This is only slightly pencil related, and I thought twice about posting it. Still:
1) Thoreau made pencils.
2) Some of these surveys still have pencil marks on them. And who doesn’t enjoy a good chart of a woodlot?
3) Why not?
[Image, P. Used with permission.]
Join us now on Facebook! This is different than the “group.” We’re moving on up to a page, wherein Comrades can receive updates, and there will be a “wall” on which anyone can post.
A month or so ago, we received a package of books from Whitelines (see also the US site), a Swedish company who makes very fine books with a unique feature: WHITE LINES. That’s right. The lines are white, while the paper is a very light grey. Does it make a difference to this pencil user? Read on!
Vitals:
Cover Material: Coated cardstock.
Paper: 80 g acid-free; grey-tinted paper with white lines.
Binding: Sewn.
Size: Assorted; A5 and “pocket” as tested.
Page Count: 48/36 sheets (96/72 pages).
Unique Characteristics: White lines on grey paper.
Origin: Sweden.
Availability: Online, even on Amazon.
We were sent two of the Hard Bound books and two of the Perfect Bound books, one each in black and white. What’s immediately striking about Whitelines books is both the color scheme and the construction. Covers are strong. Corners are rounded precisely (even more than Moleskines and Field Notes, to tell the truth). The bindings are tight. The package containing our four review samples was actually pretty badly damaged by the mail service; the stuffing was everywhere from a large hole, etc. The A5 Hard Bound book suffered minor damage, but the A4 Hard Bound book had two corners badly crushed. I know this was not Whitelines’ fault at all. I mention it because, although the package went through hell, the large book’s binding was completely intact. Intact enough that we’ll do a second review of the Hard Bound Whitelines in the near future, featuring more of the company’s history. These books merit it, for sure.
What I’ll mention in this review of the Perfect Bound books is a little about the concept behind Whitelines.
“Whitelines® is the new generation of writing paper. The concept is patented and yet very simple: Since markings from pens are dark they interfere with the traditional dark lines of ordinary paper. On Whitelines® there is no visual interference between the lines and the pen colour. Whitelines® makes your writing and sketches stand out.” (More.)
The lines also disappear under copymachines, and the paper comes lined or with a graph print. We tried both. The graph spacing is just right, and the lines are also very well-spaced for graphite writing.
I have to admit that I was skeptical of two things. First, I didn’t think that slightly grey paper and white lines would really be easier on my eyes. On the contrary, I assumed that they would be more difficult to see (especially since my daughter broke my unbreakable titanium glasses, and I haven’t had time to go to the eye doctor yet). I was also nervous that graphite (which is grey-to-black) would not show up on grey paper very well.
I was wrong on both counts. The lines are not difficult at all to see, and the paper just seems, for lack of a better word, mellow. Rather than shining up at you, begging you to write on it, it’s just grey and relaxed. And, while I was afraid that graphite marks would be more difficult to see, the opposite was somehow true. I checked with my wife, and we both agreed that writing stood out at least as well as on white unlined paper – perhaps more. (If more, don’t ask me how that works. My degrees are in philosophy, not physics or physiology.) In my own experience, the claims of the benefits of Whitelines’ paper prove wonderfully true.
But how does the paper handle graphite? Ghosting is not perfect, but it’s on the better side of standard, that is, very good. Graphite ghosts less than Field Notes (way less than Moleskines) and us up there with much thicker paper like EcoJot‘s recycled paper. To be clear, I’ve never found anything (even cardstock) that doesn’t ghost at least a little with some of my favorite softer pencils. The texture of the paper is similar to a Field Notes book, which is to say smooth, but with a nice tooth. Writing in a Whitelines book is as easy on one’s hands as on the eyes. Aside from Whitelines’ own special features, where this paper really shines is its smearability, which is on par with Rhodia paper – paper that lots of us know is very very smear-proof. It took some very soft leads and hard rubbing to product any smearing at all. In short, Whitelines books have nice paper that resists ghosting and smearing much better than most papers, with gentle white lines and grey paper to boot. You can’t lose.
Add to this the tight and durable binding of the Perfect Bound book (which spent no less than two weeks in my backpack) and the thoughtful sizing, and you’ve got a very nice book. The A5 we tested fits well for meeting and reading notes; that’s what I used it for during the test period. The “pocket” size is similar to a Moleskine or Field Notes, only thicker. The pocket version is no less durable than the A5 version. As we promised Whitelines, I beat them up quite a bit. And they survived, looking pretty new, too. And stylish.
In our up-coming review of the Hard Bound books, we’ll talk about Whitelines’ environmental commitment also. Stay tuned.
