Comrade Carol sent us in some very fine pencil drawings, which we post here with permission of and thanks to the artist:)

Jeremy from Loud Style has caught the pencil blog even more than the last time we checked in.

My little collection has grown quite a bit in the past six months. Since my last blog post about pencils is the most visited page on this site (after the homepage of course), I decided to write about them again.

My favorite pencils are often the natural, unpainted variety of incense cedar pencils. A nice coat of varnish is fine — completely bare is even better. The details and my opinions of the pencils pictured are below.

Read on about natural pencils such as the Blackfeet Indian, Musgrave, Forest Choice, Mongol and more!

Once again, comments will go unmoderated, and email will be on hold until I return home late Tuesday night from my trip. Apologies for tardiness (again).

[Image and text, L.S. Used with permission.]

We are happy to be able to post some work from artist Graham McArthur from Australia, along with an essay on pencils:

For as long as I can remember I have loved to write and draw and for as long as I can remeber the pencil has always remained my first choice for both writing and drawing.

There is nothing like a good pencil, and I can’t think of a more versatile, immediate or interesting medium. Being so universally familar and easy to use makes the pencil the most immediately accesible tool for most people. Used mainly as a linear writing or drawing instrument, the graphite pencil is very much at ease creating tone and textural effects as well as implied colour. It is these properties in particular that interest me the most. The availability and range of pencils seen today makes the medium more attractive than ever before providing unlimited potential for an open mind and inventive imagination.There is great joy to be had in spending endles hours gently persuading the pencil to leave its silky grey tones on delicious paper. The implied colour of graphite can be enhanced with a restrained use of a single coloured pencil creating a sense of mystery and inviting the imagination of the viewer to create more implied colours in the mind’s eye.

As a semi-retired illustrator my work these days is just for fun and self indulgence. I no longer try to please the client or the unknown viewer. I still like to paint and to experiment with a variety of media. However, without the restraints placed on me by the brief, I find that I am being drawn more and more to the simple but incredibly and wonderfully expressive nature of the most versitile medium of them all. Long live the pencil.

Many thanks to Graham, whose blog — featuring lots of great artwork — you can check out at Eidolon.

[Image and text, G.M. Used with kind permission.]

We received this message, which we quote here with permission:

I’m an executive producer and run a London based production company called Academy Films.

I am presently in Toronto about to shoot a Nokia TV commercial w/c 29th May.  We need a pen spinner to spin a Nokia mobile phone in the advert, and I have found you on the internet.  Do you think you might be interested?  The shoot takes place in Toronto and the pen spinner would be required from around the 29th May to the 2nd June.  We would pay for return business class flights to Toronto, accommodation and some spending money.  We would also pay a fee for appearing in the commercial.

Please let me know if you are interested or might know of others that might be.

Thank you very much.

Kind regards,

Sally Campbell

You can reach Ms. Campbell by email (don’t forget to change the symbols): sally.campbellATacademyfilmsDOTcom.

Dave sent us this post about his experience with Staedtler’s great customer service:

It’s fair to say that my emails to customer services at various pencil companies have produced a fairly consistent response. That is, deafening silence, no response whatsoever. But there is one exception to that rule, namely Staedtler. Both German HQ and their Australian subsidiary have promptly replied to my enquiries. Staedtler Australia even airmailed me their CD “Facts about Pencils” in response to a simple enquiry, and the covering note was personally signed by the CEO, so they obviously take customer relations very seriously.

It looks to me like their CD “Facts about Pencils” is aimed at children around the 8 to 10 year old age bracket. It opens with the question “Have you ever wondered where your pencil comes from?” accompanied by the raucous sounds of the Australian bush and a friendly cartoon kangaroo and koala bear. Then 5 short movies take you through the pencil manufacturing process:

• Where Do Pencils Come From?

• The ‘Unleaded Pencil’

• Shaping the Pencil

• Painting the Pencil

• Labelling & Packaging the Pencil

There is also a “Student Workbook – Teachers Aid” section, and two bonus movies obviously from Staedtler Germany. One movie is about erasers, the other pencils - who would have guessed how erasers were so important in teenage love?

