Discovery

Field Notes assembly video

/ Andy Welfle / 3 Comments

Following up on how printing ink is made, I wanted to bring you some  letterpress porn. I could watch these videos all day. This one is from Field Notes, who I’ve discussed previously and just announced a new color in their lineup: “Raven’s Wing“. It’s a good looking notebook. Seriously. If I didn’t already have too many of the regular Field Notes cahiers, I would totally get a pack of these.

I can’t think of anything I don’t love about this video. The rousing old-timey march spun slightly too slow on an old record player, the press shooting off uniformly attractive black notebook covers efficiently, or just the knowledge that the resulting product will be a beautiful black Field Notes cahier.

In any case, check it out. It’ll bring a tear to the scribomechanical enthusiasts’ eye.

WoodChuck in the flesh!

/ Andy Welfle / Leave a comment

Well, on video at least. Charles Berolzheimer from California Cedar and Pencils.com made a short video about the Palomino Blackwing! It’s short and sweet, though nothing a faithful reader of this blog probably doesn’t know already. Still, I think you’d be interested in seeing it.

Pencil geeks: If you are trying to explain to someone what you’ve been blathering on about for the last two months (like people have asked me), or someone simply wants to know what that cool pencil you’re writing with is, this is the perfect video to show them.

Moleskine Pac-Man Edition

/ Andy Welfle / 2 Comments

Boy, for a pencil blog, I sure do cover paper a lot. But what, after all, is a pencil without paper to write on? It’s just a stick of wood.

Besides Rhodia and Field Notes, one of my favorite things to write on is a Moleskine notebook. Like John at Pencil Revolution, I get a little suspicious of some of the claims Moleskine makes about being the preferred notebook of literary and artistic figures throughout the centuries. However, like John, I still use them. Until recently when I switched to iCal, I was using a really great weekly planner and notebook made by Moleskine. Their pages aren’t as creamy as Rhodia, but they are thick, sturdy, and hold graphite markings as well as drink up fountain pen ink like a pro.

That’s why I was excited to see this:

To celebrate the 30th anniversary of the video-game Pac-Man, Moleskine has released a 5-piece edition, featuring featuring “pocket and large hard cover notebooks, both plain and ruled, and a colorful set of 4 large Volant soft cover notebooks in celebrative packaging.” Each notebook has beautiful 8-bit cover art from the video game and mini-stickers. How fun is that?

It looks like you can buy them here, or “other online and offline bookstores worldwide,” according to Moleskine.com.

Gorgeous video of how printing ink is made

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This blog, of course, is about wooden pencils, but I imagine you’ll be hard pressed to find someone who really likes pencils who doesn’t also like other writing paraphernalia, like paper, pens, typewriters, and ink.

I found this video at Apartment Therapy, a great home style blog. It’s about nine minutes long, so you might want to come back and watch it when you have a little time. But, I guarantee you, you’ll be riveted the whole time. The promotional video for the Printing Ink Company in Canada, it’s well-edited, doesn’t jump around from shot to shot like on How It’s Made, and — dare I say? — just beautiful. The founder and narrator is introspective, poetic, passionate, and there is bright, airy classical music behind it, romanticizing this busy, grimy manufacturing floor. It really shows the craftsmanship behind ink making.

Without further ado, check it out (or click here to watch it in georgeous HD on YouTube.):