The Shape of Things to Come

California Republic has now introduced triangular shaped pencils in our Golden Bear and Prospector product ranges. These are the first of what we hope may become an expanded range of triangular pencils over time.

The Prospector Trianguler HB 40 count tube is available in our Prospector Green color. This pencil is tipped with our standard round white eraser as is the green Prospector pencil in our standard hexagonal shape. On future option under consideration is a natural finish version without eraser, although we have no definite time schedule to add any new triagualr versions at anytime soon.

The Golden Bear Triangular HB 40 count tube features our orange and blue color combination in an attractive end dip. No eraser at this point though we will consider the future addition of a blue triangular shaped eraser version for the down the road.

Sorry to say we have no immediate plans to offer a triangular version of the Palomino pencil.

We do have a few auction items with special savings chances on a few items right now including this, this & this.

We also have a Summer Color Splash pencil promotion going on as well as the extension of our Soccer Mania promotion. So if you haven’t visited our Pencil World Creativity Store lately drop on by with any of these links.

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Sharpen those Palominos


We have several long awaited new arrivals this week to expand our range of KUM sharpeners at Pencil World Creativity Store.

First, is our special edition Palomino Long Point Sharpener. This is a premium “Automatic” long point sharpener from KUM that features a two step process to acheiving a perfect point. The first step sharpens just the wood leaving the graphite core mostly untouched for step two; sharpening the graphite core to a fine even point. Prior to being exposed to this two step sharpener I was personally a devotee of the KUM metal wedge sharpeners, which I still enjoy for their simplicity, and clean short points when I’m using a Golden Bear or Prospector. However now I won’t touch my Palominos with anything but the Long Point sharpener. This provides a fine, crisp point that lasts longer between sharpening than the wedge point. When I was first introduced to this sharpener back at the Paperworld fair in Frankfurt by KUM owner-President Fritz Luettgens I knew I had to pair this one up with our Palomino pencils. The group at KUM was great to work with creating a series of color variations until we got just what we wanted, a nice translucent orange with our gold California Republic Palomino imprint on one side. Each sharpener comes with two spare blades and a cardboard case with operating instructions on the two step sharpening process.

Three other new KUM sharpener listings have also been added. The Softie Grip Magnesium II takes the one hole Magnesium sharpener and adds the ergonimic cushioning of a spongy grip to two sides. This feature provides a unique comfortable feel during sharpening. For another new container sharpener we’ve added the “Oval-Office-Large SOFTIE®-LINES” in blue and orange. This larger container sharpening includes the Magnesium two hole sharpener which can be removed for replacement. The softie lines feature provides a non-slip grip for handling the sharpener, but not the same cushioning effect of the Softie Grip. Next is a unique new combination product ensemble from KUM, the Groovy Blister Card Set. The Groovy set comes in three fun design styles and each set includes a decorates large Oval Office style sharpener with an eraser, 17cm ruler (sorry only metric measurement was available) and a unique graphite pencil produced from wood which has been stained black throughout. These sets will make great party favors or simply a nice gifts particuylary for girls in the 7 to 12 year old age group.

In celebration of the Germany 2006 World Cup we’ve also added a limited time Soccer Mania Promotion. Buy 5 10-packs of Spangle Soccer pencils and recieve a free KUM soccer sharpener. We have a limited group of seven soccer sharpeners and one of these features the Germany 2006 design so it’s first come first serve as to which sharpener you will receive. If you wish you can substitute any of our other Spangle 10 pack decorated pencil items if you don’t want all soccer pencils, just be sure to buy at least 5 packs total in one purchase and we’ll send the sharpener along.

Comming Soon: Two new listings for Golden Bear and Prospector triangular pencils.

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The Perfect Match

Special Spring Offer!

New at our eBay Pencil World Creativity Store, get a Free KUM® “Ellipse Office” Orange or Blue Pencil Sharpener of your choice when you purchase a minimum of one 40 count tube of Golden Bear graphite pencils. Offer valid through May 12, 2006. This sharpener includes KUM’s Magnesium one hole wedge sharpener and is designed to fit perfectly in a pocket or purse for easy portability.

Golden Bear Orange Graphite HB – 40 pencil tube
Golden Bear Blue Graphite HB – 40 pencil tube
Golden Bear Orange Graphite 2B – 40 pencil tube

The 2B is also a new item at the store in the past month and is perfect for those looking for a bit softer lead in our fine Golden Bear range.

