u/Big_Manufacturer_77

CRAYOLA 100 YEARS OF COLOUR 100 BOX

Arranged in blocks of 16, similar to the inner cartons.

All names in lower case, as per labels

sky blue, blue green, cadet blue, turquoise blue, aquamarine, robin’s egg blue, periwinkle, wild blue yonder, cornflower, cerulean, navy blue, midnight blue, pacific blue, denim, indigo, blue

salmon, tickle me pink, red, razzmatazz, brick red, maroon, violet red, lavender, jazzberry jam, fuchsia, purple pizzazz, hot magenta, cerise, magenta, red violet, blush

carnation pink, shocking pink, wild strawberry, mauvelous, red orange, orange, mango tango, scarlet, yellow orange, vivid tangerine, outrageous orange, apricot, macaroni and cheese, melon, atomic tangerine, peach

yellow, dandelion, laser lemon, spring green, goldenrod, green yellow, tumbleweed, burnt sienna, burnt orange, bittersweet, tan, brown, mahogany, chestnut, sepia, raw sienna

blue violet, royal purple, eggplant, plum, purple mountains’ majesty, violet (purple), orchid, wisteria, forest green, shamrock, sea green, granny smith apple, caribbean green, inchworm, jungle green, yellow green

green, asparagus, pine green, tropical rain forest, olive green, timberwolf, grey, white, black, copper, gold, silver

Gel FX (not named): yellow, green, blue, pink

Metallic:

metallic sunburst, illuminating emerald, steel blue, big dip o’ ruby

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I'd like to say that was a lot of fun, but it wasn't, so I won't. 😄

There'd better be a big cash prize for doing this. 😂

I thought it was time to take stock (no pun intended) of the pencils I have, more so since I keep saying I’m not a collector and only buy to use.

Keep in mind, I’ve never bulk bought, but I’ll usually buy a box of 12 at a time of a useful grade, or a set of however many is in the range.

I’ve not included coloured pencils here, only graphite, nor have I included things I don’t use, or stubs. I included the automatics, because even though I don’t really get along with them, I do use the things from time to time. Also, leads were omitted because they’re not a strictly functional item without the respective devices.

Currently in use/default go-to pencils:

35 wood case, mainly Staedtler, either Mars Lumograph or Tradition, plus Tombow and Venus, various grades from 4H to 6B

11 leadholders, Staedtler, Platignum, Faber Castell, loaded with various grades

Sets:

24 Mars Lumograph

12 Faber Castell 9000

22 Mitsubishi Hi Uni

Stock (spares etc):

9 Venus (Berol) HB

11 Mars Lumograph F

11 Mars Lumograph B

11 Mars Lumograph 3B

15 Mars Lumograph HB

9 Staedtler pure graphite

9 Tombow Mono 100 HB

Others:

8 automatic, different brands, all loaded with HB

Total:

261

I guess that’s a reasonable amount for an artist, and no doubt far short of many other pencil fans here. At least, now I feel I don’t need help with any kind of addiction. Probably.

In a few recent posts, I’ve mentioned how some pencils feel thicker or thinner in the hand, and I wanted to reassure myself that I’m not going soft(er) in the head with old age, so I grabbed my bunch of “in use” pencils, my trusty electric caliper and started measuring ‘em.

Yes, I know, what a fascinating life I lead…

As mentioned, I’ve only bothered with the ones I use, specifically wood cased pencils. Mechanical of any kind aren’t included, for what should be obvious reasons. I also omitted the various oddments, novelty pencils and whatnot I’ve accumulated.

All measured in approximately the same place on each pencil, avoiding printed and stamped areas as much as possible, and from one flat face to the other, to be as consistent as possible.

I can tell you’re all at fever pitch now, but please contain your excitement. Here we go:

Staedtler Mars Lumograph 6.96mm

Staedtler Tradition (UK) 6.94mm

Staedtler Tradition (UK) “left handed” print 6.94mm

Staedtler Tradition (Germany) 6.89mm

Venus (Berol UK) 7.00mm

Faber Castell 9000 6.83mm

Tombow Mono 100 7.10mm

Mitsubishi Hi-Uni 7.20mm

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Riveting stuff, huh?

If nothing else, it shows just how sensitive people can be to slight changes. Chances are, if I used Castell 9000 exclusively for a few days, I’d stop noticing the difference, but as it goes when I’m back and forth between several different types, it sticks out like a penguin in the desert.

