Scribe

I can hear you typing, Johnny.

Hello, and welcome to episode 54 of the erasable Podcast. This episode is brought to you once again by CW Pencil Enterprise, purveyor of superior graphite. This week they put together an amazing sampler plaque exclusively for you, our faithful Erasable listeners. More on that later. But first, it's taken us over two years and 53 episodes to get around to really talking about erasers, which, of course, is our namesake. And we can't do it without tonight's guest. I am Andy Welfle. I am joined tonight by one guy I just can't seem to erase for my life. That would be Johnny Gamber. The other guy, Tim Wasem, is out sick. However, although we can't replace Tim, we've replaced him. We are joined by none other than the famous and fabulous Ana Reinert. Hey, Anna.

We're good. I'm good. I shouldn't speak for Johnny.

Aww. I guess in the last episode that you were on ANA, episode 38, Tim was also out that day.

So I really just have no proof that you are not the same person.

Well, neither of us have met Anna in person.

That is true.

Yeah, he doesn't want anybody to see him. Cool. So Anna is here. She's going to talk about a little later, her brand new podcast, which is much needed in sort of the stationery and pen and marker world. The art supply posse. We'll get to that a little bit. But first, Anna, what are you drinking and writing with?

I bet it is. Fizzy.

Oh, like a SodaStream? Yeah, yeah. I just imagined a big, like, Coke vending machine in your house.

Can you, can you fizzify, like hard alcohol? Like, can you make fizzy like vodka or gin?

Yeah. Huh. Coffee soda. Johnny, I feel like you have a one track mind.

The coffee, like the nitro infused cold brew is kind of a coffee soda. It's, it's a lot like. I feel like the bubbles are a lot like carbon dioxide bubbles, but it's kind of what it is.

Yeah.

Heck yeah. Coming over your house. I'm looking forward to your SodaStream podcast.

What are you writing with Anna today?

Excellent.

I'm hoping you're like sketchnoting this whole thing.

Yeah, no pressure,

I always Wondered. Do you say apica?

Yeah, I think that's just as. It's like our Nemo sign mnemosity discussion.

Exactly. Exactly. Johnny, how about you?

I think that everybody just. Probably everybody in this room just worries about you when they hear you talk.

It's far away.

Oh, man.

Johnny Gamber and the mayor of Baltimore both have one of these.

I think you would too, Andy. I am drinking an amazing drink called the Waffle Iron. It's a pint glass of expired blood, which is better than you would think with those little mini Eggo waffles floating in the middle like little mushy discs. Tasty, tasty.

I know. I don't know. No, I am drinking a South American beer called a cusquenha. I think we've talked before about my weird obsession with Latino beers that I can find around this area that I could not find back in Fort Wayne, Indiana. This is one that I had when I was in Lima, and it was really amazing. And I was so excited that I found it. It's kind of like the Coors Light of Peru is probably how I would say this is most likely because it's not that good. But it's fun because it's, like, from a different country. So I'm drinking that and I am writing with my general's pencil, Goddess pencil, which I think we determined was basically the semi hex, but only with, like, in a round edition. And I'm writing on a index card that came in a pack. I Bought from Daiso.

Mostly what I do when I do the show is because I edited. I take editing notes, but I write down timestamps of when maybe we spoke over each other or my microphone cut out or whatever. Whenever Johnny says the F word, which is a lot.

Exactly. So I always write down timestamps. So I usually try to get something with, like, good lines in a grid because sometimes I have to make a lot of notes, depending on how bad our technology is that day. So this has a really nice, like, tight line structure on it, and it has that thing that, like, a lot of Japanese. Oh, like a lot of Japanese grids have, where it's like a line and there's like little dots. So it's kind of a combination between line and dot grid. It's like a. I don't know how to describe it. It's just a nice notepad note card. It's from Daiso. It cost a dollar, so it's kind of cheap. It's thin, but I like it. Cool. Should we. Should we go on to fresh points? Anna, you are guest, so please go first. And I definitely am looking forward to hearing this first point.

Yay.

all the glory, and it's a glorious thing. Let me tell you.

Yeah, it's one thing that I think that, you know, Johnny and Tim and I are all mostly writers with our stationery. Tony fools around with. With drawing a little bit. But sometimes I feel like some of our more like arts oriented people in the group are a little left out because we mostly just talk about things as they relate to writing. So this is a segment of, like, the pen and paper world that I think is really needed.