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Welcome Pencil of the Month™ Club


Our friend and colleague Don over at PencilThings.com is starting a Pencil of the Month™ Club . Just $24/year for a monthly edition of a new pencil each month. Link here to join or you can read more details here at Pencil Revolutions.

We are pleased Don is getting off to a good start with his new PencilThings venture which is becomming the definitive source for KUM sharpeners and a growing list of our own California Republic pencils in our Palomino, Golden Bear, ForestChoice & Prospector ranges in addition to more new “pencil things” everyday. His efforts are quite a compliment to our own Pencil World Creativity Store @ eBay making a wider range of PencilThings available than we at California Republic have the time to focus on for our own more limited eBay offerings.

We are excited to collaborate with Don to help him locate and source interesting pencil items for the club’s monthly listings and look forward to the fun ahead for fellow Pencil Revolutionaries.

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Thanks from Pencil World Creativity Store

I wanted to take this opportunity to thank the growing numbers of Palomino Riders and fans of our other pencil items that have supported our product and efforts at our Pencil world Creativity Store @ eBay. We are proud that we continue to maintain a 100% Positive feedback rating and have a growing number of first-time and repeat customers who clearly appreciate good quality pencils. Jeanette has done a super job handling the store and I know she appreciates all the kind words of support from you. She continues to work as time allows to expand our offerings or to add special auction items and special promotions like our current Easter Pencil Promotion and we enjoy hearing back from you about your ideas.

Now here’s an update on 6 new listings we’ve added over the weekend. First, we have four new Inventory listings (shown in phot here) to expand our selection of KUM sharpeners, Golden Bear and Palomino pencil items.

The KUM Correc-Tri Sharpener with Eraser is a stylish new item from KUM which includes an integrated magnesium wedge sharpener for standard pencils with container storage for shavings and a high quality eraser integrated into the base. It’s a nice integrated tool for a desktop accessory. We’ve made our final selection of KUM sharpener items and will be adding them as received into our stock.

Our Golden Bear 2B grade graphite pencils are now available in our 40 count tube packaging format. This expands to two lead grades (HB & 2B) in our Golden Bear range for those who prefer a slightly darker mark than a standard HB pencil. The 2B will only be available in our orange lacquer-blue eraser combination. Though not quite the high standard of our Palomino graphite leads the Golden Bear makes a fine writing pencil ideal for home, office and school use The Golden Bear pencil uses a make a nice complement to the orange and blue

Two new package options are available in our Palomino Range. First, is our new Palomino Rainbow Set. This 6 pencil pack selects the vibrant colors of the Rainbow from our artist quality wax color line. Included colors are: Purple, Blue, Yellow-Green, Yellow, Orange & Red. This item provides the quickest, easiest way to sample our artist color pencils in 6 popular colors. If you like these we encourage you to expand your selection through purchase of Wax Color Variety or Aquarelle Variety in 6 packs where you can select your own mix of colors from either our list of Artist Wax Color or Aquarelle ranges. Or go for the whole range with one of our complete wood boxed sets.

The Palomino Graphite HB Wood box set offers a new option to provide a nice wood case to stable those Palominos on your desktop or workspace. This item comes pre-packed with 3 each blue and orange Palomino HBs. However, the box will hold up to 12 Palominos, whether graphite, artist wax color or aquarelle. It takes a bit less space than our color pencil 12 count sets.

Next, we also continue our Vintage & Collectables Series with two new auction listings this week.

The feature item is a pairing of Henry Petroski’s book “The Pencil: A History of Design & Circumstance” with a 40 count tube of our Golden Bear HB pencils. This particular book is a 1st edition hardcover printing and comes from the personal collection of my grandfather Charles, was a gift from a former employee of the company and includes an inscription to Charles. Petroski’s book is the pre-eminent history of the pencil, of a number of the leading companies that make up the industry and of the advances in technology and materials that lead to developing the modern wood cased pencil. A must reed for any new Pencil Revolutionary.

The final Vintage & Collectable series item is a second Auction of our Palomino Natural finish Incense-cedar cased Ball Point Pen. This pen is one of just a few dozen that were produced for premium gift purposes and only a few remain on hand. We have paired this item with one our popular Palomino 6 count mixed grade Graphite packs.

We hope you enjoy these new listings and will check back at PWCS @ eBay upon occasion for new items we continue to add to our growing selection. We do plan an expanded range of stock Inventory listings as well as running more Grab Bag or Vintage & Collectable auctions as time permits. We’d really love to do one or two of these a week, but time is limited to prepare and manage such one of a kind one time auctions. We do auction certain non-stock items on an occasional basis such as our ForestChoice Carpenter pencil 144 count pack or 18 Count Palomino artist color sets where a special buy can generally be made at below our Buy it Now! prices.

