1. What is the pencil they’ll have to pry out of your cold, dead hands?

My Prismacolors . The new ones, the vintage ones and all the ones in between. Prismas make me happy. Sure, they break easily and shatter often. Sometimes. The core aren’t always centered but oh. The colors are so good. And when they work, they are the yardstick by which I measure the quality of all other colored pencils.

There are other pencils you would have to fight me for as well like my NoBlots, my Pantone Colored pencils and my collection of vintage red/blue pencils.

2. What’s your guilty pleasure pencil?

I have so many guilty pleasure pencils I can fill multiple cigar boxes with them. I love custom stamped pencils — especially if they have pithy messages on them. I love tourism pencils that are from specific places (often found in museum gift shops and such). I love advertising pencils, bullet pencils, vintage pencils and pencils from other countries. In general, I think my graphite pencil collection is 100% a guilty pleasure.

3. What’s the pencil you wish existed?

Good mechanical colored pencils. I want a creamy, saturated pigment core with a maximum diameter of 0.8mm that doesn’t break easily. I love having a colored mechanical pencil for travel and outdoor drawing adventures.

4. What pencil would you give to a new enthusiast?

For graphite pencils, any modern Japanese pencil from Tombow Mono or Uni-Mitsubishi Hi-Uni. They feel beautiful in the hand and write beautifully. Pencils do not have to be scratchy, gritty objects that people remember from grade school.

For colored pencils, I would recommend the Caran d’Ache Bi-Color in red and blue. Its creamy and luscious and its water soluble too. Its a great gateway into bi-color pencils AND colored pencils.

5. What pencil do you want to get along with but it just never clicked?

I know lots of people love the Uni Kuru Toga pencils. I appreciate the idea of a self-rotating mechanical pencil but I must be too fidgety because I don’t get the experience. I am not yucking someone else’s yum but this pencil is more technology than I need in a pencil.

6. What pencil do you keep only because it’s pretty?

I have some fancy designed pencils from Louise Fili. They are not the best tools but OOOH! the packaging and lettering is fantastic!

7. What pencil did you buy because everyone else did?

Not to parrot Tina but I also found the Irojiten colored pencils a bit overrated. I knew I wasn’t going to love them going into the purchase because I had heard they were harder cores, the pencils are all white except the end caps which are dipped to indicate the color which is a pet peeve of mine. Colored pencils benefit from being colored from top to bottom. It makes them easier to identify quickly.

8. What pencil is over your head or just baffles you?

Pretty much any pencil, particularly mechanical pencils, that have the gel grip section really makes me wonder. I wonder why pencils more often feature this grippy grip section than pens. And I also wonder why do we need this?

9. What pencil surprised you?

Magic pencils! I bought my first on a whim and fell in love with them. I prefer the classic red-yellow-blue Magic pencils over any of the other color combinations. The shades in the Koh-i-noor Magic pencils is the perfect shades of color and blend to create really uniquely. Thanks, Milton Glaser, for the inspiration too!

10. What pencil do you love in theory but not in practice?

Please don’t hate me, Tina! I want to love the Caran d’Ache Luminance colored pencils but I find the cores a bit too big. They feel like a jumbo pencil in my tiny little hands. They also don’t fit in my regular pencil sharpeners and they are SOOOOO expensive. I have a few and they are fantastic cores but I just don’t reach for them very often. The best way to try these is to visit a local art supply shop like Dick Blick and buy just a couple to try rather than buying a large box set.

11. What’s your favorite vintage pencil? And 12. What’s the pencil that got away?

The last two question, for me, are really the same question for me. Sanford NoBlots are my favorite vintage pencil and the ones that got away. I got my first (and last) full box of Sanford NoBlots on Amazon for about $15 about 15 years ago. It was 100% an accident. At the time I didn’t really know anything about NoBlots but they looked cool and $15 for 12 pencils was a steal no matter what they were. Well, by the time I figured out that I had the amazing indelible “ink” pencils, the dealer who was selling them on Amazon was sold out. Had I known what they were, I would have bought every box that was still available.