I feel like Heather is your Tim, because Tim was like, why is there no podcast about pencils to both me and Johnny? And then I was like, well, there is now. Just do it.

I'm definitely interested in when you guys get to the analog moves into digital world. Because I work with a lot of graphic designers and artists and product designers who work almost completely digitally, but they all have some art school background. So I'm definitely going to be recommending that podcast to them.

Yeah. And you're recording weekly, which is amazing. Like, I'm super impressed by that.

I've always thought it was like, oh, the pen addiction. Yeah, they're both kind of like full time podcaster slash pen people. So, yeah, they can do weekly. We're doing biweekly because we all have other jobs and stuff going on. Except Johnny doesn't have a job.

Yeah. And of course, I was just kidding about Johnny not having a job because

He has a job that spans more than just the workday.

Exactly. That's a perk.

Oh, I get it.

Yeah, yeah, it was the byline edition was. It was interesting just because I feel like everybody who knows what a reporter's notepad is, or maybe even has used one, is like all about it. And people who don't know what it is are just like, this is dumb, this is useless. At least I've got that kind of get that feeling from the field notes group.

One of my very favorite Rhodia pads is oh, what's the number of it? It's the number eight, I think.

The rodeo number eight. And that's the one that's three inches by eight and a quarter inches. And it's just so great to hold in your hand. So that was always like, you know, the fancy reporter's notepad, when there's always the, like, kind of crappy reporter's notepad they supply at newspapers and, like, media outlets. So there is a new fancy reporter's notepad on the scene. Well. And actually there's more than just one.

Well, I don't know.

Okay. I'm not crazy.

There's a logo on the front of it of an eagle that is clutching a pin and a lightning bolt. And both kind of like the eagle in this particular pose. And lightning bolts are reminiscent of branding and imagery from a certain political party in Germany a long time ago. So, yeah, go on the Internet if you want to join that discussion.

No, I totally get it. And yeah, there's definitely plenty of, like, old school, like. Like American Federal, like, imagery that also has kind of. It's that eagle with, like, the side pose and the wings extending out, kind of clutching things. Like it's on our coins, like a lot of our coins. So it's definitely not just a Nazi thing. It's all over the place, but it's definitely something that people have brought up.

Yeah.

Oh, yeah, Yeah. I do. Like. So it's 12 or $13. $13 for a two pack of these. And it's just more paper and probably more like materials than a regular field notes.

Yeah.

Oh, really?

Yeah. But they're bigger than. Yeah, yeah.

Yeah.

Somebody in the field notes was going on about how they wish that they were always the same size and shape. And I was like, I'm curious as to why. Like, that's. That's interesting. They're like, well, when I stash it away, it's much easier to, like, store. Like, I don't think that field notes is thinking about that when they do this. Yeah, yeah, well.

Totally.

Yeah, yeah. I think they started that with arts and sciences, didn't they? Kind of the first break from their standard, like, three and a half by five size. Yeah.

Yeah, it'll be definitely interesting because there was a time in college and right after college when I worked at a newspaper and, like, all I wanted to do in life was be a journalist. And I feel like I always had that, like, tall reporter's notepad sticking out my back pocket. So I've definitely gotten used to something a little bit smaller and more compact sticking out of there. But it really still. You can't beat that reporter's notepad format when you're just writing standing up without, like, a table or something to write on. That's still the best for me. Cool. Any more to say about the byline edition?

Okay.

Oh, yeah. Yeah.

And I do like how the spiral is not exposed. Like, the COVID folds over the spiral.

Uh.

Yeah.

But I feel like. Yeah, I mean, if it. If the COVID like, folds over the spiral, then hopefully, like, you know, the spiral won't get caught on something or pull loose or whatever. It seems nice. Sorry, go ahead.

Yeah, that was John Dickerson from Face the Nation. Yeah. That's awesome. He said that he wrote to them out of the blue and asked them to make him one and offered to help. Yeah. And I've. I would love someday to get to the point where I can just like, call up my favorite stationary company and be like, oh, hey, I have an idea. Can't you please put this together? So, yeah, it's gorgeous. The spiral is not just like a standard spiral. It's one of those ones that just kind of like double back on itself. I love that. I think it's going to be a lot hardier than a lot of the reporter's notepads that I used that by the end of it would get like all bent around and the spiral would have come loose. And so if you're a color subscriber, you get those. Plus a sticker of said eagle, which

Another reason why Johnny needs a Mac.

arm, have a tattoo.

