Tombow meets Muji in London

Just back from a couple of days out in London, where there were a couple of things I found which would interest readers of this blog.  At the British Library, in the gift shop I found a couple of pots of Tombow Mono 100 pencils - fortunately they only had 2H, so I was able to pass.  They were there among a range of goodies connected to the comic art exhibition currently taking place.

Later I popped into the Muji store on Tottenham Court Road and picked up a pocket pencil sharpener and a white eraser for a grand total of GBP2.00.  I have had a quick play with them and they seem to work well, The sharpener is very small indeed and looks good for going in a pocket or bag.

So it seemed appropriate to photograph the new purchases with my Tombow pencils.  I really ought to take up sketching again - I haven't done much drawing since I was at school.  At the time comics were a major influence and I wanted to be the next Brian Bolland (though I modelled my drawing style on Mike McMahon's).  But that was years ago...

Please forgive the awful mobile phone picture.  I hope to post more frequently now that I have had to update my technology, including a newish mobile phone.

Guardian Pencil Discussion

Pencil fandom becoming mainstream? The Guardian has a discussion about contemporary pencil usage.

Personally I don't consider myself to be a "commodity fetishist" when it comes to pencils, but I enjoyed this article and the comments beneath. I'll be commenting later, when I get back from an engagement I have this evening....

Cult Pens gets a few mentions in the article and the comments, as does Dave's Mechanical Pencils. Nice to see pencils get a discussion.

It would be great if some of the pencil bloggers could contribute to the comments, too.

The World's Most Expensive Pencil Sharpener?

...and he even made it a long-point too. 

KUM Long Point Sharpener

I recently bought a KUM long-point sharpener from Cult Pens, but I've had very mixed results using it. Some pencils sharpen well - such as the Staedtler tradition HB - but others break leads almost as soon as I turn the pencil. For example, the Faber-Castell 9008 Steno kept breaking.

I'm still new to this game so it may well be my own fault for being too rough or turning the pencils with too much force. On this design there seems to be a lot of pressure at the narrow end, more so than a conventional sharpener.

If any readers have tips on using this stenographer's sharpener, please let me know.