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Transcript
You know, hey man, we gotta go find this wicked Death Star.
He's got wicked.
Hello everybody, and welcome to episode 154 of the erasable Podcast. I'm Andy Welfle on hosting duties today and I am joined as always by my co host, Tim and Johnny. Hey guys.
Hey, Andy.
We're, we're excited. This is our first and I don't actually even know, is this going to be our only recording in December? Are we going to do another episode later?
Oh, I hope not.
We usually skip a cycle for Christmas. Well, I shouldn't even brought.
I shouldn't have brought it up.
Yeah, we'll figure it out.
We might see holiday guilt. Yeah. And it's not like there's a lot going on this December that's not usually going on.
We have a big like screw 2020 episode too. Like.
Oh yeah.
So I started making greeting cards today that say FU 2020 with a funny little poem in the middle. But I realized I couldn't actually do anything with them, so nervous energy. I might just make a little zine or make some stickers.
You totally should turn it into a zine. Yeah.
Yeah.
Well, this is a really extra special episode tonight we have a great guest. We have Alice Sarah, who is a vintage pencil collector and a talented artist and an all around, just really great Erasable group member. So. Ali, Hi and welcome, guys.
Thanks for having me. That's a very, that's a very kind open, but thanks. No, I'm super stoked.
So before we, before we kind of like jump into everything, Ali, can you tell us a little bit about yourself? Like you know, if whatever, whatever information you want to share and you think people might find relevant.
Sure, man. So live in Seattle and you know, married, kids, twins, ladies.
He's taken.
Yeah, yeah, that's not an issue
ever.
But that's good.
How old are your twins?
They just turned 17 yesterday. Wow.
Wow, cool.
Hardcore. Yeah.
Happy birthday.
They're great. No, yeah, I'll tell them. They'll listen to it. So I'm sure they'll be excited. Yeah. So either way. So twins. That's great. So by day, right, like I, I'm in construction. I manage high end residential construction for some select clients here in the Seattle area. And by night, right, like artists try to sling some art. I love making stuff and just really appreciate all things vintage and you know, it's, it's, it's who I am, man. Very right and left brain kind of guy, you know?
Yeah. Well, if you, if you're in construction management In Seattle. You are in the right place. I have never seen so many cranes and high rises going up.
Dude, I think the. Our record was. I mean, there was like 60 at one point or something. Like, it was. It was insanity. Yeah, for sure.
Yeah.
But, yeah. Oh, go ahead.
We were talking about this before the show, but I. My. I was taking a trip to Seattle in March, and that was the first. First Covid trip I canceled, and I was just, like, super bummed about that.
That's right.
I think. You know, I mean, it. Obviously, it sounds like you have a love for Seattle, but I have an equal love for San Francisco. So there you go. I'll be wet and ready to travel here shortly.
Things open back up. We'll have to join up and hang out.
Yeah. In 2024. Whenever that's going to be.
Whenever it's going to be, who knows?
Crazy.
Well, let's jump into tools of the trade. Ali, do you want to go first? Maybe tell us what kind of media you're consuming and then also what you're writing with and writing.
Yeah, yeah, no, that's great. I'm, well, literally consuming a little bit of Woodford Reserve as we. As we have our. Our podcast here. But, yeah, no, I've been totally digging the Mandalorian, like, a lot of people have. I don't know if you guys. Are you guys watching it?
I haven't seen the second season yet, but I'm ready. I'm saving it for a Christmas break.
It is quickly climbing up my list of favorite Star wars things. Just in general, I mean, it's so. It's so good. I'm. I'm only. I'm only two episodes into this new season, but I'm. I'm just savoring it. I'm just. I'm loving it.
Yeah. I don't want to spoil anything, but it's like, we're pretty caught up. But it is. I agree, man. It is completely my favorite. Like, I really enjoyed Rogue One because it was like this departure. Right. Like, and it was, like, different. The. The music was similar, is a great, great soundtrack, but the music was similar in the story. Parallel story, but it was different. Right. Yeah. Mandalorian is just, like, the production values off the charts, but the story is fantastic.
Right.
You know, so I think it's awesome.
I have one nerd out question for you, but did you.
Did you.
Did you notice anything about the Marshall's speeder in the first episode? No, I'm pretty sure, based on what I saw, that his speeder is Made out of the remnants of Anakin's pod racer.
Oh, wow.
Dude, that's ridiculous.
Yeah.
Yeah. I'll have to go back.
Yeah. Check it out.
And you know, and I, I'm not like. I mean, I'm, I'm definitely into Star Wars, Right. But I'm not gonna argue who Shot first or all this other stuff. But that's pretty, that's pretty awesome if that's the case, dude, I'll totally check it out.
Yeah, I, I was, I was definitely a. I mean, somebody tweeted this the other day, and I totally agree with it. I think Rogue One is just like the best of any of the Star wars movies. Like, it, the plot was just like, so good, and it kind of like, ended in a very, like, like, poetic justice was served. And it just. Yeah. So I'm huge Rogue One fan. And you're right, the Mandalorian just is like such a good story set in that universe that may. Or connect with other things, but it's, yeah. It's like each episode, I, I mean, so much TV out there is like a little movie, but none so much as the Mandalorian, I think.
Yeah, no, I, I, I agree.
You see that they're. I saw a joke on Saturday Night Live that they, they're starting to film the Obi Wan Kenobi series and they say, joked about it on weekend updates because they're starting filming in Boston, apparently. Joking about that. They talked about how, like, it's going to be about his cousin, Obi Sean. Ke. Sean.
Yeah. You know, gonna go find Yoder.
That's funny.
Nice. Obi Wan's wicked.
Wicked smart.
Wicked smart, you know.
Hey, man, we gotta go find the wicked Death Star.
He's got wicked. Wicked.
Find some Ewoks in the Death Star, dude. This fantastic indoor.
Yeah, I got nothing after that. That's fantastic. Cool, man. And then. Yeah, so the other thing is Ted Lasso, man. Have you guys ever seen. Yeah, Ted Lasso. That's.
I saw it.
I have.
Not really. Good. It's on. It's on Apple tv. Apple TV Plus. So, yeah, if you. Which you can subscribe to even if you don't have an Apple tv. So that is, that is available. It's very good.
It is. It was like a sleeper one for me, you know, and it came recommended and we were like, I don't know. I mean, we like soccer. The boys play soccer and. But yeah, no, it's pretty, it's pretty great. If you haven't seen it in a nutshell, like, there's this, you know, the wife of this billionaire premier, you know, soccer club owner. They get a divorce. They go through a nasty divorce and then she hires this US coach who's Jason Sudeikis, you know, Saturday Night Live. And he's got no experience whatsoever coaching any kind of soccer.
He coached like a. Like a college football team.
Yeah, yeah. So it's one of the, you know, but it ends up being like this feel good story, man. That is just. It's fantastic.
Didn't it start out as like a commercial series or something?
Yeah, I thought.
I remember those.
Yeah, they did some promo videos for NBC when the Premier League was. They were doing coverage or something like that. And then. Yeah, they just completely spun it off into.
Oh wow.
Into the show. And it's. It was awesome.
What I. I love about it. So, you know, I'm a big Buffy the Vampire Slayer fan and my cat Rupert is named after Rupert Giles from Buffy the Vampire Slayer and played by Anthony Stewart Head who plays the Rupert in Ted Lasso who used to own the soccer team.
Oh, nice.
And so when he, when he showed
up, who knows Kevin Bacon and there.
Who went to high school with Johnny
G. Yes, there it is. Oh, man, I'm not that old. For two seconds I was like, Johnny looks good, dude. Like,
I'll take it.
Yeah, I know that's funny. But it's a good show. If you haven't.
It's.