I like to tease, but Johnny stands by his open source convictions.

although I do have to say so I don't want to. I don't want this to turn into a tech podcast, but after seeing the big Apple Developers Conference keynote yesterday, there's going to be some really cool imessaging things. So all I'm saying is if you got an iPhone, we could send each

text messages that, like, shimmered and exploded and had fireworks. So that's what you're missing.

There you go.

Was pretty good. We'll let Mike and Stephen Hackett and Federico talk about. Talk about the rest of it, which I have in my freshpoints once we get it. Johnny, do you want to talk about some stuff.

That's where I found them.

You're the only one.

Guess what?

Not via Facebook. Messenger. Yeah.

my name on them, which was awesome.

Did you see who's in the chat now?

Somebody claiming to be. Claiming to be. Right. Yay.

Yeah, sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt.

So that's. And I don't think that there's, like, any sane person who would think that one copied off the other because they were both released the same day. Because it's like, how could you do that? I just like to think that there's sort of like this collective consciousness shift to reporters notebooks, which I think is awesome. From, like, little. Yeah, yeah. It's kind of like how the car was invented in, like, three different places kind of concurrently, without people talking to each other.

Yeah, it's exactly like that.

Hopefully. Hopefully these have some more staying power than that. But I'm super excited. I. I think they each have different aesthetics. And I love the writepad's reporter's notebook has, like, the rightpad aesthetic, which is, you know, just incredible. So I can't wait to get my hands on one.

Is he using the brass wire as the spiral?

Oh.

Yeah. So I know that. I know that Chris will come to your house and, you know, stab you with a wire o binding if you say. But can you give us any hints about what's coming for the summer?

Are they perforated?

So you can tear them out, leave little notes or something.

Cool.

Anna, did you like the Sweet Tooth Edition?

Figure that. That seemed like. That seemed like up the alley of somebody who, like. Like an art. An art focus person.

Tina Komaya or something like that. She's in the nuts group.

She and I traded something because she had some Shelter woods. She had a shelter woods single and I had a Sweet Tooth single that I wasn't going to use. So we traded and yeah, she's posted in the group and it's like she's done the red with white and black.

Yeah, she's fantastic.

Her first name is Tina. Her last name's. It's K O M. Something like that.

one half of it is just like Johnny Clouds. I really like. Gary Varner did something really cool with the Sweet Tooth notebooks. I don't know if you guys have seen this. He actually took out the staples and reassembled them, but with alternating sheets of color.

Yeah. So I can't remember what he called it, but it was, it was like,

Yeah, she's. She's great. I love looking at her sketches. She'll. She'll take something like really mundane like a fire hydrant or a lamppost and it just looks amazing.

Oh, perfect. Excellent. So yeah, Gary put together that like combination of all the different colors and it's Pretty great just to look at. I was thinking about buying one just to have and like, flip through and look at. But yeah. Anyhow, we got off track.

No, it's my fault. So, perforations.

Yeah, that's true.

Yeah.

Yeah.

So, yeah.

Trying to think of all of, like, the Baltimore things I can think of. And the only other Baltimore thing I can think of is that thing that's in your harbor that eats garbage. Oh, what's that? Do you know what that is? Do you know what I'm talking about, Johnny?

It's like this weird little slow floating conveyor belt that conveyors up the garbage floating around in the harbor. And it's cool because it kind of goes. And it's completely automated and not. It doesn't use, like, gas or energy or anything.

Yeah. Yeah.

Pencils made from dried hardened poo that it's very green. Less. Less in the group says in the chat says that all I can think of is the wire. So I definitely think it should be like beleaguered police station pencils with like, bite marks on it.

Yeah. Confirmed. Confirmed by Wright Dompads in the chat that it is made out of recycled harbor trash. So you've heard it here first, folks.

Cool.

