Notebook Evolution

As we approach the one year anniversary of the introduction of our Palomino Blackwing pencil we are nearing the next step in the evolution of the Palomino and Blackwing product ranges as we get set to introduce our first series of journals, sketchbooks and notebooks. In addition, we’ll also be complementing our ForestChoice FSC certified pencil range with a selection of FSC Certified notebooks. So, here is a first look at the overall range, though we are planning feature posts on individual product group selections leading up to our official launch near the end of September.

When we first conceived the idea to introduce a range of notebooks in some of our top brands, we had several goals in mind. First, the design and quality had to be fully consistent with the high standards for each of our relevant pencil brands: Palomino, Blackwing and ForestChoice. This meant using superior materials, as well as partnering up with an experienced and reliable supplier with all the capabilities to produce outstanding products on a competitive basis. We wanted a collaborative partner to guide us in understanding and learning about the notebook market, but that was creative and adaptive to our concepts and needs as well. After several months of research, we found just what we were looking for in Istanbul, Turkey. As it turns out Istanbul has a long tradition of artisanal printing and bookbinding. Our new partner, Talat Printing & Leather Products Company, has over 50 years of industry experience and is now into its third generation as a privately held family business. Thought primarily a producer of premium customized planners and notebooks for large commercial clients, they introduced their own Fabio Ricci brand range for retail distribution in the past few years. As part of our partnership we will also be taking on the North America distribution of the Fabio Ricci brand, initially introducing their Elios line of their notebooks this fall, along with our own California Republic family range to retailers and distributors.

Our next goal was that our notebooks needed to have a functional partnership with our pencils and a design that supported your creativity, whatever the specific activity: writing, drawing, sketching, composing and more. For this, I spent 4 days in Istanbul in early April working with Talat to develop our initial product range with adaptations of Talat’s items. All the materials utilize premium acid free papers and covering materials from European suppliers in Spain or Italy with appropriate weights for each notebooks intended purpose. ForestChoice products include FSC paper as well as cover stock. This was supplemented with work from our branding design team to come up with a belly band and packaging design theme that was informative and helpful. In all, we’ve got a great line up we are very proud of as an initial launch and we received very positive feedback when we showed the samples to potential customers at the National Stationery Show back in May. Getting everything done in time for the NSS was a challenge, but we were very encouraged by the feedback received. Production of our initial stock has been completed and the shipment is currently on the water expected to arrive in California within the next two weeks.

In the coming weeks leading up to the launch we’ll cover each of the products in more detail. We’re very excited about this next step in our evolution as a broader range supplier of premium writing pencils and notebooks that support a creative and enjoyable experience of putting your ideas to paper and pencil. It’s not just a pencil and a notebook. It’s an experience.

Hearst & Morgan: An Architectural Collaboration with a Pencil Connection

My wife and I recently completed a driving vacation down the California coast which included an overnight stop in San Simeon where we visited Hearst Castle. Each of us had been there separately as children, but clearly our appreciation of this architectural gem and the vision of William Randolph Hearst is much greater with a bit of seasoning over the years. Having designed, built and remodeled a couple very modest houses ourselves, we found it amazing to see what Hearst and his Architect Julia Morgan accomplished over 28 years that they collaborated on this property. There is a very well done movie in the visitor center which covers Hearst’s life and the influences that lead to his personal attachment to and vision for this estate as well as his close working relationship over several decades with Julia Morgan. Full of quite a few old home movies, it’s just a great chance to learn about their creative working process in addition to the history of the property. This often involved tearing down and rebuilding many aspects of the project as well as designing to complement and feature the amazing, historical pieces of art, furniture and architectural treatments imported from throughout Europe.

During our overnight we lodged at The Morgan at San Simeon, decorated throughout with an amazing collection of her original architectural design renderings for many aspects of the Castle. Almost all of these were done in graphite and colored pencil. This collection represents a remarkable exhibition of art and has strengthened my own interest in historical architecture and the use of pencil as a creative medium in this trade. I’ve shared a few of my photos of the Morgan drawings here. Amazing details down to the designs of the stair risers all around the property, and untold design features throughout. The bottom of each print includes a description of the item and the inscription “Mr. W. R. Hearst San Simeon, Julia Morgan, Architect” along with the date of the drawing, all in pencil. The one photo of the property I included below demonstrates how the tile risers become an integrative component of the overall architectural design.