Though I will do a Timberlines post now and then about new listings the best way to keep notified on what’s new is to sign up for our e-mail mailing list by adding Pencil World as one of your favorites while visiting our store site. If you have thoughts and ideas on new items or auctions you’d like to see added just let us know by commenting here. Again thanks for you business and we hope to see.

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L&C Hardmuth – Koh-I-Noor: A Diamond in the Rough

The pencils shown here are all quite old pencils from L&C Hardmuth. Each represent different brand names and were produced in two different factories of this old group which had it’s beginnings in Vienna, Austria and later relocated to the Bohemia Works factory at Ceske Budejovice in the Czech Republic. Ceske Budejovice’s German name is Budweis, of beer fame, which has an interesting brand ownership rights history. This also is a situation not uncommon in the pencil industry over the years. In fact L&C Hardmuth’s own history resulted in divided ownership rights by region of their most famous brand. The Koh-I-Noor brand was first introduced in 1889, named for the famous diamond as a representation of the superior quality of this new product.

While Hardmuth’s primary manufacturing operations remained in Ceske Budejovice, the company expanded in a multinational push between the two world wars opening Koh-I-Noor Pencil Company in New Jersey in 1919, had a joint venture factory with Johann Faber in Romania and in 1931 established a facility in Krakow, Poland as part of new trust combination with Johann Faber and A.W. Faber-Castell. (Petroski) At some point in time a new factory in Hirm, Austria was built as well.

Following World War II the company was broken up and the Czech, Romanian and Polish operations were nationalized while the Austrian company remained under private ownership. The US based Koh-I-Noor operations (of Rapidiograph fame) ended up as part of a separate group that was later owned by Rotring in Germany and was eventually acquired by Newell Rubbermaid in the 1990s. Eventually the Austrian company fell on hard times and went through bankruptcy and found new owners. This company was reorganized and operates today as Bleistfabrik Hirm-Cretacolor.

Meanwhile the nationalized group of companies consolidated over time into the large operations in Ceske Budejovice building a leading brand position in Eastern Europe and former Soviet block countries while having more limited trade with the west. This company was renamed Koh-I-Noor Hardmuth as it was privatized in 1992 and purchased two years later and has since operated as part of the Gamma Group. This company retains the Koh-I-Noor name today and has since further invested in pencil manufacturing operations in both Russia and China. The company has also recently opened separate marketing and distribution companies in both Poland and Slovenia, though there is no pencil manufacturing at these locations. It retains strong brand recognition in Eastern European market, has a reputation for fine quality and has strengthened its international distribution since it’s privatization.

As far as I’ve been able to determine these three pencil sets date from the period of time L&C Hardmuth was internationalizing the business through the 1930s. Of these three items only the Scalia pencils include any reference to the Koh-I-Noor name. None have the Koh-I-Noor name imprinted on the pencils themselves. All three seem to be different brands of copying pencils. Copying pencils have a hard lead that is designed to leave a dark and more permanent mark similar to an ink pen.

The beautiful set of Scala copying pencils are among the favorite in my entire collection. Note the wonderful lacquer job on these pencils that seems to simulate a length of bamboo. This box includes an information sheet on the care and use of these copying pencils in 12 languages demonstrating the multinational sales focus of the company. An excerpt of key technical information reads as follows:

All copying and couloured copying ink pencils should be protected against atmosoheric humidity as well as against excessive dryness and heat. … for they are liable to absorb moisture from the atmosphere, which softens the lead and, if dried rapidly, it becomes brittle.
On account of their composition, the resistance of copying leads against breaking is entirely different than that of Blacklead Pencils, which are hardened by baking.
The structure necesitates care being taken when sharpening. The blade … must be sharp and too great pressure should not be exerted.
Coloured Copying Ink Pencils particularly should not be sharpened to a very fine point. … To prevent piercing oneself …, it is recommended that the points be fitted with a protector.

The second two sets of pencils indicating they were produced in Poland include the yellow “Eureka” and black “Mephisto” pencils. They both reference a grade described as srednie or 73B srednie, which I’ve been unable to translate. What’s also interesting is that these two boxes seems to reference different company names. The first is L&C Hardmuth-Lechistan S.A. and the second L.i C. Hardmuth S.A. Krakow. A Wikepedia search for Lechistan indicates that it is the name for Poland used in some Central Asian and Middle Eastern countries that derives from the Polish word Lechia which is an alternate historical name for Poland. Thus it is probable the “Eureka” pencils were produced specifically for these other market regions and again are an interesting historical reference for the multinational period of expansion of the L&C Hardmuth in the 1930s.