All right. I have a bunch of things, but they're all pretty short. So one thing I wanted to mention was because I'm a huge nerd, I went to Replay Con, which is basically just both. All three of the connected guys, including Mike Hurley, who does the pen addict with Brad. They all were in San Francisco for this big WWDC thing and they decided to just have a live recording. And they talked to Jason Snell and Christina Warren and John Sierra Cusa and all of the tech podcasters who, you know about, if you know anything about, like, technology podcasting. They were all in town. It was a lot of fun. I. I got a really awesome sticker of Mike Hurley. They had all three of the connected guys. They all had stickers, and I picked up one of each. But I think. I think Mike's my favorite because there's a little like. It's basically a picture of them and then a picture of like, some of their favorite stuff. So Mike's has the Drapolin space shuttle sticker and field notes in the little sticker with him. So I'll put a link in show notes too. I Instagrammed it earlier today, so it was really fun to see that. I hung out with some friends, being just like a meeting of Relay FM podcast listeners. I just heard somebody shout woohoo. In the background.

I think somebody just probably learned what the summer edition of Write Notepads is just in the case.

So anyhow, I have a picture in show notes of the Mike Hurley sticker. So anyhow, everybody's talking about their favorite Relay FM shows and is it connected or is it cortex or. Or is it upgrade or what have you. Pretty sure I was the only one there who said pen addict and wise choice. I got a lot of blank stares from people who was like, oh, is that. Is that the one that Mike does about, like, pens? Like, yeah, that's the one. They're like, I don't know how anybody can do, like, a whole podcast about pens. And I was like, well, let me tell you, in fact, do you think

Yeah, there's an entire podcast about pencils that exists out there. So me and this guy who proudly proclaimed that he hasn't picked up a pen except to sign a restaurant check or something like that in years, we start talking about how just the wide world of. The wide world of stationery and how you can go really deep on something like this. And there's probably people in the world who can't believe that you can do a show about, like, Mac News, Apple News. So, no, it was. It was a good show. I kind of live in both worlds, tech and stationary. So it was fun to meet all these other people. So, yeah, that was. That was Relaycon. Hi, Mike. If you're listening, he's probably not. I wanted to talk a little bit about something that Blackwing put on their Instagram last week. You know, everybody's very just, like, hungry for spoilers about the new volumes edition, which is due out very soon. But in the meantime, they posted a picture of the mmx, the original, like the classic Palomino Blackwing, and they said that there's some changes coming to it. So, Johnny, what. What did you think about? So the change, of course, is that there is no more gold stripe around the end of the barrel close to the ferrule. And I couldn't detect any more changes, but I guess there could be other ones that I don't know about.

Right. Yeah. Yeah. So I. I'm assuming this isn't like a teaser for their upcoming volume series or volumes edition. I think that this is just permanent change to the collection. I kind of see why they're doing that because it falls more in line with the aesthetic of the other two pencils. But, yeah, I appreciated the inconsistency and how it was unique because, like, the 602 has a. You know, the saying on it that the pearl and the mimics don't have. So.

What do you guys think about starting a Change.org petition to Blackwing to put. To call it the Blackwing mmx, and

Yeah, exactly. I. I definitely think. I definitely think that would go over.

Yeah.

Everybody. Literally everybody.

You can say the Blackwing classic, but everybody really. You're referring to the Eberhard Faber one. Yeah.

That never happens.

It really is. I mean, it really is a holdover from, like, the first small run that they did where they were sort of trying to, like, completely reimagine the Blackwing.

Yeah, yeah. It's just saying. Yeah, I understand. It's a little bit sleeker. It's a little bit more. I don't know if minimalist is the right word, but it's a little bit more of a step in that direction. But it'll be interesting to see also if they continue with sort of, like, the sparkly matte paint or if they'll go with something more like the 24 edition.

Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. And I appreciated that about them. Like, you know, the 602 is a little bit metallic, and then the. The pearl is, like, pearlescent, and they. They all had sort of a different finish, but we'll see. I'm looking forward to seeing what it'll be like.

Because of Course, I like to put the pink erasers back into the 602 so it looks like the old ones. And also the. It's a much better eraser than the black one, in my opinion.

Cool. I also wanted to mention we have a lot of T shirts coming out from various people engaged in stationary enterprises. Vito Grippy's Story Supply company has a really cool navy blue T shirt with the gold Story Supply Company logo on it. For those of you who don't know what Story Supply Company is, it's a company that's making little pocket notebooks and various accessories and giving money to children's literacy projects for every purchase. And they have a T shirt that's really cool. They have a really cool retro logo. Also, our favorite bullet pencil. The twist. There is a T shirt with that logo on it designed by TJ Cosgrove and produced by John Fontaine. So we'll have links to both of those in Show Notes. And the last thing I just wanted to mention is I have another link in Show Notes to a video that June Thomas did. June Thomas is our friend who has her own podcast on Slate, who recently went to Japan and bought a whole bunch of cool stationery. She did a video just talking about what she eats for breakfast, what her home studio looks like, and she walked the interviewer through a bunch of stationery on her desk, and she gave a shout out to the Erasable podcast. So that's awesome.

Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. I was. I was thinking hopefully next week we can dig into some of those pencils a little bit in depth.

But, yeah, they're. They're really cool. She. She sent a sampler pack, and she sent it to me to just save on shipping, and I distribute it out. So each one came with a NOK index card that says, dear Tim, Johnny, Andy, you're my favorite Erasable, please enjoy these pencils from Japan. And she circled the name of the person to whom it should go, so feel real special. Okay, we should get into the main topic now, which, of course, is all about erasers, and read with the I should. But one thing, like, usually we do a separate little segment talking about our sponsorship with CW Pencils, kind of their offering for everybody, but it just so happens this week that it flows right into this main topic. So this episode, once again, is sponsored by CW Pencils. Purveyors of superior graphite. Today they put together something really special which ties directly into our main topic. It's an erasable eraser sampler pack. It includes five of our favorite erasers with pics from me and Johnny and Tim, plus our good friend Anna, and a pick from the ladies and gentlemen of CW pencils. So do we decide what the. It's the pencil dude, right? It's not. It's the pencil ladies and the pencil dude.

Pencil the pencil folk. So I'll go. I'll go through the list and then afterwards we should talk about why we chose the particular eraser that we chose. So, Johnny, tell us about your pick.

I see. It's true. I didn't even, like, notice that before.

So, Anna, what did you pick?

That was my second pick, so I'm glad that it still got on the list. I really, really want to see the process of how they make this.

Yeah. Like, I just imagine a big vat of like melted rubber. I don't know. That's how you do it. Oh, God. Somebody just stirs it together.

It's just like how they marble paper. So Tim picked something that's similar to that. It's the Koh I Noor pebble erasers. It's also a natural rubber. It is sometimes solid colored, sometimes layered. And it's a little bit grittier than the magic eraser, but it's much smaller. It's the size of like, like, literally thumbnail size. It's very small. And CW pencil sells them as like, I think, like eight packs. They are very gritty, but they're like, really handy and really mobile. So I picked the Koh I Noor thermoplastic eraser, which is made out of a plastic. It's real weird shaped. It's hexagonal. It's maybe the size of like. Oh, I don't even know what this is the size of. It's like a couple inches in diameter and it has like a little like indent in the middle. It's really good to just like play with. I think Caroline came on and was talking about it once. It's like a little worry stone. You can just kind of like.

Yeah, kind of looks like that. It's super cool. Yeah. Six sides. It erases really well. It's plastic, so it doesn't leave much of a residue, which we'll talk more about later, but it's pretty great. And then the CW pencils pick, which was Caroline and Katelyn at least, if not more contributing. They're talking about the Tombow Mono plastic eraser, which is also a very high quality plastic. It feels so plasticky that it doesn't seem like it's going to erase, but it erases really well. Have you two used that one? The Tombow Mono one?

That's the eraser that's picked for reasons of efficiency and erasability.

So once again, this pack includes the Milan 6030 Neon Eraser, the Koh I Noor thermoplastic eraser, the Koh I Noor magic eraser, the monoplastic eraser, and actually two of the Koh I Noor pebble erasers. Because they're so small, the sample back is available only to you. If you erasable listeners. We have a link in show notes that you can get to. Costs $4.50, which is roughly 25% off the normal retail price if you bought these erasers individually. So be sure to jump on that. It is again available only to you for a limited time. I think we're running this for five days. So through next Monday, $4.50. Build a card at CW Pencils and go go buy it. So thank you, Caroline and Caitlin and Alex and everybody at CW Pencil Enterprise for supporting the erasable podcast. So speaking of erasers, we talked a little bit about in our episode where we talk about what's on the tip of your pencil, what's on the back of it. We talked about like pencil erasers. But so much of the world, when they use erasers, use something separate, that's handheld. I feel like that's better for the art community, which is a great reason why Anna's here. Besides, just Having your company.

Which is awesome. So I'm just curious to know just everybody's thoughts about erasers. What do you look for in an eraser when you go to buy one? What do you ana?

It's true.

Like those Japanese like sushi erasers.

Yeah.