Yeah, it's a good one for sure. Yeah. Cool. So what's. Let's see, what's next? What am I writing with On. Dude, that's such a loaded. Yes. Is that the right answer? I mean, dude, you know, all the things. All the things. Dude, no. So by day, like right now I have a volume 54 and a 602 that I hacked with a. It's actually. It's a little convoluted. It took five pencils to make it. So it's a. It's a 602. A new one with that like Tombow Mono, little gold ring, you know. And then a 155 feral, a Diana clip and a 840 eraser. I love it. It's pretty rad.
Wow.
But you know.
Yeah.
Anyways, I dig it. And then. And right now on my desk I have a Blackfeet Indian number two. But literally at the moment I'm writing with a. To be microtomic. But so my. Wait for it. Go to Notebook. Is the Chronicle books. Go to Notebook. If you've ever. You ever. I don't know, they're in your neck of the woods, are they not, Andy?
Yeah, the publishing house is here. Yeah, it's used to be part of the San Francisco Chronicle, but I. I don't think I'm familiar with that new book.
Oh, interesting, dude. You know, paper. Totally. Yeah.
No, it's the one with the. With the, like Battlestar Galactica edges.
Say that.
Yeah, those are cool.
I. I just dig it. You know, I've gone through, you know, I'm pretty hard, just given the nature of what I do during the day. Pretty hard on notebooks.
And they use Mohawk paper.
Yeah, yeah, no, it's. It's. It's fantastic. And I. It's that super fine paper. So it's. I don't know, it's pretty red, but it's dot grid. And I mean, I like it because there's no corners, no like, rounded corner to corners that are going to get all banged up, you know, so to speak. And it's. All the pages are numbered and it's. But they last. That's the key for me.
Just.
They last so long. So. Totally dig that. And then I just started. I just wrapped up one of the national parks for my sketches. I. I feel notewise, you know, But I just grabbed my buddy Matt Ramirez, got me a. I've never used this. Like a. I think it's a Baron Fig Vanguard, Like a little pocket notebook. Yeah, it's pretty cool. It says garbage thoughts on it. I love it. I'm like, okay, great. So that's what I'm using.
Nice. So, Tim, how about you?
Well, the watching and listening categories are both very seasonal because I'm going through my rotation. But for watching, the last thing I watched was my first of my seasonal viewings of Christmas Vacation, which is our family's primary Christmas film that we've watched. You know, some. Some families watch, you know, miracle on 34th street and, you know, It's a Wonderful Life. We just watch Christmas Vacation, like, on a loop and text each other gifts of it, like, all the time. But. So I watched that last night. I always noticed something new last night. The thing that I noticed was that when they're sitting down to dinner on Christmas Eve, Eddie is holding a wine glass and he's pouring a can of beer into his wine glass, which I had never, never noticed that. Which Love that little. Love that little detail. And I am listening to and shout out to Mike Hagen because he's the one who pointed this out to me a few years ago. But my favorite Christmas album, which is the Sound of Christmas by the Ramsey Lewis Trio. So it's an instrumental jazz trio Christmas album that I adore from the, I think late 50s or early 60s, something like that. And I have been reading. I'm finishing up a book that I might have talked about on here before when I had started it, but I had set it aside for school reasons and I picked it back up and I'm. I'm going to finish it up here probably tomorrow. It's called the mayor of McDougal street and it's a memoir by Dave Van Rock. He's a folk singer from the, you know, who sort of came up in the 50s and 60s, kind of right before Bob Dylan. He's kind of the pre Bob Dylan in some ways. And he is the, his, the person Dave Van Rock. And this book, Mayor McDougal street is what the Coen Brothers based inside Lewyn Davis on. So his, you know, his. Dave Van Ronck's most well known album is called Inside Dave Van Ronck.
So.
So it's cool. So you. It's a really fascinating story and he crosses paths with a lot of interesting people. And Dylan comes in as this like, little kid from Minnesota, which is neat, but it's. It's a great read. And you also get to catch. Inside. Luyne Davis is one of my favorite movies. And so I get to catch these little scenes where you're like, oh, that's where they got that. That's where they got that idea. That's where that came from. Is a fun little game of, you know, hide and seek. So. And I am writing with. I got two things here. I've got my Musgrave sidekick right here, which is incredible and talk about that later. And I also have my new Blackwing 6, the new volume release from Blackwing. And I am still. I'm about on the last few pages of my Jeff Tweedy field notes that I was using last time we recorded.
Thanks, Dan. That's me. Yeah, Johnny, what are you consuming that isn't printer ink for your zines?
So did you guys read Stolen Sharpie Revolution? Is that what it's called?
I bought my copy from Ed.
Yeah, me too. But I didn't find it that useful because there was a lot of, like, how to and like, why everything sucks. So the guy who found it Microcosm in Portland, whose name escapes me, wrote a book called Make a Zine. And I was like, halfway through it before I got the joke, but his
is a lot more good.
Yeah, it's a lot of like, the History of Zines like why people are into zines. Like what is zine culture? Like, it's super interesting and a really nice, like tactile book. Wait, wait, real quick.
Is the joke. Because that sounds like magazine.
I thought it was make a scene.
I thought it was a magazine.
Yeah.
Oh, man.
I just wanted to clarify.
It's double joke. It's a double barrel joke. That joke is just like running circles around us right now.
Playing three dimensional chess over here.
Yeah, I think it's like the same price as Stolen Sharpie Revolution, but it's a little bigger and a little less like self consciously trying to look like a zine. It's a little more legible, but also very creative and interesting and got like lots of good info. One's about. There's a whole chapter about comics which is not useful to me, but also really cool.
Yeah.
And I recently watched Uncle Frank on Amazon. Did you guys see previews for this? Yeah, Paul Bettany is in it. He plays an English professor in the 70s who goes home to. I forgot what southern state. And when his father dies and he's gay and his father hates him. And it's a super interesting. Paul Bettany was amazing. I mean, I like him already, so I'm super biased. That's why I watched the movie. But yeah, that's on Amazon and super good. And like, I think it was kind of kid. No, it wasn't kid friendly. Teenager friendly. And also on Amazon, I rewatched Patterson with Adam Driver. Speaking of Star wars where the Jim Jarmusch film where he plays a bus driver named Patterson who lives in Patterson, New Jersey.
That's a good.
And yeah. Did you see this? Ali or Andy? No, it's like really, really. It's like satisfying, like, damn, this is a good movie and has a very good ending. Adam Driver is really good. It wasn't like, you know, cutesy, like broken flowers. Could have been a little bit. Yeah.
I feel like Adam Driver is pretty solid in everything he does. Right?
Yeah,
I dig him.
Yeah.
Who else is in that movie? I don't remember. But yeah, it's. I think it's one of those, you know, Amazon originals. I don't know who really made it. And in homage to Andy, I'm writing in an Ampad gold fiber notebook, which is like the dimensions of this are so nice because I assumed that it was gonna be the same size as a steno book, but it's not. It's like a little more narrow and a little shorter.
It's perfect. Size isn't it with maybe just a little bit taller for the. For the spiral.
I don't know.
The.
The. The. The backboard is so nice and stiff.
I just like, there's. There's nothing about that notebook I don't like. That notepad.
Yeah, it was like three bucks.
Yeah.
Or three bucks and change on Amazon. It's made in the U.S. i tried a couple of fountain pens on it and it was all right.
Probably not great.
I didn't go through too much.
I've had a. I bet it feathers a lot.
Like some fine Waterman school pens. Worked like, really nicely on there. Yeah, that cream looks good. And I'm writing with a Ticonderoga beginners from a batch of vintage ones I got. So it's made in the US with no eraser and cedar, and it's a freaking dream.
Nice.
So smell it. It's really good. I'll send you guys some if you want some. I might have gotten a really good deal on a couple boxes of them.
Nice.
That's all I've got there.
I have been. Well, Katie and I discovered after we finished the Crown, that on Peacock, which is the NBC Universal streaming app, has the entire run of Columbo.