Julia Morgan’s story is a fascinating tale of one of America’s first leading female architects. Graduating in 1894 as Civil Engineering student from University of California, Berkley she was the first woman to be accepted and graduate with a degree in architecture from the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris. Returning to San Francisco and employed by John Galen Howard, who was responsible for the UC Berkeley Campus Master Plan at the time, she worked on designs of several buildings. This included two endowed by Phoebe Apperson Hearst, William Randolph’s mother. This initiated a long relationship between Morgan and the Hearst’s that spanned over 30 years and included multiple projects on both Hearst Estates as well as several newspaper buildings. Beyond her most famous work on Hearst Castle, Morgan was one of several architects contributing to the Bavarian village themed Wyntoon estate on the Hearst’s 67,000 acre forest property along the McCloud River just south of Mt. Shasta. Outside the broad Patronage of the Hearst family, Morgan did extensive work designing buildings for YWCA (including the Asilomar Conference Center) and several other women’s educational institutions such as Mills College. In all something like 700 buildings in California are attributed to her body of work and much has been done by historians documenting her contribution to the field of architecture.

One final interesting connection between pencils and this story is that the Hearst’s McCloud River area timberland holdings include stands of California Incense-cedar which have historically been harvested and sold by the Hearst Corporation for use in pencil manufacturing. From 1979 to 2003 our company owned and operated a saw mill at McCloud, CA, which was originally established as the McCloud River Lumber Company in 1896. Even before that we were producing pencil stock lumber in our Mt. Shasta City mill from the early 1960s until the early 1990s. The nearby Hearst lands historically provided some portion of the cedar used by both saw mills to produce pencil stock that was then sent on to our slat operations in Stockton to make pencil slats sold to our pencil manufacturing customers. Even though our manufacturing supply chain is designed much differently today, producing slats in China, we still receive some pencil stock we are purchase from other suppliers who buy cedar logs from the Hearst lands. Thus the Hearst property has been participating in some small portion of the pencil industry’s sustainable cedar supply for 50 years or so.

Palomino Blackwing Setting Design Trends

Recently we’ve received a few great examples of how some forward thinking customers have been using our Palomino Blackwing pencils as an integral part of their promotional efforts in their own businesses. As you’ll see our Blackwings can make a great design and quality statement as a corporate gift in combination with a unique story or gift.

The first item is a “Trend Alert” sent out recently by one of our pencil slat customers Schwan-Stabilo Cosmetics, who is the largest supplier of cosmetic pencils to major brands worldwide. Schwan’s Trend Alerts are sent out monthly to over 800 of buyers and decision makers in the fashion and cosmetics industry. The card includes two pencils and has very nice copy section entitled OBJECTS OF DESIRE which briefly introduces the story of the new Palomino Blackwing and CalCedar’s renewal of this graphite pencil with it’s exceptionally dark line. It goes on to introduces a brand new formulation eyeliner pencil they've created stating:

We are pairing it [Palomino Blackwing] with the new generation in our wood-clenched eyeliner-pencil formulas. The absolute must have for the eye make-up aficionados. Schwan’s BLACKWING has a never-before-felt satiny, extremely soft and gliding application, laying down an exceptionally intense line that doesn’t smear and lasts all day (and all night).

This idea developed during a meeting I had with Schwan management this past winter in Germany when I was describing to them the launch of our Blackwing pencil. A very nice job particularly of integrating the drawing of the eyes along with the language highlighting the extremely dark and soft drawing performance of our graphite with the story of their new formulation with complementary performance characteristics as an eyeliner. These eyeliner pencils with the Schwan Cosmetics logo and Blackwing imprint are simply design and product samples and are not available for sale under the Schwan brand as their customers purchase products customized with their own brands. The pencil does leave a very dark luxurious mark and I hope it will be a big winner for them this season.