Oddly enough, the thicker ones (Tombow and Mitsubishi) don’t seem as weird in my hand as the Castell 9000, which seem oddly skinny, even though there’s only a 0.13mm difference from the Lumographs.

Anyway, like the proverbial broken pencil, I guess it’s pointless but I was curious.

Finally, if you don’t care for metric measurements, Calculator Soup has a bunch of good converters to change ‘em all to old money.

I have an electric sharpener, bought years ago to sharpen the childrens' pencils, since sharpening eleventy thousand million billion of the things every hour was making my hands ache. It's not bad, not the best, but does the job. Jakar, if anyone's interested. AC operated, since I read almost everywhere that battery sharpeners aren't up to the job.

Anyway, despite it being a quick and easy way to sharpen the things, there's no way on Earth I'd let it loose on my drawing pencils. Not that it chews them up, but oh my, the long point!

I only ever use pencils for drawing and the long point this produces - and favoured by many here for writing - really give me the heebie jeebies. I much prefer the regular point produced by a manual sharpener but, as I'm sure you know, many of those are hot trash. I had a few really good fairly inexpensive ones for years, but time and use means they went dull eventually, and replacement blades were hard to come by.

After a long and disappointing search I ended up with one of those Trio tub things by Faber Castell. Does exactly what I want, has a blunter cone for coloured pencils and generally works a treat.

So far, so good but...

Is there an electric out there that will do a similar job without breaking the bank? I'm retired and have limited means, so I really can't afford, nor justify splashing out on a super duper expensive piece of kit.

Apologies if this offends anyone but honestly, I'm just not getting it with these. I bought a set of 12 to try, since many people use them. I've been using Mars Lumograph for years and years, but I thought it may be worthwhile to check Faber's offering.

First thing I noticed is the grades are slightly different from Staedtler's. Faber's HB is a fraction harder than Staedtler (either Lumograph or Tradition - I don't use Noris/Norica/Whatever). Fair enough, I guess, but that will throw me out over the course of a drawing.

Next thing - and this may seem strange - they make my hand cramp up after a while. I don't know what that's all about but I suspect they're a tiny bit narrower than Staedtler. I'm not a fan of big chunky pencils or pens, but these really feel like trying to draw with a needle compared to what I'm used to using. It may not be much, but the feel in my hand is completely different.

Oddly enough, I can swap between a Gibson Les Paul with a fat chunky neck and a Fender Telecaster with a narrow neck with much less difficulty. And a Strat, for that matter, yet they're all completely different.

I'm also not keen on the semi matt/matte finish, either. I've used Staedtler for so long that anything else feels *wrong*, at least to me.

Overall quality is good, however; they're well finished and look great. I haven't sharpened any yet, and I suspect it will be a while before I do, since I'm currently back to using Staedtler. For the time I used them, the lead consistency is good, as I'd expect.

I'll put the Faber's to a proper test on a new project, some time in the future.

Please note, I'm not saying the Castell 9000 are in any way bad, but they don't seem to be right for me, at least at the moment.

These are about 63 years old, from a set I got as a Christmas present. Lakeland by Cumberland, from a pack of 12.

The giraffe drawing isn't my work, by the way; that's on the cover of the drawing book I used for the photo.

https://preview.redd.it/nv7bc7iwl1gh1.jpg?width=3000&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=cf60db1c4a210a10337b0a71af00c732938fc706

Here are some of the things I still use to this day. The lead holders and orange box of leads are from 1971, so 55 years old.

The top box of Staedtler leads are a shade younger, about 53 years old, and the one below that is from the mid to late 80s, so 40-odd years old.

The camera flash bleached out the image a touch, but the bottom lead holder is a definite red, not the pink shade shown here.

Sadly, the company no longer exists but these holders are still going strong and still used after all this time. If I ever find more of these lead holders at a reasonable price, I'll snap them up.

I included the Staedtler boxes to show how their logo changed over time, and as you'll know, it's now different again.

https://preview.redd.it/jc5lsopk3ofh1.jpg?width=3000&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=8ee3313e2d5ff2775348b01868897544aed82741

https://preview.redd.it/x6wxlopk3ofh1.jpg?width=3000&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=8f2c6218a5453f82b37c34f522355053c769fc2f