And it's a parallel move.
Yeah, yeah. You know, the crown Colombo. So we've been.
Lateral move.
I guess we've been watching Columbo and I mean, I've seen Columbo off and on, like at Nick and Knight and stuff, but we've never sort of like, watched it, like intentionally, like, kind of watched Wash it all the way Through. And it is. I mean, it is very. It is very formulaic, but in such a really interesting way. Like, it's. It's always like the. The murderer is like somebody who is just like, rich and entitled and just kind of a jerk. And Colombo starts like, they. They're just sort of like amused by Colombo, and then they just end up being annoyed by Columbo. And then Colombo comes in and like, you know, ask one more question and then they're just incriminated. But it just never really shows them, like, like going to trial. They just sort of like, well, I guess you got me. And then they just like crawl into the cop car or whatever. But so many good guest stars. I watched one Leslie Nielsen guest guested in a season one episode, and I was really hoping that he would be funn. But no, he was just played it completely straight, which is a little bit disappointing, but still. Yeah, really good show. If you've never seen Columbo, Peter Falk was a national. National treasure. I just. Just finished reading a novel called Piranesi. Piranes. P I R A N E S. I don't know how you would pronounce that by Susanna Clark. And it is a really interesting, strange, science fictiony novel about this person who lives in this world of, like, infinite chambers in a building and, like, fishes from sort of like the flooded lower chambers for food and wanders the halls and takes it, keeps a journal. And there's all these, like, kind of like neoclassical statues just forever and the hundreds and hundreds of hallways, and there's characters that come and go, and it kind of like through. Through the novel, they work out, like, why he's there. But that's all kind of a spoiler. So it's. If you want like, something that's not like a. Like a space or like space science fiction or, you know, like. Like unicorns and wizards fantasy. If you want something that's just a little bit more like, I guess, subtle in that, like, check this out. Yeah, it's pretty short, goes pretty quickly, but it's just a good, kind of. Kind of puzzler toward the end.
Cool.
Have you read House of Leaves? Yeah, I think we talked about this recently.
Yeah, it's a good one.
I mean, I guess it's not the same thing, but the idea of, like, infinite houses.
Yeah, yeah, it's a similar. I feel like. I feel like there's even a House of Leaves reference in this somewhere. It's part of. Part of it is set a little bit like academia lately. Right now I'm using my writing with my Black Wing six, which we'll talk about. Just kind of re. Like. Like I do every year, just kind of rediscovering that soft core. But before that, I was writing with my Mitsubishi 9852EW. Which is that one. The natural wood Mitsubishi made from, like, recycled, like, ends of pencils. And just completely always forget how good of a pencil that is. It's. It's natural wood. It doesn't have too much of a lacquer on it still has that really nice purpley feral and. And then a black eraser. Really good pencil. And I'm writing in my. My lichtturm notebook. All right, you want to jump into fresh points, everybody?
Sure.
Cool. Ali, you are the guest of honor. Would you care to go first?
I will. I'm gladly. And I really didn't have a ton of fresh points, but I just did want to share. Ed Kemp, right? Who was on, what, two episodes ago, Maybe Two or three word distribution. Pencil of the week.
Technically, he and you were both on the last episode.
Well, that is so true. Yeah. He's so rad. Yeah, no, he's a great guy. We. I honestly don't remember how we ended up connecting. He might have. He might have made a purchase, and maybe we traded a few things, and then we go back and forth all the time. But earlier this year, he was nice enough to say, hey, you know, do you. Do you feel like you want to collab, you know, do a collab on one of these upcoming zines and, you know, so I could sling some artwork and, you know, he had everything going on, maybe a cover and. But, yeah, no, it took a little while. Obviously. This is a long year for everybody, but his next issue, issue number 12. Yeah, Wolfie. So I did a cover for him, and we came up with these ideas back and forth. So it's a little. A little different, a little unconventional, but it's. It was a great process and super rad. So I can't give away too many spoilers, Right. But anyhow, it was. It was a real. So really, I got nothing for you guys. Yeah, moving on. No, I'm kidding. It was really. No, it was fun. You know, he's a. He's a Jersey boy, obviously, so, you know, there's a nod to some generals in there. And he was nice enough to let me write a little blurb about my process. So that was. That was kind of fun and cool, you know, but whatever I can do to contribute to that guy's literary hustle, man, he's fantastic.
Can you talk about the postcards?
Yeah, so we did. Yeah, so totally. So I did. I told him. You mean. Which postcards?
The.
The one.
Pencil of the week. Times Ernest Theater.
Got it. Yeah. Yeah, perfect. Oh, that's right. He post. He. He put him in his. That's right. Yeah, totally. Yeah. No, so I just. We kind of came up with the idea that we should, you know, develop a postcard so we can. So when he sends it out with his zines. Right. It could be something fun. And so that is very similar to the COVID that's. That's coming out. But, yeah, I played around with trying to. It was a little bit of a challenge to in because. So I. I obviously drew it by. I. My process is always. It starts with pencil and paper, right? Like, so then after I brought it in digitally, I wanted it to feel like. Remember, like, in grade school, when you would, like, glue down that. I don't know what you Call it. It's like that colored onion skin type paper. Do you. Do you remember that one? Yeah. Sort of even lighter, like super. It's like colored tracing paper, for lack of a better word. But yeah, we wanted to keep it kind of down and dirty very much like a lot of zines are. And. Yeah, no, it was a great process, but we did that so that we could just, you know, get it out there for people and have it, you know, haven't spread. Spread the word through snail mail, you know.
Speaking of postcards.
Yes, sir.
You have a. You have a. Another postcard too, that you. At least I saw in the group, right? The feral one.
I did, yeah. Yeah, that's.
I don't know if you want to talk about it or not.
Sure, yeah, for sure. That was. That was a fun one for me, man. That was so. Inktober. Do you guys know what Inktober. Yeah. You know, and for those that don't
know, do you mean graphiteober?
Graphiteober. Yeah. Like, they were so close to your
religious preferences on me, sir.
Yeah, it was so close. You know, I think. Yeah, it's another conversation for another time for sure. But. So for those that may not know the month of October. Right. It might be a little blasphemous to talk about it, but you. You do 31. You do an ink drawing every day.
Right.
Typically, there's prompts for the year, but I wasn't stoked about the prompts this year at all. So I just decided to do like a feral study. So I did these. Yeah. I just picked pencils that I like, you know, I don't know, because they're Right. The ferals are so beautiful. Right. And sometimes they're so overlooked. Yeah. So what I. Then I decided. So really, ultimately what I'm doing is a. There's a larger print that's going to happen with quite a bit of them, even more so because I've been doing more since then. But yeah, no, that was totally fun. I just. I felt compelled that, simply put, a few. That I liked some of my favorite pencils, you know, but on that card and. And put it out there so, you know, so you could spread the love with pencil people and non pencil people, you know.
Yeah, yeah. If and when you have a link to purchase that somewhere, let us know and we'll be happy to share it.
Nice. Yeah, we'll do.
Cool.
Any other fresh points, Sully?
Negative.
All right, Tim, how about you?
Foreign.
I'm going to start with the doozy, which is Something that the. The. For whatever reason, the Instagram algorithm pitched my way. You guys ever heard of the Pilgrim Soul Notebook?
No.
Pilgrim Soul Notebook.
Yeah. Okay. Buckle up, fellas.
Okay, so your hats and your shoes. Like a billionaire.
Yeah. Hold on to your butts.
The.
The Pilgrim Soul notebook, or journal is called the original creative thinking journal and it's conceived to be used while you are high.
What?
So.
Oh, yes. Yes.
Does it taste like Funyuns?
There's no scratch and sniff feature. There's no. Yeah, strawberries do not taste like snozzberries.
It just straight up says in the front of it, please use this journal while you are high and chill.
That is. That's fantastic.
Yes.
So this was.