The Second example is from Elixir Design, a San Francisco based Brand Strategy firm who’s approach is deeply linked to great design. Last fall they purchased our Blackwing pencils after the launch to be used as part of this creative premium gift to their clients. The elegantly designed gift box holds a single pencil and is embossed with the quote “Luck Favors the Prepared” 2011 and a simple card internally with quote attribution to Louis Pasteur and a simple note of Best Wishes from all of us at Elixir”. Another interesting touch is the inclusion of a small wax paper envelope which contains shavings from the pencil being sharpened.

Chinese Pencil Anti-Dumping Duties Revisted

Bloomberg.com published an article on June 27th covering the pencil industry titled "New Jersey Pencil Maker Cedes No. 2's to China". While the title refers specifically to General Pencil Company and quotes it's owner and CEO Jim Weissenborn, the article has a broader focus on U.S. Anti-Dumping as it applies to the pencil industry as a whole. Anti-dumping duties and the Chinese pencil industry is a topic I've commented on in past posts over the years: Pencil Anti Dumping Duties: Primer and Pencil Anti Dumping Duties: Changes in the Air.

The article was prompted by the June 13th decision by the U.S. Trade Commission to extend for another 5 years the countervailing anti-dumping duties against Chinese pencils. In addition to Weissenborn it includes includes quotes from other industry representatives in support of the duties as well as several economists who claim that such duties do little to protect U.S. producers as production just gets shifted to other low cost countries. The article provides several statistics regarding the U.S. Pencil industry gleaned from the associated filings demonstrating that despite the duties (which have been in place about 15-20 years now) imports of Chinese pencils to the US have increased five fold since 1996 with statements that US producers accounted for just 14% of US pencil sales in 2008.

I agree generally with the statistical trends and the views of the economists that the long term impacts of anti-dumping duties don't necessarily protect U.S. Producers from the challenges of global competition. ONe can always nit-pic specific figures and percentages. The fact is in the end you still have to compete on your own innovation, manufacturing and/or purchasing efficiency and ultimately find your proper niche in the market. A point Jim Weissenborn speaks to well in the article with respect to General's market focus.

However, one aspect that is not addressed in the authors argument is that a large portion of the Chinese pencils coming into the US are in fact not paying significant anti-dumping duties relative to the China wide rate of 114%. This is because there is a process of reviewing and applying for producer specific anti-dumping duty rate adjustments with the Commerce Department. As a result the largest Chinese exporters to the U.S. are only subject to anti-dumping duty rates in the range of 1-5%, not 114%. This rate adjustment review process is an expensive and complicated legal and accounting process that makes sense for only the largest suppliers. This itself introduces further inefficiencies and opportunities for gaming the system to avoid duties, including shipping pencils from other suppliers via the favored duties of these larger entities a challenging issue to police. Eliminating such special rate reduction applications might make the system simpler in total. However, it still does not address the fact that such a change would likely spur an increased wave of trans-shipment of Chinese pencils to the US via other countries, an illegal practice, though challenging to police and administer.

Regardless of such inefficiencies in the system many Pencil industry insiders believe the duties are warranted given the "hidden subsidies" received by Chinese producers. One example is the VAT rebates received from the Chinese government on finished pencils exported from China. These are not applicable to slats and other components exported, thus favoring finished production in China itself. Another form of subsidy has been domestic wood costs that has been artificially low due to over harvesting over many years. In fact we are now seeing that China is experiencing dramatic increases in wood costs for all sorts of industries as the Government is curtailing harvest levels on it's forests through out the country. This is currently driving a cycle of inflationary price increases in raw material, slats and ultimate Chinese pencil prices. A subject I'll be addressing in a future post sometime in the next month, but the point here is that Chinese wood supply has been at relative lower costs than other substitute woods for our industry many years and would have been higher if forests were managed more effectively on a sustained. Fortunately the Chinese now seem to be working to correct this, though this has not dimmed their appetite for wood.

