Ninth Wave Designs

Pencil Monkey: Diastema's Flickr Photoset

I came across this picture, entitled Easily Distracted, in the highly entertaining Flickr account belonging to photographer Diastema.  Since it features a Staedtler Mars Lumograph pencil I figured it was almost close enough to being on topic to mention it here.  On topic or not, these photos are worth seeing.
 

This great image is part of a much larger (284 images and growing) photoset entitled Toys, which in standard Flickr frittering-of-time style has distracted me this morning.  This collection of photographs involves any number of small plastic animals in colorful and curious settings, and is nothing short of a visual treat.  I recommend viewing this set using the "View as Slideshow" option and leaving it to run in a continual loop in the background of your computer desktop.   That way you will have an animated wallpaper running throughout the day, with little visual treats between opening and closing programs.  It will be your own personal box of visual Good & Fruity.  Don't forget to brush afterwards!

For a smaller, more concentrated dose of visual goodness, see also her Circus Ursus Maritimus set HERE.  The plastic polar bears are mesmerizing - I could look at these photos all day long!  It is amazing to me how much emotion she is able to capture in these images of small inanimate objects.  Distema's work is one of the things that makes Flickr such a great place - there is always something new to discover when you should be doing something work related instead.

Enjoy!

Free Forest Choice Pencils!

I am running a special on the  Ninth Wave Designs Online store starting today.  You will receive a free box of 12 Forest Choice pencils made by California Republic (MSRP $2.95) when you buy the following pocket size Moleskine notebooks:

• Classic Pocket Info Notebook with Tabbed Pages.
• Classic Pocket Sketchbook with Heavy-weight Pages
• Classic Pocket Japanese Album
• Classic Small Memo Pockets
• Classic Pocket Storyboard Notebook
• Classic Pocket Music Notebook
• Classic Pocket Address Book with Tabbed Pages

You will get one dozen pencils free with each notebook purchased from the list above.  The pencils will automatically be added to your order.  You can see the detailed descriptions of these notebook styles in the Ninth Wave Design Online store HERE.  Forest Choice pencils are manufactured by California Republic, and are made from certified California incense cedar.  This renewable source of cedar is certified by the Forest Stewardship Council, making for an environmentally responsible product.  They have a natural wood finish, with eraser tops in a metallic green ferrule.  You can read a detailed review of these pencils on the Pencil Revolution blog HERE.  This offer is limited to orders with US shipping destinations.

Forest Choice pencils are a great all-purpose pencil and write well on the pages of Moleskine notebooks.  Take this opportunity to get these great pencils with one of the creative formats of Moleskine notebooks listed above.  This is a limited offer, with just a few sets of pencils available, so make your purchase early to qualify.  I will update this post to let you know when all the available sets of pencils are gone.

UPDATE 11/1/06: This promotion has ended.

Pink Sky Blue: Moleskine Watercolor Notebook Pages

The image above is a page from my pocket size Moleskine Reporter Watercolor notebook - a painting I named "Pink Sky Blue" that I made for a friend's birthday.  I made the painting using a great new set of watercolor pencils that I got for my birthday, made by Derwent, called Graphitint.  The cores of these watercolor colored pencils are a combination of graphite and pigment.  The result of this combination is a nice moody color range that I love working with - you can use these pencils dry for a graphite effect with just a hint of color to it, or add water with a brush to bring out more of the color as I did in this painting.  The pencils have a nice rich pigmentation when used with water, and a thick creamy consistency.  They are a real pleasure to work with, and combine well with my usual Prismacolor watercolor pencils, offsetting that brighter color range.  I removed the page from the watercolor notebook when I was finished, and trimmed the corners on the perforated edge to match the others.

The title of the painting is taken from the title of my friend's music CD that was released in 2004.  Hope and I have been friends for over 20 years, and this CD is a culmination of many years she has spent working at songwriting and music.  I don't think you truly know someone until you have heard them sing, and I was really pleased that Pink Sky Blue gave me an opportunity to get to know another side of my friend through her music. Happy Birthday Hope!

You can hear some clips from Hope Alane's Pink Sky Blue CD HERE, and read more about it HERE. 

Pink Sky Blue is available on iTunes HERE (you may need to pre-launch iTunes to access link).

