Month: February 2012

Hi Pen Fans.

The Google+ Hangout last night was a lot of fun.

After an initial glitch (I was somehow not even in my own hangout room!!!), we got into our topics, and had a blast.  We had some great pen-related topics, and then got real informal…. somehow we got onto the direction that the water in our toilets swirls, vs our friend Rocky, who was joining us from Australia!

Now I do record these hangouts, so people who can’t participate can later watch what was discussed.

But – glitch #2 arose!  My audio recording was only my personal microphone, and not the entire group!

Oh well!  This was my first time hosting one of these, so I suppose I’ll chalk it all up to a beta test.

I now know what went wrong with both glitches, so after the LA Pen Show, I’d like to plan another one, and we’ll have everything cleaned up!

Thanks

Brian at Edison

Hi Pen Fans!

On Thursday at 9:00 PM Eastern Time, I’m going to host a Google+ Hangout.

What is a Google+ Hangout?  Essentially, it’s a lot like a Skype Video Chat, but instead of two people, you can have up to 10 people interacting with their webcams.

I’ve been doing Google+ hangouts with other photographers lately, and I can tell you….the interaction and learning possibilies are definitely wonderful.

I’ve done some Ustream video streams before, but I don’t really care for how they lack interactivity.  I feel like I’m just yapping away, and everyone just watches me.  Sure, people can interact in the chat…but when I’m speaking, and everyone else is typing, it’s just not quite the same.

If you would like, check out this link…
http://youtu.be/66ll4Jo3dLM
….this is a recorded hangout with photographers.  Now obviously, you may have no interest in photography.  But if you want to simply watch about 5 seconds, you’ll quickly see how these things work.

So if you are interested, you will need to be a Google+ member.  However, Google+ is a great place for social media.  I won’t get into all of my reasons (it’s quite a polarizing topic), but personally, I like Google+ much better than Facebook.

And if you don’t want to get involoved in another social media site, you can sign up, and simply don’t add people to your circles.  Then you can participate in Hangouts that I host and leave it at that, if you prefer.

So – if you’d like to participate, you’ll follow this link to my Edison Google+ page on Thursday at 9:00 PM EST.
https://plus.google.com/106841003574320099730/posts

At this point, I really don’t have a topic in mind.  I’m up for suggestions!  Since the LA Pen Show is right around the corner, we could discuss Pen Shows.  We could also discuss any range of topics…pen design, nib tuning, inks, whatever!  Show up with whatever you’d like to discuss!

And rest assured – the purpose of this is not Edison promotion.  If people have specific Edison questions, of course, I’ll talk about whatever people want.  But the purpose of this is to promote pens in general and get people excited about pens of all types.  I might use this in the future to launch new pen models, or whatever.  But for now, the topics will not be Edison focused unless the crowd takes it in that direction.

Hope to see plenty of you Thursday night!

Brian at Edison

Hi Pen Fans!

I am very proud to have been interviewed by Eric with Fountain Pen Geeks this week!  This officially makes me the Geek of the Week!

Fountain Pen Geeks has really become an amazing resource for all fountain pen fans.  Be sure to check out their site.  Podcasts, Reviews, a Forum that is growing very fast…and of course, they have their Geek of the Week!

So pop some corn, and watch the interview below.  We spent an hour and forty minutes together, so we covered a lot.  Topics covered the entire gambit.  We realize that this can be a lot to digest, so the entire interview is broken down into a timeline below the video if you’d like to skip around.

Interview Timeline:

0:00:27 You say tomato, I say Milan.
0:01:18 We’re shooting video.
0:02:14 How’s the weather?
0:02:28 Who is Brian Gray?
0:04:10 How many stop lights in Milan?
0:05:47 Family
0:07:11 Brian’s Focus on Photography
0:19:00 Pen Show Talk (LA and Philly)
0:20:40 Life prior to Edison Pen Co
0:24:00 Marquetry Furniture
0:26:17 The seeds of Edison Pen Co
0:31:48 What is an acrylic?
0:33:20 Wood Lathe vs Metal Lathe
0:36:00 Acrylic vs Wood
0:37:55 Woodworking Skills vs Machining Skills
0:38:05 Threads 101
0:39:11 Manual Lathe vs Computer Numerical Controlled Lathe
0:40:42 Spreading the Virtual Word
0:45:50 How many pens have you made?
0:47:00 Edison Owners Reunion in Milan =)
0:47:25 Let’s theorize about mass production techniques…
0:50:00 Edison Pen Co Shop Size
0:50:45 How do you design a pen?
0:54:58 The Mina and Ernest Shin of Hakumin Urushi Kobo
0:58:34 Edison Pen Co and Ernest Shin of Hakumin Urushi Kobo
1:03:00 Pen Models and Materials Paletter
1:09:37 Does Brian collect pens?
1:11:47 Brian’s ink preferences.
1:14:14 Steel Nibs vs Gold Nibs
1:16:45 vs Silver Nibs
1:18:13 Meisternibs
1:20:23 The Pearlette
1:21:18 Size comparison to The Mina
1:21:40 Size comparison to The Huron Grande
1:22:20 The Del Coronado
1:25:48 What’s coming in 2012?
1:28:28 Did he say piston filler?!?
1:30:55 A Huge Number 8 Nib?
1:32:22 And beyond 2012?
1:34:10 What improves Brian’s penmaking skills?
1:37:42 Which pens shows do you attend each year?
1:38:45 Which pen show is the largest?
1:41:10 Thank you! Thank you!
1:42:54 Let’s do dinner!

Make sure to check out FPGeeks if you haven’t already….

Fountain Pen Geeks
FP Geek’s Geek of the Week via iTunes
Subscribe to FP Geeks via RSS

Thanks!

Brian at Edison