I visited Wonder Fair in Lawrence, KS this weekend and was delighted to find the new Zebra Zensations 2mm mechanical colored pencils. Wonder Fair stocks the set of 12 ($11.76) as well as individual pencils ($0.90 each). The cost for these softly-rounded triangular, plastic, click-advance colored pencils was too good to pass up. I know…
Showing all posts in Pencil Review
Multi Pen Review: Multi Madness, Part 1
Review by Tina Koyama Ana is not the only one who has a thing for multi pens! I’ve acquired more than my share over the years. For this review, I picked out a few with unique or noteworthy features: The Pilot Hi-Tec C Coleto 1000 ($13.50 for body; $4.50 for eraser component; $3 for graphite…
Pencil Review: Musgrave Heritage Collection Pencil Set
Do you know the joy of finding a paper tube printed to look like a pencil in your mail box? Sheer and complete bliss. The tube is the new Musgrave Heritage Collection “one dozen of our favorite pencils” ($12.75). Inside the pencil tube, is an assortment of Musgrave classics like the The Bugle and the…
Pencil Review: Non-Photo Blue Pencils
Review by Tina Koyama Back in the day, graphic designers and printers used “non-photo blue” pencils. Certain shades of blue that could not be detected by camera film (or copy machines), so rough drawing lines or notations could be left on the art and would not appear in the final form. Modern scanners can see…
Pencil Review: Caran d’Ache Klein Blue 2mm Fixpencil
Review by Tina Koyama Once I grabbed onto the Caran d’Ache Klein Blue Maxi pencil, the slope became slippery. I had already had my eye on the Klein Blue Fixpencil ($52), which I had resisted for a while . . . until I realized that it came with Klein Blue leads! And the leads are…
Pencil Review: Caran d’Ache Klein Blue Maxi
Review by Tina Koyama When Caran d’Ache recently brought out a limited-edition line of products honoring the French artist Yves Klein, the Fixpencil and standard-size graphite pencils were expected, but this item was a delightful surprise: the Klein Blue Maxi graphite pencil. (Unfortunately, it’s now out of stock at the Gentleman Stationer, but Joe’s blog…
Pencil Review: Caran d’Ache Fixpencil 884 and M+R Lead Pointer
Review by Tina Koyama First, I must begin by admitting that I am not a huge user of mechanical pencils. Though I use clutches with certain art materials, I’ve always preferred woodcased pencils to write with. Call me fussy, but many mechanicals I’ve tried are either too heavy, too light, too cold, or just too…