A final note of interest is that I have only been able to find reference to one current Koh-I-Noor product retaining the Mephisto name and the Eureka and Scala names seem to have disappeared entirely from any current selections. This is a likely result of the declining demand for copying pencils and another example of how changes in product tastes and market conditions have lead to the decline in various pencil brands. The lone Koh-I-Noor Mephisto item is now a 5.6mm thick lead plastic mechanical clutch pencil.

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Lieber Philip: A letter lasts 100 years

Lieber Philip –

Recently Luigi has been sifting through and organizing, archival family and company correspondence. (for the uninformed Luigi is a retired employee and protégé of my grandfather Charles). Just a week ago he came up with this gem of a letter from my great-great grandfather Heinrich Berolzheimer to his son, my great grandfather and your great-great grandfather Philip.

The letter was written March 7, 1906 and is 100 years old today and begins Lieber Philip just as I’ve started my letter to you. In addition to the handwritten letter in German using a fountain pen there is a receipt from a factory in Nuremburg, Germany for some item Heinrich seems to have purchased on behalf of Eagle Pencil Company in New York. It also included a handwritten note by Philip on an Eagle Pencil Company envelope indicating that this was among the last letters he received from his father before his death. I have added an Eagle Diagraph pencil from my collection as a finishing touch for the photo.

Here is a bit of background history on your great-great-great Grandfather Heinrich, which even you are probably not very familiar with. Heinrich established Eagle Pencil Company in New York after emigrating from Fuerth near Nuremburg, where his father Daniel Berolzheimer had first entered the pencil industry in 1856 in partnership with Leopold Illfelder under the name of Berolzheimer und Illfelder. This 1856 date is commonly considered the founding date of Eagle Pencil Company though the Berolzheimer-Illfelder partnership did not end until approximately 1861 and Eagle was not actually established in New York in 1856. Here’s a link for some information I found on the history of Eagle Pencil Company. There are a few notable errors here with respect to generational relationships of different Berolzheimers to Heinrich but perhaps you’ll learn something new of interest about the pencils side of the family business background here.

After a number of years in New York Heinrich turned the business over to his sons Philip and Emil and returned to Germany for his retirement where he was involved in a number of philanthropic pursuits. This included the construction of a new library for the city of Fuerth in a building which was and is still named the Berolzheimerianum in his honor. This building has in the recent 10 years found new life as a refurbished dinner theater and comedy club. I have not seen a show there myself, but did visit the building ten year ago in 1996 and met the comedy group leaders as they were completing construction and about to open. I was even interviewed on the local television and newspaper during the visit.

Thanks to your aunt Tanja’s help we have been able to decipher the main content of the letter itself. Of particular note are indications that Heinrich had recently received a letter from Philip’s wife Clara with a note from your own great-Grandfather Charles (not quite 4 years old at the time) and that despite his health he was able to sit outside thanks to unseasonably warm weather for that time of year. The letter also includes a summation of a few financial figures in German Marks. One figure is the amount of 222.20 Deutch Marks from the included receipt from Nurnberger Mettal und Lackierwaarenfabrik, apparently a supplier of metal and lacquer materials to the pencil industry.

Given the 100 year anniversary of this letter today I thought it might be interesting to share with you what I see as a few of the interesting changes and developments in 100 years time that are reflected in the letter. The first is the change in language and handwriting itself. In interpreting the letter Tanja indicated there has been significant change in the meaning of particular words which she refers to as “old German”. Also, the style of handwriting includes a number of letters which appear to be one letter if using current writing style, but were actually read as different letters at that time. This could even change the meaning of some of the words and sentences if interpreted improperly.

The age and somewhat faded nature of the ink complicated Tanja’s task and made at least one sentence totally unclear and she was unable to translate due to a variety of potential meanings of the few legible words. One wonders if this letter had been written with a graphite pencil rather than ink would it be more smudged or would it have stood the test of time. Given the clear legibility of the graphite pencil note by Philip on the back of the letter that indicates the date he answered the letter I could make an argument for pencil over ink. How about this? “Ride the Palomino, the mark that will last over 100 years.“

I was curious what the current value of the receipt for 222.2 Marks would be in US dollars today. With the help of this site I was able to estimate it was worth approximately US$53 in 1906 using the pre-WWI rate of exchange. Using this second site it appears this amount in 1906 would be roughly equivalent to US$1085 today. Just think if you would begin setting aside just $53 per year today for the rest of your life what it might mean for your great-great grandchild in 100 years time.

