pencil talk

A short while ago, I had the chance to acquire some vintage Japanese pencils. I had some qualms before the purchase, as most of the lead grades were in the very hard range used by professional draughtspeople. Very useful for certain tasks, but not as great for someone using pencils for general writing, drawing, or [...]

The 2010 is a vintage Tombow pencil. I was lucky enough to be be able to purchase a used box a few years ago, though the box has some tears, and isn’t full. The writing is entirely in Japanese, and beyond my comprehension. The Tombow dragonfly graphic is wonderful, rendered with great detail. The pencils [...]

To complement a previous post on the Mitsubishi Hi-Uni, here are some photos of another pencil legend, the Tombow Mono 100. The packaging has an outer layer – a silver and black cardboard sleeve. One end is fully rounded, which is not really that much of a flourish, but still untypical. It’s no ordinary pencil [...]