I think I learned about it first from your blog, those magic erasers. And I remember I put together a big bulk order from someplace in the UK and my dream is to get those, but in blanks and then have the erasable logo stamped on it.

And then pass that out as essentially business cards.

That would be so amazing. But that's, I can't even imagine like they're. You can barely buy them in the US let alone like, you know, customizable.

I know. Are you pretty sure that it's. That it's the same? The same.

Oh man. Eraser goal. Hashtag. Eraser goals.

We should put together. We should put together. We should do a group order so we can like get enough people in on it. So we can just like get a big minimum.

Man, oh man, that's fantastic.

Yeah. What besides the magic eraser, what you usually have around.

Yeah.

Yeah, those are pretty ubiquitous at most like big box stores.

Yeah. Jenny, what about you? What do you look for in erasers?

If Johnny. I was Googling. If Johnny says it, by definition, it is the truth.

A very reputable podcast.

It's yours.

How dare you think otherwise?

Which is cool.

Really awesome. What do you mean? So is on the eraser and the cardboard thing. Yeah.

Oh, I see. I see. That's cool.

Oh, man. I have to say. So, like, if it erases, that's definitely important. I also really, really think that the shape is a big deal to me. I really like to just, like, fiddle with something while I'm, you know, while I'm reading or concentrating on my desk. And I love the thermoplastic eraser for that reason. I also love. Which we'll talk about a little bit later, but the Black Pearl. Taekond Row. Is it? No. Who makes it? Sanford.

Sanford. Yeah, it's the Sanford Pearl actually. It's.

Oh, yeah. Well, let it be known that Andy had a Paper Mate thing on his favorites list.

Yeah. I also like it because usually those two erasers have a very, like, thin side. So it's easy to erase something that's like, in the middle of, like in the middle of some words. Or it just has a fine tip for erasing. I also like. Which I haven't used for a while. But I really do like the kneadable erasers, and not for the reason that they're made, which is to provide. I don't know. Why are there kneadable erasers? Like, why are they kneadable?

You can kind of like, blot them a little bit more than. And then just like fold it up and then, you know, have another. Have another edge.

Yeah, that's what I thought. I was just wanting to make sure. From an art person. I actually like that too, just because I like to fiddle with it and, you know, knead it sometimes. I used to have Silly Putty at my desk just to do something with my hands while I was reading something on. On the computer. And the kneadable eraser is both an eraser and Silly Putty. So I like that a lot too. I also want to try to find a good balance with cohesion of the eraser. There's some that are just, like, super crumbly that I find that the Koh I Noor Magic pebble eraser to be pretty crumbly. It's like very gritty and crumbly most of the time. Some of them are just like, too hard and plasticky. So finding a good balance. I don't think cohesion is probably the best word that I could use for that. But yeah, I like to find something right in the middle there. So, yeah, when you're just. Just Try a few of these erasers. If you buy the sampler pack, you will have, like, a wide variety of erasers to try out and just kind of find what works best for you. A lot of people like erasers that are very, like, crumbly and gritty and. And leave a lot of, like, dirt behind, but. But then they're. They're often better. They often, like, erase better. They're just kind of messy.

Yeah, yeah, the. The paper. And then also I feel like a lot of the softer graphite really requires a grittier eraser just to get. Get down into it. I've used, like, really soft, dark pencils that, like a plastic eraser just can. Can fade it out, but I can't erase it completely, so I feel like that does too. And then the grittier ones, Anna, correct me if I'm wrong, but maybe it's better for, like, some of the more texturized paper.

Yeah. Like some. Some linen paper or just, like, sketch bad paper.

Yeah.

Yeah. So, Anna, what are some of your favorite erasers that you've picked up out there?

Yeah. It feels really nice in your pocket.

Les has a good point. In the chat, she mentioned that very abrasive erasers often will just remove layers of the paper in addition to the graphite itself. So. So if you have, like, a big, thick paper and it can stand to have some layers removed, some fibers removed from it, then, yeah, that works just fine. Whereas I've definitely torn, like, cheap school loose leaf paper with erasers before.

Yeah.

No. What?

I do not know about a pickup eraser.

Oh, rubber cement erasers.

I. Okay. My. My. My mother has some of this. And does it kind of, like. Does it feel a little waxy?

Hello, gum shoes.

Yeah.

I think glue boogers is the term that is clearly the best one.

I totally know what you're talking about, but.

