Pencils

Today's photo isn't new, and it isn't pointless.

It's memorial.



Sigh.

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Ok, back to pointless.

I had a bit of a weird moment the other day for an olf, and it concerned my -- well, I won't say vast collection, but there's plenty of them -- art pencils. I'm very fond of my art pencils, and I've been generally fussy about the way they've been kept. First of all, everything in its original case or container. Yes, even the blister-packed ones. I'd just peel open the top and keep the rest intact to hold the pencils. Second, everything had to be sharp. Note the past tense on that one because it's something I've got better about over the years. Even I had to eventually admit that oversharpening wastes an awful lot of material. Time was, though, that I couldn't even begin to make myself draw if every pencil in the set wasn't completely sharp.

Not obsessive at all, me.

So, yeah, I'd gotten over the need to spend hours sharpening things, but I was still carrying around a bunch of metal cases and blister packs any time I wanted to use a set of pencils. The other night, however, I had a very slight epiphany, which went as follows:

This is an awful lot of cases to carry around.
I bet it would be a lot less heavy if I weren't carrying these cases around.
Maybe I should stop carrying the cases around.

Sounds simple to most of you, I'm sure, but to me the thought of taking something pencilly out of its original packaging was akin to blasphemy. Shocking. Shocking enough, in fact, that I tried to make myself forget about the idea. Not carrying the cases? Ridiculous.




Or maybe not. The idea nagged at me to the point where I realised that maybe -- just maybe -- I should try taking my pencils out of their cases. Allow them a little freedom. Make them easier to cart around.

Last night I took the plunge.

I took the hot glue gun and some of my grandmother's sewing felt that I'd held onto for crafty things, and I made half a dozen simple pockets/rolls. AND I TOOK MY PENCILS OUT OF THEIR CASES.

And it didn't even feel weird, oddly enough.

Half a dozen cloth rolls allows me to still keep the sets separate, but should make it easier to store and haul them. And if it doesn't work... well, of course I've kept the cases. You can't just throw away the cases, after all.

A couple of observations from while I was deciding what should go where:

• I have a lot of money (and, erm, other people's money) invested in pencils.
• Apparently I like Derwent rather a lot. I think at this point they may owe me loyalty points.
• Water-soluble makes everything better. Graphite? Fine. Water-soluble graphite? Two pencils in one!...

Oh, and if anyone's curious as to the rundown, or if anyone out there is also an olf, here's the list of my rolls (or the roll of my lists? Whatever):

1. 12 Derwent watercolour pencils
2. 12 Derwent Graphitint & 3 Prismacolor water-soluble graphite pencils
3. 6 Derwent tinted charcoal & 4 Wolff's carbon pencils
4. 12 Derwent Inktense pencils
5. 12 Derwent water-soluble metallic pencils
6. 6 Conte crayons

There's also a set of 24 Derwent Aquatone pencils and a set of 24 Prismacolor Verithins, but I figured that sets that big may as well stay in their own cases.

You can't get rid of all of the cases.



I need to get back to work now, but I'll sheepishly admit that after I put the pencils in their new homes I did spend quite a while sharpening them. It's ok, though. It wasn't obsessive. It's just that some of the pencils were genuinely dull, and I figured I may as well take care of that en masse.

See? I'm an almost reformed pencil olf. That's coming a long way.



No, really.