A few weeks ago, Ana Claudia from Brazil wrote in to Pencil Revolution asking about graphite dust solutions. I was in the process of cleaning out my pencil box that week myself, faced with the same issue, and I suggested that we pose the problem to all Comrades:
“I found this site about two months ago, and it was a pleasure to know that there are more crazy people like me that love pencils and discuss them!!!! At that moment I was hoping that someone could help me to solve the biggest problem I face using wood pencils and that even causes me to avoid using them more often: the dust! I don’t know about you guys, but I always have all my pens and pencils and everything else in the pencil case completely dirty from graphite dust. Actually it’s become a bit better after I’ve begun to use a vertical case, but even then the stuff becomes dark. And it’s hard to clean everything, especially because I know they won’t last clean for so long…So, I ask for help!!!!!! Please! I don’t want to move again to mechanical pencils! How can I avoid this?”
So, what do you do when graphite dust covers everything like a layer of shiny grey snow?
[Photos and text, A.C. Used with permission.]
Today’s review comes from Frankie in Baltimore, who reviewed the Ecosystem Architect book for us last month. Mr. Lee sent these three to PR HQ this autumn, with other very nice notebooks.
It’s the end of January, which makes it the perfect time to report back from test driving a trio of 2011 planners from Daycraft. Should you decide to make one of these your constant companion in 2011, you’ll still have eleven months of pages to fill with your appointments, birthdays, (hopefully) vacation time, and other reminders.
What with this being the New Millennium and all, there are any number of electronic ways to keep yourself on time and on schedule. If you’re like me, you probably have a combination of both paper and virtual methods. I have a wall calendar at home and at work to lay out the month at a glance, followed by my work calendar on Microsoft Outlook (partly required because it is also shared with my boss). But I can’t part with the old-school romance of a paper-and-pencil weekly planner that goes with me wherever I do. Because I need something I can carry with me, portability is a must –- which leads to the conundrum of allowing enough space to write without making the planner the size of a phone book (remember those?). Each of the Daycraft planners I tried achieves a balance between space to write and compactness. And each of them comes with particular designs and features that you can select to fit your personal and professional needs.
Daycraft Vogue Diary
Vitals:
Cover Material: Stitched quilted polyurethane.
Binding: Case.
Size: Assorted; 4.5 ” x 7.5” (pocket size) as tested.
Page Count: 248.
Colors: Ivory (tested), Blue, Black.
Unique Characteristics: International guides featuring holidays, telephone codes, airports, taxes, even driving conventions; list of international golf courses; vintage chart for the wine lover.
Origin: China.
Availability: Asia, Europe, and Australia. But Yanks can buy them online with international shipping here.
With its fashionable quilted cover and slender profile, the Vogue diary would look right at home inside my (or your) girlfriend’s evening bag. But don’t let the slightly Sex and the City look fool you – the Vogue diary is a hard worker. Mine has been in heavy rotation lately -– in and out of my bag, tossed across my desk, shoved in between other notebooks -– and I can attest to its durability. Its format covers one week in two pages, with each month distinguished by a sheet in a different color. You can keep your place with the red-orange velvet bookmark. Within the week, there are about 1.5 inches of space to write (less for Saturday and Sunday). The week-to-week format is great for plotting out appointments and distributing your workload. I’ve often found that with a page-a-day planner, items I don’t get around to on one day tend not to make it to my to-do list on another day. For all three planners under review here, the paper is smooth and takes to pencil well with no issues with ghosting or smearing. That has held true for the variety of pencils I’ve used so far, including the Palomino, Golden Bear, and Mirado. The international guide at the front of the planner is helpful for the global traveler. I appreciate that Daycraft acknowledges that not all of us have — or want — smart phones.
There are definitely days when I could use a little more space to write, and sometimes I resort to post-its for an extended to-do list. But the portability of the Vogue is tough to beat, and it remains my planner of choice for 2011.
Daycraft Chromatic Days Diary
Vitals:
Cover Material: Fine Italian polyurethane.
Binding: Case.
Size: Assorted; approx. 5 ” x 7”
Page Count: 128.
Colors: Orange (tested), Green, Yellow, Blue, Red.
Unique Characteristics: Four-color printed edges.
Origin: China.
Availability: Asia, Europe, and Australia. But Yanks can buy them online with international shipping here.
The Chromatic Days Diary was serious competition with the Vogue Diary to be my lieutenant for 2011. It’s slim and sophisticated, with a smooth, flexible cover and a modern look. The four-color printing on the edges also makes it colorful without being garish or obnoxious. The orange cover and orange ribbon bookmark are especially aesthetically pleasing. The Chromatic Days Diary lays out one week per page (not per spread), beginning at the end of August 2010 and carrying its user all the way through 2011. It contains fewer additional features than the Vogue but includes international holidays, a year at a glance planner, and pages for notes and a venue list. Its week-per-page layout makes space to write a bit smaller in the Chromatic Days diary -– only about three quarters of an inch. But if you don’t tend to write copious amounts of information in your planner or only need it to track certain things, Chromatic Days is a terrific option.