Can I tell you a confession about my childhood?

This isn't about eating paste. I swear. I. I was one of those kids. One of those kids who really hated to get dirty, so I always refused to participate in like, finger painting and, like, Cheetos, all of that stuff. And I. One of my, like, early memories is. I mean, not like, super early, but an early memory for me is sitting in kindergarten and, like, my classmates are doing that thing where they put glue on their hands so they can let it dry and then peel it off and, like, just crying because it just seems so horrifying. And like, whenever I would touch, like, glue sticks, I would be all freaked out by it. I was a weird kid.

Oh, yeah. It's like an electric toothbrush. It seems. It seems unnecessary to me, but I think they're cool.

That's cool.

No, totally useless. Sometimes you can, like, just sand off the very outer layer of that, and it's fine underneath. Well.

Yeah.

That's one thing we didn't talk about, was those, like, extendable pencil eraser erasers that come in, like a. Like a holder, like a pencil. I guess that's a handheld eraser.

It's like a carpenter pencil eraser.

Yeah.

Yeah. Johnny, what are your. Some of your Favorite erasers.

it's a lot smoother and works better.

I have a pack of those I need to actually open and try that out.

Yeah.

Is it actually dust free?

Yeah. Usually those dust free ones instead of like everything coming off in like little tiny flakes or crumbs or whatever, it just sort of like beads up into a little pill that you can then pick off on the end.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah, that's a great idea.

I've definitely carved like taken big pink pearls and carved them into various shapes.

A little floppy, but it works. Oh, my. Somebody in the group was talking about how they took a. Basically some sort of coring tool and cored one of the pink pearls and made a bullet pencil, like a twist eraser out of it. Who did that in the group? One of our handier people, maybe less or Daryl or somebody. Yeah, I don't know. That was really cool. Well, I think some of my favorite erasers, apparently bread crumbs from a hipster restaurant near San Jose is one of them.

No, they're all up in San Francisco. No, they move there. They're called to the north by the bearded God. I don't know. And actually it's funny because before erasers existed, as we talked about from after Stationary Fever, people used to use stale bread to erase. Yeah, I can't imagine it worked very well, but. Maybe. But I can totally see it. Like, I. I want to just carry around in my, like, messenger bag now. Just a piece of stale bread.

I mean. Yeah, yeah, I do. Don't you?

Do you even.

Just always have that. Then I'll be in a meeting and I'll write something. Oh, crap. And I get my bread. And then everybody rolls their eyes because Annie's.

Katie's making a mess again.

Sorry, man. I just get this. I don't like the carbs. I just get this for. If you want to be really hipster, you have to use gluten free bread to erase with.

I don't think so. You can use sprouted grain bread, but it's. Yeah, it probably doesn't go stale. It probably just goes.

Just goes.

Yeah.

Oh, yeah. I mean, amongst ourselves, I think that's

Yeah, that's where somebody suggested an episode title in the chat of Rubber Lubber. I'm Actually a huge fan of. But, yeah, that's where rubber comes from. And it was used mostly for that. And then the name just spread to, like, everything made out of that material. Right? Yeah, yeah.

Yeah. You can erase your. Erase your stuff by driving your car over it. Just rub it on your face.

Yeah.

I also really like the Faber Castell kneaded eraser. The last eraser that I'll just talk about here is one we've mentioned before that would be like that Koh I Noor thermoplastic eraser. I really like that one a lot. Other than that, I don't have a lot. I always have, like, an eraser in my little pencil bag. But I don't use external erasers that much.

I never. Well, I think I don't admit to them. No. I just like. Johnny, if I say it by definition is the truth. No, we've talked a little bit before about it. I think that I really like pencils with erasers on the end because it provides a really nice counterbalance, like a counterweight to it. And because I mostly use it to write with. You know, there's. And I'm an American, there's a lot of pencils with erasers on the end of it that I have access to. So generally there's an eraser right there, and I just use that. But I'm definitely interested to know

of you out there in chat land, what your favorite erasers are. And if there's something that we just haven't covered it all because there's. There's a bunch of them out there. There's.

Yeah. All the ones like we talked about, Anna, that look like food. There's. There's an entire store, I think, in Japantown, the Japantown Center Mall in San Francisco, that has, like, just a whole wall of erasers. Yeah.