In the end the anti-dumping duties have assisted the US industry from being totally decimated by Chinese imports, even though many US Producers have had to become involved in Chinese production or imported pencil supply themselves to competitively serve some share of their US sales. Small private family owned producers such as General's and Musgrave mentioned in the Bloomberg article remain in existence today in part through the benefit of such protective duties, but just as importantly through their own dedication and commitment to producing and marketing quality products. offering superior customer service and valuing the traditions and knowledge developed through several generations involvement in the industry and the contributions to the communities in which they live. Strictly economic arguments on the subject of the good and evil of protective duties to society rarely address these social benefits.

Another First Flight, but not a Blackwing.

While we were in the midst of launching the first flight of our new Blackwing 602 these past few weeks, my wife and I have been watching over the first flight of another set of birds in our own backyard.

About 4 weeks back a pair of Robins chose to build their nest on a somewhat precarious perch of our floating pool chlorinator that was sitting in a basket just out side our kitchen window. This was about eye level right on our back deck under protection of our covered porch. On May 27th we discovered the nest with two eggs as shown here.




I took the next photo on June 6th as mom incubated her eggs. We had some really cold and rainy days from end of May through the first weekend in June so I think Mom was happy to have the cover of our back porch, though my wife began worrying about the dinner party we were hosting on June 13th for the CalCedar Board of Directors as we planned to dine on the deck that evening. Even after hatching mom sat on the nest early on during the evenings to keep the chicks warm.

All along we thought we had just two eggs, but in the end we found there were four chicks that hatched. This photo was taken on June 6th which was the first day we noticed the chicks had hatched.




Two days later on June 8th. A bit bigger and more active.





On June 10th, I was able to get several nice shots of feeding activity. It was only at this point we actually realized that both parents were tending the nest and feeding both birds. With return trips to the nest every few minutes from each parent to feed a diet of works and bugs. It also became clear the chicks were not likely to fledge prior to our dinner party on the 13th. We devised a plan to shield the nest from the party by hanging an old curtain in front of the nest. The parents needed to adjust thier landing approach to come in from the side and that took a few tries, but worked. The party came off without a hitch and the parents even kept feeding the chicks with our dinner guests seated just 5-10 feet away on the other side of the drape. After the dinner we removed the drape to improve access and so it would not hinder the chicks when they fledged.

Yesterday morning before work on June 16th I noticed the nest was now empty and chicks all gone. There was quite a mess below the nest on our deck at this point and a trail leading off our deck to the back yard. A few minutes later I noticed one of the parents on our lawn still with a fresh batch of worms and with it was one of the chicks. I was able to snap a few nice shots of parent and chick perched on this rock beside our pool. While taking these last two shots I noticed something in the pool and when I approached I found that one of the chicks had fallen in and drowned.

When I went to grab the pool skim net to remove the dead chick my Labrador retriever, Sky, approached the chick standing on the boulder which became frightened and fell into the pool itself. Fortunately, I was able to scoop up the chick as it struggled in the water and save it. It ran off under a Blue Spruce tree next too the pool. Sky had been pretty good during this whole period and had been buzzed a few times by the parents, but never really showed any interest in the birds or the nest until she saw this chick. I only hope she was not the cause of the earlier drowning when she had been out earlier in the morning. Later I saw the chick running through the lawn with one of the parents. I was leaving town yesterday morning and my son arrived to house/dog sit. I never saw either of the other two chicks and my son reports today he has not seen the parents or chicks again either. I am hopeful all three of the other chicks have made it.

Ode to Blackwing

This post is in celebration of the launch of the new Palomino Blackwing 602 we release for sale at midnight tonight and as a fun way to share my own poetic creativity this month given our contest themes. Thus I've written my own "Ode to Blackwing" shared here below. Not a great literary effort, but I had fun writing it anyway. A more detailed account of this pencil's history can be found here or here. Anyway I hope it will inspire you to check out and participate in our Drawing and Writing Contests this month to win free Palomino Blackwing and Palomino Blackwing 602 pencils.


Ode to Blackwing
Written by Charles "WoodChuck" Berolzheimer

There once was a pencil, it was really the thing.
Went by the name of Eberhard-Faber Blackwing
Produced a graphite line so smooth and clean
No pencil could rival it’s metallic lacquer sheen.

