The Well-Appointed Desk

I received lots of great response about the two-tone pencils we posted about last week. It turns out teachers used them for grading (red) and writing in the correct answers (blue), copy editing if one end was non-reproduction blue and for keeping records for playing Go. One of our readers Knyphe included a link to for Peanuts-themed red/blue pencils from Japan.

Another reader from Hungary said that the red/blue pencils were used in early primary school but could not recall the specific circumstances. Maybe in helping children to write their letters and then use the red to correct?

And yesterday, while perusing the pages of Julia Rothman’s book Drawn In: A Peek into the Inspiring Sketchbooks of 44 Fine Artists, Illustrators, Graphic Designers, and Cartoonists , I found the artist Meg Hunt who uses the red and blue pencil to lay down her sketches before inking them. She says,

“The red and blue pencil is for two reasons: one, sketching in colored pencil is less smudgy, and as a left-handed artist I find it easier to work with than graphite. Secondly, it’s very light, and I can be a little rough with the drawing without having to worry about it needing to be erased once I need to scan the finished ink work — in Photoshop I can adjust the lines and lose the colored pencil work easily.”

Thanks to all you wonderful readers for all the input and places to buy these lovely pencils!

These vintage ones come from Present & Correct for £3 each.

(via Present&Correct)