To be honest, this list is only slightly different than my Top 10 Pencils post from a couple years ago. Clearly, my tastes have not changed much.

Okay, now its your turn!

DISCLAIMER: Some items included in this review were provided free of charge by JetPens for the purpose of review. Other items in this post include affiliate links. The Well-Appointed Desk is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon. Please see the About page for more details.

The post #12PencilQuestions appeared first on The Well-Appointed Desk.

The most recent limited edition Kurutoga Studio Ghibili Mechanical Pencils ($14 each) were a must-buy for me. I had to choose between the Totoro, Spirited Away and Kiki’s Delivery Service designs but who was I kidding? A pink barrel with Jiji printing on it was always going to be the winner.

Kurutoga pencils are popular for the self-turning lead function. Everytime you lift up the lead rotates slightly. I am a compulsive pencil turner because I did not grow up with this self-turning feature so I am not sure I really notice the advantage of this. Especially with the thin 0.5mm leads, I am not sure how beneficial self-turning mechanical leads are.

As a lefty, I still smear what I draw when I use standard graphite lead. I know there are some less-smeary options available but for this review I used the lead that shipped with the pencil. It was nice and dark and reasonably soft but that, of course, meant it would also be easy to smudge.

There is a teeny tiny eraser under the cap on the end of the pencil but I prefer to use a nice block eraser when I use one but its always nice to have something to use in a pinch.

If you like inner-child-inspiring graphics on your mechanical pencil, I can’t recommend this more highly. I get a wave of delight every time I pull this pencil out of my daily carry case. I know folks love the Kurutoga self-rotating ability but this feature is lost on me. If you prefer a more understated mechanical pencil with the self-rotating option, other 0.5mm (or even 0.3mm) options are available starting at $5.50.

The post Pencil Review: Uni Kuru Toga 0.5 mm Mechanical Pencil – Kiki’s Delivery Service appeared first on The Well-Appointed Desk.

The Tropical Set ($13.50) was an impulse purchase. The colors seemed like they had been selected just for me. The set includes the four mechanical pencils and a set of replacement leads in a white plastic desktop holder. The pencils and the lead holder snap into the display holder making if a lovely set to keep on your desk.

In drawing, I noticed that the pink and green colors were softer and went down on the paper more easily than the orange and purple which felt like they were harder cores. It did make me curious if, in the other sets, some of the colors would be smoother and softer while others harder. I prefer a softer, creamier core in my colored pencils.

In most mechanical pencils, because the cores are so much thinner than in a wood-cased pencil, the leads do tend to be much harder. That said, I was delighted with some of the Emott pencils having softer cores.

I tested the erasability and I would have to say my results were poor. Though, normally speaking, most colored pencils are not erasable so its not a make-or-break for me. The colors are describe as water resistant which is more in keeping with most colored pencils and should work well when combined with watercolor or water soluble inks and markers. Way more fun than erasable, IMHO.

Overall, the set is a bit more expensive than a simple set of wood-cased pencils. Most wood-cased pencils sets of 12 -24 pencils start at about $20 (and go up to about $40) from brands like Prismacolor, Blackwing, Faber-Castell and Tombow Irotijen. If cost/value is a priority, I would recommend sticking to classic wood-cased colored pencils. If novelty and cute packaging (and mechanical pencil option) is more your speed, than the Emott pencils might be appealing. As curious as I am about the softness of the other colors from the Emott line, I am not sure its worth spending $13.50 for four pencils when I have literally hundreds of wood-case pencils I could use instead. Final opinion: cute but spendy.

DISCLAIMER: The items included in this review were provided free of charge by JetPens for the purpose of review. Please see the About page for more details.

The post Pencil Review: Uni EMOTT 0.9 mm 4-Color Mechanical Pencil Set – Tropical appeared first on The Well-Appointed Desk.