I. I saw it in the, The. Yeah. In the Instagram advertisements. Like, oh, man. So I made a little folder for, you know, saved fresh points. I gotta talk about this later. If you go to their website, pilgrimsoul.com journals, you can look through the notebook and get a little taste for it. And I mean, they do a pretty good job, I mean, putting it together. And, you know, the design is pretty good. I think there's some Comic Sans in there, which is not great, but, you know, it's. But they design all their own. Their own images and all the. The activities in there are pretty ridiculous.
I can think of sometimes in college where this would have really made me freak out. These pages are a little bit much.
Yeah, there's.
Yeah, some of the ones with like the squiggly lines and like the swirls and stuff.
Yeah.
Well, this. So there's like exercises. Like one's called like, just. You're supposed to sit there and write a five line poem that is purposefully terrible. So like the opposite of what a good poem would sound like.
I can do that without crying.
They made.
There's another page.
My favorite one is there's a page where they give you four, like, made up like street signs. Like, like one's got a motorcycle going uphill with a rainbow going over it. And then you have to translate the meaning to say, like, what is this sign trying to communicate? Sorry, I can't stop laughing. It's these pictures. Yeah. I mean, it's like. So one is like a guy getting chased up a hill by a boulder. And so it's, it's. It's. But it's drawn like a street sign or like a, A yield sign or something. And so you have to translate and next to it. Right. What this sign is trying to tell you to watch, to watch out for it's just. It's totally absurd, and in no way would I ever buy one.
I was. But I was expecting when you started talking about this to be like, the. The MUK Manual, just, like, some sort of a thing like that.
Nope.
That'd be a night.
Yeah.
That'd be a nightmare. Well, yeah. Yeah. There's another one that's like, a bunch of people in a elevator and just has thought bubbles, and you just have to come up with, like, the most awkward icebreakers you can possibly come up with. Like, why? Anyways, so that's fantastic.
That's the.
That's the Pilgrim Soul journal that. That crossed my path the other day. I had to share that. But in more important news, I did get. I did get some sidekicks from Musgraves. So a huge thank you to Tim and Nicole. And so, yeah, I got. I got this in. I know. Johnny, you have some in hand, right? You had some the other day, and you were not kidding about how strong they smell.
Oh, yeah. Yeah.
Whoa. Yeah. It is, like, the strongest, most pungent odor of pencil ever. I love it. And I love this and this red cedar. I know the. The red cedar is. Tends to be, like, naughtier, right? Like, it tends to have more, like, imperfections and knots and weird colors. And all of mine have one or two really cool knots in the sides of them, which is just really, really neat. And this.
The.
The wood burning on the top is, like, unreal.
That's such a smart way to. To put the branding on there, because that looks so good. And it's. It's probably got to be really cheaper for smaller runs than, like, Foil Stamp.
Yeah.
I mean, and it looks. It just looks incredible. It's so intricate, the horse and everything about it. So I'm really impressed with these. As I sharpened one up this afternoon, Henry was drooling over it. He's like, oh, I really want to one of those. But he says that about any pencil that I pull out. So he's. He comes by it honestly, so maybe one of those might end up in his stocking.
See?
But. Yeah, so I'm really enjoying that. And then another new pencil that we need to discuss is the new Blackwing.
Yeah.
So The Blackwing Volume 6 is out, which is a tribute to small businesses. So just to describe, like, the basics of them, if you haven't heard about them yet, it comes with a soft core. So the MMX core, it comes. Each dozen, comes in two different colors. There's a neon blue and a neon red red. And then the. The Colors of the erasers in black ferrules have been flip flopped. So you have a neon red pencil which almost looks like an orange with the neon blue eraser and then the flip flopped on the, you know, the, the inverse on the other pencil with a just jet black ferrule. And the concept of the small business, I guess the connection they make is that they are. It's called the volume six because of the six noble gases which give neon lights their distinct colors. So they've chosen two of those colors of neon and then use them in this. In this dozen. The association being I guess that small businesses often have neon signs in front
of which we want to keep their business open. In which case they would have their neon open sign turned on.
There you go. Yeah, so and those are the colors. I guess that makes sense on the choice because those colors, those, those the open signs always have the kind of orange and the bluish color in them which. I love it. I love it. I think it wasn't, you know, I think it's a creative way to go about doing it. I don't know how else they would have done it actually or you know, nothing initially comes to mind.
Yeah.
What do you guys think of this edition?
Well, they did along with that same small businesses theme, they did a really cool thing where they chose 30 small businesses like retailers to announce. To announce this pencil kind of to the public.
Oh, neat.
Somebody, I don't remember her name from Seahorse Press in. Is that what it's called?
Yes, Seaside.
It's Katie.
Katie for Farfo I think or something like that.
Yeah, yeah. She announced it in the group and there's just a bunch of small, small retailers who are announcing this edition which I think is cool. And so eventually it'll go on sale from Blackwing but they're giving small businesses some time to like sell it first which I think is a nice walking the talk.
Yeah, I found, yeah. The initial information I found out I found for it was on the Drum Ghouls site which I know is like Ted from Take Note talks about going to his Drum Ghouls there. So they've, they've got them in stock right now. You can get them before, before there's even information on the Blackwing website. I think that's really awesome.
Yeah, that's cool.
I. There is in whenever somebody really whenever they release like a soft core people in the group go a little ballistic. They that that is not a widely liked core. But I, I think it's great. I love it.
Yeah.
I use it all the time. It gives me more opportunity to sharpen. To kind of like sit down and sharpen the pencil. But it's. It's definitely not something I would want to use all the time. All the time. But it's great for like list making and. And you know, things where I'm not getting too smudgy. So.
Yeah, I. Yeah, I was super excited to see the. The soft core when I saw the. Saw that on the side of the box. I actually gasped when I saw it. Andrew was like, what's wrong? It's just.
Yeah.
Yeah. I am glad though, that they didn't go glossy right. It's got that nice finish. Like.
Like the purple one.
Exactly. Yeah.
You know.
Yeah.
Oh, it's sort of like a matte, like tacky.
I wouldn't call it tacky, but it's.
Yeah.
I don't know. It's like the volume 10, right? Like the.
Yeah.
Oh, okay. Yeah, like that.
I wish. And a couple people mentioned this. I really wish they would have been able to like bring over that phosphorescent or luminescent, like glow in the dark. Darkness from.
So good.
Yeah, but I.
From the 811 or. Which one was that?
Yeah, that was 811. Yeah. But I still. I think it. Yeah, they. They captured it pretty well. It's. They remind me.
They said that with.
Sorry.
Pain to work with.
Yeah. Yeah. You have to apply so many coats to it to do that. They remind me. The colors remind me a lot of the Nintendo Switch controllers, the Joy cons. Oh, yeah, Yeah.
I saw that picture you posted. It was like a. It was a dead ringer. Dude. It was so good. I was like, all right.
Blue of the Joy Con is a little bit lighter, but just the. That kind of reddish orange and the bright blue together. Yeah. Just looks so much like it.
I wonder how they'd behave under a black light. O.
Good.
Don't have one, but yeah.
Yeah.
Oh, I have a black light flashlight up to pull this out.
Yeah, yeah, let us know.
Yeah.
So I put it in the. In the documents. This reminds me of that complete Rambo set that. Who did that? The Modern Library put out maybe like 15 years ago.
Yeah.
What did you say?
I think.
I think you're the only one who knows about this. The set.
No, I mean, I'm older than you. No. Yeah, it was a good like Complete Rainbow Poems and then letters. And the title of the letters was called I'm Promised to be Good, which was cool. But they're. They both are blue and Orange with the opposite title color.
Oh, I see it.
Yeah.
Yeah, totally.
Yeah, that's not a good representation of the orange. The book's much more orange in person.
Yeah.
Awesome.
