KOH-I-NOOR HARDTMUTH 1500 3B

What a name eh! I have no idea where this pencil originates, I found it in Loughborough, and was instantly drawn to it not only because of its name but its design. It feels like it has been sitting in someones cupboard since the 1980's.

As a drawing pencils it's alright, it's crisp and sharpens well and has a relatively good tonal range but I quite like black pencils and this is definitely a grey pencil. I would though like to try out the complete range. My pencil of choice tends to be a 3B so I was a little disappointed that I didn't like it as much as I should of.

But nevertheless this pencil is going to stay in my collection based on looks alone. Never judge a book by its cover, pah.

found pencils

I thought I would share with you my slightly weird obsession with found pencils. Now I am not expecting to reach the levels of blogging about pencils as such luminaries as pencil revolution but nevertheless I do like pencils, and that being so I often pick up discarded pencils whenever I see one, and quite often they are good pencils. So I am going to start with a recent favorite, the Boldmere Sketching Pencil 6B.

First off obviously this is a drawing pencil being a 6B and most of the stuff I am going to talk about is drawing related. The Boldmere has a round body and I must admit I prefer round pencils (as appossed to the hexagon shaped body) as I find them easier to hold for longer drawings.

for a 6B it's pretty versatile in that the leads consistency is firm not crumbly like a Derwent 6B so an ideal pencil for outdoor location drawing as its range is good, it generally feels like a 3B but with a bit of added pressure you can get some lovely deep tone.

So there you go a pencilcoholic. more to follow.