palomino blackwing

A Blackwing movie?

/ Andy Welfle / 1 Comment

I was looking through all the blogs I usually read each afternoon, and on the Pencils.com blog, Studio 602, I saw an interview, posted seemingly offhandedly, with the filmmakers working on a movie called, simply, “Blackwing”.

This doesn’t actually play the movie file — it’s a screenshot of the trailer. Click the image to jump to the filmmaker’s trailer page.

I watched the trailer, blinked, and was all, “wait, what?” — did someone actually make a film about the Blackwing?

Well, it seems, yes. And at least according to the Pencils.com Twitter feed, it was fairly surprising to them, too:

According to the interview, It sounds like the filmmakers, Outside In Studio, had everything scripted and ready to go with their movie concept — except for the key writing utensil.

According to the filmmakers’ interview with Pencils.com:

We had already completed a few drafts of the script and were already entering pre-production. When we were searching for props for Milo’s room, we were looking for items that were ultra-artistic and out of the ordinary, that really spoke about the character and how deep his obsession was.  It wasn’t until we stumbled upon pencils.com and saw the Blackwing on the homepage that we realized the importance between the artist and their tool.  The Blackwing was everything we didn’t know we were missing.  We were first attracted to its appearance – it was simple but had this demure quality, it was the perfect balance between power and subtlety.

From what I gather from the trailer, the plot is sort of a dark version of “Harold’s Purple Crayon” — a misfit child, Milo, finds power in a magic pencil that turns to life what it draws. It seems, as though, he doesn’t fully understand its consequences.

While the film trailer and the interview doesn’t mention which Blackwing it is — an original Eberhard Faber Blackwing or a new Palomino Blackwing — it is clear that the first Palomino Blackwing is used, though in its brief cheesecake shot, only the word “Blackwing” remained. It reflects the beauty of the gold/matte black finish of the actual product, but only the mystical, mythical name: Blackwing.

Although I am more of a fan of the shark-blue-grey found on the barrel of the original Blackwing and the Palomino Blackwing 602, I can understand why they used the matte black. As they pointed out, it is elegant and dark. It looks more like a magic pencil than a pencil you might take with you to jot down notes at, say, a client meeting.

Like many independent films, the filmmakers are going to make their rounds at the film festivals and hope to open in summer 2013, which means it could be another year or so after that before I can see it anywhere close to Fort Wayne, Indiana, where I live.

Head on over to Outside In’s site to see the trailer, and over to Studio 602 to read the full interview. It is quite interesting.

A party for a pencil

/ Andy Welfle / 1 Comment

Disclosure: As I try to do whenever I talk about CalCedar and any of their products, I want to mention that I am a former employee. So take what I say with a grain of salt.

California Cedar, the makers of the California Republic brand of wooden pencils and the Palomino Blackwing, their modern interpretation of the Eberhard Faber Blackwing 602, is throwing a party they’re calling called the Blackwing Experience, in New York City on April 17, to celebrate the opening of a week-long exhibit running until April 20 at the Art Director’s Club.

I think this is a cool concept — as their tagline says, it’s “the party for the pencil”, and from what I understand, it’s not just the Palomino Blackwing or the EF Blackwing that’s being celebrated, it’s the usage and history of all wooden pencils.

I had a conversation with Charles Berolzheimer, president and CEO of California Cedar, who told me about the origins of this idea:

“We began to get serious about such an event when we started thinking about how to build upon influencer relationships we had established over prior years as well as to support building with the 602 new influencers who participated in our Klout Campaign (I wrote about it here -AW) launched last December. In working with our creative team in New York during the early planning stages we had a ton of great ideas and were looking for the right venues and the final partnership we created with the Art Directors Club we came up with seemed like a natural fit.”

Justin Oberman is an independent creative director who is working with CalCedar to organize this event. You may remember him from my post about his concept ad campaign for the Dixon Ticonderoga.

A mockup of the video "Ode to a Blackwing". Photo from http://blackwingexperience.tumblr.com/

“We have a 64-foot tall 60-foot wide infographic timeline of the pencil — entirely drawn with (Palomino) Blackwing pencils”, Justin told me. He also talked about creating “Ode to a Blackwing” a video produced for the show. He mentioned that it’s all done with Palomino Blackwings and original Eberhard Faber Blackwings, “except when drawing the logos of other pencil companies. Those are done with pencil brands represented by those logos.”

Some other interesting things going on at this event:

  • A panel discussion about creativity with Chuck Jones’ grandson who runs the Chuck Jones Experience.
  • A blank space where attendees can draw themselves in (with pencil, of course) using a camera lucida.
  • Several performances and demonstrations by up-and-coming artists, musicians and writers.

I really wish I could make it to the Big Apple on Monday to check this out! Unfortunately, I’m not in a position where I can do this unless I plan months ahead.

