Keeping Things Sharp
I finally bit the bullet and bought myself an electric pencil sharpener. I didn’t really “need” one, but when you have piles of colored pencils to sharpen, it can sure come in handy. I’d been working with a battery operated unit that even when loaded with fresh batteries always sounded like it was about to up and die.
I like that this one can sharpen pencils of varying thicknesses as I’ve always struggled to get a good point on my favorite Albrecht Durer watercolor pencils which are slightly thicker than a regular pencil.
This beast will live in my studio, while the 5 miscellaneous pocket sharpeners I know I own will remain at large.
How do you keep your pencils sharp? Do you have a preferred sharpener?
Rhodia, Pencil Drawings, and Zombies
What’s up with all the zombies? I mean, they’re everywhere. On tv’s The Walking Dead, in the Resident Evil movie series, in books like Pride and Prejudice and Zombies and games such as Left 4 Dead. I first took real notice of them in George Romero’s 1978 classic Continue Readering »
Your Input Needed: If We Made a Sketchbook…
We need your input!
Exaclair, (The US distributors of Clairefontaine, Quo Vadis, Rhodia, etc.) is contemplating the creation of an American made sketchbook. A book that would lend itself more towards artistic creation than writing – though I’m certain such a book could be used for either form of expression. The book would contain paper from Clairefontaine’s Schut Mill, (located in the Netherlands) and would be assembled at the Hamburg, NY plant where the Habana notebooks and other Quo Vadis products are currently being made. This sketchbook would be a bound book, (as opposed to a spiral) and we would love your input on how this book should be created.
(See how to submit your feedback at the end of this post.)
In the meantime, Karen sent me a batch of paper samples to test and I chose 4:
If I am going to work in a bound book, it’s got to lay flat. For me, there are no exceptions to that rule. I’d like the book to be about the same size as a large Webbie – 5×8″ish with a firm cover so if I was working with the book propped on my knee, there would still be a good amount of support.
To me, the most important feature of the paper in any sketchbook Continue Readering »
Friday Link Share!
For a Reader of Harper Books at Contrapuntalism
How does writing on good paper make you feel? at Quo Vadis Blog
Journal Writing: Stop Multitasking and Start Focusing at Personal Growth Journaling Blog
Writing Tips: Abolish the Adverbs at Writing Forward
Journaling Techniques: Writing on the Stream of Consciousness at Writing Through Life
Do You Know the 3 Steps to Journal Your Way through Difficult Situations? at Journal in a Box
Walter Cronkite Imagines the Home of the 21st Century … Back in 1967 at Open Culture
Planner Pad Insta-Pocket at Plannerisms
The World’s Coolest Pen at Office Supply Geek (I want one!)
Platinum Preppy Highlighter at A Penchant for Paper
Pilot Iroshizuku Kon-Peki Ink Review at The Pen Addict
TWSBI Diamond 50 Inkwells at Ink Nouveau
Eric’s 2013 LA Pen Show Take-Aways at FP Geeks
My new Folded Ruling Pen and Friday Favorites at Quilt or Dye
Crayola Crayon Tower as a storage solution for Caran D’Ache Neocolor II crayons at Lung Sketching Scrolls
Pens with Names at Paper in Hand
Three Noodler’s Inks – Beaver, Purple Martin, Tiananmen at Inkophile
10 Uses for the Pencil at This Old House
How Small is Your Sketchbook at Notebook Stories
Namaqua Rain Frog at Real Monstrosities
A Kindergartener’s #dailyarsenal: Rhodia Reverse and a Red Crayon
What young child doesn’t like to draw? Especially with a red crayon in a special notebook like a Rhodia Reverse. When is the last time you picked up a crayon? The smell alone reminds me of childhood. If you have access to a few crayons, I think you should take the time to pull them out and let your inner child have some fun.
Image courtesy of Fr. Matthew Thurman. Follow gmatthewthurman on Instagram.
The Original Think Pad
To me, there’s really nothing that gets my brain juices flowing like doodling. At my last office job, my manager would glare at me for my frantic doodling during conference calls. Once I left that job, I was sure to send her a copy of the Time magazine article about how doodling helps you pay attention. Continue Readering »
Art Journaling in a Rhodia Reverse Book
What is art journaling? It is a simple combination of art and writing in the same book. There are no rules except for those that you set yourself. “Art journaling has a long-standing artistic tradition. Artists through the centuries have kept notebooks in which they sketched, practiced, experimented, and recorded themselves.” via Dina Wakley. Continue Readering »
Vector Doodle Symbols in a dotPad
Petr Vlk is from the Czech Republic and creates hand-made vector doodle symbols which he sells in a kit on his website http://doodlekit.imagiag.com. These symbols can be used for presentations, brainstorming sessions, flow charts, etc.