While three color options might not be enough for most people, for quick sketches, proofreading or grading, this might be a perfect solution.

The mechanism for the Uni Color 3 works the same as other Japanese multi-pens. There are three slides at the top of the pen (one being the clip) that will reveal a tip when pressed down until it clicks. Tapping the slide repeatedly will advance the lead, holding down the slide will allow you to push the lead back up into the housing and clicking on any other slide will cause the revealed tip to spring back into the housing.

Because the leads are 0.5mm, if they are out too far, they will break so be careful not to expose too much lead or press too hard when using them.

I’m happy with the color of the red and blue leads though it is fairly easy to find 0.5mm red or blue leads if I wasn’t. The orange, which is more unusual is a bit lighter in overall pigment density. It would probably work fine for underlining or adding small details in a sketch or drawing but it would not be my go-to color in this set. In fact, I would probably consider swapping it out for a standard graphite lead rather than try to replace the orange lead when it runs out.

I decided to test out the Uni 0.5mm Smudge-Proof Lead in F ($2.95) as an alternative to the orange colored pencil lead. While the smudge-proof lead wrote smoothly, this lefty was able to smudge it a bit when I ran my thumb over the scribble swatch. The Rhodia paper is very smooth and may be more likely to smudge than toothier stocks.

In the erasing test on both Rhodia paper and on Col-o-ring paper, using a foam eraser, the color came up pretty well. I’d say the eraser, used with average pressure (I didn’t tear up the paper trying to remove the color), lifted 85-90% of the color on the Rhodia paper and about 75% of the color on Col-o-ring paper.

I also did a quick little still life of a bottle of Robert Oster ink sitting in a Monarca wooden bottle holder on a Col-o-ring card to see how the leads perform on toothier paper.

I am a fan of this pencil concept. When on the road, I prefer not having to sharpen my pencils and having three colors all in one tool is great for when you’re traveling, in a coffeeshop or library or in a meeting so this pencil solves some problems I didn’t know I had.

Tools:

• Paper: Rhodia Uni-Blank No. 16 with 6mm guide sheet and
• Col-o-Ring Ink Testing Book ($10)
• Pens: Uni-Color-3-Erasable-Multi-Mechanical-Pencil ($8.25)

The post Pencil Review: Uni 3-Color Erasable Mechanical Pencil appeared first on The Well-Appointed Desk.

Whenever I see colored leads for mechanical pencils, I have a two-fold reaction: The first is to feel tingly with anticipation as I always do about any colored pencil I haven’t (yet) tried. This feeling is almost immediately followed by skepticism, which is an annoying but realistic buzz-kill. I’ve tried many colored mechanical pencil leads with woefully pale hues; I have concluded that it must be much more difficult to make a good colored pencil lead when it’s not surrounded by wood. Yet hope springs eternal: I couldn’t resist trying Uni EMOTT Color Mechanical Pencils (set of 4/$13.50). The sets are available in three color palettes; I chose Tropical. Each set includes eight 0.9mm refill leads.

I also picked up a pack of refill leads in each of the other two color palettes – Nostalgic and Refresh (8 pieces/$2.95) – because I needed to see all the colors, of course. The refill packs include two leads each of four colors.

First, I must say something about the design. With a white matte plastic barrel in a unique rounded-square shape, the EMOTT pencil is slender and lightweight. Pressing the white-capped colored segment extends the lead. Removing the cap reveals an eraser, which is also square like the barrel. After so many engineer-y or utilitarian mechanical pencils, it is a refreshing delight to see this distinctive design. And – be still, my heart – it’s lefty-oriented!

The EMOTT set comes with a small stand that holds four mechanical pencils and a refill vial. When each is replaced in its slot, the pencil is secured with a satisfying click (though they do wobble a bit after securing). 

So tickled was I with the design that I was almost afraid to use the leads for fear my bubble would be burst. With some trepidation, I pulled out a scrap sheet of Strathmore Bristol (a smooth drawing paper) to make some test swatches. To my surprise, the hues are vibrant and distinct – among the best I’ve seen in a non-woodcased colored pencil.