It was good to watch the movies to see all the automated machinery producing pencils by the zillion - pencil leads and erasers just being continuously squeezed out and chopped to length. I was particularly interested to see the painting process and how they get the pin-striping and other effects. The German movie mentions that Staedtler’s two manufacturing plants in Germany produce 1.7 million pencils per day.

Many thanks to Dave!

[Image, D.P. and Staedtler.  Used with permission.]

Don from Pencil Things sent us this great cartoon a few weeks ago. It’s a piece by Rube Goldberg, co-founder and president of the National Cartoonists Society and unquestionably one of the most famous cartoonists in history.

Read more about Rube here.

View the conceptual blueprints, so to speak, of this exquisite contraption (and how it works!) here.

[Image, Rube Goldberg.]

Professor Henry Petroski (pencil hero and pencil author) mailed us copy of a wonderful article he wrote for American Scientist for the March/April 2000 issue (Volume 88) entitled, “Why ‘The Pencil’?” in which he describes the onset of the pencil fascination that we all familiar with here at Pencil Revolution. While not available online, local and university libraries will likely have the archives of the journal, where Comrades can delight in this courageous piece. Subscribers of the publication can access the archives online, and both backissues and downloadable PDF versions can be purchased if the library comes up empty.

What’s more, Mad Tora sent us two links from The New York Times. The first is an article about Professor Petroski’s latest book, Success Through Failure: The Paradox of Design. The article describes the theme of the text, asserting with Professor Petroski that, “The analysis of engineering’s failures offers some good lessons.”

Read the article here.

And you can read the introduction to the book here.

Another, for the Sudoku fans in the Revolution, also from The New York Times. It seems that the explosion of popularity of the game has sent pencil sales in England skyrocketing 700 percent!

Read the article here.

And learn more about Sudoku here.

Finally, Comrade Steve alerted us about a nice piece our friends at Moleskinerie posted last week about the myth of Space Pens and the legend that the Russians used pencils instead.  Read on!

[Images, NYT and Wikipedia.]

Shane from Utah sent in some great photos of a very beautiful pencil extender:

Here is my favorite pencil extender. The main advantage to this extender is that it is hollow its entire length, unlike most extenders which have a solid handle attached to a clutch. Because of this extender’s design, you can also use it as a protector or holder for even a full-length pencil without adding any significant length to the protected pencil. I carry a fully protected pencil in my pocket and use it down to the nub.

I cannibalized the pocket clip from a Pentel mechanical pencil to trick out one of the extenders and help it ride my shirt pocket more safely. The clip also prevents rolling on the desk.

I bought these beauties at the Kinokuniya Japanese book store in San Francisco, and I’ve seen them at the Kinokuniya in Seattle. They were $4.15 for the pair. I have not been able to find how to order these online, but physical store locations are linked at http://www.kinokuniya.com/. Maybe PencilThings or another supplier can get a stock of these and make them accessible online to our comrades everywhere? Looks like the manufacturer is Kutsuwa.

Visit Shane’s new blog Scrawler Tap!

[Text and images, S.T. Used with kind permission.]

We are very happy to feature some wonderful work from artist Michael McClure, but I will let him speak for himself:

I think it’s just amazing what you can create with pencil. I’ve always loved the medium. Pencils are like a trusted friend that will never let you down. You don’t need a power source of any kind (other than your hand I suppose) and they work in any temperature. There’s just something very raw and ‘right brained’ about them and I can’t quite put my finger on it. My most recent project is much the same as I’ve done in the past but this time I’m using just a hint of coloured pencil when the work is complete. I only wish I had more time to explore the medium further - maybe something for retirement.

The image of the Derwent collection shows the pencils I used to create the artwork on my site. All the artwork I’ve done have been done with this same set of pencils - and look how little used they appear. Just imagine how many future works of art might be contained in these pencils. Sometimes I can hear them calling me from the art shelf - pencils by nature have something to say.

You can check out more great work at Michael’s website, with the pencil work located here.

[Text and images, M.M. Used with very kind permission.]

Happy Easter to all Comrades and other Sentient Entities of the Revolution!

While not necessarily Easter in theme, the work of artist Juel Grant takes the form of drawing in pencil on eggshell; and we usually associate decorating eggs with the Easter holiday — at least where I’m from. Please check out Juel’s spectacular and revolutionary artwork — and very nicely designed website.