Daycraft Make My Day Diary
Vitals:
Cover Material: Cloth.
Binding: Case.
Size: Assorted; approx. 6.25 ” x 7.25”
Page Count: 216.
Colors: Black (tested), Black/Yellow, Blue, Blue/Yellow, Red, Red/Yellow.
Unique Characteristics: Black printed edges, perforated memo pages
Origin: China.
Availability: Asia, Europe, and Australia. But Yanks can buy them online with international shipping here.
Somewhat weightier than the Vogue or Chromatic Days Diaries, thanks to its cloth hard cover, the Make My Day Diary is similarly slender and portable. Squared in shape, it displays one week over two pages with a vertical layout that reminds me of the weekly vertical planner from Moleskine that I had a few years ago, but without the hourly markers that I found rather constricting (if I don’t have a meeting at 9 a.m., may I still write something on the 9 a.m. line?). The color palette inside the journal is cream rather than bright white. Each month is introduced by a sheet declaring “Make My Day” in different fonts, spelled out with different materials (including light, vegetables, and computer keys). While this planner wouldn’t look out of place on your bookshelf with your other hardcovers, the “Make My Day” pages lend a bit of subtle whimsy. Like other vertical planners, this one poses some challenge to fit your daily to-do list within its 1.25 inch-wide column. But it’s a trade-off between writing space and portability, and in leaning toward the latter, I think Daycraft makes the right choice, And any one of these three planners may just be the right choice for you in 2011.
[Text, F.G. Used with permission. Images, J.G.]
Evidently, our favorite writing/marking tool has a use that might be a little…unsettling to read about. Pencils are very good for marking bone during surgery.
“The use of a pencil to mark osteotomy cuts in craniofacial and maxillofacial surgery is well established, proving superior to methylene, Bonney’s blue, and felt tipped skin markers that struggle to transfer an ink mark to bone, or are washed away by irrigation or tissue fluids.4 5 Sterilisation, originally achieved with 18 hours of dry heat,6 is now performed by autoclaving, making a pocketful of IKEA pencils from one shopping visit last for many months—important in the current financial climate. The only problem is that on repeated sterilisation even the hardiest of pencil splits. Ours proceeded to extrude its graphite core before it was even removed from the protective wrapper. We have solved this problem by wrapping silicon cuffs around the pencil—maybe we could suggest this to the designers at IKEA?
Despite this, pencils remain a safe and reliable method of marking bone, making the Argos pen safe for now, at least.”
(More.)
A few months ago, Troy contacted us about reviewing the Classroom Friendly Pencil Sharpener, a burr-type sharpener that boasts smooth and quiet sharpening and quality construction. We took delivery of this heavy-duty green sharpener this fall and have put it through lots of tests with lots of pencils. And, golly, we have not reviewed a sharpener in ages! This is a very worthy harbinger of further sharpener reviews. This machine is great.
Vitals:
Type: Single burr, 8mm hole.
Material: Metal body, mechanics and handle, with plastic tray and small parts.
Shavings Receptacle: Large, clear plastic tray.
Point Type: Very long.
Markings: “Pencil Sharpener”.
Place of Manufacture: ???
Availability: Official website and Ebay store..
This is, frankly, a big and heavy sharpener. I’ve heard tell of devoted Comrades carrying burr sharpeners around with them for their daily writing needs. I never do that myself. What I look for in a crank/burr sharpener is metal construction and heft, frankly. I like that this sharpener is burly and solid. It comes with mounting hardware, but I’ve never used it. Since the clips hold your pencil in place, you only need one hand to hold the body still while you crank out a nice, long (LONG) point. You can even hold the machine in your hand (or on your lap) with one hand, while the other cranks the handle.
Watch a video of the sharpener in action.
One of the best features of this sharpener is its auto-stop. The teeth/clamp feed the pencil into the burr mechanism. You turn the crank. The pencil gets sharpened. If you are my age and remember the old sharpeners we had in school that would just eat your pencil if you didn’t stop turning the crank, you might be relieved with this sharpener. When the point is achieved, the feeder stops, and turning the crank doesn’t engage the blade any longer. I put this to the test with some completely new pencils. The auto-stop kept the pencils from getting shorter at all. On very close inspection, the graphite at the point still retains the flatness of its unsharpened state just enough to see with very good eyes. It’s sharp like a pencil, not like a pin — there are no minuscule points that will crumble immediately. This sharpener does not eat pencils.
Speaking of the point, it makes a KUM Longpoint look…stubby. If you like a really, really long point but are not particularly adept at whittling your pencils with a blade/knife, this might be just the sharpener for you. Below, from left to right, are unfinished “sample” pencils with points from: Classroom Friendly Sharpener; KUM 2-step Longpoint; KUM brass wedge. (Note the pin points on the KUMs which are ready to break off.
