Spring is here... and this year, 'tis the season for indoor activities, it would seem. So, as a way to appreciate the outdoors while staying safe indoors, I drew a little something for you coloring enthusiasts out there! Download the full coloring sheet here: Springtime in NYC! 

If you're a real nature nerd, you can even quiz yourself on all the flora and fauna (admittedly, just the one) illustrated! Here's the guide I used to learn exactly what is blooming out there in our city, if you want to check your guesses: Signs of Spring in NYC Parks.

For those wondering, the colored pencils in the photo are from Faber-Castell's 111th Anniversary Polychromos Set. I'm excited to break them out for the first time, and I hope you're just as pumped to put your own colored pencils to work!

Happy Spring Coloring~

Every Saturday, we're each picking our favorite non-pencil, at-home activity from the week to share with you! We'd love to hear what you've been loving this week in the comments.

Alyx: I picked up book five of Jasper Fforde's Thursday Next series this week because I wanted something easy to read and absorbing (anyone else out there having trouble concentrating these days?). This 7-book series follows Thursday Next, a literary detective who can jump into fiction and has a pet dodo. They're perfect for book nerds and fans of fun detective adventures. The first book in the series is The Eyre Affaire, and I highly recommend! PS I borrowed this ebook from the NYPL using the SimplyE app on my phone. I'm not normally an ebook person, but borrowing a book was super easy, and I'm enjoying the app!

Esther: I made this mini-playlist of five songs that feel like a warm embrace to me. With a lot of us quarantined away from friends and family, it gets lonely, so I hope this helps in whatever little way it can! Each Saturday, I’ll try to share a new mini playlist, touching on a different sound and mood each time, but all feel-good. Fittingly, this week’s selection starts with Nina Simone’s “Feeling Good." Tune in here!

Nina Simone in 1965 - Ron Kroon / Anefo - Creative Commons License

Julianne: I haven’t taken up sourdough, and there are no beans in my cupboards. But I have been cooking a lot, and cooking beyond my usual repertoire. This week I made quick pickles for the first time. My friend Mariah dropped off half a loaf of bread she baked, and I pan-grilled some chicken I had marinated in gochuchang, soy sauce, and sesame oil. Quick pickles turned out to be the best accompaniment.

Here’s how: Lightly salt your vegetables (I did sliced cucumber and julienned carrots), set aside and let sit for ten minutes or so. Rinse under water and then wring out as much moisture as you can, and then add a splash of rice wine vinegar, sugar, and a touch more salt! Twenty minutes later you’re set! Easy peasy.

It was the most gourmet sandwich my kitchen’s ever seen!

Caroline: My Friday day off was mostly spent trying to make dumplings from scratch because I've been craving all of the delicious things I can usually find in my my neighborhood (last night I made a Ukrainian feast à la Veselka). I've only made them once, with the assistance of my friend Vita (who hails from Taiwan) and totally underestimated how difficult/time consuming it would be on my own!

I made my own dough from a random recipe I found online and for the filling, I winged it and used ground chicken, scallions and a broccoli stalk that was hanging out in my fridge (because it's a vegetable, but also because I'm trying to use all of my available resources!). Dipping sauce was rice vinegar, soy sauce and chili oil. I'm not sure what's actually supposed to go in it, but again, I'm trying to work with what I already have in my pantry. They weren't pretty because I'm not great at folding them, but they held up in the pot and were DELICIOUS! Highly recommend if you really want to work for your dinner. 

Today we are going to search for an answer to a question that’s probably been the only thing you wonder about in these calm, untroubled times: what is the best eraser?

If you’ve seen our Instagram with CWPE staff favorites you already know the eraser I can’t stop talking about. But no spoilers. I promise I’m not leaning on the scales. This is an investigation.

