Okay, I talk about Chicago all the time but what you might not know about me is that I went to high school and college in Tennessee. I appreciate my varied upbringing and that I can relate to urban life as well as the smaller, Southern towns. As a result, I’ve always had a soft…
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…
Oh, what a delight it was to find a new book from the inimitable Caroline Weaver of CW Pencil Enterprise fame. After the Pencil Perfect, I couldn’t imagine what other book she might publish but Pencils You Should Know: A History of the Ultimate Writing Utensil in 75 Anecdotes is a perfect follow-up. The book…
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…
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…
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).…
Review by Tina Koyama I’ve been curious about Pilot Frixion erasable products ever since Ana reviewed the pens and markers and the “color-pencil-like pens” several years ago. But it wasn’t until Pilot came out with actual erasable colored pencils (as opposed to gel pens that are called “color-pencil-like” but are not, in fact, color-pencil-like at…