Speaking of birthdays - The NWD blog is a year old and counting.  I missed the actual day - July 25th - completely.  So it is a happy belated birthday to the blog - I trust it won't feel too overlooked!

Moleskine Reporter Appreciation Day

The Large Plain Moleskine Reporter notebook has been a bit underappreciated by the Ninth Wave Designs online store customers.  Since its release last year it has lagged behind its Ruled and Squared counterparts in popularity, and this has me a bit surprised.  I see the Moleskine Reporter format to be an important innovation, but if my sales figures can be used as a gauge, this format has been slow to catch on.

I find the Reporter notebook format to be the most adaptable Moleskine format currently made, and among the Reporter notebooks the plain paged version is even more adaptable.  You can write in the large plain Report in either direction, or in any direction for that matter.  The cover flips over the binding around the back for a true Jimmy Olsen Moleskine experience, or when turned horizontally makes for a very different format for writing and drawing.  This kind of versatility is what made the Moleskine Plain Reporter the inspiration for the Pig Pog PDA, and is certainly up to the task of meeting your unique note keeping needs.  For the creative notebook keeper that knows no bounds this format is a must.

In order to tempt you into trying a Large Plain Reporter notebook I have put together a special offer for readers of the NWD blog.  I recently acquired some vintage Eagle "Chemi-Sealed" Reporter 300 pencils.  These are pencils that were specially designed with the reporter in mind.  Here is how they are described on the packaging:

"STENOGRAPHERS AND REPORTERS have long approved the thin diameter and special lead of these superb pencils.  For added service, they are now made by Eagle's exclusive new super bonding process which gives you:

STRONGER POINTS . . . Lead and wood are welded into a solid unit that effectively resists point breakage.

SMOOTHER LEADS . . . Every particle of graphite glides swiftly and effortlessly on a film of sealed-in lubricant.

LONGER WEAR . . . Super-refined ingredients and freedom from broken points add extra miles of line from every lead."

I have a limited number of these pencils available, and will include one pencil free with each Moleskine Large Plain Reporter purchased using the PayPal button below.  You can then see for yourself how useful this notebook format is, and at the same time have the singular experience of using a vintage pencils designed especially for a reporters needs.  The Reporter pencil meets the Reporter notebook - a perfect match.  These are great vintage pencils, in collector's condition, and haven't been produced in years.  These double ended pencils provide an additional sharpened point so that you can keep writing as fast as the information flies.

Make your purchase using the button below to receive your free Eagle Reporter 300 pencil with the purchase of a Moleskine Large Plain Reporter notebook.  This button will add your purchase to the Ninth Wave Designs online shopping cart, and can be combined with other items in the NWD online store HERE.  Shopping cart checkout is for US orders only - international orders can be arranged by emailing through the NWD store.

If the PayPal button is missing from this listing then I have run out of free pencils for this offer.  You can still buy the Moleskine Large Plain Reporter notebook HERE.

UPDATE 11/1/06: This promotion has ended.

Love Triangle Update

I have a late arrival for the Love Triangle pencil comparison, the Lyra Osiris 45100.  I found these a few days after the original post and find that they are a very nice addition to the triangular pencils I use.  They have a nice yellow lacquer finish, similar to the California Republic Golden Bears, but do not have a finished end cap as the Golden Bear does. They are made from good solid wood that appears to be cedar, and are more substantial than the Grip 2001 and the impossible to find Mars Ergosoft.  They have a very similar feel to the Golden Bears, but a better graphite core.  The graphite in the Osiris is dry compared to my still favorite Staedtler Noris Ergosoft, but isn't as hard and light as the Golden Bear.  For me the Osiris will be a good second to the Noris, for times when I want a slightly tighter line.

One element I didn't cover in the original Love Triangle post was the element of cost.  Some of you may want to have pencils of varying price ranges for different uses, such as economy priced pencils for work or school where you are more apt to lose them.  To this end here is the estimated price break-down on the triangular pencils I have compared - yours prices may vary:

• Ticonderoga Tri-Write 2/HB with eraser: 18 - 25 cents each.
• California Republic Golden Bear HB: 20 cents each.
• Lyra Osiris 45100:  37 cents each.
• Dixon Tri-Conderoga 2/HB with eraser (large diameter):  35 - 40 cents each.
• Mongol Trio with eraser (large diameter): 42 cents each.
• Staedtler Noris Ergosoft HB 2: 80 cents each.
• Faber-Castell Grip 2001 2=B: 75 - 85 cents each.
• Faber-Castell Jumbo Grip: $1.54 each.

