Look what letter I got today.
It’s nice that Royal Mail is in on National Stationery Week.
More blogs in the new pencil world
Something else I wanted to mention: There’s a new blog from the ‘new pencil world’. FI started linking to it in my blog link list a few weeks ago, but didn’t get round mentioning it yet, it’s A New Kind Of Pencil. Like The Weekly Pencil it features a series of blog posts about members of the Erasable Facebook group.
In case you wonder why some of my blog links don’t have the latest post displayed, that is usually because my software can’t read their RSS feed, often because it is a Square Space site. If I find a way of getting it to work I will change it, so that their latest blog posts are displayed, too.
Recently I have contacted Sebastian Gutberlet to find out more about the Kaweco Perkeo. All I knew is that there used to be a Kaweco fountain pen with that name in the (early?) 20th century.
Just a reminder, Sebastian is the son of Michael Gutberlet, the man who revived Kaweco. The main intention of asking Sebastian about the Perkeo was to collect some more information for the Stationery Wiki – because I couldn’t find much information on the web, but then I thought: why not turn it into a blog post.
Thanks to Sebastian Gutberlet for this image
It’s been a long time coming
It came as quite a surprise to find out that this new Perkeo has been in the making for a very long time. Sebastian’s grandfather Horst Gutberlet [1]Michael Gutberlet’s father actually developed the new Perkeo’s precursor in 1997. The prototype was resting in Michael Gurberlet’s desk for many years before now being finalised and released.
I’ve mentioned more than once that when I went to school you had to use a fountain pen, at least in Bavaria where I’m originally from. I’m not sure about the current pen situation in schools there, but my guess would be that on the continent there are (still) many schools where pupils write with fountain pens. The grip zone is supposed to help the pupil with holding the pen the right way. As a beginner’s fountain pen the Perkeo is probably aimed at these pupils (..but that doesn’t mean we adults can’t have fun with this pen, too).
It will be available in four colour combinations and according to Sebastian Gutberlet the Perkeo will be released in Juni or July the latest.
Thanks to Sebastian Gutberlet for this image
I’d like to thank Sebastian Gutberlet for answering my questions and providing pictures for this blog post.
Caroline Weaver’s pencil book has been the big topic in the stationery fandom. As there’s nothing much I can say about this book that hasn’t already been said publicly or privately here’s a look at another pencil book.
This was in the IKEA store in Warrington [1]..which was the first IKEA in the UK. They also have a pencil themed area for children to try out their products.
No, this blog post’s title is not a reference to the Start Trek VIII movie poster, but a comment on my stationery purchased.
I’ve already spent nearly £50 on stationery in the last month. I think I should slow down a bit. Latest acquisitions, except the Paper book by Kurlanski and a book I just ordered after I got to know from it from Gunther, are pictured below.
The leads are to extend a lead test I’m currently conducting. I’m also still waiting for the Lamy Petrol ink I ordered from Write Here.
According to one JetPens product page Kakikata means ‘way of writing’. I can’t really comment, it’s now 20 years that I learned Japanese and I forgot virtually everything except the odd katakana ..but other sources seem to indicate that Kakikata means ‘how to write’, which seems to be a better translation, at least for the Staedtler Kakikata pencils I want to show today [1]I assume depending on context it can mean either..
They were released in December 2016 and are aimed at school children. An automatic translation of the text on the box also seems to confirm that they are for children (There are warnings like ‘don’t use for anything other than writing’, ‘please be careful when handling’ plus there are also instructions for parents.), as do some of the designs used, but the from what I have seen from the Staedtler Japan page they say adults can use them, too ;^)
Staedler’s Kakikata pencils are made from FSC certified wood in their factory in Thailand, where Staedtler’s Norica and other pencils are made, too. I found out that they are officially being sold in Japan, Hong Kong, South Korea, Singapore, China and Taiwan, but am not sure whether they will have a different packaging outside Japan, i.e. whether the box will be translated into the local language.
Boys’ toysGirlyI love how the look of the wood has been integrated into the designs of these pencils, as a background to the motifs used. There are three different packs, all available in HB, B and 2B, with three different pencil designs in each pack. The blue pack (Aorimo あおいも) is boy-themed, the red one (Akaimo あかいも) is girl-themed and the green one (Midori みどり) seems fairly gender neutral.
As is common in Japan the pencils are unsharpened and since these are for children there’s also space to write the child’s name on.
Near the end the body is silver or gold stamped with the lead degree (HB, B or 2B) and unlike the Noris or the Mars Lumograph that have lacquer caps the end of this Kakikata pencil is not capped.
..with the 501 180 sharpenerDepending on where you buy it you pay somewhere between ¥700 and ¥900 (~$7, £6; €7) for a dozen.
You can find the original press release at this address, including the product numbers for they various colour and lead grade combinations.
I would like to thank Claudia Förster for these pencils and for finding out in which countries they’re being sold.
The Staedtler sharpener form the last picture has been mentioned before and I’ve made a video review, but the blog post is still waiting to be finished.
There are also other unsharpened Staedtler pencils for the Japanese market. I have mentioned the Lumograph many times, so I’ll spare you the links to those videos and to Gunther’s blog post this time.