The second surprise came with erasing. I tested the EMOTT’s eraser against my standby favorite, the Tombow Mono Zero retractable eraser. The EMOTT eraser did as well or even slightly better, even where the color was heavily applied. Interestingly, when I tried the EMOTT eraser on other colored pencils, its performance was only average. It seems like the eraser was especially formulated to work well with EMOTT leads.

EMOTT leads smudge a little, especially on slightly toothy paper (swatches below were made on Col-o-Ring “Oversize” paper). 

Satisfied that the colors wouldn’t break my heart, I looked out my studio window on a wet, dreary day and made a sketch that was a lot brighter than what I saw (made in Col-o-Ring “Oversize” book). Coloring with mechanical pencils feels different from coloring with woodcased pencils, but the 0.9mm leads are solid under my heavy hand, even with substantial pressure. They are not going to snap as so many thinner leads do, at least in my hand.

Hard yet with decent pigment, EMOTT colored leads are excellent for writing as well as sketching. Even if you don’t have coloring in mind, these would be a fun checking or editing pencil, especially since it erases well. 

Tina Koyama is an urban sketcher in Seattle. Her blog is Fueled by Clouds & Coffee, and you can follow her on Instagram as Miatagrrl.

DISCLAIMER: The items included in this review were provided free of charge by JetPens for the purpose of review. Please see the About page for more details.

The post Colored Pencil Review: Uni EMOTT Color Mechanical Pencils appeared first on The Well-Appointed Desk.

The pencils come with blunt tips but a 2mm lead pointer made these wickedly sharp. The 2mm leads were hard enough to sharpen to a strong point so I was a little worried the cores might be very hard.

The cores advance with a click and a half-press of the knock will allow the core to be pushed back into the plastic housing for transport. No stabbing yourself with those wickedly sharp points!

Regardless of what  I say about these pencils the portability and the comfortable soft, triangular shape makes the pencils worth owning. Whether you want the whole set for coloring or urban sketching or you just need a couple of colors for highlighting your journal pages, the price of these pencils make it hard to pass them up.

The packaging indicated that the pencils were refillable though, at this time, I was unable to find replacement leads. Also, the plastic housing the set came in can be transformed into a standing pencil case for ease of use. It a nice feature though I found that once I bent it into the stand shape, it was hard to close it back up for transport.

Most of the darker colors (reds, blues, purple and black) were much softer and more pigment rich than the lighter colors. I really like the #05 Blue (in the set) and #16 Terra Cotta (purchased individually). The white #21 pencil was not particularly useful except on dark papers and it was still pretty translucent. It might be usefull for tinting darker colors but I am pretty skeptical. If you want a white colored pencil for tinting other colors or blending, go for a softer brand like Prismacolor Premier (sold individually at most art supply stores). The peach color #04 was also very light and challenging to use. In the 12-color set, I found the #14 sage green to be an odd choice for such a basic set. I suppose it could be considered a very cool grey but most 12-color colored pencil sets would be more likely to include a brown or sepia color and a true neutral grey over the too light peach and sage. Even a turquoise might have made more sense. My inclination would be to purchase the pencils individually since the cost difference is negligible and you won’t end up with the lighter, less usable colors.

I frequently use black colored pencils as an alternative to graphite as it tends to smudge less — handy tip, lefites! I also love the red/blue pencil combo and use them to highlight, underline and add details to my planner and journal. As such, I wanted to compare the color and softness of the Zensations Black pencil to the classic Prismacolor Col-Erase Black and the red and blue Zensations to the classic Caran D’Ache Bi-Color. The black pencil is similar in hardness to the Col-Erase and even kind of erasable. Being able to carry the Zensations pencil instead of the Prismacolor Col-Erase means no need to carry a sharpener or point protector. When comparing the Red and Blue Zensations pencils to the Caran D’ache Bi-Color is a pretty unfair comparison. The Bi-Color is often about $5 for ONE PENCIL and uses the color rich pigments from a company known for their artist grade pencil products. However, the blue is pretty comparable. The red color is more pink compared to the Caran d’Ache. The Bi-Color is also a water soluble pigment so if you like to add water for a watercolor look, the Caran d’Ache Bi-Color is a better option.