So we talked a couple episodes ago, we talked about the Kikkerlund erasers, like the wild animal erasers that are really big and are expertly molded to look like endangered animals. And I guess those are decorative erasers, but they work surprisingly well. I used my rhino a little bit to erase something, and it works really well. Yeah. So some of the pencil toppers are mostly better as decoration rather than, like, as erasers. Like the microphones and the little, like, Guys, the little eraser guys. But yeah, the little wild animals work really well. So lesson the chat. We should have mentioned this earlier. The Sakura foam eraser. Have you guys used that?

Yeah, they're very like. I guess they're called foam because they're kind of like semi translucent and kind of like light and fluffy. It's like a plastic eraser. I don't know if it's actually like foam or if it is. It's really, really fine, like bubbles. But it's also just kind of just. Just very light and fluffy. Yeah, they do wear down quickly, but, yeah, they erase pretty well. I have one somewhere.

Yeah. Yeah. So I don't know anything else that we should talk about that we haven't covered?

Ooh, good question. Hmm.

So, you know, like the. The very, like, classic pencil mounted eraser. That's just the little. It looks like the little cap. You know, the. Your classic, like, pink triangular cone thing.

Oh, that actually comes built into the pencil.

Ooh, good question. Well, we know it's not the golden bear eraser. Like, I love me some golden bear, but that eraser is kind of sucky. It's just so pretty, though. I don't know.

I guess I almost always just judge the pencil based on the graphite and the wood rather than the eraser, but I think the, like, the generals, like the various generals eraser are pretty good. Like just their standard pink eraser. I can't imagine they use something different between, you know, all of their pencils that have pink erasers. But like, the one that's in my general's goddess right now is like a really good eraser. The pink eraser on the. On the black wings.

The Palomino black wings. Actually, the black erasers and the black wings aren't that bad. I think it's mostly just the white one that I'm not a big fan of.

Really?

Yeah, it's A little grittier, but.

Yeah, the ones in the last like

All of my Wilpex don't have erasers.

They're just untipped. I don't have fancy German connections like Johnny does.

I don't, I don't think there's. In Anna's eyes. I don't think there's any such thing.

Yeah.

Hahaha. Well, if we branched out into erasers that come built into pencils, how do we feel about pencil caps? We should probably also mention our favorite ones of those. Yeah, and I think my favorite is just your standard like pink cone shaped cap that you put over your pencil once you've worn your eraser down.

Yeah, they're kind of neon.

Oh no. I knew.

They're sweet. Yeah, that was almost always my problem is it was hard to use them without them just kind of like bending and warping.

Yeah, they're just. They make your pencil look like a war horse. Right. It's just like, hey, this thing has been to the front lines and this thing, this thing has been in action all bitness. Yeah.

By offensive you mean like just really bright. Really,

Oh, yeah, I get ya.

There you go.

front of your pencil.

Cool. What do you say, guys? Should we button it up?

Yeah. To see what new innovations and erasers have come about.

Yeah. So, Ana, where can people find you on the Internet?

And you should definitely have Johnny on to talk about his budding cartoonist career.

Oh, yeah,

Johnny, where can people find you on the Internet?

Cool. We'll have where to find Tim in show notes and also we'll have him back next time unless he truly dislikes us. And then we'll just ask him back again. Anna, if that is your real identity.

Exactly. So I'm Andy Welfle. I am at awelfley on Twitter. A W E L F L E. My blog, which needs to be updated, is woodclinch.com and it's on Twitter oodclinched erasable. The podcast is raceable us. Come join our Facebook community. It's chock full of amazing discussions around pencils and paper and everything what have you. We will not ban you for talking about ballpoint pencils. Unlike some groups out there. We are@facebook.com groups erasable if you want to see our Facebook page where we schedule events for our live recordings and it's kind of our official voice, that's facebook.com erasablepodcast we're on Twitter raceablepodcast and on Instagram at the same. Thank you so much to CW Pencils for sponsoring this episode. They again have a sampler pack with pics from Johnny, Tim and me and anna and from CW pencils themselves for $4.50. There's a link in Show Notes and you can find them at cwpencils.com or on Forsyth street in Lower Manhattan. The Lower east side of Manhattan. Yeah. And you can find this episode at erasable us54. And thank you very much and we will see you all next. The intro music for the Erasable podcast is graciously provided by this Mountain, a collaborative folk rock band from Johnson City, Tennessee. You can check out their music at www.thismountainband.com.

this has happened before.