If you want an all-around comfortable pencil that you won't care if you lose it, then the Ticonderoga Tri-Write is a bargain. If you up your budget a little bit you can have a very nice writing pencil with the Osiris for less than twice the price of the Tri-Write, and for double the price of the Osiris you can take a leap in graphite quality with the Staedtler Noris Ergosoft.

What is missing from this selection is a high end triangular pencil.  With the news from California Republic that there are no plans to release the Palomino in a triangular version, I am left to invent another dream pencil.  My current fancy for the ultimate triangular pencil would be a Tombow Mono Professional in HB or B grade with a sleek black finish.  The black lacquer with cream and gold on the Tombow Mono is luxurious, and it has a nice thick end-cap.  This would be a beautiful pencil in triangular form as well.  Although there is yet to be a high quality addition to the triangular pencil trend, and no indication that there ever will be, I think the Tombow Mono would make a likely candidate for such an innovation.

You can read the original Love Triangle post HERE.

PALOMINO Pencils: Back in the Corral

Palomino Pencils are now back in stock in the Ninth Wave Designs online store.  You can see the current selection HERE. 

Due to the influx of pencil enthusiasts generated by last week's Boing Boing feature, there was a wild stampede of Palominos that left the NWD pencil corral all but empty.  The tumble weeds didn't blow through long though, and now you can order these excellent pencils and write tall in the saddle again. 

Okay, enough of that - I think I have stretched that metaphor as thin as it can go!

Love Triangle

Pencils have changed very little over the years, at least in their outward appearance.  They are still the same length as they have always been, give or take the presence of an eraser, and a pencil made 100 years ago could easily be mistaken for one made yesterday.  Triangular pencils are a big innovation then compared with all the years of stability in outward design, and rather than being just a novelty item they seem to be growing in popularity.   I am excited by these new triangular pencils - as excited as one can get about pencils anyway.  The shift from hexagonal shape to triangular shape is a wonderful functional improvement, a major jump forward in the slow evolution of pencil design, and it has me trying out a bunch of new pencils.

I love the feel of a triangular pencil in my hand; it just fits so much better.  I also have issues with tendonitis from years of drawing, so the improved ergonomics of the triangular shaped barrel is something I really appreciate as well.  From a geometric perspective the new barrel shape, which I recently learned is not actually a triangle but a curve of constant width known as a Reuleaux  Triangle.  The fact that this shape does not have a fixed center of rotation means that triangular pencils don't roll off your desk as easily as a hexagonal pencil, which is another nice feature of the design.

I have been using a variety of triangular pencils lately to find the best one in the lot for my own use. They include:

• Dixon Tri-Conderoga 2/HB with eraser.
• Mongol Trio with eraser.
• Faber-Castell Jumbo Grip.
• Faber-Castell Grip 2001 2=B (available in other grades).
• Staedtler Mars Ergosoft HB (available in other grades).
• Staedtler Noris Ergosoft HB 2.
• California Republic Golden Bear HB.
• Ticonderoga Tri-Write 2/HB with eraser.

The first three pencils on the list are large diameter pencils designed for small children.  I was unable to track down the Staedtler Noris Learner's pencil which is another larger diameter triangular pencil that I wanted to try, but they don't seem to be available in the US any longer.  I like the large diameter pencils for sketching, since they are even more comfortable to hold than the smaller versions, but they may be too large for most people, and they require a special size pencil sharpener (the Tri-Conderoga comes with a sharpener for that purpose).