To me, there are a few ways to evaluate an eraser:

1. eraser material
2. effectiveness for your specific task
3. cleanup ease
4. comfort and style

Let’s do an overview first:

Erasers are made up of two main kinds of materials: plastic and rubber. Rubber erasers can be both synthetic or natural. From just those few categories we get erasers in a huge range of textures and styles.

Kneadable erasers are like silly putty, favored by artists and people who love a functional, moldable object. The soft material is more likely to smudge your graphite around, so they’re especially nice if you intend to smear instead of strictly remove it. They’ll feel a little tacky too. Knead them and knead again to find a clean spot to return to your page. 

Gum erasers are soft, crumbly, and exceptionally gentle on your intended surface. Ours, from General’s, is made of rubber. Recently a customer asked for a recommendation for removing pencil marks from a museum wall and we suggested these!

Natural rubber erasers can feel chalkier during use and are prone to drying out. Some rubber erasers are even mixed with sand, and the grittiness of that combination actually scratches into your page to lift marks off it. You’ll know a rubber eraser by all the fine eraser dust it creates. 

Many people prefer natural rubber erasers because they want to reduce their plastic consumption, and their comparative environmental friendliness is important.

Plastic erasers - Just like their rubber counterparts, plastic erasers come in different shapes and textures. They can be softer and wobblier as well as firm and even textured. (No matter the material, the firmer and grittier an eraser the hardier it’ll be, and the more it’ll wear into your erasing surface.)

Plastic erasers tend to be more effective than rubber erasers at lifting graphite, and even the pigment in colored pencils, off the page. They're actually sometimes called drafting erasers because draftspeople like their ability to cleanly remove the sharpest details. Plastic erasers are also much tidier, and leave much less eraser mess to clean up.

Some plastic erasers, like our Caran d’Ache Technik, advertise that they’re phthalate-free. Phthalates are a chemical which make plastic pliable, transparent, and durable, and they’re found in all manner of everyday plastic objects, but experts have found that they’re associated with negative health effects. 

Quick tip: Can’t tell a plastic from a rubber eraser? In our shop most of our plastic erasers come wrapped in cellophane.

One big caveat is that eraser performance will depend on the pencil and paper they're paired with. An eraser may work magically on one surface and be a dud on another. Today we're using our extra thick, beautifully toothy test pad paper. All of these pencils and erasers will act differently on a different surface.

Now, to show you what I mean by all of this, I’ve gathered a handful of erasers to show off their various strengths. 

First I made a huge swatch to test everything out, and threw in one colored pencil for good measure. The graphite pencils are ordered from softest to firmest. From top to bottom we’ve got:

1. Koh-i-Noor FX Magic Jumbo in Tropical
2. Musgrave 600 News
3. Mitsu-bishi Penmanship Pencil - 4B
4. Staedtler Kakikata - 2B
5. our shop exclusive collaboration with Camel - HB
6. Caran d’Ache Natura - HB
7. Caran d’Ache Natura - 2H

Next, please say hello to today’s eraser contestants, and how they fared. From left to right:

L & C Hardtmuth eraser from Koh-i-Noor - this classic and classy rubber eraser comes in three sizes. The largest is a decent paper weight! See all the fine eraser dust? It does a decent job with graphite but can’t put up a fight against the colored pencil.

Laufer Plast L-125 - this plastic eraser has a bit of gritty texture that, to me, makes it as effective with colored pencils as some other erasers that are intended expressly for that purpose. (Ahem.) The blue sleeve helps it stay clean and keep its shape, too. 

Tombow Mono Black - a super portable highly effective plastic eraser. We’re often asked if black erasers will color the paper they're used with. I hope this proves to you that they don’t! I'm impressed by how well it handled the firmer pencils in particular.

Caran d’Ache Technik - a firm high-powered eraser that can take care of graphite AND colored pencils. It gets the job done, though it does leave a bit more eraser dust than the other plastic erasers. I did have to reall work the eraser across the page to get these results.