The smooth cranking action and sharp burrs really place this in the realm of very quiet sharpeners. When I think of the wall-mounted, decades-old behemoths that used to eat my pencils in grade school, I wish heartily that the good sisters of St. Thomas had one of these green beauties around. The wall-mounted monstrosities were loud enough to silence even very loud math lessons from Sr. Teresa Mary.
This machine is not flawless. If there’s one thing that bothers me, it’s the teeth that grip your pencil for sharpening. This sharpener might not eat pencils the way that some burr machines do, but it does bite them a bit. This varied from indentations in thickly lacquered pencils to mini-holes in old Mirados. However, since a pencil is a tool that, by its very design, gets sharpened away anyway, these bite marks are overshadowed by what a great point you can get and how nicely this sharpener is built. I showed this to my good pal, and he said the same thing as me: So what? It’s a pencil for writing/drawing. And, for the record, he sharpened his pocket pencil with it and immediately wanted to know where to get one.
As it stands, it’s my favorite crank/burr sharpener to date. I really like the vaguely retro looks of the chrome and green paint, and the metal body and heavy construction leave me thinking that my 8 1/2-month old daughter will wind up using this for school at some point. I keep mine out in the open because it’s a handsome piece, and I definitely intend to pick up a second unit for my office.
Today’s review comes from Comrade Elizabeth, from Little Flower Petals! (Many thanks to Liz!)
Vitals:
Material: Genuine Incense Cedar.
Shape: Hexagonal.
Finish: Raw cedar with black lettering.
Ferrule: Aluminum — black painted band.
Eraser: Black [rubber?].
Core: Ceramic/graphite composite. Available in B, HB and H.
Markings: “USA — GENERAL’S CEDAR POINTE — #333-2 HB”.
Origin: USA.
Availability: Cedar Pointes can be a little tricky to find. All grades are available at General Pencil’s website. Dick Blick sells HBs in their on-line store, but shipping costs are steep. If you have a Dick Blick in your neighborhood, they may be worth a look, along with any other art stores that sell General’s more sketching-oriented pencils. Also, for the Northwesterners in the US, I serendipitously found Cedar Pointes in the art supplies section (not with the regular pencils) at my local Fred Meyer. They came in a package of ten along with a plastic, but quite decent, pencil sharpener.
General’s Cedar Pointe pencils are made of raw, unfinished natural wood: incense cedar, funnily enough. Some natural finish pencils have a coating or seal — the Forest Choice, for example, seems to have a very thin coat of sealant. The Cedar Pointe does not. The smooth unfinished wood has a pleasantly grippy feel, and it has a tendency to become…seasoned with time. I swear, I do wash my hands, but still, you can see how this particular example has darkened with use, while the well-used Forest Choice remains as it has always been:
I actually rather like the make-your-own-patina aspect of these pencils. Gives them character.
Fit and finish aren’t up to Palomino standards, but it’s decent. There are a a few less-than-perfect ferrules with wood chips overlapping at the at the edges, but it’s minimal. The text imprint is clear. No glittery, glossy writing here: it’s no-nonsense black and bare wood for the Cedar Pointe. I find the austere look very appealing. I’m a big fan of the understated: for example, on the fountain pen side of the fence, I love the stealth greatness of the Lamy 2000 over some of the more flashy pens. The Cedar Pointe is quietly handsome.
Few wood chips at the edge of this ferrule…
The Cedar Pointe writes a nice dark line, not as dark as a Palomino, but blacker than your average Ticonderoga. Taking pictures or scanning such things is always tricky, but hopefully you can glimpse the subtleties. It also falls somewhere between the two on the smoothness scale: more chalky than waxy, and though there aren’t any major inclusions in the lead, it does give you a bit of feedback. Point retention is a little above average for its class, making it a good choice for general writing.
(Click to enlarge.)
The eraser works quite well. It’s not a Mars Plastic, but it’s a decent size, and it does the job.
One last note, which should probably be kept to myself since it reveals just how obsessive I can be: naked pencils sound different on the page. I swear, it’s true! It’s always a little disconcerting for just a moment when I first pick one of these up.
Overall, I really like these. They make my top ten due to the darkness of the lead, the nice feel, and their all-natural good looks.
[Images and text, EH, used with permission.]
(Click to enlarge.)
With a nod to our friends at Field Notes.
R. Buckminster Fuller is famous the world over for his geodesic dome designs and for his unrelenting questioning that makes him sound more like a philosopher than anything else. When he summed up his search for what one might call “truth,” he uses the metaphor of the pencil.
“Buckminster Fuller never gave up his searh to find ‘Nature’s pencil.’ Like so many geniuses, he was constantly searching for the essence of how things worked best. And when he found such solutions in Nature, he applied them to his projects. Thus, we have his most famous invention – the geodesic dome – modeled after structures found in Nature.