These three pencils all have a very similar feel to the graphite, so none of them exceed the others on that front.  The Tri-Conderoga has a  black "grippy" finish to it that makes it easy to hold without feeling sticky and the Grip 2001 which features raised textured dots.  The Mongol Trio has a nice semi-gloss natural finish that isn't slick at all.  Each of these finishes works well with the large format triangular barrel, adding to the ergonomic comfort of using these pencils.  When it comes down to choosing one over the other for these three pencils it will be a matter of subtle preference; do you want an eraser - do you like the color - do you prefer the finish.  My choice is the Dixon Tri-Conderoga because of the construction of the pencil.  Even though I prefer the little dots on the Jumbo Grip, the wood used by Faber-Castell to make these pencils is not cedar, but some other very light-weight wood that makes it feel insubstantial to me.  The cedar of the Tri-Conderoga sharpens very well compared to the Jumbo Grip, and gives a better overall feeling to the pencil. The Dixon and the Mongol pencil are very similar but I prefer the style of the Dixon over the Mongol.  Additionally, the Dixon Tri-Conderoga is much easier to find in stores in America.

The five other pencils on the list are all regular sized and of similar grades of graphite.  The Mars Ergosoft and the Staedtler Ergosoft pencils have the best graphite in my experience; with the other pencils having good but not excellent writing qualities.  The Golden Bear HB doesn't match my hexagonal Golden Bears for graphite quality, lacking the smoothness I have come to expect from California Republic. It's not bad graphite, just not as smooth as it should be.

The finish on these pencils is varried, with the two Staedtler pencils have the same "grippy" rubberized finish, the Grip 2001 having the same dot grips as its larger version, and the Tri-Write and the Golden Bear having a traditional lacquer finish.  Of the last two the Golden Bear has the best finish, with a nice thick orange lacquer with a blue endcap.  I like the rubberized finish of the Staedtlers and the dots of the Grip 2001 over the lacquer, but if you have a tendency for sweaty hands these may not work as well for you.

The wood of the Grip 2001 and the Mars Ergosoft are lighter than I like, as I mentioned above, with the Mars pencil being so light that it seems to be made from Balsa wood.  The Mars Ergosoft is nearly impossible to find, but it would be nice to have the choice of graphite grades that it offers available with the Noris as well.  The Noris Ergosoft, Tri-Write and Golden Bear are all made from more substantial wood, and fit my liking better.  As with the larger pencils, your choice among these may depend on subtle preferences, but based on graphite and quality I prefer the Staedtler Noris Ergosoft over the others.  I like the look of the design as well, with the black and yellow stripes and the distinct red end cap.

Let me know if there are any good triangular pencils I missed or if you have anything to add on the pencils discussed in this post.

UPDATE: 7/14/06 You can read part two to this post 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.

Moleskine Traveler & Pencils: Put A Lid On It!

I want to share this little tidbit with readers of NWD, not because I think this is particularly clever, but because it is a simple but useful little trick.  If you are an owner of a Moleskine Traveler notebook case, or have a carrier case with similarly designed pen slots you may want to try this.  I have always had trouble carrying real pencils with me away from home - if you put a nice sharp pencil in one of these types of pen slots the points usually end up poking through the fabric, or the pencil point breaks off.

Many years ago you could get these nice metal caps to protect your pencil points.  They are now collectible, and can be hard to find and a bit pricey.  There are some inexpensive plastic ones available as well, but what could be less expensive than recycling?  For those of us who don't want to invest in the Graf von Faber-Castell Perfect Pencil set, here's a suggestion: recycle your empty Pilot G2 pen.  Sure it will never have the same executive class as the Perfect Pencil, but you can feel good about saving money AND for finding a use for something you would otherwise throw away.

I took apart an empty Pilot G2 pen and am now using it as a point guard for carrying pencils in my case.  I slide the top half of the G2 pen case over the point of my pencil, and the clip on the pen top holds the pencil in place in the pen slot of my Traveler case. It is possible to wedge the pencil tip inside the pen cap so that it holds snug to the pencil, but the best thing about this scenario is that it covers the pencil point, keeping it from breaking off in transit.  You can see in the picture that the G2 pen top has a red knob on it - I swapped that piece out from a red Pilot G2 to distinguish it from the G2 pens that I carry in the same case.  That way I know which is the actual pen and which is the pencil at a glance.  This has worked very well for carrying pencils in my Moleskine Traveler case, and may also work for you in other types of pen slots or using other disposable pen pieces as well.  Let me know how this works for you.

You can see my store listings for Moleskine Traveler Gift Sets and cases HERE.

