Lettering is one of those things that the more you practice it the better you get. Lettering can be fun and interesting.
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I’ve been carrying the same Field Notes Shelterwood in my back pocket since April 15th. I posted my first stress tests on April 27th. My initial results showed wear and tear that was not much different from any other Field Notes carried in a back pocket. The results after almost a month aren’t much different. Generally speaking I don’t carry a Field Notes for longer than 20 days, so I’m now 5 days past my general carry length. Honestly, I can’t say that the wear and tear, even after 25 days, would suggest that these notebooks are anything but sturdy. Yes, there are some chips and splinters at the spine, but when compared to other Field Notes the wear is decidely similar.
Though I have reached the limit of how long I carry a Field Notes, I’m going to carry the Shelterwood longer and see how it fairs. Gardening season is here, so be prepared for dirt and grime.
Here are some images of the spine, the cracks, chips, and wear on corners. You can also see the transfer of indigo from my jeans to the cover.
The Palomino Golden Bear is my second review of the pencils.com Palomino pencil pack pencils. The Golden Bear pencils (GB) are in the mid-range grouping of the pack. The are available in blue and orange. Like all of the Palomino pencils the finish is crisp and perfect. the ferrule is brass with an orange stripe in the middle, on both colors of pencil. It is fitted to the pencil sturdily and without any wiggle, even after repeated use of the eraser. The blue eraser is fitted with an orange eraser and the orange pencil has a blue eraser. The erasers are okay, but not great. For sketching one will need a block or stick eraser to do a job. For just writing, the included eraser is just fine.
The GB is made of cedar and as a result sharpens easily and smells great. Using any of my sharpeners, like the KUM long point or wedge. the lead itself holds a point well. The lead is an HB so it’s a good balance of soft and hard for writing. It won’t need to be sharpened every 5 seconds of writing and drawing. The lead is a nice dark shade, but won’t give you deep darks as you draw. It gives a decent range of shades for an HB but to get true dark shades you’ll need to switch to another pencil.
This is a completely enjoyable pencil that looks great and is great to use. A 12-pack on pencils.com is about $3. Not a bad price for a pencil that performs as well as this one. The pencil was made in this US. 
glue. It should be a simple topic but it's not. you've got glue stick, PVA, Elmers (same thing as PVA BTW), Aleene's, superglue, Matte Medium, Gloss medium, heavy medium, etc… And everyone has a glue that works best for them, and we've all got an opinion about it.I've picked out a few videos to give you some ideas about all the opinions on glue, and different ways you can use it.
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The first of my full reviews for the Pencils.com palomino pencil pack is for my favorite of the mid-range pencils, the Palomino Prospector. The prospector is available in 2 different finishes clear and bright green. The ferrule on both is a light golden color and holds a white eraser. The imprint is gold foil. The quality of these pencils is top notch. On both my pencils the finish is flawless, smooth and crisp. The ferrule is fitted strongly to the pencil and even after repeated use doesn’t get loose. The eraser is okay but not great. For writing the eraser does okay but for sketching you’ll need a block or stick eraser to do a good job.
I’d rate the pencil an HB when compared to sketching pencils. For writing this is a fantastic pencils. I used it for note taking during class and was quite happy with it’s performance. It’s just hard enough that I’m not sharpening it after every written word. For sketching the pencil is quite nice. Again, it’s HB so it won’t give you deep darks or huge range of shades but it does quite well. It’s a good starting pencil for drawing. After getting the bones of a drawing down with this pencil you can shift to a darker pencil.
The pencil sharpens well with every sharpener used. It holds a long point from the KUM long point sharpener well. It also does well with wedge sharpeners and other sharpeners. 
These pencils are fantastic. I’m quite taken with the natural clear finished pencil. The clear finish is thick and smooth. Not only is it a great looking pencil it performs really well. These are my favorite of the mid level pencils in this pack. 
These pencils were once produced in Thailand but are now made in the US. The wood of the pencil is Basswood which is soft and sharpens easily. It doesn’t smell as nice as cedar but looks great. At $1.95 per 12-pack these are an affordable HB pencil that is fantastic for writing or sketching.
This week I chose a variety of videos featuring the use of stencils. I picked some videos showing usual techniques and some with unusual techniques.
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I’ve read a few comments that people think the Field Notes Shelterwood edition won’t hold up to everyday wear and tear in a back pocket. I decided to carry a shelterwood in my back hip pocket, without a cover, until it falls apart. It’s now been 12 days.
