Ninth Wave Designs

Alchemy Notebook XI: Artifact

The latest addition to the Alchemy Notebook series consists of a separate scrap of paper that relates to the pages in the notebook.  I have wanted to make something in this series to take advantage of the back pocket in the sketchbook, so that there would be a loose element to carry around with the notebook itself.  I wanted to create something that answers the question "What has it got in its pocketses?"

I created this artifact on the same paper as the Moleskine classic sketchbook paper, taking a sheet from a second notebook I have just for the purpose of removing the pages.  I used liquid acrylic inks and watercolor colored pencils, and worked on both sides of the page.  I wanted it to have the look of a page taken from a book that had been handled over time - folded, wrinkled, and with some of the contents of the page missing around the edges.

As this project continues, the story in my mind has evolved with the imagery.  I find that I am creating a visual storyline, and as the artwork progresses I learn more about what this collection of images means as a whole.  I'm not sure where this story is going, but I am enjoying the journey.

You can see all the images from the Alchemy Notebook in the NWD gallery HERE, and on Flickr HERE.

Palomino Pencil Update

I recently added several items from California Republic's Palomino Pencil line to the Ninth Wave Designs Online store.  The Palomino HB Pencils with eraser tops are back in stock, and you can now get a sampler set of assorted grades of the Palomino pencils as well.  Here's what I have to offer the pencil enthusiast in search of the ultimate writing and sketching tool:

• Palomino HB Pencil Set with Eraser Tops: Six HB pencils with erasers.
• Palomino Assorted Grade Six Pencil Set: Six Palomino Pencils - 1 each of H, 2H, B, 2B & 2 each of HB.
• Palomino HB & 2B Mixed Grade Pencil Set with Hwa Rang Eraser: Six Palomino Pencils - 3 HB (blue) & 3 2B (orange), teamed up with the finest eraser I have found - the Hwa Rang eraser from Korea.
• Palomino HB Pencil Set: Six HB Palomino Pencils - these are the pencils that started it all for California Republic.

I continue to search for the best pencils for writing and sketching for my own use, and have tried several different brands since writing the Frakenpencil piece - including the Mirado Black Warrior #1, The Sanford Mirado #1, and the Faber-Castell Grip 2001.  None of these pencils compares to the smoothness of the Palomino pencil, not even the Black Warrior which makes this bold claim - "The World's Smoothest Writing Pencil - Guaranteed!"  If you enjoy the simple pleasure of a good writing and drawing pencil and you haven't tried Palomino pencils yet, you owe it to yourself to experience the difference.

Palomino pencils are available at the NWD online store HERE.

Quotes For Your Notebook: Jeanette Winterson

I have just finished reading Jeanette Winterson's latest book entitled Weight: The Myth of Atlas and Heracles.  This book is part of a publisher's series called The Myths, which consists of various authors retelling a myth of their choice in a contemporary voice.  Other authors in the series include Karen Armstong (mentioned in THIS earlier post) and Margaret Atwood, whose book The Penelopiad I have waiting in the wings.

This addition to the Quotes For Your Notebook section comes from the introduction to the book:

"I believe there is always exposure, vulnerability, in the writing process, which is not to say it is either confessional or memoir. Simply, it is real."

In the retelling of the ancient Greek myth of Atlas and Heracles Ms. Winterson has accomplished something that I did not anticipate when beginning this book.  She has woven into her retelling an aspect of a particular myth of my childhood that I didn't realize needed retelling as well.  Three quarters of the way into this story she introduces the Russian space dog Laika, and interlaces that small dog's story with that of the great Titan Atlas.

Space travel was a larger-than-life factor in the mythos of my childhood, and I was familiar with the story of Laika's trip into space as part of that myth.  The story I read in grade school never mentioned that she died during her mission, but I knew without being told.  For some reason all of the great expansive American optimism associated with our early space program, contrasted with my instinctive sense of Laika's cruel claustrophobic end, generated a deep conflict in my young mind that is still with me.  Winterson has unexpectedly found a way to address my early established deep sense of suspicion, and offers a balm with these words:  "Laika was free."

I am thankful for Jeanette Winterson's willingness for exposure and vulnerability in her writing, in this book as well as her others. To paraphrase Winterson:  I want to read the story again.