pencil talk | pencil reviews and discussion
exploring the art and science of pencils since 2005
With a few mechanical pencil lead refills laying around, it is great to finally get them organized and in one place. It’s a bonus that the organizer is an attractive vintage Caran d’Ache retail lead display.
It has many signs of age and wear, and I’ve tried to preserve the box while cleaning it up.
Unfortunately, I don’t have any Caran d’Ache refills! I’ll have to try and find some – I hear they’re good.
My morning paper noted that animator Kunio Kato thanked his pencil in his acceptance speech for the 2009 Oscar for animated short.
He also quoted a memorable line from a 1983 Styx song.
An unexpected package arrived yesterday with no note and only a partial name on the outside. I’ll reply to the postal address directly, but I also wanted to say thank you here.
Filled with fantastic looking Nataraj and Apsara pencils, I’ll take a wild guess that the package came from a reader of this blog.
Thank you.
An interesting article in the Salina Journal (Salina, Kansas) discusses some of the back to school supply routines in their community. Mechanical pencils, woodcase pencils, and specific brands may be required depending on the school.
Link: Making the list
ArtGraf is a tablet of watersoluble graphite in a tin.
While there are a few watersoluble graphite pencils and crayons on the market, this is the first larger format offering aimed at brush users that I’m aware of.
Viarco, a small Portuguese pencil company that we’ve mentioned once before, introduced ArtGraf last year.
The product extends watersoluble graphite possibilities, and truly allows painting in graphite. A wet brush is applied to the tablet. Varying the brush wetness and tablet contact result in varying graphite densities.
I truly think this is a great product.
Further reading:
Official product page (in Portuguese)
This is the two hundredth post at pencil talk.
The site is hard to locate in online search engines and directories, but I’m glad that you’ve found it!
A few thoughts about the site:
Some network hardware that connects to the web server was recently replaced, and I expect that the site will experience much less downtime (So far, this has been true).
Last December, I indicated several topics that would be covered this year, and I check the list from time to time to make sure that we are still on course. Everything mentioned is still on track.
A special greeting to those who don’t actually visit the website, but read the articles through Bloglines, Google Reader, Newsgator, Planet, Newsfire, Feedshow, or other such services. Welcome!
And, if you just want to say hello, you are most welcome!