Who is Mike Dudek? And, 3 Year Dudek Modern Goods Anniversary Giveaway!

June 9, 2016

It's pretty hard to believe that it has been over three years of writing The Clicky Post and creating pen holders for my Dudek Modern Goods brand! Thanks for all of the continued support and interest as it has been a really fun ride.

Sometimes when we read blogs or websites, the writer or person behind it is a faceless mystery to us. I thought it might be a good time to do a little post about myself and the experience of balancing being a blogger, small business owner, family man, my career... trying to be human.

A Little Bit About Me

So, for introductions, I'm Mike Dudek, a real, fairly normal guy (outside of pen obsession) who is the writer and creator of The Clicky Post.

When I started The Clicky Post my wife and I had one small son, but since then we've added two more girls to the mix and have a very busy household with three small kids. By day, I work for a software company digging into small business marketing strategy, but by night I write the blog and also run my own small business, Dudek Modern Goods.

The last few years have really been life changing to sound completely cliche, but the experience I've gained in figuring all of these different facets of life out has been pretty amazing. Really, really tough at times, but amazing nonetheless.

I'm originally from Michigan but moved out here to Arizona when I was in my early teens. I'm now a bit more of an Arizonan than Michigander at this point...

Starting the Blog

As long as I can remember I've always been fairly particular about pens. I'd say in the last ten years or so I began trying all of the "over the counter" office store pens I could get my hands on, but eventually gathered a really small collection of what I considered to be "nice" pens. Pens like the Retro 51 Tornado, Fisher Space Pen AG-7, Lamy Safari, and a couple of Karas Kustoms Render K's.

Shot from one of my first posts, the Delrin Render K...my, how my photos have changed.

I decided that I needed an outlet to share my passion for pens that wouldn't also be driving my family and co-workers nuts. It was time for a blog. I had never written a blog but figured I'd give it a go.

I have been (and still am) a fan of the Pen Addict Podcast with Brad Dowdy and Myke Hurley and eventually took them up on that free Squarespace trial they are always talking about to start my site and The Clicky Post was born.

I was pretty obsessed with rOtring pens for awhile.

Just as a gesture of thanks to Brad and Myke for the great content they were making, I asked if I could send each of them a wooden pen stand (pre-Dudek Modern Goods) that I had made and they kindly agreed. When they received their pieces they kindly made mention of them on the podcast as well as gave a shout out to The Clicky Post which gave some exposure to my new little blog.

A few years in, I've had the chance to write a couple hundred reviews to share my thoughts/ideas about this passion we have which has been really fun and I've had the cool opportunity to see and use a lot of neat stuff.

One of my favorite photos - review of the Pilot M90

My style on the blog I feel is a bit more centered on the experience of a pen; how it makes you feel, the story behind it, the small details in the design and not so much the "technical" specs like weight, length, chemical composition... none of that stuff. Well, not very often.

I try to post about every 10 days or so which is sometimes tough due to family time, career, side business... life. But that is what I strive for and I try and make the posts high quality so readers enjoy them.

Copper Render K in The Planter — Copper Render K in **The Planter**

My favorite part of writing posts is getting to take the pictures. More-so than writing the posts themselves, getting some spare moments to photograph when the lighting is right (usually when the 3 kids are awake) is one of the pieces that dictates my posting schedule. I would say I take pride in trying to see the small, sometimes unnoticed angles of the writing instruments we use.

Honestly, writing and keeping up with all of this has been tough at times considering everything. There have even been days where I ask myself if I should give it up, but I tend to push through those times and keep writing and shooting. Taking a look inside the psyche of a pen blogger...

Making Wooden Pen Stands

Early on as my collection began to grow I discovered that storage was going to be a "thing". My personality is not the type to allow myself to toss all of my nice pens into a cup together so I knew I needed a solution.

I've always been one to tinker and upon seeing that I couldn't buy exactly what I had in mind I decided to make something for myself. I'm by no means a minimalist, but I do enjoy simplicity and a Bauhaus "function before form" type of mentality. I believe there is an elegance to simple, functional things when done right. I knew I also wanted my pen holder(s) to be made of a dark wood.