My greatest sense of purpose and fullfillment is realized when engaged in the meditative conversation of drawing.

I draw with pencil on eggshell. Of the many surfaces with which I’ve experimented, nothing awakens and stirs the senses as this one does. It has never ceased to challenge and inspire the best of my abilities. The shape; timeless, transcendent, continuious,… the embodiment of life.

As I draw the surface expands, grows more vast. I hold in my hand a globe who’s landscape I roam in solitary bliss. I love that place, what it asks of me, what I become in it’s presence.

Here is the page featureing drawings on eggshell.

Thanks to Carol for the link!

[Images and text, J. Grant. Used with very kind permission.]

While we are predominantly a peaceful Revolution, it does come to mind that defensive means of protecting our graphite and cedar might be desirable at some point. With this in mind, Olivia sent us this cool link to the instructions for making a blow gun using ferruled pencil erasers.

Please, however, heed the warning from Instructables:

This IS a weapon and it IS dangerous. The blowgun should never be pointed at another person, and be careful where you shoot it. I’ve had the darts ricochet back towards me several feet on occasion. Also, be careful of pricking your fingers, eyes, etc. while making the darts. Thanks.

Indeed, to quote Jean Shepherd, “You’ll shoot your eye out!” Please be careful, and maintain such a piece of equipment only in the wake of Inkish Tyranny! But please please please don’t shoot anyone in the bum and tell them we said to it.  Or any other part of their anatomy.  Or at any animals.

[Image, Instructables.]

Dennis wrote in recently with this question:

My problem is with sharpeners:

Tri-Conderoga pencils, KUM large sharpener:

When I try to sharpen the pencils, I get gouges, repeatedly broken leads, and spirals on the lead that’s left.

What is the magic?

To be sure, sharpening by blade requires a good bit of skill. But even without a straight blade, there is a certain trick or magic to getting a perfect point on pencils, with a manual or a crank sharpener. It is often the case when I am in a hurry to put a point on a pencil that I get the effect that the pencil would have if the lead were not centered, even on a pencil which is perfectly centered in the wooden case. For instance, using the same KUM Longpoint sharpener, I murdered the point on a Dixon but then got a perfect result the next time with the same sharpener.

So, Comrades:

What is the magic?

[Photo, J.G.]

Melony sent some great photos in recently. These are just a few:

You can check out Czech out Melony’s blog here.
[Images, M. Used with permission.]

This message is from Don at Pencil Things:

Support for the Pencil of the Month™ Club is strong. So, we’re going to do it!

We’ve ordered mailing supplies and penciled in a workable flowchart. Of course, we’re having a lot of fun obtaining and evaluating pencils, and that’s well under way. PencilThings.com will start taking subscriptions today, and send the initial packet out the first week of May.

KUM is wishing us well by generously contributing their new-for-2006 pearl-effect Ellipse Container Pencil Sharpener (magnesium inner sharpener) to go to the first 150 subscribers. That’s a very nice gesture of support, isn’t it?

We have a few good ideas, and you have many more. It’s your involvement which will really make this venture interesting. For example, there’s a direct link between the comment by “Bill” and KUM’s contribution of sharpeners.

Thank you to all who commented on Pencil Revolution and by private email. And to Pencil Revolution go kudos for giving us all a pencil forum, and to Woodchuck go special thanks for sharing generations of pencil experience.

Please send Pencil of the Month™ Club suggestions and comments to PencilClubATpencilthingsDOTcom.

Myriad thanks to Don for putting together what is certainly going to be an adventure of world-wide proportions! By the by, I have one of the ellipse sharpeners that KUM makes for Prismacolor, and they are really great sharpeners, even for jeans pockets.

One and all are invited to sign up officially for the most exclusive of pencil clubs here.

These are some great photos from Rob H. of a tiny mantis on the tip of a normally-sized pencil.

You can view larger versions here.

[Images, R.H. Used with kind permission.]

This is fascinating: What is this object? The only hint that you get is that we’re posting it on a pencil blog:)

The solution can be found here (scroll down).

[Images, Rob H. Used with permission.]

