Review by Tina Koyama Usually made of lightweight plastic or aluminum, pencil caps save you from being stabbed by sharp pencil points and keep your bag or pocket from being marked. You’d think that something as simple as a cap would be easy to choose and be happy with. Given all the colored and graphite…
Showing all posts in Pencil Review
Pencil Review: Staedtler Mars Lumograph 12B
Review by Tina Koyama When I started using the Mitsubishi Kohitsu 10B “brush pencil,” I thought I had the softest graphite core I would ever meet. I figured graphite couldn’t go much softer without needing to be mixed with something else like carbon before it loses its stability. But when I saw that the Staedtler…
Pencil Review: Penco Prime Timber 2.0 Mechanical Pencil
I have been meaning to write a review about this pencil for almost a year. I don’t entirely know why I’ve waited so long to actually put pencil to paper and write the review though. It’s not as if I was torn in my opinion about its performance. The Penco Prime Timber 2.0 by Hightide…
Pencil Review: Cretacolor Graphite Aquarell
Review by Tina Koyama In July, I attended the 10th annual International Urban Sketchers Symposium in Amsterdam. Aside from barely surviving a record-breaking heatwave of temps up to 107 F, I had a wonderful time with my tribe of 1,500 sketchers from around the globe. It was my sixth symposium since 2013. One of the…
Blackwing Eraser Hack-a-Thon
Review by Tina Koyama Palomino Blackwing pencils have a huge following. We love the high-quality graphite, beautiful finishes, distinctive ferrules and often intriguing themes, and we’re willing to pay $24.95 to $27.95 for a dozen (or much more if you missed a limited edition and you’re willing to shop on eBay after they sell out).…
Pencil Sharpener Review: Høvel Pencil Plane
Review by Tina Koyama When I first became aware of its Kickstarter campaign a while back, the Høvel Pencil Plane (£50, about US $65) was not something that caught my interest. It seemed like a novelty, and because I had no experience with woodworking, it also seemed like a new way to injure myself (I’ve…
Colored Pencil Review: Tombow Irojiten (36-color set) Colored Pencils
Review by Tina Koyama I have been known to look askance at and even mildly mock packaging that seems gratuitously fancy. And yet I’m the first to admit that I bought the entire original nine-volume (90-pencil) slipcased set of Tombow Irojiten Color Dictionary colored pencils for packaging alone. With most colored pencils, I like to…