It felt like butter as it slid across the page
had an extendable flat eraser, though that tended to age.
They called it the 602, said it wrote with half the pressure, twice the speed
Some really thought this pencil fit their special need.

Was favored by writers, musicians, artists and more.
From whom creative juices would never cease to pour
Steinbeck, Thomas Wolfe and the poet MacLeish
Their creative energies were really unleashed.

Musical numbers from Overton, Sondheim and Riddle
To them other pencils were just second fiddle.
Animations galore from Chuck Jones and his ilk,
with flowing lines that went down smooth as silk.

The old Faber factory sold to one, then another
That special graphite formula maybe lost forever
When the corporation saw no profit in fixin’ a machine
The Blackwing days were bound to get a little lean

The Boston Athenaeum, it’s scholars and librarian
Bought up the old stock and started a hoardin’
Selling Blackwings by the pencil for 20, 30, 40 bucks a pop!
And a legend began to grow, the 602 was headed over the top

Then along came the Palomino with it’s deep, rich graphite feel
The bloggers all said that for a buck a pencil that’s quite a deal
The mighty orange pony kept a trotting slow and steady
Building up a stable of riders until the time was a ready

And one by one the old Blackwing fans kept asking
Won’t you please bring back that extending eraser thing
Our 602s are getting scarce and even more costly
To be used only when the muses strike us hotly

So Woodchuck toiled and tinkered, thinking how can it be done?
There’s just not enough volume, it’ll cost a ton.
But he finally got the nerve up to take the big risk
Ordered the eraser tooling and prayed business would be brisk

He designed the new pencils to be dark, soft and smooth
With a black lacquer finish he thought would really groove
He worried some small gold flecks were a bit too profuse
So sought feedback from bloggers, and all hell broke loose.

Where’s that gray, metallic finish? What about my pink eraser?
No 602? And why did you drop that slogan, Half the Pressure?
Yes, it’s super smooth and darker than the Eberhard Faber
But boy we sharpen so often, it really takes some labor.

Still they came, they bought and the Palomino Blackwing was born
Better than an iPad? asked the Globe as they tooted the horn
So Pegasus came down on Mt. Helicon from the heavens
Thus creating the spring, where gathered the muses, seven

So writers, artists, musicians and pencil fans
Were pleased to have Blackwings back in their hands
Their pencil creativity unleashed once again
Putting pencil to paper, smooth as gel pen

But, upon Woodchuck his mind still did nag
That he did not yet have success in the bag
So back to the drawing board to work on version two
To refine this pencil for those he wished still to woo.

A new formulation of graphite so firm and smooth
It lasts one-third longer and that is the truth
Back came the slogan Half the Pressure, Twice the Speed
As his customer’s notions he wished to heed

A shiny new finish to match the old Faber
With polished brilliance of a brand new sabre
So sure to cure those long and weary blues
Of those who mourn Eberhard-Faber 602s

I’ve got the Blackwing Blues.
Sick of paying 30 bucks for my 602’s.
Can’t Draw! Can’t Write!
But everything’s gonna be alright
Cause the Palomino’s comin' out tonight!

Cumberland Pencil Museum Turns 30

This morning I found the following link to a story covering this past weekend's 30th Anniversary Celebration of the Cumberland Pencil Museum. The museum is located in the heart of England's Cumbria lake district in the town of Keswick in what was formerly the canteen of the Cumberland Pencil factory. The factory itself was relocated to a new state of the art facility 3 years ago in the town of Lillyhall.

Not just an interesting place for kids, the museum celebrates the history of the pencil and has a number of fun an quirky aspects to it. It's location and that of Cumberland Pencil was originally due to discovery of natural graphite in the region and mining of the graphite. Today the region is best known as a tourist destination and the museum itself hosts 80,000 visitors per year.

I had the opportunity to visit the museam with my wife and son Philip in 1998 when he was 11, long before he joined us at CalCedar to work in our Pencils.com e-commerce operations. This was during a business visit to Cumberland relative to our Cedar slat supply for thier pencil production. Given the long business relations between our companies he also had the opportunity to get his first ever tour of a real pencil factory in addition to the museum itself. Something of great fascination for any young person and adult alike.

