This clearly qualifies as pen porn: the Kaweco Special AL is an aluminum barreled, hexagonal-shaped, and longer-length (than the more common Kaweco Sport) to allow for standard international short converter cartridges. It is gorgeous. So far, my pen purchases have never exceeded $50 price mark but I might make an exception for this beauty. $118 and available in several nib sizes.
After finding the amazing, little Uni travel red stamp pad, I started nosing around a bit more looking for more information about Asian seals and chops. In China, stamps of all sorts were used to mark documents official, especially if they had to do with paying taxes or to validate a document like a signature. These sorts of stamps are also used for art and printmaking and in Asian calligraphy. There’s some decent informatio on wikipedia if you’re curious.
Once I started thinking about the stamps and seals, I remembered that I had other stamps and another stamp pad. Both of my other chops were gifts from China from friends and family carved into marble (notice they are both supposed to be my name but use completely different characters?). I also discovered that I had another stamp pad that came in a ceramic dish. The stamp ink turned out to be more of a paste and created a wonderful, deep rich red color. I tested both the paste and the Uni travel pad with all of my chops as well as a rubber stamp, just to see how they performed. I prefer the color of the paste as it is so vivid but the container was designed to accommodate the size of a chop and nothing more. The paste was also not designed to travel as the lid just sits on top of it. The Uni travel pad is slightly convex so you can tap along the surface of the pad so you are not limited in the size of stamp you can use.
I was able to Google “red paste calligraphy” or “seal paste red” and find a variety of options under $5. Some of them were called “Yinni” so if you are curious about this, that might be a good place to start. So, for travel, find a Uni or other stamp pad that can be sealed tightly. For sheer color, find a more paste-like “pad”.
I have been eyeballing the deluxe version of the Perfect Pencil for years with the aluminum cap and luminous golden pencils but a set starts at $50 but can go up to $500 for the platinum version. This Perfect Pencil, on the other hand, was purchased for $30HK (about $4US) and the set of three refills for $15HK ($2US) at LOG-ON in Hong Kong. I suspect that there’s a bit more “perfect” in those higher end versions but I was willing to take a chance for $6.
This Perfect Pencil is a fully-rounded black-on-black pencil with a pale grey stamp of the trademark and “Faber-Castell”. While I don’t normally prefer rounded pencils the matte finish makes it comfortable to hold.
The pencil came with a red plastic cap with a black grooved end that can be popped open to reveal a built-in pencil sharpener that doubles as an extender. The first thing I noticed is that the pencil and the replacements are much shorter (5″) than the average unsharpened pencil (7″-7.5″). I would consider the five inch length to be that pencil “sweet spot” when you’ve had a pencil for awhile and its been sharpened a few times so its at that perfectly balanced length. But, since this is an actually wood pencil that will require additionally sharpening, it won’t stay this length forever. The cap/sharpener can be posted on the end of the pencil like a fountain pen cap to extend the length of the pencil but I find that it throws off the balance of the pencil, at least at its current length. The cap also covers up the eraser.
The cap/extender fits snugly over the pencil and protects the point when traveling. There is a small rubber ring inside the cap to keep the cap on the pencil. I tested it and the cap/extender can be used with other non-Perfect Pencils (including hexagonals), if you’re so inclined.
I did not find any information about the hardness grade of this pencil but I would guess its around a B or HB. The higher end versions list the pencil grade as B so I suspect these are as well. The pencil really does write smoothly and the eraser on the end is adequate (which, in the world of pencils, is quite high praise).
The sharpener works well and has a visible screw so theoretically it could be replaced if it got dull though I’m not sure where proper sized blades might be found.
I wonder if the aluminum cap/extender on the higher priced versions is lighter than the plastic cap. While I find it convenient for protecting and sharpening I can’t get past how much heavier it makes the pencil. In general, I don’t find this pencil perfect but merely nice. I think the actual pencil quality could be improved. Compared with the Castell 9000 HB, the Perfect Pencil was noticeably scratchier on the same paper stock.
For a different perspective, check out Economy Pens‘s review on a different version of the budget Perfect Pencil and Pencil Talk’s 9-part series on the Perfect Pencils.