Retrico Foam - The Retrico's colored pencil erasing performance aside, this one continued to amaze me. Not only does it work fantastically, it took the least effort of all of these to get excellent erasing results. Something about the spongey foam just makes it a joy to use. And check out the tidy threads it leaves behind.

So there you have it! Do you have any of these in your own rotation? Do you have a personal favorite? What's your "best" eraser? 

Want to see the same erasers and pencils tested on different papers, or to know about other erasers? Let us know. As your humble woman of science I'm ready to get to the bottom of this, one of the most pressing stationery questions we face.

Hello, Pencil People!

This is Esther here to share with you a craft activity we had fun with during our respective quarantines: making a pencil cup! This is a great opportunity to give new life to something you might have just thrown in the recycling– all it needs to do is be able to hold some pencils. 

We all ended up choosing different kinds of containers and decorating methods, which shows that there are plenty of ways to do this– no wrong answers in pencil cup crafting!

Take a look at our processes and results below:

Julianne decided to up-cycle a can of tomatoes... soon to be a can of pencils! First, she drew a spiffy little pattern on paper, cut it out, and then she wrapped her decorated paper around the can, using tape to stick it down... et voilà! 

This is perfect for anyone who may not be overflowing in fancy crafting materials, but has all the basics: paper, drawing tools, tape, scissors/paper cutter and of course, a container. Actually, all of our methods were pretty simple, as you'll see!

We think Julianne's end result is plenty snazzy– don't you? Pro-tip for those who have a ton of pencils and nowhere to put them: Use a can to collect them all!

Alyx chose what was previously a spice jar as her pencil vessel, and for her tools, a favorite of so many artists out there: the beloved POSCA marker! These paint markers contain a water-based acrylic paint and mark on all kinds of surfaces. If used on a nonporous surface, like Alyx's glass jar, just know that if you scratch at it, it can come off. Let's take a look at all the sides!

Joining her drawings of a pencil point and its end are a tiny forest of eraser caps– how cute!

One last side to reveal, and it's another eraser-tipped pencil end! The humble spice jar lives on as a nice statement pencil cup, with its interesting shape and limited space to hold a select amount of pencils. 

I used a jam jar that was sitting on my kitchen counter for literal weeks. It was basically waiting for this moment to arrive! My only decorating tools were washi tape and stickers– I'm sure they were happy to see some use after having been abandoned following the holidays. Washi tape's amazing because it combines style and function into one perfect tool: decorative adhesive! 

I alternated two different washi tapes to create a base pattern, and then stuck a ton of washi stickers (from our very own sticker room!) all over that surface. I'm actually using my pencil jar now, so I guess this gave me a chance to make something I apparently needed. It holds approximately 40 pencils of varying sizes... not too shabby!

And here's Caroline's! She cleaned out a candle jar, which she decorated with an assortment of foreign stamps. For the stamps without an adhesive backing, she used a glue stick (Coccoina, also found in our sticker room!) to paste them down. 

How cool! Gotta love the Miffy stamp– a classic!

Caroline left a little space to add more stamps later. Since they're foreign stamps and can't be used for mailing here in the States, this is a fun way to enjoy and showcase them! 

We hope you enjoyed following along on our craft adventure and that it spurs you to make a pencil cup of your own. I'm sure there will be more quarantine crafts to come, so until next time, take care of yourselves and stay crafty~

Hello pencil pals!

Most of the recommendation questions we get from you guys are about the different things that pencils can do on paper. But sometimes you need a pencil that can write on something else (our favorite is the dentist who needed an indelible pencil to label dental molds--now their office bulk-orders Viarco Copying Pencils). We have two kinds of pencils now that are made specifically for writing on difficult surfaces, so I thought I would break down what they're made of and what they can write on so you can decide which one best suits your needs!

