Merry Christmas

As the title says: Merry Christmas!


I never intended to leave it this long to post, so apologies for six months' radio silence.  I have no excuses really, I simply needed to get on with other stuff such as work, then the Olympics were on and I spent a fortnight watching telly, then this and that happened.

But now it's Christmas and I have some spare time to blog again.

Hopefully readers all got what they wanted from Santa Claus.  I received a few, carefully-chosen goodies from Cult Pens - a couple of Caran d'Ache pencils (a Technograph 777 and a Bicolor 999), a new KUM sharpener, a Caran d'Ache pencil holder for those pesky stubs, and a brace of Hi-Unis, in HB and 4B.  Cult Pens also threw in a mini ball-point designed to be held on a lanyard.  I am delighted, and will feature them on the blog at some point.  I had never expected to be able to buy the Hi-Unis here in the UK.  My children think I am insane for my "obsession" (their word, not mine) with fine pencils and fountain pens.  As I always say, it took me years to learn how to write, so why should I use cheap tools now?

One recent development in my own pencil use is that I am using pencils much more at work for writing notes, and using softer pencils more often as well.  I may have mentioned before that one of my hobbies is music; for writing out music or for marking printed sheet music I have found a 4B pencil to be most useful.  Where I use a fountain pen, I mostly use Pelikan Blue-Black and Diamine Imperial Purple inks.

More soon - if I can get a turn on the family PC.

Stephen Bayley: Not Fit For Purpose?

The Graun has this article about the "joy of Moleskine notebooks" which quotes "cultural critic" Stephen Bayley as saying:

"It's a masterful bit of excavation of the human psyche...The stuff you're writing in it could be the most brainless trivia, but it makes you feel connected to Hemingway."

This is, of course, nonsense.  I could understand the quote if he was being paid by Moleskine to say it, but the only masterstroke I can see is one of marketing.  I admit, I was taken in at first.  Those alluring stands of notebooks stacked in Waterstone's were very attractive indeed, and I bought a few.  Disappointment soon followed when I discovered the paper makes fountain pen ink bleed like crazy, and that the binding is not as robust as it might be.

I don't much feel like Hemingway when using one of my Moleskines, actually. 

By the way, thanks to everyone who responded to my last post on sketchbooks.

A6 Sketchbook?

Hi there! Long time, no see, etc.  Normal service will be resumed shortly; my apologies for the lack of new posts.  I am still interested in pens, pencils, notebooks, paper, ink, rubber stamping and all that.

As I own some of the best pencils in the world it seemed a good time to begin sketching again.  I used to draw a lot when I was a child, but gave it up when I was 16 or 17.  I borrowed a book on drawing from my local library, and the book suggested carrying a sketchbook in A6 size for quick sketches of things seen on everyday travels.  This is a good idea, but rather than simply getting yet another Moleskine (yawn) I wanted something else, with better paper.   Any readers have suggestions?  The only must-have feature is an elastic closure; it can be book-bound, ring-bound, any colour cover, and so on.

Thanks for looking.

Quiet

Just logged in after too long an absence, only to discover the Blogger interface has been changed.  Needless to say, I don't like it. It's just taken me two minutes to work out how to edit or post.  Argh.

Things are a little busy at work right now so blogging is by necessity light.  On the bright side, my pencils have been getting heavy use, ticking and bashing on the annual accounts.  My respect for the humble Staedtler Noris HB keeps on growing.

Articles in use at the moment: 

• Staedtler Noris HB Art. Nr. 120-2
• Staedtler tradition HB Art Nr. 112-2
• Faber-Castell 9008 Steno 2B
• Staedtler Mars Lumograph eraser
• KUM sharpener
• Pilot M90 filled with Pelikan Royal Blue

More to follow...

Stationery Archeology 11

It has been some time since we had a pencil post here on Stationery Traffic, so here's one I found recently in my loft. Yes, it's an IKEA pencil. "What are you doing, Stationery Traffic, showing us IKEA pencils? We grab handfuls of these every Saturday afternoon when we go down to the nearest branch for some köttbullar and a packet of coathangers." Things get slightly more interesting if you compare this old pencil with a new one.



Comparing the old IKEA pencil to a contemporary example, we can see that the current version has "www." and ".com" clumsily applied either side of the brand name. It's still the same unfinished wood pencil stub that writes like a nail, though. I prefer the older pencil: darker wood, and with just the name stamped in. These things turn up in all sorts of places; in the community band I play with, the bass clarinetist who sits beside me uses an IKEA pencil to mark up band parts. I prefer a Staedtler tradition 4B.

Noodler's FPN Starry Night Blue

Pelikan Blue Black