This is really cool. My dad has an iPad, and doesn’t have a stand for it. Maybe this could be a cheap Christmas present to him? (-:
Via Make Magazine’s blog.
Author: Andy Welfle
Brand Name Pencils featured on BoingBoing!
Pencils from BrandNamePencils.com. Image from BoingBoing.net
If you’re like me, you practically worship the ground that BoingBoing treads on. Like the rise in sales when Oprah Winfrey features a book or a product, the BoingBoing “bump” will get you multiple thousands of hits in less than 4 hours. I’ve been linked to by BoingBoing on a couple different occasions (once when I blogged about Field Notes, and once from a review of a Blackwing 602), and my stat counter went through the roof.
Anyway, Mark Frauenfelder, a co-founder and regular blogger at BoingBoing (and a personal hero), linked to Brand Name Pencils, perhaps the most complete resource for pencil brands on the web. Bob Truby, the proprietor and curator has a truly amazing collection. I mean, a really amazing collection. I was excited to see him linked, and I realized that I’ve never mentioned that site on my blog! Continue reading
Calendar pencils
I’m not a one-pencil kinda guy. I have at least a half-dozen kinds sitting on my desk top right now, and several more dozen in the drawer. I know that pencils last a long time, but I just can’t commit to that.
That being said, this is really cool:
Mytton Williams Design came up with this concept a while ago. You get 12 pencils, and you count off the days by sharpening down to the next number on the list. So it looks like once you reach the 27th of the month, you hand starts to cramp from clutching an inch of wood. Continue reading
Rad and Hungry: For all you former Pencil-of-the-Month subscribers out there
Colombian pencils offered by Rad & Hungry
One of the great things about running a specialty blog like this is that if someone is interested enough in something to Google it, chances are they’ll see your site. Big, venerable pencil blogs like Pencil Revolution, Pencil Talk, and others are certainly going to come up before a young upstart like mine, but if a Googler really wants to read about pencils, chances are, they’ll see me (hi, guys!). There just aren’t that many of us out there, compared to, say, Apple blogs or life-hacking blogs.
That’s why I was super excited when I got an email from Hen Chung the other day. She is a traveler, a scribomechanist (lover of writing/office supplies), and entrepreneur. And she has a new business called Rad & Hungry. Continue reading
Checking in
The brand-new Palomino Blackwing gift set. I got a good look at it during my visit. See end of post for a link.
Whew! It’s been a busy couple of weeks for this humble blogger. My blog silence is not an indication of having nothing to talk about, but merely me not having much time for anything! I went to California for a few days last week, to visit a friend and also to visit someone I’ve wanted to meet for a long time, WoodChuck.
I was fortunate to be in Stockton and hang out a little bit with Charles Berolzheimer, President and CEO of California Cedar Products. We all know the organization as the maker of California Republic-brand pencils, like the Golden Bear, the Palomino, and the oft-talked about Palomino Blackwing. They also own and operate Pencils.com, which sells products as well as maintains a large resource for pencil enthusiasts.
He showed me their offices, warehouse, some products we don’t see every day, and even took me to the Duraflame offices (his brother is the president and CEO), which are on a decommissioned ferry boat!
I even got a look at his amazing pencil collection. When your business is to supply cedar slats to many pencils companies globally, they send you lots of awesome samples. And since his family has been doing this for at least three generations, he has some incredible old pencils.
Of course, bad blogger that I am, I have no pictures to share with you. I told him that I want to spend two hours in his office with a DSLR camera, and I’d be set with blog posts for a year. Maybe that’ll happen next time I’m in Stockton.
I also went to San Francisco, rode some cable cars, ate some great food, and bought a few pencils and notebooks I can’t find in the midwest. Look for that soon!
I wanted to link to the Palomino Blackwing gift set, but apparently WordPress doesn’t let me place a link in a photo caption. Here is that link.
Woodclinched 