The article covers some interesting aspects of the museum two of which of particular relevance to me was the mention of the Charles & Diana Royal Wedding Commemorative pencil tin and in particular the secret "spy pencil" produced by Cumberland during World War II which housed a hidden compass and map inside and was used by aviators to provide a route home in the event of being shot down. The article mentions that there are only 10 of these in existence. Not sure if that is really the case, but if so that's quite remarkable as we happen to have one here in California. It's part of a special commemortive gift set of Cumberland Pencils produced for one of the company's anniversaries and was given as a gift to my father by the Managing Director of Cumberland many years ago. I also have a Charles and Diana Royal Wedding pencil in my own collection as well, though I don't know if this was part of the Cumberland set or was produced by Chambers Pencil Company, a former producer of novelty and advertising pencils in England.

Coincidentally, it's my other son Thomas' birthday today. Happy Birthday T!

Reviving the Blacking: The All New Palomino Blackwing 602

Well folks I have some exciting things to share with you in this update. We’ve recently received the first small production batch of the new Palomino Blackwing 602 model. This is just 5000 pencils with the next 25,000 schedule for arrival early in June. But more about the availability of this pencil in just a bit, for now let me tell you about this new product.

First, we are very pleased with the new 602’s lacquer finish which reflects the traditional blue-grey grey finish of the Eberhard Faber product during its later years of production, but with an even more distinctive gunmetal grey brilliance. The earliest production of Eberhard Faber product dating to the 1930s actually sported a darker black finish more similar to our existing Palomino Blackwing product. In response to feedback of many 602 fans we have revived the famous slogan “Half the Pressure, Twice the Speed” and finished off the design by topping our pencil with a black eraser giving the overall design a simple elegance. Understandably this is a departure from the pink eraser of the Eberhard Faber product that some would prefer, but we have provided this option among our eraser replacement pack options. Sorry I've not had time to get decent quality photos shot of the pencils before getting this post out.

Even more exciting is our specially formulated graphite core which has been developed to provide the Blackwing’s well known smooth glide while offering a significant improvement in wear rate vs. both or Palomino Blackwing and the Original Eberhard Faber product. One of the key concerns expressed by those customers doing extensive hand writing with our initial Palomino Blackwing pencil was that despite the extremely soft and smooth feel some customers would like to see an improvement in the wear rate to reduce sharpening frequency. The challenge has been to improve the hardness and reduce the wear rate without sacrificing much in smoothness and as little blackness as possible. We were looking for a firm and smooth formulation to complement the soft and creamy smooth performance of our existing product.

During our formulation and evaluation process with our Japanese graphite producer we performed a set of technical bench tests to develop objective measurements of the wear rates as determined by the length of line drawn per millimeter of wear under constant pressure. This is a mechanical testing device used routinely by our supplier to assure production batches meet established standards for each graphite grade. Our results indicated that the new PB 602 graphite core provided at least 25-35% more extended life vs. our existing Palomino Blackwing and approximately 15-25% greater line length than the original Eberhard Faber 602. So we have improved wear rate substantially versus both items. Of course we give up something in darkness by creating a harder, firmer lead, but the new product compares favorably with the original.

As indicated in my Timberlines post last Fall about graphite performance we’ve found no objective, scientific test that measures smoothness of lead. Each person has their own writing angles and forces reflecting their own writing and drawing style and posture. Based on the more subjective personal testing a number of us involved in the development of this pencil have completed it’s our assessment that the our new 602 model has only a slight loss of smoothness versus our existing Palomino Blackwing pencil and has comparable to slightly improved smoothness vs. the original Eberhard Faber 602. Clearly in the end you all will have to be your own judge on the smoothness characteristic as with your overall assessment of these pencils.

We’ll be officially introducing the new PB 602 model along with a fully redesigned lined of retail packaging for our entire range of Palomino and Palomino Blackwing pencil products the marketplace at the National Stationery Show in New York In just a few days. Our goal is to make our products more widely available by focusing on developing a retail dealer network that appreciates the fine quality and performance of our growing range of. If you have a favorite local stationery shop, artist supply store, bookstore or other gift or specialty retailer you think would be ideal for this product please let them know to drop by our Pencils.com booth if they happen to be visiting the show next week. At the show we’ll also be introducing a line of luxury notebooks and sketchbooks under the Palomino and Blackwing labels as well as FSC Certified notebooks under our ForestChoice brand. But more about these developments in a later post.