After purchasing a piece of walnut from my local lumber yard, I set out in my workshop and made the first versions of what would later be called The Cube.

I posted about the pieces on the blog as well as on social media and very quickly had people reaching out requesting to purchase one. I knew I needed a place to offer them so I created a page on the blog called The Clicky "Trading" Post to start. Clever, right?...

My first two offerings were The Block and The Cube which remain some of the most popular pieces. The line has now expanded to 12 pieces of various shapes and sizes and I'm always working on new ones.

As the demand continued to grow I knew my little brand needed an identity. I turned to a graphic artist I followed on Instagram, Brandon Wilson of Contrabrand, who helped me put a name to the company as well as created my "cube" Dudek Modern Goods logo that I love.

Eventually I outgrew my single page storefront on The Clicky Post and created dudekmoderngoods.com as the new online headquarters for the brand. The support has been and is still so amazing and I've been able to ship my pieces all over the world which is such a cool experience. Thank you.

3 Year Anniversary Giveaway

To celebrate 3 years of doing Dudek Modern Goods, I thought a giveaway would be in order to say thanks for all of the continued support.

Rather than picking the prize, the winner will get to choose the piece they want from the store which I will make and send out when its ready!

Also, through next week up until June 17th, I'll offer up a special 3 year anniversary promo code for 10% off anything in the store using code THEBIG3 at checkout.

How to Enter the Giveaway (the "fine print"):

- Contest will run through Sunday, June 12th and will end at 11:59pm Arizona Time, USA

- To enter, leave a comment below about "What is your favorite pen/pencil today?" (limited to one entry per person; no cheating!)

- I will arrange the entries in numerical order and randomly select a winner. The winner will be announced on the blog on Monday, June 13th and will need to connect with me within a week to claim their prize.

Thanks for letting me take the opportunity to share a bit more about me and what the journey has been like creating the blog and my little business and thanks for being one of my readers/supporters. Its been pretty awesome.

Also, if you'd like to keep up with me on social media, I'm on Instagram and Twitter.

- Mike

RIIND (rind) Pen Prototype Review

June 5, 2016

I was recently contacted by a gentleman named Clayton who said he was working on finalizing a pen and wondered if I might be ok with taking a look. I'm usually always excited to review upcoming pen projects and prototypes so I agreed.

The brand that Clayton has gone with for his line of pens is called RIIND (like a rind on an orange). A seemingly curious name, so I asked him what prompted the decision? He said:

"Well, we wanted our stuff to be strong, functional, and completely purpose driven, just like the rind of an orange. We look at it in the following way: the rind is the rind so that the orange can be the orange."

I can totally dig that.

While the company itself has a name, the pen at the moment does not. So, we'll refer to it as the RIIND prototype for now.

Clayton sent me some images of the pen prior to mailing them out and I thought it looked super slick. When they arrived I was even more impressed with what they had created which I'm sure sets the tone for how the review will go.

What they created is a sleek, semi-tactical, and modern looking design. If LAMY and the County Comm Embassy Pen made a baby pen (don't ask how this would work...), this could be the offspring. I say that not in a way that denotes any form of copying or overly influenced design, but as more of a compliment. The design is edgy, tough looking, and maybe even a bit on the slightly aggressive side (but not too much), but also has a flair and sophistication that makes it unique and grabs your attention. You see it and want to pick it up.

The overall shape of the pen is an untapered cylinder without any curves or ridges, but is rounded on the knock and and then transitioned into a soft conical tip. The length is great and is an extremely comfortable size. Nearly perfect actually and is well balanced.

The clip of the pen stands out as something different as it is staggered where it attaches to the barrel and asymmetrical. This is in complete contrast to what would seem like a simple design, but adds quite a bit to the visual aesthetic. Initially I wasn't quite sure how I liked it, but the more I've used and observed it I appreciate the choice in doing so.