The Stabilo All-Surface Pencil is a water soluble-pencil made in the Czech Republic that can write on paper, glass, plastic, and metal. Because it is water soluble, it can be easily wiped off of surfaces with a damp cloth. We carry it in graphite, white, and red. They are the size of a regular pencil and come pre-sharpened. You can use a regular sharpener on these pencils (knife, hand-held, or crank), though I wouldn't recommend going for a long point on the white or red ones, as the cores are quite soft.

The Mitsu-bishi Dermatograph 7600 are paper-wrapped grease pencils made in Japan. They come in 12 colors, and we have five of them. I love holding these pencils--they are about the size of a mini-jumbo and the paper is super glossy. The cores don't come sharpened, so they can be a bit funky to write with straight out of the box, but the core is so soft and pigmented, it doesn't matter so much. These are also really fun to "sharpen," by pulling off a strip of the paper. The cores are made of wax, talcum powder, and pigment.

Here's how both the Stabilo and the Dermatograph look on glass:

I was surprised by this result as a few of the window sign painters in our neighborhood come in regularly to get the Stabilo's to lay out their designs on the windows before painting them over. But I can see how the red or white one would be good for making precision marks on glass for something like a "rough draft" or a cut mark. The graphite Stabilo was barely visible on this glass (I did try it on a regular window and it worked a bit better, but I had a terrible time trying to photograph it!) The Dermatographs showed up much brighter, but you lose a bit in precision. All of these marks were resistant to running water. The Stabilo's wipe off easily without much work. The Dermatographs required a bit more elbow grease, but I wouldn't consider either pencil difficult to remove.

Cut to me, wandering around my apartment, looking for alternative surfaces to write on. On plastic:

All of the pencils performed very well on the plastic lid of my turntable, including the Stabilo Graphite. Again, the Stabilos wiped off very easily with a damp cloth, while the Dermatographs wipes off "moderately easily" (is that a thing?).

On metal (this is my bike):

Again, all the pencils worked beautifully on this powder-coated metal. The water-soluble Stabilos wiped right off. This was the most difficult surface from which to remove the Dermatograph though. I scrubbed and you can still kind of see traces of my little swatch rainbow.

In conclusion, I think the Stabilos are good for temporary marks on difficult surfaces: measuring things, writing prices on items at a yard sale, sketching a draft, etc. The Dermatographs feel better for high-visibility and more permanent work, like labeling, color-coding, etc. Both of them are fun to play with and work really well on paper, so they're all great for playing around!

Dear friends and customers, 

After a lot of consideration, we've decided to temporarily close our doors for browsing from Monday, March 16th until further notice. It's my #1 priority to keep our staff, our customers and our community safe, which means keeping as many people at home as possible. It's a scary time to be a business owner and to also be out and about in a densely populated place and though there's no rulebook for how to handle this, this seems to be the best plan of action for now. 

One of us will still come in Mon-Sat for the time being (and fortunately a couple of us live nearby) to get online orders out. We'll be offering the option to order for in-store pick up between the hours of 12 and 4 for now, if you're local and want to swing by. 

To place an order for pick up: 

1. Enter INSTOREPICKUP in the promo code field to remove shipping fees from your order. 

2. Leave us a note in the NOTES field at checkout so we can catch it and fulfill it for pick-up. 

If you need recommendations or have any questions, please feel free to message us or email info@cwpencils.com. Those of us working from home will keep a close watch on our inbox to make sure we can help you as quickly as possible!

This isn't the easy choice, but it's the right choice for us. Remember a couple of years ago when we had to close and relocate because of a mold problem in our Forsyth shop? We found a way to make it work then, and we'll make it work this time around. For now, my priority is to keep everyone safe, continue to pay my employees regular salaries and do what we can to help our customers and stay afloat. 

Tomorrow will be our last open day. We'll be around from 12-6, come say hi and stock up on supplies to keep you busy while you're social distancing/self isolating :)

Stay safe! 

Fondly,

Caroline

P.S. On Monday we're putting a bunch of new stuff online and emailing about a free shipping promo. If you don't already get our newsletter, sign up at the bottom of our home page. 