Don at Pencil Things has a great idea that he would love to get some feedback on. We’ll let Don explain it:

Isn’t it interesting to try out new pencils?! I actually most enjoy browsing for new brands, models, hardnesses, and colors at local stores, rather than online. You get to touch them and write with some of them. But I’ve exhausted the selection in Santa Fe. And I usually don’t want to risk buying a 6-pack online of the same pencil to try and/or pay the disproportionate shipping charge for a few pencils.

What about you? Do you think it would be fun to have a “Pencil of the Month” club? I’ve researched it, and it appears we at PencilThings.com can gather together enough pencil variations to have a monthly mailing for at least a year. We’d send out 3 to 4 high-quality different and interesting pencils each month — graphite and colored. About $24/year subscription should cover the cost of the pencils, protective envelopes, labels and postage.

What do you think of the idea?

If any Comrades have suggestions or would be interested, please leave a comment or two or three! Many thanks in advance! This is not necessarily a sign up list per se, but a way to get a good idea of the interest, since I imagine there will be considerable effort required for this project from Pencil Things.

UPDATE:

Comrades can sign up for the Pencil of the Month Club at Pencil Things (follow link). 

R. E. Wolf sent us a link to some great work, including this artistamp, “Commemorating the 1966 Pencil Uprising.” You can check out more of his work at his site, Variance Art.

[Image, R.E.W.  Used with kind persmission.]

This is a link that Nick from Blanketfort sent us months ago that I somehow lost and didn’t get posted: a cool website devoted to the art of pencil spinning!

“Fake Reverse 2 & 1/2: Twist the pencil by curling the index finger in while pushing with the thumb. Also use the middle finger to push and balance the pencil. Keep the index finger curled and tucked down out of the way so the pencil can pass over it. This trick is called the Fake Reverse, since the pencil rotates over, rather than around the thumb.”

Another one I lost is from Dave in New Zealand on pencil spinning: Pentricks.

“The articles section provide you with reading to improve your knowledge about Pen Spinning. It also helps answer commonly asked questions. In Pen Spinning, it’s not enough to just practice tricks day and night and hope you’ll get better. If you want to be a good pen spinner, it’s also necessary to understand the tricks you’re doing, as well as other principles that are applicable to Pen Spinning. This section will help you acquire this knowledge.”

Many thanks to Nick and Dave. Sorry I lost the links for so long; perhaps it was an unconscious effort on the part of my complete lack of the necessarily dexterity for adeptly twirling a pencil.  If anyone has photos of pencil spinning, I promise not to lose them and to instead post them straight away if you send them in:)

The pencil lives, but the human dies by successfully outwitting a computer program with his brain and a pencil. This article could post some perplexing philosophical issues of modern life: human willpower over machines that are only made by humans in the first place. Or it could just be extremely funny:

BALTIMORE—Office laborers across the nation are mourning the passing of Wallace Peters, 42, the mythic three-column accountant at Chesapeake & Ohio Consultants who pitted himself against Microsoft’s latest version of the popular spreadsheet program Excel.

Although Peters was able to balance his sheet a full 10 seconds before the program did, the man celebrated in song and story as the “cubicle worker’s John Henry” was pronounced dead of a coronary thrombosis late Monday evening.

The late Wallace “Wally” Peters, whom colleagues are calling a 21st-century John Henry.

“He died with his pencil in his hand,” shift supervisor Thomas Kaptein said. “Wally Peters was an accounting-driven man.”

Accounting crewmen who worked alongside Peters said his legend as an accounting hero was formed by his willingness to answer to the challenge.

“He’d tell us, ‘Now, 20 rows down, the accounting’s hard as granite—it’s the hardest thing an office man can stand,’” said Huddie Ledbetter, one of Peters’ former trainees, “‘but you keep your pencil sharp, and you keep your pencil working. It’s the life of a numbers-crunchin’ man.’”

Sources say Peters, who was born to poor temp workers in eastern Virginia, would often go to offices where his mother worked and sit on her knee. According to his family, he once took up her pencil and said, “Pencil be the death of me. Oh, Mommy, this pencil be the death of me.”

Read the rest of the article at The Onion here.

Thanks for the link, Michael!