I can't say for sure, but part of me thinks that how the clip is attached to the barrel actually serves a function when it comes to clip tension. It is pretty heavy duty and provides a solid amount of force when pulled away from the barrel. It isn't bending out of shape like a normal affixed clip would, it is like internally there are prongs that act as a spring. Perhaps staggering them creates the leverage it needs, but perhaps we'll find out eventually. It most definitely serves its purpose well.

When clipped to your shirt, the only thought I had (and maybe one gripe) was how high the pen sticks out of your pocket due to the clip placement. From where the lower part of the staggered clip connects to the barrel to the top of the knock is at least an inch or so. I mean, an inch doesn't seem like a lot where most things are concerned, but on a pen it is a lot. In this case it is about 20% of the length of the pen sticking out when clipped. There are a few pens on the market that have a more protruding cap or knock, but most tend to float around the 1/2" or less in reveal. This wouldn't prevent me from carrying or enjoying the pen, but it will make stick out quite a bit.

The pen has two areas of knurling: on the knock mechanism and the grip section. The knurling patterns on the pen are actually different with the knock being a bit on the smoother side while the grip section is a bit more toothy which could be a bit uncomfortable. I mentioned this to Clayton in an email and he agreed that there are still some adjustments being made, the knurling being one.

The knock mechanism is pretty awesome. The domed top of the pen spins continuously in both directions (called continuous cam), but stops at a distinct spot to extend and retract the refill with a noticeable "thunk" like it is falling into place. Not like a Cross pen or Retro 51 where it is more of a continuous flow back and forth. I could see the mechanism being the fidgeter's dream, but hopefully it will hold up to years of constant twisting!

From an engineering standpoint, the pen works and feels awesome. Functionally everything is pretty flawless and top notch.

As a standard the pen takes most 110mm refills like the Pilot G2, Schmidt Safety Ceramic, Pentel Energel (0.5mm needle? Yes please...) and dozens of others. The tip is solidly affixed and doesn't wiggle while writing.

I received four of the pens to look at in different finishes: black with black clip, raw aluminum with chrome clip, black with chrome clip, and grey with chrome clip. Personally, the black on black was my preference aesthetically, but the raw aluminum is pretty sweet too.

I feel like the chrome clips are a bit on the shiny side and would love to see a duller finish if possible. The wire used for the clip is pretty thick so the chrome stands out as really shiny and a bit distracting. The black clip, even though a unique shape, is a bit more subtle and really fits the overall look of the pen. I could see doing all black clips with different colors (like yellow, red, blue...) of pens and having it work out great.

The tentative Kickstarter date is coming up on the 20th so keep an eye out, but they really are solid pens. I can see myself picking one up for sure when they hit the shelves. Thanks, Clayton, for sending them my way to check out and share with the readers! To keep tabs on release dates they have setup a website you can also visit.

ATELEIA Craft & Design - New Copper Pen and Father's Day Promo (sponsor)

June 3, 2016

There are a few companies that I really enjoy that have a philosophy of heirloom quality goods that are not only functional and stylish, but that will be something you will buy and keep forever. One of those companies is ATELEIA Craft & Design run by Chris Williams, the creator of and proprietor of the shop.

ATELEIA specializes in unique handmade leather goods as well as sleek and minimal machined pens in brass, aluminum, and the stunning new copper edition (currently taking pre-orders that will be shipping next week). I've owned a lot of pens and nothing stands out quite like the ATELEIA. They make for an awesome gift (or as a purchase for yourself) if you have someone who appreciates high quality and a minimal yet elegant style.

VISIT ateleia shop

Father's Day 15% off Promotion

With Father's Day just around the corner, ATELEIA is running a special 15% off promotion on everything in the shop through June 16th. Enter promo code PATER at checkout for your savings.

Please take a moment to check out the awesome wares in the ATELEIA shop and take advantage of the limited time offer.

Special thanks to ATELEIA for their sponsorship of The Clicky Post!