It's September again, and I'm joining the Relay podcast network (home of the Pen Addict podcast) community to support the life-saving work of St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. Last year I left my comfort zone far behind to start streaming on Twitch as OliveOctopusInk to spread awareness of the campaign during September, then much to my surprise I kept going. Now that it's September again I will be doing more frequent streams at a wider range of times and days in support of this year's campaign!
Background
September is Childhood Cancer Awareness month. After raising more than $3M since 2019, the Relay community is joining together for a sixth year to support St. Jude Children's Research Hospital throughout September.
For the third year, Relay and St. Jude are providing the ability for individual members of the community to run a sub-campaign with their own milestones and rewards to extend the reach of the campaign beyond the podcast community. I'm running my third campaign this year with Twitch stream milestones, a matching donation, and custom thank you rewards related to my interest in fountain pen inks.
The 12-hour Relay Podcastathon for St. Jude 2024 will stream on YouTube starting at 11am Central on Friday, September 20th.
Twitch Streams
I didn't think I was cut out to be a regular "streamer", but it turns out the enjoyment of sharing what I'm excited about, scheduling regular time for creativity, and spending time with the people who join me outweighs the nerves and social anxiety and I actually look forward to "going live". My hope is to maintain a welcoming, companionable, and creative space in my little corner of Twitch year round, but for September I've set aside extra time to stream more frequently and cover a wider range of things, and hopefully introduce the annual St. Jude campaign to some new people.
My goal is to double my impact by matching the first $250 raised with a $250 donation, and I'm offering a variety of thank-you rewards to those who join me in supporting St. Jude! While I'll have extra graphics with the campaign details and progress visible on screen and will occasionally share updates or answer questions, I want to invite people to come hang out and explore things with me, such as:
- fountain pen ink swatching
- painting and sketching with ink
- fountain pens 101
- writing experiences with different dip pens, fountain pen nibs, and nib grinds
- comparing fountain-pen-friendly papers
- using shimmer additives (unlocked at $50)
- ink painting collage (unlocked at $100)
- "CMYK" ink mixing (unlocked at $150)
- Lego build (unlocked at $200)
Questions about what I'm working on or general pen, ink, and stationery questions are always welcome on stream!
Regular Twitch Stream Schedule (CDT)
- Tues & Thurs from 7:30 to 9am
- Sundays from 9am to 12pm(ish)
A detailed schedule including extra streams and stream topics will be kept up-to-date on my Supporting St. Jude page.
My Campaign Rewards
I'm offering special donation rewards specifically for those interested in fountain pen inks and paper or who would simply enjoy some "happy mail" of handwritten Thank Yous or postcards. Please visit my campaign page for the latest rewards details and availability.
Ink Swatch Reward Details
In thanks for your generous support I'll work with you to pick inks from my FPC.ink profile, papers to swatch on, and I'll create and mail you custom swatches! Are there inks you have been curious about and want to see in person, or compare with an ink you already have? Do you want to see shimmer inks, interesting multi-shaders, or inks that are not readily available as samples before committing to a bottle? Are you on the hunt for the perfect shade of purple or a hue to match a new pen? Are you just curious about fountain pens and inks? I'd love to help you out if I can!
Note: To fulfill these rewards I'll need an address reachable via a USPS First-Class/First-Class International stamp from the U.S. (or digital/online alternatives).
| |
$15 |
$25 |
$50 |
| Paper Types |
2 |
3 |
3 |
| Number of Inks |
3 |
5 |
12 |
| Total Swatches |
6 |
15 |
36 |
Inks can be picked from my Fountain Pen Companion (FPC) profile.
Paper options include:
- Tomoe River
- Cosmo Air Light
- Iroful
- Mnemosyne
- Colorverse Nebula Casual
- Croquis S263/S265
- Rhodia
- Clairefontaine
- Yu-Sari
- Col-o-ring/Col-o-ring Oversize
- Life Bank
- Kokuyo
- TUL Discbound/Notepad
- Colorverse Hubble or Constellation swatch cards
- Wearingeul "Leaf" swatch cards
- or ask about anything not listed!
New Reward Offerings!
This year I'm including a larger range of rewards to choose from because every contribution, big or small, adds up to support the life-saving mission of St. Jude. Whether you can support financially or not, helping to spread the word can make a big difference! To incentivize those who may be in a position to support at a higher level, I'm adding these new rewards types to the campaign.
Mailing ink swatches is an economical way to see an ink in person, but ink samples are even better because you can test the real performance of the ink in your own pen(s) so these rewards include some options to receive ink samples from my collection (limited to a U.S. mailing address).
23 Memorable Inks of 2023 (Mailed U.S. Only) | $230 (1 available)
At the start of this year I made a list of 23 fountain pen inks that were memorable to me in 2023, and I've got a set of 3-4mL samples of all 23 that I'll mail to a U.S. address.
Video Call Ink Samples/Swatches (Mailed U.S. Only) | $150 (2 available)
I'll schedule an individual video call of up to 30 minutes (Discord, Zoom, Google Meet), or time during a Twitch Stream if preferred, to look at ink swatches and pick out a selection to swatch and/or make samples of from the inks listed in my fpc.ink profile. I'll mail up to 12 samples, 24 swatches, and 10 paper samples to a U.S. mailing address.
Video Call Ink Comparison & Swatches (Digital) | $100 (2 available)
I'll schedule an individual video call of up to 30 minutes (Discord, Zoom, Google Meet), or time during a Twitch Stream if preferred, to look at ink swatches and test a selection of inks on different papers. Afterwards I'll do my best to share accurate photos and/or send the test sheets to an address reachable via a USPS First-Class/First-Class International stamp from the U.S. if provided.
Pen Addict Giveaway for St. Jude
As always there is a huge outpouring of support from the community for the Pen Addict Giveaway for St. Jude. Every $10 donated and submitted properly within the giveaway timeframe is a giveaway entry for a growing list of incredible items. Please visit the Pen Addict site for the latest information and instructions to submit your donation(s), and check out the photos of all the amazing giveaway items.
Pen Addict St. Jude Latest Updates
Any donation to the overall Relay campaign or connected sub-campaigns (like mine) are eligible. There are other pen and stationery community sub-campaigns to check out also (some I've already supported myself!), browse through all the active campaigns here. I love seeing how much our pen community contributes to the overall Relay campaign total!
Important: Submit entries before 11:59 p.m. Eastern on Sept. 29th, 2024!
