Comments on: Red Hot Lead

By: Liz

Liz — Fri, 22 Oct 2010 09:37:08 +0000

thanks for this post! I recently fell in love with red lead under my ink and watercolour sketches while on a sketching holiday and am looking for some more – this is great

By: perturbed

perturbed — Fri, 17 Sep 2010 01:04:38 +0000

I’m probably going to get one of these for my Staedtler 2mm clutch, if it’ll work. BTW, you may be interested to know that Staedtler have changed the labelling on their clutch pencils. The one I bought a few years back had the Staedtler logo then “Staedtler Mars 780 Germany”. The one I bought just a few days ago has “Germany” in small print followed by the logo and “Staedtler Mars technico” with no model number, but is in every way identical to its older companion. Evidently this is now the only clutch pencil still surviving in their range.

By: Thebestof

Thebestof — Sun, 04 Jul 2010 18:52:59 +0000

Thank you for this insightful article! What about the other properties of the colored leads? Were they waxy? How do they erase? Did they break easily?

By: Wendell

Wendell — Sun, 04 Apr 2010 16:34:31 +0000

The best hue and saturation I found is with the Staedtler red. It is so fragile that it’s unusable in a regular pencil. But if you get a pencil with a sliding sleeve (e.g. Pentel PS535) and write with it mostly vertical, it works OK.

@Gunther: The Autopoint red is less orange than usual, though it is very hard. Their green is also nice, less blue than the typical green lead.

@Sherrie: The Mitsubishi Uni -ish were sold as the Sanford -ish in North America. Yeah, they were discontinued and I feel your pain!

@pe: The Mitsubishi Uni -ish and Uni Color are definitely different formulas.

By: 90spencilmachine

90spencilmachine — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 20:10:07 +0000

These photographs were inspiring! I don’t know much about colored leads, but I enjoyed learning from your perspective.

By: pe

pe — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 02:39:11 +0000

Not sure if the red Uni -ish pack leads are (or were..) any different to the regular Mitsubishi Uni ones. I first thought looking at the sample pic that I get a more packed or saturated line with the ish leads, but thinking about it they are most likely similar. Hard to tell with photos, and the smaller 0.5 ish leads may concentrate the line somewhat as well. And pressure differences and all that.. Hue seems similar. Probably exactly the same.

Oh and what pens do the smaller-lead front sections in the pic belong to?

By: isu

isu — Sat, 09 Jan 2010 00:52:49 +0000

I know the Tajima 1.3mm red-lead for carpenters. Maybe it is sold only in Japan.

By: redmag

redmag — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 12:18:17 +0000

I like to use Turquoise 2mm drawing leads in red and non- photo blue, by prismacolor and/or sandford. I think this is the product# 02194(2376)RED. Can purchase them at http://www.pearlpaint.com. I love this leads, marks real dark reds when press hard on paper. I use them to do sketches.

By: Gunther

Gunther — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 09:45:50 +0000

And two more red leads: Faber-Castell 0.5mm and the one for the Pentel Multi8.

By: Sherrie Roberts

Sherrie Roberts — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 23:39:30 +0000

I have just found a true Home! I love pencils. I adored the Iish-Sanford colored pencils and cry when I think and Know I cannot get all the colors that were available.
I have found some more colored leads at Jet Pens.
I love this blog.

By: Nathalie

Nathalie — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 21:07:46 +0000

I had red, dark blue and green 0,5 leads and used them for drawing. I found only two shops where I got them and the one nearby still has red in stock. I ran out of the other colors and hope to buy them soon.
There are cheaper leads in all rainbow colors but they aren`t lightfast:(
Mail me if you are interested and I`ll have a look if I can find the brand names again.

By: Kiwi-d

Kiwi-d — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 02:33:12 +0000

Nice posting. Just another one for the list – Pentel Ain also have colours including red.