Unfortunately, the description tied to this amount simply has the title “Brother Bing” so it’s unclear what this receipt is specifically for. I had hoped to estimate what the cost of some parts or equipment would be today. By the way I have no knowledge of any relative named Bing, just in case you were wondering. Of further interest to me is the timeframe involved in trans-Atlantic mail communications 100 years ago. The letter dated March 7, 1906 was received in New York and Philip’s handwritten note indicated he answered back with his own letter on March 20th. So a maximum of 13 days time for delivery. An eternity compared to the near instantaneous responses we expect today using e-mail for business to our factories in China and Thailand and that you and I use for personal communication. I can’t remember the last real hand written letter I sent or received via mail. I’m guessing your wondering when you ever received a written letter of any sort from me. I guess this electronic version will have to suffice.

A final note of interest is the signoff which reads “Your Loving Grandfather”, using the word “Opa”, though we know the relationship was father writing to son. Perhaps the translation and meaning of the word could have simply changed in 100 years time. Whether this is it or this implies some form of senility in Heinrich’s waning years or was simply used as a term of endearment is unclear. I’m sure by now you are wondering about my own state of mind writing an open letter to you my teenage son in a post for the world to see on my blog. In any case the use of this language seems warm and heartfelt though sadly not typical these days of what I would expect to receive in a note or e-mail from my father Philip or I expect what you would anticipate receiving from me. Since I’m feeling nostalgic and perhaps in time you’ll reread this and feel this way too I suppose you’ll eventually forgive me if I follow the example of our forefather Heinrich.

Lour loving father,
Charles

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Making a Pencil Revolutionary out of an Environmentalist: The Finale


Part 1 of this series set the stage addressing the parameters to be used to address the question “What arguments would one use to convince an environmentalist to use wood cased pencils?”

In Part 2, I provided some detailed information from a former environmental life cycle study conducted in 1993 comparing three forms of casing materials for the typical cased pencil: wood, plastic and a recycled fiber composite material. Certainly, some generalizations had to be made to adapt the information from this study to answer the question at hand in relating the results to alternate writing instruments such as pens and mechanical pencils. I also indicated that relative enviro0nmental impacts may have changed since 1993 due to changes in technology and other factors. I also pointed out the study didn’t look at all issues that might be considered important by enivornmentalus rabidus extremus.

Coincidentally, about the time I was writing my first post on this subject I received a phone call from a true blue environmentalist working actively in the area of forest management issues in our own California Sierra Nevada range. This individual was trained as a Forest Ecologist and is currently working as a consultant to the Sierra Nevada Forest Protection Campaign. This group is a coalition of nearly 100 local, regional and national conservation organizations with the mission to protect and restore the ancient forests, wild lands, wildlife, and watersheds of the Sierra Nevada through scientific and legal advocacy, public education and outreach, and grassroots forest protection efforts.

This group’s historic tactics have been to present legal and public relations challenges to timber sales and Forest Service policy initiatives and timber harvest; clearly a group traditionally at odds with the forest products industry. The interesting purpose of this call was that this person was working on a project for the Campaign to address market opportunities for fire damaged timber on public lands and was interested what opportunities there may be for pencil material. Much of the recent discord has been on treatment of fuel build up in public forests that have had restricted harvests over the past 10-15 years due to changes in public policy and increased challenges to harvesting. Higher fuel loads increase the risks of fire and disease. Interestingly, it now seems that there is some growing recognition among environmental groups that wholesale restrictions of harvesting accomplished historical tactics don’t necessarily lead to healthier forests overall.

Learning that our Forest Ecologist was in fact a fan of wood cased pencils I took the opportunity to ask this Forest Ecologist’s assistance on how to convince environmentalists to use wood cased pencils over other writing instruments. His first comment was that he would personally favor wood as a renewable resource over writing instruments produced from plastic and metal. He pointed out that generally the environmentalist movement however values “critters” first, water quality, second and trees themselves a distant third. When I asked about examples of well managed forests in California he indicated he has personally visited a number of private forests that demonstrate superior natural habitat from a wildlife and water resource perspective than most public lands. He also mentioned that while he would consider himself originally more of what I refer to as the rabidus extremus environmentalist, that with his experience closely involved in these issues he has moved him more towards the middle. Generally, those private forests he mentioned were FSC certified forests. Thus from his personal perspective he would favor FSC pencils such as our ForestChoice pencils on purely environmental considerations with non-FSC Incense-cedar pencils being second. Although he agreed other performance factors for pencils are certainly important considerations when deciding among a wide choice.

