one thing. Johnny. Yeah. If you go to the Indiana Dunes on the beach there, you, like. It's really gorgeous. Like, these dunes are really beautiful, and there's all this wildlife, and then you just see this giant silo in the back. It looks like, you know, Simpson looks like Springfield from the Simpsons.
Just like. It's just like my. My best friend had a house right there in Dune Acres, and we would go there, like, all the time, like, a couple times a week, and we would just stay overnight or whatever. And when you walked out onto the beach outside of their house, you look to the right, you see a power plant. You look to the left, and you see a prison. It was like. But I love that place.
That's funny.
Yeah, I just wanted to bring that up. I think it's a really cool addition. I hope those keep coming forever.
Oh, yeah.
They have 59 of them. I hope they just never stop. I know they. I. They call them a limited edition, but they're all four available. Right.
I. I'm Guessing they just made a crapload of them.
Yeah. So I hope they never go away because I think these should. It should be the replacement for the net or for the county fair, you know, just always have these. Yeah, these kind of rolling would be great.
And the cherry woods, I think, went away too. They could replace those.
Oh, did they?
I think so. They're gone everywhere.
I haven't bought one forever, so.
Yeah.
All right. Well. Yeah. Yeah. The. The only other thing I was gonna bring up was the new release from Right Notepads, which we got a chance to. At our. At the. The open house they threw while we were in town. Which was really cool to see them beforehand. It was. And by the way, we didn't talk about this, but it was really mind blowing and awesome to see the. The whole factory and like see how they make this stuff.
Yeah.
It's such kind of an old school way and it's much more like hands on than you can possibly imagine. If you're not a. If you've never been to a manufacturer of notebooks like that, but. Or just books in general.
Myself, I mangled my hand in the. The binding machine. So. Wait, did you drunkenly just touched it and just went and pulled my hand in? No, I'm kidding.
Just gently.
I saw you and Moses over there playing with something like. Oh God.
Oh, God. Yeah, that was. That was fun.
Yeah. So that. That was just really cool to see that stuff in action and see it working. So I can't. Yeah, right. I can't say enough about that. So. But we got to see. Yeah. The newest edition, Amethyst, which we referred to earlier in the show. It is a perfect bound pocket notebook and it is in a just really amazing vibrant green with the geometric shape of gem on the front of it. Purple. So.
Yeah. Did you say green?
You said green.
Did I really? Yeah. Wow.
Colorblind too.
Just. That was just a malfunction. No, it's purple. It's right in front of me. That was just. It just experienced like a really intense brain fart where like the world flipped. I was in the upside down for a second, I guess. Purple. Beautiful purple. So yeah, so the. The description on their website says the ancient Greeks, it was considered an antidote against drunkenness. To the Tibetans, it was deemed to be sacred. In the Middle Ages, it was only allowed to be worn by royalty as one of the old world's cardinal gems. It was one of five gems considered more valuable than all others until Brazil was found to have stockpiles of it for our Latest limited edition pocket notebook. We chose the gem known as the Amethyst for inspiration. And it is. I mean, it's beautiful. It's a really, really great notebook. Look. Yeah. So we. We got to get. I guess that was. Was that the day before they came out or the.
Yeah, I mean, we had them in our pockets way before anyone else had seen them because they're cool. Vip.
I. I appreciate they. I know a lot of people don't like them, but I really like that pure bound notebook. I guess Moses calls it a pur. Bound. Like, he doesn't say the. The pure bound. So I'm going to start saying it like he does because he's a professional. Bound. I can't do it.
Ping.
You are bound. I really like that style. I think it's really unique and something I really do. And what I love is that, like, with the Kindred Spirit and some of the other ones, the lining is like the ruling on the pages are the same color as the COVID So there's this really just sort of like faint purple lining on those. Those amethyst, which looks so good.
Really awesome detail. Yeah. And speaking of being a VIP and having these things in our pockets before anybody else got to see them, that reminds me of my VIP badge that Johnny made for me at the reception.
Yeah.
Which, if you guys would remember, read 10 me Tom. 10B Tom. Yeah. Johnny's like, oh, I made. I made badges, and he handed me one. It said 10B Tom Thumb on it. It's like, really?
Oh, man. That was my social anxiety screwing with my already terrible spelling.
