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What’s that pencil made of?

L to R: Jelutong, Cedar, Basswood
Readers have often asked about the wood used in pencils. With the exception of an informative comment by Harshad Raveshia about the situation in India, there seems to be little authoritative information on the subject.
Incense Cedar (Calocedrus Decurrens) is the familiar source, with slats provided by CalCedar supplying much of [...]

August 30th, 2009 | Category: pencils | 6 comments

Caran d’Ache 45 multipen

This post continues on two other articles about vintage multipencils. (The Faber-Castell 33/78 four colour pencil and the Caran D’ache Tricolor.) I mentioned their quality construction, as well as the relative complexity of their mechanisms.

Well, I got further with them than I did with the Caran d’Ache 45. The 45 was advertised online as [...]

August 29th, 2009 | Category: Caran d'Ache, pens | 2 comments

No back to school pencils?

Just after mentioning an article on stationery indulgences, I saw that my favourite morning paper ran an article by Sarah Boesveld, Sorry kid, no more fall shopping sprees, with a rather different theme.

August 27th, 2009 | Category: Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Win the Felissimo 500 Colour pencil set

To promote the Felissimo 500 Colour pencil set, Felissimo is holding two contests.
I hope you will consider entering.
Contest 1: Design a pair of web banners, or a poster. The prize in each category is a set of Felissimo 500 pencils plus $US1000.00 cash. Not bad!
Contest 2: Design a pencil case for the pencils. How [...]

August 26th, 2009 | Category: Felissimo | 4 comments

Faber-Castell Pitt Oil Base pencil

Yet Another Mike had mentioned these pencils a couple of months ago, and I recalled the comment when I recently found some for sale. Thanks, Mike.
From Faber-Castell, we have a slightly different type of pencil. It uses oil rather than wax as the binding agent.
The advantage is that this pencil type creates lightfast marks [...]

August 25th, 2009 | Tags: | Category: Faber-Castell | 9 comments

Colleen 3030 pencil

Regular readers will know the name “Colleen”. Formerly a major Japanese manufacturer, the firm folded a decade or so ago.
Yet the name lives on. A former manager is part of a new undertaking in Thailand, re-establishing the brand. We’ve seen some of their offerings for the Japanese market, especially their exquisite teak pencils. [...]

August 23rd, 2009 | Category: Colleen | 9 comments
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