Frankenpencil

I have tried out a few new pencils lately, part of my continual search for the one pencil that seems just right to me.  I have been very happy with the Palominos made by California Republic (as blogged about earlier HERE), and even though they have the best graphite I have found since the Blackwing 602, they lack a certain, well, sense of style.  The bright orange color, although definitely distinctive, is a little too loud for my liking. The design of the Blackwing 602 is as cool as it gets when it comes to pencils, and even though ultimately the important thing is how it writes, I find I'm still longing for a pencil that looks as good as it writes.

I have been piecing together the perfect pencil in my mind lately, exhuming the parts from the assortment of good pencils I regularly use to create the ultimate writing tool.  In order to create the perfect all-around pencil I first need to harvest a few parts.  My goal here is a pencil that would be highly functional for day-to-day use, comfortable for writing for longer periods of time, and not too specialized (i.e., it doesn't also have to be the best sketching pencil).

The graphite core needs to be a California Republic Palomino HB grade.  I would also keep the same Cal Cedar wood from the Palomino, but loose the orange lacquer.  The Palominos have a very nice professionally done finish, but I find the high finish to be a bit slippery at times.

There are plans to add an eraser to the Palominos, but I have yet to sample the new erasers.  Judging from the erasers on the Golden Bears from California Republic they work well, but I would skip the orange and blue colors.  Also, I find the Golden Bear erasers are a tad on the greasy side, although better than your average pencil eraser.  I started using the oversize Dixon Tri-Conderoga, and these are a great pencil.  The graphite is almost as nice as the Palomino and they have a nice clean working black colored eraser on them.  These erasers work very well, are not smudgy or greasy, and are a nice shade of black.  Here's a place to find some style, so my Frankenpencil would have the Dixon black eraser on it.

I recently bought a 2 dozen pack of regular hexagonal Ticonderoga Black pencils at Wal Mart.  These have a really nice satin finish to them, it isn't the rubberized finish like the larger format Tri-Conderogas which is nice, but can get a little sticky feeling with use. I find that I love the feel of the Ticonderoga Black; it is smooth but easy to grip.  So, I would add the satin finish from this pencil to my creation, and while I'm at it, I'll keep the black color as well.

Now for the shape of the barrel: The triangular barrel of the Ticonderoga Tri-Write has always been the most comfortable for me.  The larger barrel thickness of the Tri-Conderoga is good, but I prefer the smaller diameter.  I prefer a triangular barrel to the hexagonal, and round barrels tend to roll away, so I would harvest the barrel shape from the Tri-Write for my Frankenpencil.

As for the ferrule I suggest something simple.  The ferrule design of the Blackwing was it's Achilles' heel, so I will avoid over complicating the ferrule as it could lead to an untimely demise. A triangular pencil definitely needs a triangular ferrule though, unlike the round one on the Tri-Write.

Now, how about a cool name?  In that department the Blackwing and the Black Warrior have always reigned, and don't forget the Black Velvet.  The Black Warrior is a pencil with a cool name, but I find the graphite core to be scratchy.  How they get away with claiming they are "The World's Smoothest Writing Pencil" on the package, I'll never know.  The Pink Pearl eraser that comes on the Black Warrior is very good, but the addition of the double heart logo to the pencil barrel is a definite killer of cool.  I would keep the "black" part of the name for my Frankenpencil, but what to use for the second part of the name?  Well, we will just have to hire a marketing team for that.

Here's a summary of the pencil parts:

• Graphite Core: Palomino HB.
• Slats: Cal Cedar.
• Eraser: Dixon Ticonderoga Black eraser.
• Finish: Black satin finish from the Dixon Ticonderoga Black.
• Barrel Shape: Triangular barrel from Ticonderoga Tri-Write.
• Ferrule: Triangular.  Something simple yet nice, with as much style as possible without threatening the longevity of the pencil production.
• Name: Black Something; I'll have to get back to you on this. Or what about "Noir"?

I don't expect I will ever find a pencil that possesses all the qualities I have stitched together here, but it is fun to dream of the perfect pencil. In reality what is perfect would vary from person to person and job to job, so it would be impossible to accomplish this for everyone.  Until my Frankenpencil is given life by a pencil manufacturer (It's alive, it's aliiiiiive!), I will just have to be happy with the variety of pencils I have on hand.