Yeah, it's cool. I think this is a win. We got a lot of like mess in the group, but I mean that happens every time. It's true.
Yeah, that will always happen.
Yeah, that's cool.
Yeah.
Can't win them all.
Well, that's, that's all I've got for fresh points. So Johnny, how about you?
So I enjoy my bullet journaling and they came out with a new one. So they had the official bullet journal was a like term that just says bullet journal and had some of the like beginning stuff filled in. And in the back there was sort of like a reference to like, you know, official bullet journal stuff. It was like pretty cool, I guess. But they have a new one where it's got like thick paper, it comes with stickers, it comes with a pocket guide. It's like really freaking cool looking. And they're already all gone, so I feel bad linking to it. But what they did was they made black and then they're going to make one color a year until it's gone. So the rose, which is more like a pinkish beige, that's gone, which sucks because I was going to get it for a Christmas present for someone. But this one has like it's dot grid paper and then they're like subtle little dots that tell you where the center is and like really nerdy stuff like that. All still for 25 bucks. So that was pretty cool. Sorry you can't get it, but mine's on the way, so we'll see if it actually is. Is awesome. It's the same paperweight as the stuff I use for my little tiny zines, which is pretty heavy. And oh, this sounds like a natural segue. I just put out issues 10 and 11 of my zine yesterday or today. I remember Long Day Hemingway. And I have 200 stickers in my Etsy store which are like very yellow and they make me very happy. But so I'm going to wrap up volume one with volume with number 12 and make an even dozen before the end of the year. So next year I'm going to do bigger ones because these small ones are so hard to lay out.
Are you going to do like a, like a boxed edition, like anthology of all the leather bound anthology of all the 12?
So I was thinking of a way to bind them together, but I was like, who the hell would want this I'm like drive myself crazy. So what I did was Les had. When she made pocket notebooks, she had this cool little like, folder that was sort of like a magazine rack, like you'd see at a library or an archive. So I spent an entire night just like figuring out how to make it. The exact measurements for 12 8th sheet scenes. So I have that as a PDF. So I don't know, I guess I'll put those on there as a set.
But just give people those, those sheets that you put basketball cards in.
Yeah,
those pages.
Yeah, they would fit perfect. Yeah, I might do that tonight. I've got, I got some of those in my garage.
Yeah, these, like, I'm not making a ton of these. It's going to be. So I figured out how I can print them on cardstock and like cut them out and make one fold and I can send them. So stay tuned.
You should take batches down to write notepads and get Chris to like pure bind them for you.
I sent him some, like, I don't know if he, if he dug them or not, but I sent some to Aaron Draplin. He said he liked him, so that made me happy.
Nice.
Not an official endorsement.
Put that on the back.
Yeah, write a blurb for you, Johnny.
No, Aaron Draplin approved.
Yep. Those are all my fresh points.
It's just on the top it says Aaron Draplin emailed nice words to me.
He emailed me and said that he got them and they were cool.
Just quote Aaron Draplin. I got them and they're cool.
And also that he uses his erasable squire every day. Yeah, yeah, yeah. What are my fresh points? Oh, yeah. In addition to. It's been a, it's been a big stationary week. In addition to the Blackwing Sixes, the Field notes edition was released. And this was so pretty. Yeah, this is the snowy evening. And it is kind of the, the main conceit of it that's just really cool. Um, is that they, they made 99,999 of these notebooks and none of them are the same. Meaning that they. There's a big old snowflake on the COVID and they used some sort of a, like a, like a. I'm gonna
get this wrong, like, randomizer.
Randomizer. I know.
Yeah.
There's a guy named Algorithm.
Algorithm.
It's a.
What they say in the back. It's, it's their unique stone face creative using a generative process designed by Brendan Dawes, who I followed Brendan Dawes for a while. On Instagram for a few years. And he makes a lot of just really cool, like, computer generated, like, like algorithmic fractal art, among other things. But these all, every single one of these almost 100,000 notebooks. First of all, they're all individually numbered, so sorry. Field notes collection, like completionists.
You will never get everyone.
You hear the like, most intense collector out there. It's like game on challenge.
Yeah. And so they. They're just a really gorgeous, like dark blue cover with like a silver. With a silver ink. And yeah, they. It's a Mohawk paper deep blue cover with a white digital ultraviolet ink. And the insides are just some of that really nice smooth finch paper. And they're using a dot grid. It's called a night of chill blue soy based ink. So it's like kind of a light blue. Somebody. Somebody said. And I. I can't see well enough to tell that somebody said that these dot grids are shaped like snowflakes.
No way.
I don't think. Well, I don't think they are because I, like, maybe they are.
Oh my God.
I can't see up close and I can't figure out how to like zoom in. But that would be really cool.
Yeah. And I like all the Robert Frost references.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Because I know his estate is not so free with letting people use his stuff. So I assume they had to make that official. I don't know. They're too big to steal it. Yeah, somebody would notice.
They, of course, you know, field notes gets pretty fancy with staples. They're using some beautiful, like, kind of white, White staples. Um, Johnny, as soon as I saw this, I thought it was right up your alley. Cause I know how much you like the seasonal field nets.
Yeah. I was like, hot damn. Two years in a row they made a winter. Winter.
Okay, in the specifications in the back, it says that it has a flake grid.
Oh, my God, that's awesome.
If I could.
That's pretty killer Look.
Close enough I could probably tell if this was a snowflake dot grid or not. But I. I alask not. If anybody here has like a magnifying glass and can take a picture of it. I would love to see it.
Like, if the grid matched the COVID my head would explode.
Tiny, tiny, tiny.
Serious resolution.
Or all 99,999 were inside of the notebook.
That's good.
Theoretically. Like, sure, theoretically. Like if you're computer generating this art, like you could go well past a hundred thousand. Like, I don't know how many dots are in one of these Notebooks. But there could be, there could be billions of different unique dots that would be a little above and beyond.
Yeah.
So great job. Great job. To field notes. This is, I don't know, this is just a really, I think, a really good looking addition and a really good. You know, we don't, we don't really get snow here, so. Wishful thinking, I guess.
Yeah. And you're not going to get to travel to Indiana.
Yeah. Although I did. We spent end of October, early November driving to Colorado and back and we got caught in a snowstorm. So this would have been a good like travel journal for that.
Yeah.
Last thing I'll mention is the penultimate. The pencil ultimate CW pencil box that just, just arrived. And it was a very, very pencil heavy pencil box. They had a lot of really cool stuff in it. But the one thing I really wanted to specifically mention that you can, as far as I can tell, only get through that pencil box is a blinged out CW pencil Fide Bugle, Musgrave Bugle and Ali. Do you get the pencil box?
I don't.
Okay.
And every year I'm like, oh man, this is. Maybe I should. No, I don't.
Yeah, they're always, they're always a little bit more expensive than I think they should be. I, I get them because I think I like them and I like supporting CW but it's like 30 bucks for the pencil box. And this, this edition has a Musgrave Bugle that has been with wood that has been dyed pink and it has been a slapped with a purple foil stamp on it for the.
Oh, man.
So it's kind of like a Futura and a Bugle had a baby. It's very nice.
That's awesome.
I'm. I can't imagine that they made them only for the pencil box. So like, I would expect CW to sell them eventually, but we have not heard one way or the other how that's gonna go.
I'm gonna want those.
So pretty. Check that out if you can. Their next pencil box will be the last one ever. Because, you know, cw, I don't know if we talked about it on the show. CW is pivoting to not just be a pencil shop, they're gon providing some other kind of like related gifts to better serve the community. Like the local community. Yeah. So, yeah, grab, grab one of these if you can. I think that I saw they have a few more available. Get one of these beagles. If not like, I'm sure, I'm sure you'll see them around eventually. Yeah. Cool. That is it for freshpoints. Why don't we launch into our main topic which is just talking vintage pencils with Ali. Um, and first question. Ali, if in as much as you can say, I think we'd just really love to know what got you interested in stationary in general and in particular in vintage pencils.