The first week was uneventful. So far, I find the wear and tear on the book minimal at best. The creases are the only damage that is noticeable. There is discernable wear on the corners and edges of the book, but again you need to look close for this wear.
Here are a few pics of the Shelterwood after 2 weeks in my sweaty back pocket.
I’m on a pencil kick lately, (as if you hadn’t noticed) and I recently purchased the Pencils.com mixed palomino pencil pack. This is a pack that contains a selection of 9 of the most popular Palomino pencils. Included in this pack are one each of: Blackwing, Blackwing 602, Blackwing Pearl, Orange Palomino Premium HB Eraser Tipped, ForestChoice #2 (FSC-certified), (the rest are all made in the USA) Green Prospector #2 , Natural Prospector #2, Orange Golden Bear #2, and Blue Golden Bear #2. I have previously reviewed the Blackwing and the Blackwing 602, which are both great pencils for sketching. I hope to review all of the pencils in the set but for now this is a general review of the set.
The Blackwing pencils included are obviously the high end of the lot. As such they perform flawlessly and will not disappoint in appearance or use. Read my review of the Black wing and the 602. The orange Palomino Premium HB with an eraser top sits in the premium grouping. Without a complete review, it’s a very nice pencil.
The next group of pencils are the middle level, the Palomino Prospector and Golden Bear. Their bright colors and smooth finish are also very nice. I really enjoy the clear finish on the naturally colored Prospector. It’s darn near perfect. The lead in all of this group of pencils is similar. The pencils in this grouping will also be satisfying.
The final pencil is the Forest Choice. It’s a very nice pencil but not my favorite.
In terms of sketching, these pencils are mostly HB. So they are great for starting out a drawing but won’t give you a huge range of shades or deep darks. The Blackwings are an exception to this, as they are all softer and darker than an HB designation. I’d put them in the range of 2B.
After doing a little rough math, the price for the 9 pack is not bad when you consider that buying a package of each of these pencils all together would cost about $90. It’s a great way to test out a great group of pencils without investing in 12-packs that you might not like. Overall these pencils won’t disappoint and it will help narrow down what you like, or don’t like, in a pencil.
I hope to get reviews of the rest of the pencils in the next few weeks.
Another extruded pencil mentioned on the Erasable podcast is the Staedtler Wopex. These are $5 for 18 pencils at Staples. That’s 28 cents a pencil.
These pencils are nice bright lime green in color with a silver imprint on one side. The other side has a barcode and assorted other info printed. The silver doesn’t flake off or scrape off. The black barcode is easily scraped off with a fingernail. The lime green coating is soft and can be marked with a fingernail. These are slightly smaller, roughly 1 millimeter thinner than a regular pencil. Again like the allXwrite it does not fit into a bullet pencil. The ferrule fits the pencil well and the eraser is white plastic.
In terms of use, this pencil has a waxy feel. It’s not slick but unlike other extruded pencils this feels more like a regular pencil to me. Additionally, the pencil is stiff and not flexible like older extruded pencils. It does not like the KUM long point sharpener. Rather, it works best in a sharpener that produces a shorter point. The points are somewhat crumbly but not overly bad. When sharpening the plasticized wood peels off in long curls. It’s weird and rubbery feeling.
In use the pencil is perfectly average. It's nice and smooth without a hint of scratchiness. For writing, I found it to be relatively comfortable. After writing up case notes for a paper, my wrist, hand, and fingers were less sore than with the allXwrite.
For sketching this is a lightly colored pencil. It is not going to product nice deep darks, rather it does nice even shade of gray. I was able to get a nice variety of the lighter tones of gray. Again, I have to point out that this is a pretty average pencil in terms of color and lead. it’s a very pencil colored pencil. You are not going to get deep darks out of this pencil, no matter how many layers of pencil you put down or how hard you press.
I did find myself sharpening this pencil pretty often while writing. Because it cannot be used in the long point sharpener I found myself have to get the wedge out to keep my point pointy. Unlike the allXwrite I didn’t feel like I was constantly writing with a blunt instrument, but it wore down quickly. though this pencil is supposed to last longer than other pencils, I’m not sure that’s the case. I’ll have to get a Palomino out to test against it.
On the whole, I liked this pencil for writing but not as much for drawing. It was a pretty blah and unresponsive pencil for sketching. For writing it works just fine and I’ll throw a few into my pencil cup to use for case notes and other various school duties. At 28 cents a pencil it’s not a bad choice for writing.
Washi tape is a neat thing. I've made some of my own and it's super simple. These videos all deal with how you can make your own.
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