More Pencil Love

I had her before he did

I’ve dredged up another oldie for posting in From the Canal Bottom section of Frank’s Buffalo Born Babble. This section is dedicated to my collection of cartoons and other graphic goodies from days gone by.

Jason Chatfield

, an awesome saucesome cartoonist and a genuinely great guy with a greater smile, recently posted about his new love affair with Blackwing pencils. Here is a shortcut to that small part of his post article, but I encourage you to read the whole thing from the top of In Praise of the Humble Pencil.

The hillbilly sage sez

“Well, them is sloppy seconds, thirds, and fourths, Jason. Lady Blackwing—she gets around. She’ll bed down with anyone who picks her up.”

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Digging for gift ideas

The work has slowed down, newspapers being what they are (or aren’t), but one of my favorite gigs for years was creating infographics for the special sections sold by Creators Syndicate.

I’d be challenged to develop ideas in areas where I had little expertise, usually < .00001 units, to be specific. The Christmas shopping season saw me assigned three sets of infographics, which had to be done in early August. One set was Santa’s Sleigh, where I had to show and write about gift ideas not usually found on Wal-Mart shelves.

I enjoyed the research more than creating the actual infographic. Sometimes, if I’d recently acquired a shiny new object to which I wanted to draw attention, it required little thought.

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Enter the Blackwing pencil! Equally good for writin’ or drawin’

Blackwing’s website presents more facts, photos, and videos about their products than I did in the infographic. I scoured YouTube to see if there was more footage, too. I liked this one. Slow down and learn about Blackwing’s four different graphite cores.

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A generous colleague sent me over two dozen Blackwings!

There are a few red Hermitage pencils in the mix, too. Y’know, inclusivity ;-)

In retirement, my friend admitted he could not keep up with his subscription as he would have while professionally editing. Now that I am in semi-retirement, I find these pencils almost too attractive to use. But I promise to step it up. As nice as these are to look at and hoard, their mission must be fulfilled, starting with sharpening them.

These pencils pass the sniff test

Indeed they do; incense-cedar comprises the pencil body. Sharpening a Blackwing pencil is as delightful an experience as putting their instruments to work on paper. The two-step process requires some thoughtful attention.

Step 1 shaves only the wood; the graphite is beyond the blade.

This leaves an exposed blunt graphite core.

Step 2 shaves only the graphite. Ok, maybe some wood gets caught, but that is a signal to stop.

The result is a pencil with a long, straight point of graphite.

Other sharpeners on the Blackwing site yield a curved cut, done in one step.

graphic credit: blackwing602.com

The art of sharpening a pencil, making love to it if you will, is another nerdy subject that I won’t get into any further here, but some folks employ a knife and sandpaper to craft a bespoke pencil tip.

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This installment of Frank’s Buffalo Born Babble is full of irony. I love to discuss the high technology that supports digital drawing because it is my preferred way of working these days. In particular, I rave about Wacom digital pens in A Hand Held Wonder.

Lately, however, I have had a longing to re-introduce myself to traditional media, where the tactile experience remains unmatched. Yes, the humble pencil is still around. I can smell it!

I love my Blackwing pencils; you will, too. We have an open marriage.

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