Yeah, no, it's honestly great question and I, I don't know that I ever really thought about it until your origin story. Yeah. So back in the day. No, so I think it's, I think it's twofold, like I would say the whole stationary. So my dad, my dad was a draftsman back in the 70s. Right. So growing up and when I would go to work with him and all this stuff and all these different engineering firms, you know, it was, it was always the, you know, he's hand lettering on, on you know, Mylar and Vellum and these Leroy lettering machines, if you guys know what those are, you know, when you use the guide on these like big may line drafting tables, like all that. So I was, I was around that growing up and I just. He would come home, he would bring some technical pens or you know, those old school, like ink filled, what is it? Koh I noor tech pens and things like that. So yeah, I think that's what started it for me. Like, you know, and it just kind of continued. I was always trying to do art as a kid. You know, I've always loved art and I did it as a kid. And even though I didn't find myself as an artist until later in life, you know, I just, I think that was a huge part from a formative perspective. Like what really got me into it, you know. And then for me was, you know, along to parallel that really the animation. I'm a huge animation buff. So that's, that's really what got me into vintage pencils to begin with. You know, it started like, you know, what are, you know, all these artists that I admire, you know, what are they, what are they using? Right. So you kind of start going down that rabbit hole of figuring out what people are using. But then there were some pretty clear, you know, I'm drawing a blank here. But some consistencies in terms of what different artists were using and back in the day in terms of, you know, the Everhart favors, right.
Like, like how Chuck Jones used, used Black wings.
Totally. You know, and all the, the nine old men from Disney and all that stuff. So I think that's what started that, you know, love for me, you know. And then I Was. I was gifted one. An actual Everhart favorite Blackwing. And I mean, I used it till it was a tiny nub, Right. And then, you know, if. If I knew then what I know now, you know, I had a box of 725. I used everyone, Right. It's like. And the only stripless Horsemans and all that stuff, because you just. I had no idea. Right. So that's really. That's really what started it for me in terms of my love of all things pencils.
Right.
And then, like, really deep diving into the vintage pencil world has been a little more recent, but. Yeah. No, I just. I'm completely enthralled with, you know, the history behind pencils and, you know, you know, does that make sense? Yeah.
Well, that brings us to our next question. We don't have a really good definition of what counts as a vintage pencil. I like to think of them as something older than me or something that has been made up for a while. Like, what would you consider vintage pencil versus something that's just like, you know, a Ticonderoga where it's different than it used to be?
Yeah. No, again, another good question. I think, you know, for me, like, 100 years seems to be the staple for an antique. Right. That. But I don't know. I. I mean, I would say something that is at least 20 to 30 years old, you know, can be categorized as vintage, because I think there's always this blurred line between vintage and retro. Right. Where you can have a pencil that's the Arco, for example, Right. They make some cool stuff today that's brand new, but it looks retro, you know, it looks vintage. So is that really retro? I don't. I don't. I don't know.
But retro is more of, like, an aesthetic, right? Like, it's.
It is, yeah. I think, you know, based on the time period or. But for me, I just feel like, you know, something that's at least 20 or 30 years old, I mean, it's a little. I probably mean something different to everybody else, but I am a sucker for things that fall between that, you know, that are like 80. 80 years old, you know?
Yeah.
It seems like also, if it has, like, some kind of. If there's something about it that isn't done anymore that, like, automatically qualifies it in my head, you know, like some sort of, like. Yeah. Some kind Manu manufacturing part or if it's using some sort of, like, material that's not used anymore. Yeah, I mean, totally.
So as.
As you said, like, you've gotten into vintage pencils relatively recently, but dove in pretty deep without giving away any of your kind of big trade secrets. So where do you find vintage pencils? Like, where are you, like, where are you hunting? And how do you, how do you find the things that you're. You seek?
There's this magical forest. No, no, I'm kidding. It is. You know, there's actually this one vending machine. It's badass. You just. Yeah, I, I think I'm just super fortunate to live in a part of the country that has amazing estate sales. Right. Like, I have no problems. Telling me, Emmett, you people, people have like, treasures, man, that they, they have no idea. Right? So pre. Covid. Yeah, I would try to go when I, when I could get there, you know. Absolutely. But you know, even as much as all the online retail, you know, the resale for, you know, whether it's ebay or, or offer up or whatever, you know, people are always. It just takes time. Right. That's the hardest, you know, you know, doing the research and doing the shopping, you, you start to get a feel for, you know, where, where the deals really are. And, and you know, what you might be, you know, what might be able to, to, to, you know, resell them for. Because for me, it's not always, you know, I know this sounds very non capitalistic. It's not necessarily about, ooh, I can buy this pencil for a dollar, I'm gonna flip it for a hundred dollars. It's not, it's not that I, I enjoy and we'll touch base on this in a little bit. But I, you know, part of setting up the shop, which was a really, truly a Covid Quarantine cove adventure to begin with. Right. It was just, it was an ability for me to. I realized very quickly that there's so many other people in the country that don't have access to like, you know, cool vintage pencils in the quote unquote, in the wild. So I just thought, you know, looking at like John Morris, right? Kimmy Coken with the, all the, I mean, if you need anything vintage Japanese, that's where you go, right? Like, so I just thought it would be a good, a good thing to put out there. And that's, that's part of the reason that drove, you know, so it funds my collection, right? I mean, I, I, I find some cool stuff, I keep some stuff, and then I put it out there for other people to, to, to, to grab.
Yeah.
Nice. So I'm, I'm sure, like, when you're hunting. You just kind of. It's some combination of like you're looking for something in particular or you are like, just seeing what you find. Of course. But aside from the ones we've talked about a lot, like the Black Wing, the original Black Wings and the Blydells and all that. Like, do you. What's like your White whale vintage pencil right now that you, like, really wish you could. You could find? It doesn't have to be something fancy, but it's like one that, like, you. You just love to track one down or stumble across.
Yeah. I'll tell you exactly what it is. And do you guys know Gary in the group? Gary Salt?
Yeah.
Yeah. So, Gary, dude, we. We've got a great friendship that's kicked off through this group. Right. But our. I think collectively, I'll speak for both of us. Right. One of the. So think about like a Faber Castell 9,000. Right. You know, green pencil, vintage. They come in all kinds of designations, but they also come in A or gradations, I should say. And they come in one that is a gradation of M. Have you ever heard of such a thing?
An M grade. No, it's.
And it, like, it lists it in there. You know, if you open their little metal tin and list all the, you know, hb, you know, goes to F and then. But there's an M right in the middle. There's an M. And it's specifically for writing. I. I don't think this pencil exists. I mean, I've looked.
It's going to snipe hunt, dude.
Seriously, like, if you guys find one, I have some good stuff to trade. I'm just saying. I just. It was one of those things that A. I've never. And that's part of the things that I latch on to because I think it's kind of cool. Like, I've. I've never seen one. Didn't hear of them up until recently. And I just. So it's kind of different, you know, like the. That just seems to be super elusive. And obviously it goes without saying some of the. Some of the really early stuff is hard to find. And. And then when you find it, some people are super proud of it. You know, it's. So. Yeah, that's. That's the one. If anybody has one, you know where to find me or Gary. Doesn't matter. One of us.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Get ready for some of that. That fat cash.
Yeah, I guess.
Well, in. So in. In modern pencils. And I think we asked this question to Dave Tubman when he was on too, talking about vintage. Vintage pencils. Is there anything that you really like. I hope this isn't a leading question, but anything, like, lacking in modern pencils, anything that, like, you really. That really draws you to vintage, that. That you can't find in modern pencils?
Yeah, I think for me, sometimes it's the esthetic, you know? Like, I think, Frankly, man, I. Like a pencil has a ton of crap written on it. You know what I'm saying? Like, and I think just there's been a push, you know, and black wings. Probably guilty of it, of this trying to be very modern and sleek and.