I’m on the fence whether I will switch to the Zensations red and blue pencils in my daily kit as it is still so convenient to have them both in one pencil with my Bi-Color but I will definitely be adding the black Zensations to my daily carry. I’ll save the other colors for coloring and drawing for now.

The Set of 12 is $11.76 and individual pencils are available for $0.98 each directly from Zebra. I would have included links directly to my darling Wonder Fair to purchase these pencils but they are not listed on their website. You can call them and ask to order them and they will gladly pop them in the mail for you.

I was not paid to promote Wonder Fair. I just really like their shop. I also paid for the pencils in this review with funds from our Patrons. Other links included in this post were added to provide purchasing options. JetPens is a sponsor of this blog. More info on our About Us page.

The post Pencil Review: Zebra Zensations Mechanical Colored Pencils (set of 12 + 2 bonus) appeared first on The Well-Appointed Desk.

Once I grabbed onto the Caran d’Ache Klein Blue Maxi pencil, the slope became slippery. I had already had my eye on the Klein Blue Fixpencil ($52), which I had resisted for a while . . . until I realized that it came with Klein Blue leads! And the leads are water-soluble! I could resist no longer.

The limited edition 2mm Fixpencil comes in a metal gift box in the expected “infinite ultramarine blue” that Klein is known for. The lid is emblazoned with the Caran d’Ache logo and the artist’s signature. 

Inside the box is the Fixpencil and a tube containing one graphite lead and three Klein Blue leads. 

If you read my review of the “junior” Caran d’Ache Fixpencil 884, all my remarks there hold true for the Klein Blue version. The body has the same sleek, comfortable design. The only differences I can see are that the luscious Klein Blue finish is matte instead of glossy, and the grip is without the subtle texture of the standard 884. And of course, Klein’s signature graces one facet of the pencil.

The graphite lead is also the same as the one that came with my standard Fixpencil. An HB grade, it is pleasantly smooth graphite that I enjoy writing and drawing with. But – let’s get to the main attraction (for me): I immediately plopped one of the Klein Blue leads in and got out a Stillman & Birn Beta sketchbook (which has paper that would adequately enable me to see the lead’s water-soluble properties) and a waterbrush. 

After being dazzled by the pencil’s body and even the box, I was somewhat underwhelmed by the pigment’s intensity. I had to work pretty hard to get the degree of color you see in the sketch above. Even as I was sketching, I was thinking of Caran d’Ache’s standard 2mm colored leads, which are very soft and highly pigmented for clutch leads. When compared to the standard blue lead below (swatches made in Col-o-Ring Oversize), Klein Blue is a bit pale. 

Still, I’m thrilled by the limited-edition Fixpencil itself, which seems to be growing scarcer by the minute. I’m glad I grabbed one when I did.

DISCLAIMER: The items included in this review were provided free of charge by Pen Chalet for the purpose of review. Please see the About page for more details.

Tina Koyama is an urban sketcher in Seattle. Her blog is Fueled by Clouds & Coffee, and you can follow her on Instagram as Miatagrrl.

The post Pencil Review: Caran d’Ache Klein Blue 2mm Fixpencil appeared first on The Well-Appointed Desk.

First, I must begin by admitting that I am not a huge user of mechanical pencils. Though I use clutches with certain art materials, I’ve always preferred woodcased pencils to write with. Call me fussy, but many mechanicals I’ve tried are either too heavy, too light, too cold, or just too engineer-y. 

