In this Goulet Q&A episode, Brian talks about pens he loves to dismantle, rose gold ink, and how to have strong relationship between a retailer and pen manufacturer. Enjoy!
Pens/Writing
1) amberschmidt22- Instagram (1:08)
How should you prep your pens for long term storage? Should you disassemble them?
- it’s pretty simple, really, just clean them and ideally make sure they’re dry
- dismantling them is not ideal, it just means you could lose parts, mix them up, damage them, get dust/etc in them, just keep them together
- if you mean disassembling for cleaning, like doing a really thorough cleaning? That’s not a bad idea, it depends on the pen though
- basically, just try to get them back as close to the state they were when you bought them new, and they’ll be good to store
2) heidisnell- Instagram (7:57)
Most fun pen to clean/take apart?
- it’s a tie for me, probably
- TWSBI 580(AL)- seems to trip up some folks, I’ve got the knack for it though
- Noodler’s Boston Safety Pen– cool bc it’s a unique design and doesn’t require any tools, a great tinkering pen
- Honorable mention to the Kaweco Supra, which you can mostly take apart while it’s inked!
3) @legalshemndrik- Twitter (12:18)
Am I the only one who can never tell if I’m filling up my Visconti Homo Sapiens properly and finding it impossible to gauge if there’s ink in the chamber?
- you’re in good company there!
- there are many other pens where you don’t have a solid gauge on how full the ink is, but this is one of the few power-fillers (vacuum fillers) which are a little tricky inherently
- best way is to pump it 2-3 times in the ink, then pull the nib out of the ink and pump it again, you should see a lot of ink come out, then you know you had a good fill, put back in the ink, and pump it 2-3 times again
- you really can’t tell when it’s running low until the nib runs dry
- I like to use the Visconti Traveling Inkwell (or Pineider Pen Filler), you get a fuller fill and then you always have ink with you to refill
- they do make Homo Sapiens in the Skylight with an ink window or Limited Editions with clear bodies so you don’t have to guess so much
Ink
4) t3ha1t- Instagram (20:04)
What are good inks that go with rose gold? Some of the reds seem too harsh.
- Robert Oster Rose Gilt Tynte– shimmer, the closest match of all
- Robert Oster Schwarz Rose– ink itself is more of a brown, but the shimmer is rose gold
- Herbin Rouille D’Ancre– no shimmer, pink but a decent match (and a surprisingly popular ink in recent years)
- other corals and pinks could work, that’s the direction I’d look instead of reds
5) @kimlindseyOH- Twitter (23:23)
So many sheening inks have a red sheen… Are there any blue inks with a green sheen, or green inks with a bue sheen? Why is it always red? That’s my one turn-off for Emerald of Chivor: why couldn’t the sheen be blue or green?
6) i.c.u.r.1.2- Instagram (27:23)
What can I do if I really dislike the color of a bottle of ink I bought?
- This is always a bit of a gamble, right?
- we (and other retailers) really can’t take used ink back, and may not cost enough to be worth the trouble anyway (depends)
- you can resell it, perhaps, recoup some of the cost
- donate it to another pen lover
- keep it for ink mixing/experiments
- consider what else you could use it for (ink washing/watercolor)
- throw it out
- keep it and revisit it later
- the best thing can be to try to avoid it in the first place, which is where samples can really come in handy
- in the end, it’s sometimes a calculated risk and you gotta do what feels right for you
Business
7) bradthebear1- Instagram (32:27)
How are good relationships established between a pen manufacturer and a retailer?
- this is an interesting side of things that you all don’t really get to see so much of
- You do sometimes get to see us work together, like Dante Del Vecchio coming here and shooting videos with us
- our relationship is often two-fold, with both distributors (who may carry multiple brands and knows the local market better) and with manufacturers who know their products better but are a little more insulated from end-user feedback and local market preferences
- whatever arrangement there is, it’s really all just people, from the end-user all the way up through the raw material suppliers the manufacturers buy from, everything is people
- Communication (and trust) are the #1 issue, and the better you communicate, the more trust you have with each other, and the more your goals and values are aligned, the more successful that relationship will be
- We view it really as a partnership, and we should all care about similar things
- The better we understand each other and feel that synergy, the better, faster, more inspired products you’re likely to see
Question of the Week: What do you do with ink you no longer like? (42:33)
Write On,
Brian Goulet