Review by Tina Koyama When I started using the Mitsubishi Kohitsu 10B “brush pencil,” I thought I had the softest graphite core I would ever meet. I figured graphite couldn’t go much softer without needing to be mixed with something else like carbon before it loses its stability. But when I saw that the Staedtler…
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Pencil Review: Cretacolor Graphite Aquarell
Review by Tina Koyama In July, I attended the 10th annual International Urban Sketchers Symposium in Amsterdam. Aside from barely surviving a record-breaking heatwave of temps up to 107 F, I had a wonderful time with my tribe of 1,500 sketchers from around the globe. It was my sixth symposium since 2013. One of the…
Blackwing Eraser Hack-a-Thon
Review by Tina Koyama Palomino Blackwing pencils have a huge following. We love the high-quality graphite, beautiful finishes, distinctive ferrules and often intriguing themes, and we’re willing to pay $24.95 to $27.95 for a dozen (or much more if you missed a limited edition and you’re willing to shop on eBay after they sell out).…
Colored Pencil Review: Pilot Frixion – Standard and Adult
Review by Tina Koyama I’ve been curious about Pilot Frixion erasable products ever since Ana reviewed the pens and markers and the “color-pencil-like pens” several years ago. But it wasn’t until Pilot came out with actual erasable colored pencils (as opposed to gel pens that are called “color-pencil-like” but are not, in fact, color-pencil-like at…
Colored Pencil Review: Tombow Irojiten (36-color set) Colored Pencils
Review by Tina Koyama I have been known to look askance at and even mildly mock packaging that seems gratuitously fancy. And yet I’m the first to admit that I bought the entire original nine-volume (90-pencil) slipcased set of Tombow Irojiten Color Dictionary colored pencils for packaging alone. With most colored pencils, I like to…
Highlighter Review: Kutsuwa HiLiNE Highlighter Pencil
Review by Tina Koyama Like many students, I could not have survived college without neon-colored highlighter markers. Since that time, I haven’t used highlighters nearly as much, but I still have occasional need for them in my planner, on receipts, in catalogs, and the like. While I’ve broadened my scope in most other stationery and…
Baron Fig Writing Tools: Elements Archer Pencil, Squire, & Squire Click
Since all the Baron Fig writing tools I had seemed to coordinate so well, I decided to just review them altogether. The Archer Elements Pencil First, I’ll cover the newest item, the new Archer pencil release called Elements ($15 per dozen) which is a collaboration with Caroline Weaver from CW Pencil Enterprise. Like previous Baron Fig…