Still, the question continues to be in the quest. Fuller and many others constantly seek the next evolution of ideas, and the really cleaver people always look to Nature first. Were all humans to do that, we would realize that there are enough resources to go around, and what we need to do is be very careful in using exactly enough. Not too much and not too little.
Nature’s pencil is such a sustainable model. She writes and draws with a precision and exactness that humans have difficulty understanding or modeling. Still, people like Bucky and many of today’s great minds continue to search because they know that the search is as important as reaching the goal.” (More.)
This resonates with me, personally, since one of my grad schools was where Professor Fuller taught and worked from 1959 to 1970. He’s still a legend around those parts.
As promised, here is the pencil trivia question for the RAD & HUNGRY Colombia pack give away. This contest is open to anyone with a mailing address, the world over (with thanks to R&H). I was very tempted to include something from literature as the trivia question. But. Well. I can’t resist a good television character with a love of pencils and flannel.
Clues:
The show ran during the previous decade on a national American network, possibly in other countries. It’s set in a small town. The character in question is usually found with flannel, a ball cap and a pencil. He will give you coffee if you ask for it. He is curmudgeonly and enjoys stick-shifts. He is a good guy and seems to hate razors.
Who is the character (his name)?
The contest will close at 11:59pm Eastern US Standard Time on this Wednesday, December 8th. To enter, please use the CONTACT FORM (CLICK) to send your name, email address and your one guess. All correct Comrades will have their names written down and put into a black backpack. One person who is not me will draw one paper, and the winner will be announced Thursday. Hen at RAD & HUNGRY is kind enough to handle the shipping of this awesome and exciting pack!
Good luck!
RAD AND HUNGRY reached out to a number of stationery blogs, and we’re happy to be able to participate in a drawing for a really sweet kit from Colombia, which will ship directly from R&H. Essentially, you get a package of local stationery sourced from the same country, on a monthly basis. How awesome is that? You get:
A – Writing Instrument
B – Paper Goods
C – Mystery Item
D – The Low DownThe office supplies within each kit (A, B, C) are straight up, no fuss exports – everyday items hand picked from a local dealer in the featured country. A random narrative from the trip (D) accompanies the goods. The kit is shipped out to subscribers’ homes on the first Tuesday of each month.
Now. How do we decide who wins this package? Do we randomly select from commenters, from our Facebook group, or subscribers? Do we have a contest? A pencil-themed contest? But, what should it look like? The contest, that is? Any suggestions? (Seriously. I’m only coming up with Hemingway trivia.)
In the meantime, check out RAD AND HUNGRY’s blog. To paraphrase The Dude, I dig their style, man.
Loose Arrows has a great post about preferring thick pencils and thick leads. Personally, I enjoy them as well and have found a fat ole’ learner’s pencil to be just the thing for days of really sore hands and/or really big notes.
“I’ve become a big fan of jumbo pencils with triangular cross sections. I’m not sure whether it’s because they remind me of wankel rotary engines, or because I have long fingers and do a lot of writing. I’m particularly impressed with the Staedtler Norris Triplus Jumbo in bumblebee plumage. It has great balance, nice grip, and best of all, the 4mm HB lead puts down a line as dark and dense as antimatter.”
Read more at Loose Arrows, “A blog about sharp things” that features a lot of good stuff about pencils. Also, see previous mentions of the Ergosoft, from Scruss.
(Images, Loose Arrows.)
With apologies for the lateness, we present the November 2010 Pencil Revolution desktop wallpaper. December won’t be so late; promise. Click the image to download the full-sized version.
It’s that time of the NaNoWriMo cycle: half-way! That means that we’re all either:
1) Bored.
2) Quit.
3) Stressed.
4) Happy.
5) Blocked.
6) Cramped.
7) Other.
I missed a few days this weekend due to just being plain tired. My daughter turned seven months old yesterday(!). While babies are cute and plain joy, they’re not advantageous for your sleep. Plus, well, my hand hurts! Writing this by hand has been both refreshing and painful. It’s been refreshing because I can type several times faster than I can write by hand, no matter what kind of pencil I use. Slowing down helps me stay in control and not let everything go too much on autopilot. I’m a little over 18,000 words as of last night, which is a little behind. One of my writing buddies and blog pals (Gary!) is kicking my butt!
How are other folks faring? I thought I’d do a post about pencils (which ones I’ve been enjoying the most, etc.) and all that, but that might have to wait for later in the week, so that I can do some catching up. If you wanna be writing “buddies” on NaNo, search for me under jfgphd (so many consonants)!
Write on!
A few weeks ago, Mr. Lee at Daycraft sent us a box of samples. Daycraft is a leading Hong Kong brand of planners and diaries:
Daycraft diaries, notebooks and planners are designed in Hong Kong and manufactured in Dongguan, China by Tai Shing Diary.