In the image above, Petr is working on rough ideas for some custom vector doodle symbols. When he granted me permission to use his photo, he told me that the Rhodia dotPad was his daily tool.
Image courtesy of Petr Vlk- follow imiag on Instagram
Picasso’s Sketchbook
“In the first weeks of 1907, Picasso took a slim little book – a since-battered leather wallet that was nothing much to begin with – and began to confide, day by day, his ideas about what could be done with the human figure. Sometimes the image was flat, wiry, schematic. Sometimes it had sculptural volumes, with plenty of ins and outs where ins and outs were called for. Only very rarely was a line crossed out, or a second thought as much as hinted at.” from an article in The New York Times
Want to try your hand at keeping a sketchbook? Here are a few articles to get you started:
The1901 Picasso sketch above was previously sold by The Court Gallery
Sandra Strait Reviews the Clairefontaine Graf-It Pads
We recently sent our friend Sandra Strait a Clairefontaine Graf-it pad to try out. She put this paper to the test by drawing in it with a multitude of different products including: pencil, colored pencil, alcohol markers, watercolors, drawing pens and more. Continue Readering »
Rhodia Pencils
Rhodia pencils are one of our best selling and most loved products. Signature orange over a black wood body of Linden wood, their triangular shape helps to keep them from rolling of your desk. They can be purchased individually or in boxes of 25 from select retailers.
The lead grade is HB – which happens to be the same #2 pencil that we all remember from filling out the little circles in the standardized tests of our childhood. Per Wiki: Many pencils across the world, and almost all in Europe, are graded on the European system using a continuum from “H” (for hardness) to “B” (for blackness), as well as “F” (for fine point).
Are you a fan of the Rhodia pencil?
Image courtesy of Chris Howard. Follow chrisa511 on Instagram
Marker Doodles.
Despite there being a plethora of marker brands out there, at some point the idea of a permanent marker became synonymous with Sharpie. I guess they managed to corner the marker market. (heh)
I mean, doesn’t everyone have at least 1 Sharpie in their house? For as long as I can remember, I’ve used these permanent markers pretty much exclusively for addressing packages. I do somewhat remember that one other brand that had the amazingly strong smell – and they’d squeak when you write on poster board with their chiseled nibs.
I mostly just use the black ones in a few varying sizes, but I do have a few other colors, including silver. I’ve tried their paint pens and “Bleedproof” pens but they didn’t really suit my needs.
Are you a Sharpie fan? Do you use them mostly around the house like me, or do you use them for art? for work? Bleedproof pens in your Webbie?
If you’ve never visited, Sharpie has a pretty cool blog.
Image courtesy of lizziewirgau via Instagram
Rhodia Mouse Pad Doodles
Multi-tasking devices are not just cool but also practical and the Rhodia Mouse Pad is an obvious choice. Acting as a cushion for your mouse and also a note/doodle/list/sketch pad – if you haven’t already tried one, we think you might like it.
30 sheets of 7 ½ x 9 “ 80g grid ruled Rhodia paper has a non-skid backing to stay where you put it.
Image courtesy of Ben Brown – follow ben_brownie on Instagram
If life is a bowl of cherries, draw them in your Webbie!
These cherries were drawn in a Webnotebook by my friend Sophie, my interwebs friend from way back (I think we met on the FPN) when I was first trying out those newfangled fountain pen devices.
I found this image in our Rhodia Drive group on Flickr and thought I would share since cherries are in season. Sweet and delicious, I can go through a whole bag, no problem. Except for the sour ones. Blech. Tried them for the first time last year, eeeeeew. Not for me. Continue Readering »
Mandala Doodling on a Rhodia dotPad
These days I work in lots of different kinds of art media but I still consider myself a doodler.
It was about 5 1/2 years ago that I first started doodling mandalas- a circular art form typically represented by concentric circular patterns radiating from the center outward. For the first 4 years I drew them almost constantly in sketchbooks, tablets, notebooks, etc., typically with a fountain pen or marker. Sometimes I’d draw up to ten in a single day just by sitting and doodling one after another… this became my meditation.
Do you doodle? Do you do it just to kill time/keep your hands occupied or do actually you make the time to do it?