There’s been some supplemental media created for it:

Please note that there is a bit of controversy surrounding that event and CalCedar, which I’ll let you check out for yourself. I’m staying away from that dialog: not only because I formerly worked at CalCedar (but briefly), but also because of my tremendous respect for both Sean at Blackwing Pages and Charles at CalCedar. If you’re interested, you can read further and make your own determination (I won’t be hosting dialog about that in my comments here):

 

Some great photos of the California Republic Stationers-branded notebooks

/ Andy Welfle / 5 Comments

As a follow-up from my post last week about the Palomino-branded notebooks, I just ran across these photos from Studio 602, the Pencils.com blog, featuring paper products to compliment the Palomino Blackwing, the Palomino, and the ForestChoice line. Click to embiggenfy.These are perhaps my favorite, at least judging by the photos. It looks liek there’s a leather 5.5×8.5 clasp notebook, maybe an oilskin, Moleskine-style notebook, and some kind of cahier of unknown cover material with some illustrations on it. That Blackwing-man illustration was done by a very talented pencil artist Mogodore J. Bivouac  when I worked at Pencils.com. I’m glad to see it gracing the cover of a notebook!

I’d love to see something with a sharkskin blue-grey color like the PB 602s, as well — the jet black looks dashing with the black PBs, and though it looks good with the 602s, a matching grey leather would be really cool.

This is the Palomino-branded line, with much the same — a clasp notebook, some Moleskiney things, and some cahiers, it looks like. What really stands out to me in this picture is the tall, skinny notebook directly underneath the single, orange Palomino pencil: it looks like it’s a narrower size than a standard 5.5×8.5 notebook. Maybe something like 4.5×8.5? This is purely conjecture, as this photo’s perspective could be off.

In any case, it looks really nice. As I’ve said before, it’s hard to do a black-and-orange brand without it looking like it’s Halloween-themed. Rhodia does it well, and I think this product line has captured it too.

I’m a big fan of the blue Palominos; it’s one of my favorite shades of blue, and the white eraser looks great perched atop the barrel. I would love to see a blue notebook, too!

That CalRepublic product that I’ve maybe used the least are the ForestChoice pencils. It’s not that I don’t like them, it’s just that when faced with the thick, glossy, colorful Palominos or Golden Bears, or the superior-quality Palomino Blackwings, these envrionmentally friendly cousins take a backseat, at least in my pencil box. Nothing personal, ForestChoice.

These are interesting, and perhaps the closest match as far as branding look-and-feel between the pencils and paper products. Those little notebooks with the elastic band look like something you could get at Target (that’s a compliment! Really!).

What I like the best from this photo is the tall, skinny steno pad, almost the shape of a reporter’s notepad, which I used for years throughout college in my journalism classes and working at a local paper. I would use this pad quite a bit, for notetaking at meetings where I am standing up, for shopping lists, to-do items, etc. It looks like it’s a bit more everyday-functional than the other lines.

In any case, bravo, Pencils.com! I can’t wait to see this in real life (or IRL, as the kids say)!

What’s next? This may never happen, but I’d love to see a Golden Bear or Spangle line of notebooks for school that may be just a smidgen higher quality (and higher cost) than a Mead notebook. Or perhaps a line of hand-erasers or more sharpeners akin to the Palomino KUM long-point sharpener.

What do you think of the photos above?

Premium Palomino Blackwing-branded notebooks

/ Andy Welfle / 8 Comments

Note of disclosure: I am no longer employed by California Cedar Products or Pencils.com — though I am still their biggest fan

If you follow Pencils.com on Twitter (@pencilscom), you may have seen this tweet hit the webbernets:
Although I’ve known this was coming for a while, I have no idea what they’re going to look like or when, exactly, they’ll be hitting the virtual stands. But I know I’ll be wanting one or a few with my last, dying breath.

The Gold Fibre Ampad writing pad with antique ivory pages. Great quality paper, lined front/checked back, and all around old-timey fun!

So that’s pretty exciting. I’m still loving my Palomino Blackwing 602s, and I’ve been wanting something nice upon which to write with it. My usual meeting note-taking paper tablet is this retro-rific Gold Fibre pad by Ampad (or its 8.5×11″ counterpart), but it’s not the most formal thing you’ll ever see, you know? And although I have several pad-folios, they take up a lot of room, room in my bag that competes for space with my laptop, charging cord, various pencil and pen wraps and other things that I’ve collected via my borderline hoarder tendencies.

Speaking of Palomino Blackwing branding, I love the new packaging for the Palomino and Blackwing brands, don’t you? Charles sent me this the romance shot the other day (click to embiggen the pencil geekery goodness):

The graphite drawings on the Palomino graphites are stunning, and I love the vivacity of the colored pencil line. (I assume this photo was taking by the very talented Sue Tallon, a still-life photographer who Pencils.com uses for stellar product shots.)

I’ll let you know when the notebooks are released, and I may even have a review up here!

Meanwhile, what pencils and paper products have you been using lately?

Idea: A capacitive touch eraser

/ Andy Welfle / 4 Comments

Stealing from one of my favorite blogs, Ironic Sans, I want to post an idea here. Like many of the pencil-toting hybrids of lo-fi and hi-fi people out there, I often find myself with my iPhone, scanning emails, and making lists on a pad of paper with my pencil. Sometimes I’m also doing this one-handed, while the other one is holding a mug of coffee or a computer mouse.

Wouldn’t it be great if I could use the eraser on my pencil to flip around on my iPhone? Continue reading →