Yeah.
I don't know. But for me, I think. Because, you know, I'm not gonna lie. I mean, there's no question that graphite today, in a lot of pencils is so much better than some of the old stuff anyways, right? So. But I just think sometimes the. The feeling behind a pencil gets rather stale, you know? So I just think more imprint is cooler. Like, Tim going back like those sidekicks, man. Dude, I was so stoked. Like, those things look amazing. Right? And then I'll tell you right now, like, I am totally digging. Even though I wish it would have been the Harvest Pro, but I'm digging. I got that Musgrave invisible creature collab, you know, did you guys.
Yeah, those are.
Oh, no, they sold out before I
could get on, man. Well, they're totally cool. They. But I just love them because there's so much stuff written. You know what I'm saying? And the packaging is amazing. So I think the second part to that question is, dude, there have been some amazing packaging, right? With pencils. Like old mono 100 boxes or like, those old Van Dyke boxes that, you know, the eraser slid out of the. But you know, those green ones, like, it's just. Or like, just even the black Wing boxes. Right. Like back in the day. So I just. It doesn't necessarily pertain to the physical pencil, but I just think it all goes with that, with the experience of it, you know, I feel like. But it costs money, man. I get it.
You know, I'm sure that you have tons and tons of vintage pencils to pick from. So this was one of the questions I definitely wanted you to get ahead of time, so we didn't catch you off guard.
Yeah.
But what are some of your favorite vintage pencils? Like, even as specific as, like, late 70s number two and a half Ticonderoga.
Right.
I mean, if that one. That's cool.
Yeah, yeah. No, totally. Yeah. So for. Yeah, sure, man. I, I think. I mean, I. Dude, I have a, A decent collection of Eberhard Faber 602s, which I love. Right. And use. And I have some that obviously aren't sharpened and aren't used, but I, they're in my rotation. I, I use them quite often, but. Linton. Do you guys know the company? Linton LinkedIn? No. Yeah, exactly. No, Linton L I N T O N. They, they make a pencil called the Rancho 444, which is a great name, but in a number two. And I don't know, I don't remember where I got my first one. I don't remember how I came about that. But that is a sleeper pencil, man, you know. So any chance I can find those, I buy them, you know, and it's not often at all. I only have literally a few because I do use them and, and they just write super. Just enough feedback, like when you're writing, you know, so call it a, a rancher 444 rancho.
Like rancho.
Rancho. It's just this. They made them in blue, green, and red. Yeah, no, super cool. Totally dig it. And if I, I, if I had more, I would totally share. But yeah, I just, I love them. I love them for sure. What else? Let's see here. Model 100 and F. You know, I got some vintage JS JIS Mark, you know, versions from John that are probably. They might be 80s, I'm not sure. But I love, I love that, man. The point retention is crazy on those things. And it just. Such a great pencil, you know? All right, two more. And then I have some of the old school Eberhard Faber Ebony's, you know, 40s, you know, those, they feel.
Right.
Yeah, man. Like, they're killer. And I do have. Oh, dude, if you guys want to try, I do have some of those, man. They're fantastic. And, and then to pair, that's, you know, when I need a really dark line, you know, and whether it's for art or something, I'm sketching out. And then I just have. I'm just in love with the Eagle drafting, you know, three 14s, you know, the old school.
Oh, those are so pretty.
They're so great. They do, right?
So the one with the eagle.
Yeah, totally.
Yeah.
And which, I don't know if you saw, I posted in the group, I came across a, A natural version which I didn't even know existed. Typically, they're that brownish color, you know.
Oh, I have one of those.
Yeah, no, they're super great. Like I was super stoked.
They were kind of. They were like undercover fat.
Yeah. Yeah.
Does that make sense? Yeah, like, they were just a little bigger, but not so much.
Yeah, no, you're totally right. I love them. I totally love them.
So great.
But yeah, I think those. I don't know, guys. There's so many.
Really.
I could. The list could be like 50, but yeah, I think those stand out. Those are notable on the electrographic. I love the IBM electrographics. I use those quite often.
That's a good one.
Cool, cool.
What are. So to switch from the vintage to contemporary. What are some contemporary pencils that you think kind of. Or that based on your experience with the vintage stuff, embody the spirit of what you love about vintage pencils?
Yeah, I think the from again, for me, aesthetics is such a huge play. Right. So I think some of the stuff that Viarco is putting out is. Is. It's pretty cool, right? Cool looking. You know, for sure some of them don't always write the best. Sorry, guys. But yeah, I know they're great. And I. As of late, man, I think that Blackwing just with the eras, just hit it out of the park, dude. Like, I. It has quickly become one of my. You know, I may have bought too many boxes of that. You know, my kids look at me sideways like, what are you doing? I'm like, I'm used. I'm using them. So.
Have to use half your college.
Yeah, yeah. The big joke is they're. They're so. Kids are so funny, right? But they. I have to. I've been. I've been saving like a complete set of volumes for them. You know, they have no idea. They might now, obviously, when they listen to this. You're welcome, guys. I continue to just grow, right? Like, hoping that they. And they appreciate pencils, right? Like, they totally. I mean, they get it. Like, I let them. You know, they use what they use and everything else, but they. When they really want to jab me, they're like, dad, first thing I'm going to do is sell those things. And I'm like, what? I shed a tear. It's terrible, dude. It's terrible. No, I don't know if that answers your question or not, Tim, but I. I think. Yeah, for me, because it's an aesthetic play. And I just think there's so many pencils today that write so much better than some of the older ones. Right. So. But I. I love the error. I mean, did you guys like the era or. No.
Love it. Yeah, Love it. Yeah.
I think it's cool.
I use it all the time. Yeah, I.
That's.
I mean, like, I love all the things. I love Musgrave a lot, and we talk about them a lot, but that's a company that they're. There are a couple of their pencils that just. They feel like they're coming right out of time machine, like in the best possible way also. Some of those.
Yeah, yeah.
So we talked a lot about pencils. And what about pencil accessories? Do you have any. Any cool sharpeners or erasers or anything that you just really love that people might not know about? Do you have an El Casco? I should ask you that.
It's. I do. I do have a friend. I. Listen, man, I. I have no. Just. I have no dudes. You could send me anything you want me to sharpen and I will send it back, dude. No doubt, dude. And this is going to sound like an El Casco commercial. It's not, right. It's not. But, dude, I. I scored one, you know, I found it. I scored was in California, right? So, Ian, a fellow erasable, right, was kind enough in these Covid times to do the deal for me and then ship it for me, because it was right. It was in his town, right? In his city.
Yeah.
So I get this thing and I, you know, a little bit of rehab or whatever. But, dude, I don't know if you guys have them or not. Fellas. That is a game changer, man. Like. Like, I literally don't. I don't use anything else. Nothing. Like, I have no reason to use anything else.
When we were at the.
On ebay right now.
Yeah.
When we were at the Baltimore pen show, there was a booth that had a few of them. And I really consider. If I had not to spend craploads of money getting to Baltimore and renting AV equipment for a. For a hotel ballroom for a live show, I totally would have picked one of those.
Yeah, it. No, but so with a little more substance in that.
Here.
Here's the deal, right? Like, totally serviceable, which I love, right? And I'm a tinker, dude, so constantly, like, take. Take things apart or whatever, but you don't have to service it. You would just be doing it because you want to take it apart and see what's inside. Frankly, it's amazing, dude. But the. It leaves this, you know, obviously the con. Con cave, right? Is that right? Yeah, the concave point. But like, in its longest setting, right, the. The. The end of the point is. Is literally squared off, which I still haven't figured out the source of you. How it does that. But it does. And it's great, man, because it just. You never get the. You don't get that initial snap, right? The initial. Oh, I'm going to touch my pepper ping. And then the little tip flies off and I just, I can't even. Can't even stress it. And I have a, like a good friend. Like, this is how bad it is. So I had this sharpened. It was a Blackfeet Indian pencil. Right. And my buddy was like. And not a pencil guy. Full, full disclosure there. He's like, I'm like, here, just use this, right with this. So he writes a couple things and then he stops and he's looking at the pencil like it was enough that he had to stop and go, what am I writing with? And I'm like, well, he's like, what kind of point is this? Yeah, how did you do that? That was. That's what I got. So it's pretty rad.