Tai Sing Diary was established in 1988 and has over the years won a well-deserved reputation for getting things right. (more)
I was immediately struck by two things, which where somewhat related. First, these notebooks are sort of small. By no means is that a bad thing (and they do make larger books also). Being used to Moleskines, I didn’t expect the scale with the detail that Daycraft books have. What I mean is that these are just really carefully designed and carefully made books! See the photo below showing the size, compared to a Field Notes book, which is very pocket-friendly. But they have all the symmetry and care we find on larger, much more expensive notebooks.
Vitals:
Cover Material: “Fine Italian PU” — Human-Made, flexible material.
Paper: 100g cream-colored paper with 6.5mm lines in grey ink.
Binding: Sewn.
Size: A6.
Page Count: 120.
Unique Characteristics: Beautiful design and construction; colors end-papers and page edges.
Origin: China.
Availability: For now, mainly Asia. You can get them online with international shipping here.
The book in question today is the Signature Notebook. These come in two sizes (A5 and A6 — we were sent the smaller size) and have a softly textured cover. It looks and feels like soft leather, but it’s some kind of human-made material. Aside from leather issues (if you have them that is), this means that the softness does not preclude durability, the way that soft leathers often (not always) do. The bookmarks, end-papers and edges of the pages have colors that coordinate with the covers. In our case, we have the brown cover and red-orange accents. The effect is striking, while still being nicely low-key.
The cover is completely flexible. The binding is sewn, with a satin bookmark. The paper is cream-colored 100g, lined paper, with 6.5mm lines printed in about the same grey as Moleskine lines. The cover is slightly rounded at the corners, but the papers are not rounded at all. Because of the generous over-hang, this is not an issue. The entire book is very light-weight and flexible. At A6 size (a little larger than a small Moleskine), it’s not exactly pocket-sized. But it could fit into a jacket pocket, purse or bag easily. I carry mine in the pocket of my puffy vest with no problems, especially since the book is so light. Once you get past the first page, the book lies flatly on the desk or table, and the binding feels very very secure.
(Comparing size to a Field Notes Raven's Wing.)
We promised Mr. Lee a pencil-specific review, and this book is a treat for pencil lovers. The paper looks a lot like the color of Moleskine paper: cream with grey lines. It’s much more stiff and at least twice as thick, however. While soft pencils prone to ghosting (Palominos, Faber-Castell 9000 4B, Blackwings, soft General’s Pencil Co., etc.) do ghost, they do not ghost with the intensity that they do on thin paper. Daycraft’s paper has a texture which is very nice for graphite, having much more tooth than Moleskine paper but slightly less than Field Notes. It doesn’t wear your point away, but it doesn’t shy away from taking some of that graphite off and keeping it to make marks, either. Smearability is about average, which accounts for the majority of papers I ever use. The lines are definitely not dark enough to distract you when you write in graphite (which I’ve noticed can be a problem with some papers lately), and they are nicely-spaced for using wooden pencils.
This is a notebook that surprises you with its price tag, especially considering the design and quality upgrade over Moleskines and some other books. Frankly, this notebook (and the other items they were kind enough to send us which we’ll write more about in the future) puts to bed the stupid supposition (don’t laugh; people claim it all the time) that quality goods cannot be made in China.
While it’s disappointing to see some companies move production overseas (I’m thinking of Dixon and it’s serious American heritage), Asian production does not mean a lack of quality any more than American production necessarily means that something is better made. There are better made than a lot of American and European notebooks I’ve used and seem more carefully assembled than any Moleskine I’ve bought in the last three or four years.
Unfortunately, Daycraft does not currently have an American distributor, but you can purchase from an Australian dealer that will ship worldwide. It’s worth it.
Pencil art from Paul Gabor, Hungarian graphic designer. (More, in French.)
(Via The Well-Appointed Desk.)
Five years of consecutive blogging is no small feat. Stephen makes the pencil world a better place constantly. Write on, Comrade, write on.
While the question of which pencils to use for Nation Novel Writing Month is certainly an important one for pencil fans who are embarking on the one-month writing challenge. But, perhaps almost as important, is the question of what to write on.
There are myriad notebook blogs, on which Comrades can find information about notebooks’ construction, which ones can handle fountain pen ink, etc. What we try to provide with our growing number of paper reviews are pencil-specific reviews. We have a growing stack (er, box) of review samples we are testing for ghosting, point retention, etc. But, I thought it might be helpful to suggest a few great notebooks in which to write (or in which to take notes for) Comrades’ NaNoWriMo work — and, of course, invite others to share pointers.