As to launching on Pencils.com and actual initial shipments we expect the final packaging production to be complete in the next week and will begin packing pencils as soon as we receive the packaging. This is a photos of our packaging production proofs just received this morning in time four use at the Stationery Show. We have not yet determined if we’ll drop the existing gift box or continue to offer that option on Pencils.com. We expect to initiate Pencils.com sales of the PB602 on or about June 1^st providing all goes to current plan. To be notified about when the new Palomino Blackwing 602 goes on sale on Pencils.com make sure to register on our site here.

Finally, we are thrilled to see that our efforts at Reviving the Blackwing have now been covered in the latest issue of Fortune Magazine now on the newsstand. We’re hoping we’ll see increasing press coverage as a result of our launch at the Stationery show this next week.

Pencils.com Helps Japanese Disaster Victims

We were greatly disturbed to see the tragic events and human suffering resulting from the earthquake and tsunami last week in Japan. The devastation caused by one of the strongest earthquakes ever recorded is quite simply staggering. To do our part we will be donating 5% of Pencils.com revenues for the Months of March and April to the Red Cross for Japanese Tsunami and Earthquske aid.

Pencils.com and particularly it's parent organization California Cedar Products Company has a long history of business relationships in Japan over the past 50 to 60 years. This spans from supplying cedar and basswood pencil slats to all the Japanese industry participants to the more recent development and production of our Palomino and Palomino Blackwing pencils. As a multi-generational family business these relationships often extend to personal relationships with principle business owners and management in these companies. We were very happy to learn all of our dear friends and associates in Japan came through last weeks terrible events safely.

Certainly there are and will be many challenges for the pencil industry and the country as a whole facing both the tragic loss of so many countrymen, the potential threat of radiation exposure and the inconveniences of transportation and power supply disruptions and of the overall rebuilding process. Economic conditions are bound to deteriorate in the near term and this will certainly have tremendous impact on the lives of many Japanese citizens. As a company with strong long term trading ties to Japan we are committed to supporting our customer and supplier relationships to our best ability and helping them rebuild their economy as best we can through our ongoing relationships.

Reviving the Blackwing: March Update

Okay Blackwing fans we have a few new developments to bring you up to date about.

First, based on feedback received on my last post and elsewhere we've decided to drop the term "Classic" from the upcomming release of our next Blackwing pencil model. So the new model will simply be named the Palomio Blackwing 602 and will complement our existing Palomino Blackwing pencil. Several people have properly pointed out that it's a bit redundant to use the term classic when we're designing a pencil that more closely replicates the original Eberhard Faber Blackwing 602.

Next as you can see from our photo we've received some initial samples of two new colors of erasers for the Palomino Blackwing. We're planning on adding pink and black options to our existing white eraser. All three colors will eventually be available in 10 packs as an so you can choose your favorite color and accessorize your Blackwings. All have the same quality performance. These packs will be available for sale sometime in June as they are being produced and packed as part of our larger replenishment order for our next production run on the new and existing Blackwing pencil models.

After reviewing these sample erasers and considering the overall design for our new Blackwing 602 model we've determined that the black eraser is just going to look much better than the the pink on this. Thus the new 602 model will be tipped with a black eraser, but for those who really prefer pink the replacement packs will allow you to customize. We're a few weeks away yet from having our first lacquer finished samples for approval before we go into our production run starts. So I can't provide an actual photo yet. As soon as we have an approved lacquer finish on a few sample pencils we'll get these shots taken and share them with you. Probably about the first of April.

If all goes well we expect to receive the first small release of the Blackwing 602 model in Mid May, just in time for our debut at the National Stationery Show in New York May 15-18. We're also working hard on wrapping up our new retail packaging to make this available for the show as we'll be introducing our Palomino, Palomino Blackwing and ForestChoice product ranges to the Retail trade. This will kick of our first real effort to make any of our products available at the retail level after primarily distributing through Pencils.com and a few other on line sellers until now. It's an exciting time here and working hard towards these goals to do a good job with this launch.