But I wore. I wore it all night, and I would talk to people, and they'd be like, looking down at my tag and looking up and looking down at my tag, like, look at someone else for the night.
Yeah.
It was fun.
New city, new Tim.
That'll be a new Tom. New city, new Tom. Yeah.
So my. My old neighbor when I lived in Hamden for three years, called me Tom until the day I moved out.
Oh, I remember you told me about this guy.
Yeah. And I have a brother named Tom, so I said, maybe mixing with my brother. I'm like, wait, he's never met my brother?
How would he know your brother?
Yeah, it was weird.
Hey, Tom, how you doing? Like, please don't even see M word today.
Just please.
Yeah, that's all. So one cool thing about these notebooks is that the. The. The sort of geometric shape on the front that looks like a crystal is gold, but the design that wraps around the back is some sort of gray ink that looks a hell of a lot like graphite. That's probably my favorite thing besides the purple lines.
Super good job on that.
The belly. The belly band is really cool looking, too.
I got a pack for my kids, and I saw the belly band and the recycling bin. I'm like, what the hell is this?
Johnny, are you fiddling?
I clicked a pan. I'm sorry.
Oh, I can hear it.
Yeah, it has, you know, the usual paper. Whenever I ask, Chris says, unless we say otherwise, it's always the usual paper. Okay. So you know what?
You're getting a lot of amazing releases. I mean, it's kind of like, what a. What a wealth of. Of content. We've had these last. This last month, like, getting to be together and getting these tattoos and getting all these cool new products coming out. So we've got some cool interviews and things lined up for the next few weeks. Yeah. So, yeah. Yeah, look forward to these next several episodes. We got a lot of stuff. A lot of really cool stuff in the hopper ready to go. So, yeah, look forward to that. So thank you, everybody who supported our live episode or was present for our live episode. We really can't tell you enough how appreciative we are of that, because that was a. That was a weekend that none of us will ever forget. And we can thank you all very much for that. Absolutely. Yeah. So you guys want to wrap this up and tell us how we can find you on the Internet? Andy, you want to go first?
Yeah. I am@andy. WTF? And you can find me on Twitter and Instagram as at awelflam.
Okay, Johnny. I am Johnny. I am@pencilrevolution.com and I'm on social media at Pencilucian.
Awesome. I'm Tim. And you can find me on Twitter timwassom. And I'm on Instagram timothywasom. You can find the show notes for today's episode at erasable us136. And you can join our Facebook group, facebook.com erasablepodcast and facebook.com erase. Wait, sorry, was it facebook.com group erasablepodcast? Is that right?
I think it's just erasable. It's fine.
Erasable. Okay. Sorry. I was flying blind because I didn't see the stuff in the. In the. In the doc. So I'll start again for mine. Sorry. I'm like Ron Burgundy. You could have put like, right, Brad Dowdy eats kittens. And I would have read that off of there if I saw thoughts here. I'll start again from where I jump in Give my and I am Tim. You can find me at on Twitter timwassom and on Instagram timothywassum. The show notes for today's episode are@erasable US136. Please join our Facebook group at facebook.com group erasable and like our Facebook page which is at facebook.com erasable erasable podcast. You can support us on Patreon at patreon.com erasablepodcast so we also want to thank our Patreon producer level patrons. So these are people who are pledging at the producer level. We got Alex, Jonathan Brown, Ann Sipe, Bob Ostwald, Bobby Lutzinger, Chris Jones, Chris Metzkus, Chris Ulrich, Dave McDonald, Dave Tubman, Fourth Letter Gangster Hotline, Hans Noodleman, Hunter McCain, Jacelyn Myers. Or is it Jacqueline? Jacqueline Myers, Jason Dill, Jay Newton, Joe Crace, John Bannon, Johnny Baker, Kathleen Rogers, Kelton Wiens, Larry Grimaldi, Leslie Tosette, Mary Collis, Measure Twice, Michael Diolosa, Michael Hagan, Random. Thanks Sarah Hunter, Stuart Lennon, Anna Feliz, Terry Beth Ledbetter and Think Travel Eat. What an amazing long list of people supporting our podcast. Thank you so much. Yes please, if you have a second and you want to review us on itunes or recommend us on overcast or whatever, whatever sort of pycatcher you use, that's always very helpful for us. Thank you for listening to episode 136 and we will see you in two weeks.