1) Field Notes. I was hoping my “Raven’s Wing” editions would show up this week, but it is not so. Field Notes are stylish, durable and very pocketable. I might not want to draft much longhand in these (they’re small and not full of much paper), but for on-the-go notetaking, it’s hard to beat a Field Notes book.
2) Rhodia products. There are tiny stapled notebooks (like smaller Field Notes) for your pocket, the beautiful “Webbie” journals for long drafts and all manner of pads to suite your pocket or desktop. The smartphone pocket of my T2 bag usually has a Rhodia pad in it, in some kind of Luddite gesture.
3) EcoJot Workbooks. I was hoping we’d be able to publish a review of these from some samples Mark sent us in time for November, but it’s not to be. The review is coming, but you’ll have to take my word for it that they are like Moleskine Cahiers. Only greener. With attractive covers. And better paper.
4) Whitelines. We’ll have a review of these interesting notebooks in the near future, but I think they bear mention for marathon writing. The idea is that the pages are light grey, with white lines, since dark lines on white paper are harsh for the eyes. It might sound strange, but these are very nice books, and the paper is intriguing.
5) Something FANCY. A big Moleskine. Paper Blanks. Something handmade from Etsy. I have a beautiful journal that my sister-in-law sent me for a birthday a few years ago made from an old library book and big rings that I am considering using, or a giant EcoJot journal.
I thought about listing books I would personally avoid, but I think that’s unnecessarily negative. And, you know, one writer’s graphite mess is another’s silvery-grey paradise.
What are other Comrades planning to write in/on?
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Our favorite tool of writing is listed on Boing Boing’s Candy Hierarchy, as residing on “Tier so low it does not register on our equipment.” I love candy as much as the next Comrade (and have the love handles to prove it), but this comment makes me almost sad. I’d love to get pencils for Halloween. Anyone giving the youngins pencils this year?
Today’s post comes from Brian E. Manning, a writer and cyclist who works in Porland’s Central Library. Brian is also the editor’s good friend and even was also his roommate in college!
Robert Walser’s Microscripts. [New Directions, 2010. $24.95]
Robert Walser (1878-1956) was a German-speaking Swiss Writer. His writing was admired by Kafka, and Hesse, to name a few names of notoriety. I became acquainted with Walser through his short stories, as well as his acclaimed novel, Jakob Von Gunten, both published by NYRB books. His writings are whimsical, quirky, and fanciful — showing an acute understanding of human nature through subversive, fairytale-like backgrounds. In 1929, Walser admitted himself into a mental ward, and remained there for the rest of his life, essentially ending his professional writing endeavors, quipping to a friend that he was there to be mad, and not to write. However, after Walser died–on one of his habitual walks, in the snow, (hotos of which exist for morbid perusal on the Internet) it was found that he actually continued writing while in the hospital, albeit, in as subtle a form as physically possible: that is, on fragments of paper, in the tiniest of handwriting.
At first, the executor of his estate thought that these tiny markings where evidence of Walser’s mental instability — an undecipherable loony/secret code — but, it was later discovered that Walser was writing in a miniaturized Kurrent script, stemming from the medieval ages, that he had learned as a schoolboy, as was the custom of the time. From there, it took some dedicated scholars, some magnification, and some linguistic guesswork and translation to yield us the English instalment of this endeavor: Microscripts.
I have been fascinated with Walser’s story of late, and have been looking forward to getting my hands on this book. For the most part, the writings are small sketches and musings, sometimes unfinished, but this is understandable since Walser most likely never meant for them to be “read” (deciphered) by us, which makes them feel even more intimate to read. Although they are brief (sometimes not exceeding 5-6 pages in length) Walser’s wit and style are still evident in these works–whether he is writing of marriage proposals, or the experience of listening to the radio, or putting characters at play in their settings, Walser’s humane style abounds in these small scripts. I find that the real treasure of Microscripts, however, are the sporadic color facsimiles of the microscripts themselves included throughout the book. These examples of Walsers diminutive sketches not only show how impossibly tiny his writing was (1-2 millimeters in height), but also conveys how visually stunning they are. Whether written on the back of a business card, or on a letter, they are a fine of example of visual art rendered through small script. (It is also worth mentioning that there are plenty of footnotes throughout this book, giving more detail behind Walser and the individual microscripts; and for those of you who can read German, the original, enlarged German renderings are also included in the back of the book.)
(Mr. Manning's Microscript -- Click for full-sized image.)
But, you may be asking, why should readers of Pencil Revolution care about Walser and his tiny writing habits? For that matter, why did Walser even start writing in this fashion? I was surprised to find that the answer to this, as given in the intro of Microscripts, lay in the formative power of yielding a pencil. According to Walser, he found that using a pen became a physical & mental stumbling block, one that he could only overcome by using a pencil, as wrote to a friend:
With the aid of my pencil I was better able to play, to write; it seemed this revived my writerly enthusiasm. I can assure you I suffered a real breakdown in my hand on account of the pen, a sort of cramp from whose clutches I slowly, laboriously freed myself by means of the pencil. [Microscripts, pg 13.]
