The Well-Appointed Desk

The last of my pencil bounty from Pencil Things is the Harvest Thick Red and Blue Combination 725 (Made in USA). This is the perfect editing pencil. The blue is dark, almost navy blue, and the red is a clean, bright red. The thick lead was soft and easy to use.

Though it was included in the Indelible pencil sample pack, this seems to be more of an editing/checking pencil. It did smudge a bit with effort and did smear or run a bit when wet. It did not erase well at all.

If you are looking for a red/blue pencil that does not smudge as much, then go with the Austrian Breviller Urban Copying Pencil Nr. 925. I love the color and the ease of writing with the Harvest Thick and I love that it is a “Made in USA” product but, for regular use, it smears a bit too much for this overwriting lefty.

This pencil can be purchased individually for $0.59 each.

Austrian Red/Blue Pencils

AnaMarch 29, 2012May 28, 20172 Comments

There were even more copying pencils in the sample set from Pencil Things than those I’ve shared previously this week. These are also from Austria called Breviller Urban Copying Pencil Nr. 925. There was a red, a blue and a red/blue combo (my favorite!).

I found no difference between the red/blue combo and the individual colored pencils. I loved the true red color but the blue clearly leaned more to the cyan/non-repro shade which is fine if that’s what you are needing. Neither color wet particularly well, nor did they erase with a standard white eraser. But on the up side, they do not smudge hardly at all which is great if you are looking for something permanent in pencil form. I like the red/blue combo option best as it gives me a couple colors to use to highlight notes from meetings without risk of bleed-through or other messes.

These were included in a whole set of indelible/copying pencils from Pencil Things. $12.50 for the set.

In Pencil Review

Jolly Copying Pencils

AnaMarch 29, 2012May 28, 20171 Comment

I not only purchased the graphite Jolly copying pencil mentioned in the earlier review this week, I bought the whole set of indelible/copying pencils from Pencil Things.com. The Jolly copying pencils came in green and graphite with gloss painted bodies with gold foil lettering. The pencils are round which is a bummer as I tend to prefer the hexagonal or triangular shape but since these are those rare birds that is copying pencils, I have to take what I can get.

It turns out that both the blue body and black body were graphite based — the blue being the harder, lighter graphite (like an HB or H) and the black being a softer, darker graphite (like a 2B or 4B). When wet, the blue pencil all but disappeared in comparison to the softer black graphite.

While I’m fascinated with the green lead copying pencil, I don’t quite how I would use it. Any suggestions?

In feature

Dot dot dot

AnaMarch 28, 2012Leave a comment

Pencil erasers don’t usually erase worth a damn so why not make them useful in other ways like making fun dotty art with a rainbow stamp pad! Use them to color code files or decorate a letter, note or package. Fun, cheap and easy!

(via Li’l Magoolie)

In feature, Link Love

Link Love: All Write, all write!

AnaMarch 28, 2012May 27, 2017Leave a comment

(Links for images in the collage above are all listed in the links below)

Today’s Link Love is all writing instruments!

Pencils Links:

Turn paper into pencils (via Office Supplies Junkie)
Moleskine Highlighter Pencils (via NoteMaker)
Gorgeous Vintage Pencils (via Present and Correct)

Pen Links:

An interview with Michael Gutberlet of Kaweco (via Jet Pens)
Einstein’s Penmanship (via Lito of Palimpsest/InkLinks)
Lamy Nexx Review by Bryan Gushikawa (via Pen Addict)
Pen Show Primer for First-Timers (via Anderson Pens)

In photo

Donna Hay Does Pencils

AnaMarch 27, 2012Leave a comment

I always think of Donna Hay as the Martha Stewart of Australia — fabulous taste, great food, and home decor that makes me feel like I live in a trailer on blocks. So, it should have come as no surprise to me that she would be selling a stunning little box set of pencils in alternating robin’s egg blue and white. How do they write, you ask? I don’t know but they are so pretty do we really care? $14.95/box of 14 (I’m assuming the price is in Aussie dollars).

In feature

Replacement for the Sanford NoBlot?

AnaMarch 27, 201211 Comments

Several years ago, thanks to the folks over at Pencil Talk, I discovered the Sanford NoBlot. It was, at the time, one of the last available “indelible pencils”. If you’re not familiar with indelible pencils, they were meant to be a sort of permanent pencil; something that couldn’t be erased without leaving a visible mark though there are several theories about why you would want a pencil that did not erase. (Check out a post I wrote several years ago for some of the uses.)

Unfortunately, the Sanford NoBlot Ink Pencil 705, is no longer available for sale so I’ve been on the hunt for other options mostly because the NoBlot don’t smudge very much when I write which is great for a lefty. Pencil Things carries two varieties of graphite-based indelible ink pencils that I decided to test side-by-side with one of my few remaining NoBlots. Both are listed as “copying pencils” (for more information about on the barrels rather than “indelible” though on the site, Pencil Things refers to them both as indelibles.

On the left is the PencilThings.com Select Indelible Ink Pencil DCB3-217. The body of the pencil is a pleasing iridescent metallic blue with white lettering, round barrel. It writes much softer than the Sanford NoBlot and smudges easily. In the far right is the Jolly Copying Pencil B+U 1925 made in Austria. It has a gloss black, round body with gold metallic writing. It writes a little lighter than a NoBlot but the graphite is quite smooth.

Neither the PencilThings Select nor the Jolly Copying have that fabulous turquoise color when wet which was a disappointment.

Of the two, I think I prefer the Jolly Copying Pencil though I’m holding out hope that another box of NoBlots might one day magically appear in my mailbox.