That’s why I surprised myself when I discovered that I love the Caran d’Ache Fixpencil 884 ($22). Also known as the “Junior” model, the Fixpencil 884 takes 2mm leads. It’s available with a green, red or blue barrel. (A similar Fixpencil model comes in matte black with colored knocks.) 

According to The Gentleman Stationer, “The history of the Caran d’Ache Fixpencil begins in 1929, when an engineer in Geneva invented this unique clutch pencil as a hedge against potential wartime disruption of the woodcase pencil supply. After launching a year later, the Fixpencil became a global success. The Caran d’Ache Fixpencil was the world’s first modern mechanical pencil.”

Something about its sleek, classic design and especially the clip evoke Seattle’s mid-century Space Needle. 

The plastic aluminum barrel  (A pencil community member corrected me: The Fixpencil is made of powder-coated aluminum, not plastic.) is lightly textured, which makes it comfortable to hold. Its well-balanced weight is also comfortable – not too heavy, not too light. Most significant, however, is its hexagonal shape, which was obviously designed to mimic the woodcased pencils that were expected to be in short supply during the war. 

It’s probably no coincidence that the 2mm lead it takes is also close to the size of a standard woodcased pencil core. All of this explains why the Fixpencil appeals to me: It’s the woodcased pencil of mechanical pencils!

As is true with most mark-making implements that wander into my hand, my first impulse was to draw with it. I was told that the graphite lead that comes with the Fixpencil is about a B grade, which is harder than I like for sketching, but the barrel is pleasant to draw with, and the 2mm lead size has the same line variation as a woodcased pencil. (I’m going to put a Uni Mitsubishi 4B lead in it to draw with, and then I’ll be happy.) 

Bonus: 2mm is the size of the Caran d’Ache colored leads! (Drat – if the Fixpencil also came in yellow, I could get one of each color to match the four leads. Really, Caran d’Ache, you didn’t think of this? Why doesn’t anyone ever consult with me on these important matters! I guess the replacement buttons will have to do.)

Writing is equally pleasant as drawing. One of my objections to writing with most mechanical pencils (such as those with .05 mm leads) is that the line stays perfectly consistent (which is one of its benefits for drafters and other technical people who require a consistent line and those who prefer it), thereby eliminating subtle line variations that can be expressive for both writing and drawing. With a 2mm lead, however, my writing shows some thicks and thins.

As for the Fixpencil’s mechanics, they are as streamlined as its appearance: Push the knock on the end, and the lead advances. Pull the knock off, and there’s a convenient lead pointer inside. It will do in a pinch. However, to get a smooth, beautiful point, I recommend the Möbius + Ruppert brass lead pointer ($6), which has two holes to accommodate 2mm and 3.2mm leads.

Finally, a mechanical pencil that I can love!

DISCLAIMER: The items included in this review were provided free of charge by Gentleman Stationer for the purpose of review. Please see the About page for more details.

Tina Koyama is an urban sketcher in Seattle. Her blog is Fueled by Clouds & Coffee, and you can follow her on Instagram as Miatagrrl.

The post Pencil Review: Caran d’Ache Fixpencil 884 and M+R Lead Pointer appeared first on The Well-Appointed Desk.

Mechanical pencils and lead holders are not a large part of my (otherwise vast) stationery stash. I have a few clutches for art materials, and I keep a couple of mechanicals on principle, but I love woodcased pencils so much more for tactical and esthetic reasons that I don’t reach for mechanicals often.

Recently, however, I heard about some colored leads made by Caran d’Ache that got my attention. I’ve long been a huge fan of Caran d’Ache woodcased colored pencils . . . I couldn’t resist trying the Swiss company’s 2mm colored leads (set of 4/$20.50)!

Sold in a set of four leads – one each of yellow, red, blue and green – they come packaged in a slim, transparent tube. Let me get this picky complaint out of the way: The tiny stopper on the soft tube is a bear to pull off. It would have been nice to see these dearly priced leads packed in a hard plastic box (certainly I’ve seen graphite leads sold in such boxes, including Caran d’Ache’s own graphite leads). With that out of the way, let’s get to the good stuff.