Although this does not necessarily explain why Walser started shrinking his script, he definitely found his voice again through using a pencil; this is of such critical importance that the original six-volume German edition of the microscripts is entitled Aus dem Bleistiftgebiet, or “From the Pencil Zone.” In Walser’s Microscripts, then, we find a man whose salvation was imparted through this modest writing utensil. I can’t help wondering, however, how often he would have to sharpen his pencil in order to write such tiny script…?
[Photo, C. Rondo; Microscript, B. Manning. Used with kind permission.]
(Low) Tech Writer muses about our favorite writing implement. This is a great post you should really read in its entirety (here).
“I have a mild obsession with pencils, especially the General Pencil Semi-Hex 498 2 2/4. Mmm, ceder. Some years ago, I needed a pencil to mark up a book I was reading for seminary, and went looking for one. I did not find one pencil. I found fourteen scattered through the house. I would have stopped at one, but my curiosity was piqued to see all the different brands and styles that we’d accumulated. I decided that I couldn’t just pick one at random, I would pick the best one. So I sharpened them all and put them to the test. Of course I had to smell each one before writing, just to take note of the “nose” (the winner had that powerful ceder aroma that true pencil aficionados prefer. I think.)….
….Low-tech wonders stand out when compared to their replacements, the products that are manufactured to improve and supplant them. I think of all the ergonomic mechanical pencils and gel-grip disposable pens, none of which impress me or replace my pencil. The pencil has a beautiful simplicity to it, and an efficiency, and 95 percent of it is compostable (versus the landfill that is the fate of plastic writing tools). And there is some mystery to the pencil too. How does rubber (named for it’s ability to “rub” pencil marks away) erase the marks of the graphite without causing it to smudge? It’s the original word processor, complete with backspace.”
Stay tuned for the Pencil Revolution review of General’s Semi-Hex pencils, which we’re hard at work testing and enjoying!
[Image, LTW.]
Another post from Comrade Shane in Utah:
In nearly every episode of “Stargate Universe,” I am impressed that Dr. Rush, “the ship’s brilliant Machiavellian scientist” (as quoted on Wikipedia), thought to bring with him a pencil and a pocket notebook. Maybe he just habitually carried those items with him because he and everyone else on the ship fled there in a hurry. Stranded on the ship, he uses his pencil regularly to record notes about the ship’s systems, cypher equations, and look up jottings at the last second to solve pressing technical problems. So far, the camera has not shown him sharpening the pencil, but you know it’s just a matter of time. And what’s he going to do without it?! Sometimes I stress about the longevity of that pencil even more than their other dwindling resources or their quest to return home to Earth. They could be out there for years! It’s fun to see the juxtaposition of Rush’s paper and pencil against faster-than-light technology and tools like alien computer interfaces and floating camera-ball thingies. (Hey, I know it’s called a Kino.)
Anyway, in the latest episode, (Season 2, Episode 2, “Aftermath”), I was able to snag a screenshot off Hulu. Maybe someone who DVR’d the episode in high resolution can give us more detail, but it looks to me like a Mirado Classic — note the distinctive ferrule band. Kinda cool to see some of his scribblings and the favored tool Dr. Rush uses to help keep the Stargate characters alive. I would love to hear from one of the writers or prop directors how they decided to cast Dr. Rush’s pencil. I mean, that’s a character I really connect with.
It definitely looks like a Mirado classic to me. That’s a good choice, given the old Mirado/Mikado advertising about the pencil’s ability to write 35 miles — for a nickel!
This is another post from Shane in Utah, about the phenomenon of pencil licking:
Here is a funny editorial from a November 1906 Popular Mechanics magazine. Apparently, even back then people didn’t know why they licked their pencil points. You still see it once in a while now, but it must have been much more common 104 years ago. The author claims that nearly everyone other than “newspaper men and stenographers” wet their pencils. “It hardens the lead and ruins the pencil,” he laments. He tells the story of a pencil-loving newspaper clerk who was tired of customers licking the pencils they borrowed from him, and the story concludes, “Surely no one who reads this will ever again wet a lead pencil.”
(The article is next to news that a US company had just sold Russia the largest-ever gasoline engine for a submarine and an ad for a DIY wireless telegraph that “will work up to a mile.”)
I read somewhere that pencil licking was to activate the dye in copy/indelible pencils. So I licked a vintage red Dixon Anadel and asked my wife if my tongue was red. Her horror that I’d lick a pencil was only matched by the big red splotch on my tongue! Don’t ask me what it tasted like; I hastened to some strong coffee.
As promised, even if a bit late. Download the full screen here and the widescreen here. I made both this month!