Finally, just in case any of you missed it Boing Boing posted a video interview Thursday with Wired Magazine and New York Times Magazine writer Clive Thompson featuring our Palomino-KUM Long Point Pencil Sharpener. Thanks to Mark and Clive for thier support.

Reviving the Blackwing: February Update

It's been almost three full months since my November update so I thought it was about time to bring our fans up to date with a number of interesting and exciting developments with our Palomino Blackwing pencil as well as other Palomino and Pencils.com news.

We've made steady progress and have sold through a little under one-half of our initial production run of the Palomino Blackwing to date. One interesting statistic is that we've now had purchases from customers in at least 27 countries. We're very encouraged by the many great responses that we get back from our customers about the smooth and dark writing and drawing performance. We've even had positive feedback from Eberhard (Tim) Faber IV who likes our pencil very much and stated that he was happy to learn of the revival of the Blackwing brand which he considered to be one of his favorite products in the entire Eberhard Faber range which he sold to Faber-Castell USA back in the mid to late 1980s.

We've been very fortunate to recieve continued publicity through various blog reviews and other print media, most recently a very nice post at Gear Patrol. This was suprisingly well timed with the launch of our current February Palomino Stampede Month Promotion. If you haven't checked out our special Month long savings and our Weekly Just Because offers we've got some interesting deals on Palomino and Palomino Blackwing items this month, plus a drawing contest with a variety of great prizes.

Also we've now completed our planning process for our next production run. This included evaluation of what changes and further product range addditions we will be making for the Palomino and Palomino Blackwing products for 2011. Relative to potential changes in the Palomino Blackwing the most common feedback we've had to date has been that for those people who are doing more writing vs. sketching, drawing or music notation they would prefer a bit harder graphite grade than presently used. This is also a somewhat common response from fans of the original Eberhard Faber Blackwing 602 product, a topic I covered in an earlier post.

Given lots of postive feedback also from those who really like the new Blackwing's softer, richer core and stylish black finish, we've frankly been in a bit of a conundrum as to how to proceed. Given the added preference from traditional fans of old Eberhard Faber 602s for a finish and styling of the "original" design we've now come to a resolution we think will be a great solution for Blackwing fans old and new. The new Palomino Blackwing 602 Classic model!

The "602 Classic" will revive a replica styling of the original Blackwing graphite grey finish as shown above complete with the pink eraser and "Half the Pressure, Twice the Speed" slogan. The new pencil will also feature a graphite core that will be closer to our Palomino HB performance providing for improved wear rates for those doing extensive writing. Of course, we will continue to offer the existing Palomino Blackwing with the same graphite core and finish characteristics and only a couple minor finish changes. Thus the dark matt black finish of the Palomino Blackwing will corresond to the rich, smooth and dark performance of the current pencil and the lighter grey finish of the "602 Classic" to a smooth writing somewhat lighter mark more closely matching the original Eberhard Faber Blackwing 602.

However, you'll have to hold on to your Palominos here as with our lead times for production of our specialized ferrule and eraser set along with our need to work down our current stock a bit further it will be a few more months before the 602 Classic is available for sale. Beyond this new product extension we are also now working on completing retail packaging for these and other Palomino pencils in our range. Furthermore we expect to add a few more exciting complementary products for both brands later this year.

Finally, for those looking for even a darker, softer core than our existing Palomino Blackwing and Palomino 2B items we have just introduced our Palomino 4B and 6B pencils to extend the range. We also have announced plans for introducing Palomino Quality private label customized pencils (i.e. Japanese produced high quality). I'll be sharing more on this exciting new project in a later post as we get further along the development path for this program.

Re-Creating a Lead Legend

Our hometown paper The Stockton Record published a front page article this morning titled Re-Creating a Lead Legend. The article includes an interview with me as well as comments from Doug Martin of the American Pencil Collectors Society and John Gamber of Pencil Revolution blog.