To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before is a movie about the power of the hand-written word. It is a movie about stationery. There are other, incidental themes like young love and sisterhood and vulnerability. But let’s focus on the important stuff right now. 

Where does Lara Jean Covey store her private, personal longings? In letters to her crushes. Each is hand-written, decorated, and placed inside their own distinctive envelopes. If you, like me, have watched the movie a half-dozen times you’ve seen that Lara Jean knows her way around washi tape, kraft paper envelopes, felt pens, stickers, even calligraphy. (I am deep in my bones certain that LJ would be right at home in the CW Sticker Emporium.) 

Love letters are Lara Jean’s form of no-risk romance. Through her letters she can inhabit her fantasy world where she gets to fall in love with the neighboring field hand, wispy breeze carrying her dress as her lover draws her hand to his lips et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. And all the better that she doesn’t stand to lose anything by writing letters she never intends to send. Why not go wild with that calligraphy if the guy isn’t ever going to see her spilling her mushy guts to them?

Then, once those letters are out in the world and it’s time for her to do damage control, Lara Jean and Peter Kavinsky draw up a contract, all LJ’s idea of course. At a picnic table underneath a shady tree Lara Jean writes down the most important parts of their pact on a sheet of notebook paper before making them both sign their joint document. 

We don’t see her pencil pouch but I have a few ideas about what’d be inside it. In that scene we learn that Lara Jean Covey is a lefty. Her sisters would for sure have gone in together on a Lefty Gift Set made just for her. The package includes the essentials: a notebook from our friends at Iron Curtain Press that’s bound on the right side for left-handed people, a pencil sharpener that’s oriented for lefties, and CW Pencil Enterprise’s set of hand-picked pencils for lefties that minimize smudging while still providing a smooth writing experience. 

During that negotiation Peter pitches his smartest, sweetest idea to sell their love to the rest of the school. Little notes, Peter knows, are intimate and personal mementos perfect for sharing big confessions or small thoughts you’d otherwise be too shy to say out loud. They’re also perfect for not-so-subtly waving around the cafeteria to make your ex-girlfriend jealous. Peter is not a dumb-dumb. He knows what’s up. 

Peter probably carries a couple Milan jumbo pencils he likes for their writing ease and chubby plastic erasers that hold up through plenty of use. I know this because I've helped many customers with a similar build as Peter who appreciate a jumbo pencil for its ergonomic comfort. There's just less chance of a hand cramp coming on during long note-taking sessions when they're not trying to clutch a more narrow pencil. Peter's also got a ballpoint pen from deep in the CWPE archives that we included in one of our past season’s subscription boxes. The pen, perfect for goofballs and smart asses alike, says PENCIL on it. (Sorry, it's not for sale!) 

Now with stationery, and important sentiments, squared away, it’s only at the end of the movie when Lara Jean realizes she’s not just been sending love letters, she’s been receiving gobs of them. Peter's notes finally convince LJ of what she's been trying not to see. This guy is actually seriously in to her. 

To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before understands that when we write things down we can make our fantasies tiny, fleeting realities. We can clarify our jumbled insides by turning them into words that connect with other words on a page. And if we’re lucky, those words eventually connect with other people, too. 

You might notice that some of the pricing on our website is different this week. The truth is, every other year, in January, we do a pricing audit to adjust our cost prices as they've changed and to also change our retail prices as needed. Over the course of two years, wholesale prices often go up, shipping costs increase and import duties/fees change, so naturally, we need to change some of our prices. Not everything is affected and in fact, some items have actually gone down in price. In addition, mostly due to the increases in USPS rates and import duties, we're raising the price of our subscription box to $32.50 a quarter, effective starting with the March box. 

It's important to me to always be transparent about these things. The reality of it is, the retail market is difficult and it's my personal goal this year to be smarter when it comes to the finances of running a business.