While making basic scribbles, I was immediately taken by how soft these 2mm leads are. A couple of years ago, I reviewed Koh-i-Noor’s Diamond Lead Holder Drawing Pencils with colored leads, which were the best colored leads I had used up to then. Although I wouldn’t have called them “soft” by woodcased pencil standards, they were satisfactorily soft to sketch with. The Caran d’Ache leads are significantly softer yet! Mind you, not creamy-Prismacolor soft – I’m not sure it’s possible to fairly compare a clutch lead with a woodcased pencil – but soft enough to make me sit up straight. These were different!

As a convention, I tested for erasing also, though I wasn’t optimistic. I first tried a Tombow Mono Smart (which was a finalist in my Blackwing eraser hack-a-thon), and the color barely budged. Then I tried the Seed Sun Dolphin 3 electric eraser (a favorite in my eraser rub-off challenge), and it didn’t fare much better. Don’t bother erasing these.

It was time for the only test that really matters to me: the sketch test. Stupidly, I couldn’t find my Koh-i-Noor Diamond lead holders until after I had finished the sketch, so I used what I had easily at hand, a Mitsubishi Uni lead holder, and changed the lead each time I needed a different color. (Yes, it was tedious and annoying, but I was so eager to get to the sketch that I couldn’t take the time to keep looking.) The pigment applied and blended beautifully, just like many woodcased colored pencils, and look at the rich hues that resulted!

As I said, it’s hard for me to compare a lead with a woodcased pencil, but I’d put it somewhere in the range of a Faber-Castell Polychromos, which is on the harder end of the scale of artist-quality pencils. And the pigment content is right up there with the quality I would expect from any colored pencil bearing Caran d’Ache’s name.

Final Impressions

Immediately after I finished the sketch, I remembered where I had put my Koh-i-Noor lead holders, so I filled the appropriate colors with these remarkable Caran d’Ache leads. I also gave passing thought to my Pentel Multi 8 2mm lead holder, but I knew from my experience with the Koh-i-Noor leads that I’d have to break the Caran d’Ache leads to get them to fit. The heck if I’m going to break leads that cost more than $5 each! I will happily use them in my Koh-i-Noor lead holders. (Goldspot, which provided the Caran d’Ache leads, also carries a 2mm Caran d’Ache Fixpencil lead holder, but only in black.)

Tina Koyama is an urban sketcher in Seattle. Her blog is Fueled by Clouds & Coffee, and you can follow her on Instagram as Miatagrrl.

DISCLAIMER: The items included in this review were provided free of charge by Goldspot Pens for the purpose of review. Please see the About page for more details.

The post Mechanical Pencil Lead Review: Caran d’Ache 2mm Colored Leads appeared first on The Well-Appointed Desk.

The Kaweco Special 0.7mm mechanical pencil is a bit wider pencil than I expected. It feels in the hand like a jumbo pencil. Luckily the anodized metal, hexagonal octagonal finish is warm and soft in the hand and quite comfortable. I thought the metal finish might be too slick but its not a shiny finish and the tapered end has a bit more tooth to it to keep fingers from sliding down.

The stock lead in the Kaweco Special Pencil is super super smooth. The great thing about mechanical pencils is that you can change lead hardness or lead brands, but the stock Kaweco leads are an excellent option. I was quite pleased with the smoothness.

The most unusual aspect of the Kaweco Special 0.7 is that under the presser button is the teeny, tiniest, little eraser. Its absolutely dorky how tiny it is in comparison to the size of the pencil and the lead thickness. Erasing one word with this eraser and most of the eraser is used up. I’d definitely recommend using a handheld eraser instead of this little dude. He’s for emergencies only.

DISCLAIMER: This item was sent to me free of charge by Kaweco for the purpose of review. Please see the About page for more details.

The post Pencil Review: Kaweco Special 0.7mm Mechanical Pencil appeared first on The Well-Appointed Desk.