I had the good fortune of getting to attend the first-ever Spectrum Live art expo. While I was dazzled by the art and starstruck by the artists, I couldn’t help but peek at whatever tools each artist was using to doodle or autograph. Some made me shiver (really, a Bic ballpoint?!?! Your art deserves a better tool!), some made me boggle (What mechanical pencil is that??).
I met two lovely artists who were willing to share a peek inside their tool kits. Archer Dougherty and Chris Ryniak were kind enough to show me their favorite tools so without further ado…
Archer’s kit was a large zip pouch whose previous life may have been as a document case or iPad sleeve. She said she loved just throwing her tools into the bag with a book or sketchbook and not treating them as particularly precious. She was sitting quietly drawing with a simple lightweight Zebra mechanical pencil which she admitted to preferring when she was out and about because it did not require sharpening and always kept a sharp point.
In stark contrast Chris Ryniak carried his tools in a very organized pen roll. His favorite tool was a newly acquired matte Zebra Sharbo X LT3 in orange flame.
He praised his Pentel Twist-Erase 0.5 mechanical pencil for the large and wholly usable eraser, to which I can agree.
He also showed me his Zebra Hi-McKee markers which he liberated on his last trip to Japan and which he loves. It seems to be a marker comparable to a Sharpie though I have not found much additional information about it. Anyone have personal experience with these?
As both artists were busy fielding questions and comments from actual art-buying customers, I didn’t get to ask them all the questions I might have wanted but I am grateful for their time and generosity. Hope you enjoyed the peek into their kits as well!
The newest issue of Wired (June 2012, AKA 20.06) arrived in the mail this weekend and I immediately scoured the “Our Guide to Photography in the Instagram Age” article (this content is so fresh, its not even up on the Wired web site yet but I’ll link to the article as soon as it does).
What I can do though is provide a list of the favorite camera/photography apps featured in the special section that also included some short reviews of various mobile phones based on the quality of their cameras as well as recommendations for higher-end cameras too. So, here goes:
Recommended by Cole Rise who created several of the most frequently used Instagram filters:
Recommended by Doctor Popular of Objective Scenes:
And just to throw in my two cents, here are a few of my favorites:
Also mentioned in the article was a company called Taplayer that has created several apps that utilize a Kodak Brownie-like look as well as TtV (through the viewfinder)-style filters.
Go forth and phone-agraph!
The Staedtler WOPEX pencil was found because it was coated in my favorite shade of lime green. I was drawn to it across a sea of writing tools at CN Square in Hong Kong. It is about five stories of office supplies, art supplies and paper goods that would make most of my fellow readers weep with joy. Unfortunately funds and suitcase-space was getting desperately low so I had to appease my office supply lust with just the fewest of items but I could not pass this lowly little pencil without purchasing it.
For one, the surface of the pencil had a slightly rubbery texture on its hexagonal shape. The finish has a light metallic sheen. The cap end is unfinished, no paint or metal cap and clearly no eraser. Then looking more closely at the pre-sharpened point, I noticed an absence of wood grain. When I took it home and started writing with the WOPEX, I discovered that, when sharpened, it created long, tight curls of shavings. If you’ve ever wanted to sharpen a pencil and have a perfect little curl of pencil shaving, then this is the pencil for you. But what is this strange creature?
According to the Staedtler web site, the WOPEX (wood pencil extrusion) is an innovative new, natural fiber material made from wood extrusion using 70 % real wood that more efficiently utilizes wood material. Staedtler goes on to tout some of the advantages of this pencil:
I liked writing with it for the exterior texture and lightweight handling but I was not wowed by the writing quality. I missed the true wood casing for its fine cedar smell. The lead didn’t feel particularly pleasant on the paper. This pencil kept making me think of those cheap pencils I got for school standardized test-taking when I was a kid. My 12-year-old self would have loved the sparkly fairy-green pencil that I could jam a big novelty eraser on the end. But adult self though just thought, “Meh.”
Other reviews about this pencil can be found over at Scription and Pencil Talk.
I purchased this WOPEX for $4HK ($0.80US). If you’re dying yo try one, CultPens in the UK carries the WOPEX for £0.76 ($1.20US)
(This pen was tested on the Miquelrius medium flexible 300 grid paper book purchased from B+N.)