Perhaps, the most wary environmentalists out there may be skeptical and disbelieving of these arguments in favor of the pencil as a sound environmental writing choice. To this all I can say is to try riding that Palomino, feeding the Golden Bear or select the ForestChoice if you feel you must nurture the conscience by choosing solely on the basis of FSC wood. If these or other fine writers out there don’t convince you about the benefits of a good high quality pencil, then unfortunately I’ll have to admit failure at this task.

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New Tack for Those Palominos


We’ve been hearing from many of you that while you’re having a great time riding those Palominos bareback your comfort would benefit from a bit of additional accessorizing in the tack department. Well, we listened and here are some of our first accessory offerings includes two new unique Palomino items with erasers now available at our Pencil World Creativity Store.

First, our new Eraser Tipped Palomino HB is available initially as a 6 pack similar to our other Palomino items. Next, our new Palomino Deluxe Mixed Grade 12 Pack doubles up on the pencil count in our normal 6 count Mixed grade pack plus adds two new features: a hand held art eraser and our Deluxe hinged plastic case which provides a sturdy permanent stable for those Palominos and new accessories such as a sharpener and eraser. Quantities of both items are somewhat limited in these first offerings on eBay, but we have more replenishment stock on the way which is scheduled for arrival here in the US during March.

We also now have our first KUM sharpener offering at Pencil World, the KUM Metal Wedge Magnesium 2 hole sharpener. This simple classic wedge sharpener offering from KUM provides the option to sharpen both standard and jumbo sized pencils whether round, hexagonal or triangular in shape. This item comes courtesy of a barter arrangement on some GoldenBear pencils with our new trade partner PencilThings.com who has taken on the full line of KUM sharpeners and soon will be adding a selected mix of California Republic pencils as well. During the Frankfurt fair I also met with our new friends from KUM and we have a few additional special sharpener items we will be adding in the coming month or so including some interesting bundled items. Although our KUM sharpener selection will be much more limited than the full range selection now available at PencilThings.com we do think those sharpeners we will carry should complement our pencil range well.

We’re always looking at other Palomino breeding opportunities including more interesting tack items to add to our stable of Palominos and other California Republic offerings. While we we can’t offer today the breadth of range in tack items you might find here, we promise if you keep riding those Palominos and sharing your experiences with your friends we’ll be listening to your ideas and requests and working away at what we think makes sense for the long term.

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Moleskine & Palomino

I’ve been travelling overseas to Frankfurt Paperworld show and now to our pencil factory in Thailand. Too tied up to get down to the detail in writing Part 3 on making a Pencil Revolutionary out of an Environmentalist. There’s also some interesting new pencil items I plan to write about from the Paperworld show. All this will need to wait till I get back home though.

In the meantime I thought I’d treat you to a few of the increasing associations between Moleskine and Palomino I’ve been finding on blogs, Flickr and the like. Thanks to A.E. Baxter for this first Palomino-Moleskine “glam” shot.

Nita’s talent is visible on her InkTracks blog where she drew this Moleskine using her Palomino Pencils. We’re glad she digressed from her wonderful color efforts to work in graphite for a few sketches last month. We’d love to see more.

I found this next link just today from The Fountainhead on the Flickr Moleskinerie pool. I don’t actually know yet if any of our California Republic color pencils were used in this drawing, but I couldn’t resist pointing this out. The pages include an interesting write up on the brief one month history of the republic and the mistaken design of the original flag of the California Republic which was supposed to be a pear, not a bear. Fortunately, we’ve outlasted our first month unlike our namesake. However the spirit of Captain Bartlett and those original California revolutionaries remains an inspiration for us here at California Republic Stationers. You may have already noticed that we’ve also encorporated this spirit into our Golden Bear brand which we think works out much better than the Golden Pear would have. Not sure the “Pear revolution” would have lasted even a week back in 1846.

Oh yeah, I’ve commented recently on the Pencil Revolution, but will mention this here also. Upon return from my current travels in about a week we will be listing on Pencil World Creativity Store our newest item the Palomino graphite HB with eraser which many of you have been asking about. Here’s a sneak peak.

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