Dude, I'm looking at your awesome El Casco sticker right now.
Yeah, that was. Thanks, man. I appreciate it. That was fun, dude. That's pretty cool.
That's really cool. Yeah.
That's how much it holds a special place in my heart. I made a freaking sticker with the point, you know?
Yeah. With the squared off top on his Etsy. I'm looking at it right now.
Yeah.
Yeah.
It's a very cool.
Nah. Thanks, dude. Yeah. Yeah, man. So that is that. But it's a good one. Yeah. If I find a killer deal, I'll buy it and then I'll. I'll let you know.
Okay,
I'll let you know so you can get it. Not because I. I'm just gonna call you and say, hey, I got it
up and visit it now.
And then I'm gonna poke you a little bit. Oh, I got a good deal. Thanks. No, the.
One of my favorite passages from David Rees's how to Sharpen Pencils book is when he says, he talks, talks about the El Casco and he's like. He's like, this is the. The second most expensive thing that I own. And I own a house and a car.
Yeah. It's no joke, you know, no joke. And without. Listen, one last thing on that. You know what it does is it changes the experience for me of using a pencil, you know, because it's not just. I don't know, it just completely changes the experience, you know, when you're using it, because it just. It becomes a. I don't know, it becomes a nicer tool than just. Yeah, I don't know. You know,
I actually don't even know. Do they still make El Casco's. Is this like a thing that is still made or are they all vintage at this point?
No, no, they totally make them. 100.
Yeah, that's. I should know more about this company.
But they're pro. They're pretty pricey.
Yeah, I've.
I've seen the. The. And I'm. Now I'm looking at, you know, some of the newer ones that I would. I was wondering if it was something that is legit El Casco or if it's like almost like a black wing situation where somebody else kind of took over it. And these are some subpar versions of the. Of the. The originals. But they better not be subpar.
Yeah, no. Yeah. No. And you know, and they make a. Like. Mine happened. This sounds so blingy. Right? Mine happens to be the 24 karat gold one, but just because that's how it worked out. Right. But I probably wouldn't have picked that. I like the chrome, but yeah, man, like, they'll. They make all kinds of like staplers and dude, it just.
They have like handheld sharpeners.
They do. You know, and I've always wondered how they. How they work, but. Yeah. Anyhow.
So is there anything else you'd like to talk about before we button everything up?
I. I think I'm good, guys. I'm still. Still a little giddy that I'm even on here, to be honest with you. But. Yeah, that's fantastic.
Actually. It's my. Oh, you. You've been. You've been listening to back episodes, right? You've been listening to.
I am. I'm on 82.
Wow. What? I think we asked you this in the. The last episode, the live episode, and I really loved how you like. Some of your favorite moments that you specifically mentioned are things that we completely didn't remember.
Oh, I bet. Right. I mean, I don't know how you would keep track of that.
Yeah, yeah, I just. Yeah, that just really struck me. I was thinking about a little bit more after the last episode and I was like, yeah, I completely don't remember making that joke or. Or Tim, like making that. That sound effect or noise or whatever. But. Yeah, that's. That's pretty great. Now I want to listen to our.
You. You really should. I mean, today's episode, you know, I was driving home and it. There was something about mailing a finger back from Baltimore and I was like, what the hell? It was seriously so Funny. Listen, I grew up. I grew up.
Andy said he wasn't recording it, man. Oh, no.
I guess it's in there.
That was. That was the one where we were talking about the. The first round black wing. Yeah.
Oh, yeah.
The sausage.
I think we were talking the sausage lining black wing.
Yeah.
What's his name as well? Yeah, yeah, the guy. Clark.
Guy Clark, dude.
Yeah. Because then you guys went. Seriously, that was. My. My cheeks actually hurt a little bit by the time I got home today with. With that one. Because that was. That was pretty funny. I think Johnny might have even followed it up with I'll mail you a body instead of like, the finger or what? I don't even remember the context, but it was. Dude, listen, man.
Baltimore is a magical.
It is weird.
Johnny. I grew up in Sterling, Virginia. Over there. Loudoun County. But so I've. You know, I've been to the aquarium. I've been to Baltimore, dude.
In the 80s, the fingers floating in the aquarium.
Baltimore is rough, man. I mean, it can be. I mean, maybe it's better now, obviously, maybe not. I don't know, Johnny. You told me. But it's. I remember it. But there was a tough time, dude. That's when, like, D.C. was the murder capital of the world or something like that. I don't.
I think our murder rate was probably better in the 80s, but we had Harbor Place. Now Harbor Place is largely closing up. But there was a finger issue in the aquarium. Some kid put his hand in the piranha tank. Shut up and ate his finger. It was like the talk of the town. Like, you go to the aquarium, don't put your finger in the piranha tank.
Whoa. Do you really.
I don't know if it even really happened episode title.
Don't leave an opening in the Piranha tank. How about that? Like, apparently that should not be.
They're just doing what nature taught them to do.
I feel like that's a sign that does not need to be made right. Like, yeah,
don't put a top on the tank. And. Yeah.
Oh, man, that's good stuff.
Yeah. I mean, they said not to feed them, so.
Yeah, keep your fingers exactly.
That's what they eat.
No, thanks for having me. Yeah, it was fun, for sure.
It's been a pleasure. Thank you so much for coming on. I would love to love for you to plug anything you want to plug. Your. Your Etsy store. How to find you on the Internet.
Yeah, totally. So Etsy stores, Ernest Theodore, which I believe is www.etsy.com. shop at Ernest Theodore and which by the way is named after my wonderful dog who is amazing. Yeah, he's fantastic. And yeah, no, that, that's it. I mean Alicera.com is under construction, so don't go there and no, that's, that's
a construction manager to help move that along.
Right. I. Sure. Yeah. Yeah, I should. I think I know a guy.
Yeah. And if you're in the Erasable group, you probably know Ali already because that is, that is where you hang out a lot.
Yeah. And too many people to shout out, but such a great group, man. Everybody there. It's so, so great. So cool. Yeah.
Thank you. Yeah, it's been a. Been a real pleasure. Johnny, where can people find you on the Internet?
You can find me@pencilrevolution.com on social media ensolution and on Etsy at Etsy.com shop pencilrevolution.
And Tim, how about you?
You can find me on Instagram timothywassom. And I'm on Twitter imwassum.
Cool.
And I'm Andy Welfle. I'm @andy WTF. Or on Instagram and Facebook. No, the other one. Twitter as wellfli. This is the Erasable podcast. You can find this episode and more at Erasable Us. You can find show notes and a recording of this episode at erasable us. 254. No, not 254. 154. 154. I don't know. I was getting out of it four years on. And you can come follow us on social media platforms at Erasable Podcast on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. If you are so inclined. Come join our Facebook group which is one of the best places on the Internet@facebook.com groups erasable. We have a couple, a couple new admins, some fresh blood we're adding to the mix after about five years of doing this. Yeah. So Jamelia Hilfiger and Tiffany Babb, both of both, both of whom are pretty great community members. And then, yeah, come find us on Patreon. You can support the show. There we are@patreon.com erasable and speaking of which, I have a few producer level Patreon supporters I'd like to thank as we do every week. Thank you. Huge thank you to Andre Torres, to Kyle, Paul Moorhead, Andrew Squish, Gary Varner, Julie Malnar, somebody named Ali, Sarah.
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