these tools were my grandfather's. he was machinist. among other things he built control panelsfor submarines and after the war, some of the first animatronics. these were tools of making; of precision,used to meet military specifications. i recall as a child my grandfather deliberatelyselecting the right watchmaker's forceps and donning his twin loupe eyepiece before pullinga splinter from my toe. it seemed my grandfather had a tool for everything. these were made to be used, made to last;to pass down.
i don't use a lot of these tools in my work,but i keep them close because they remind me of him and his life's work, hidden awaybehind control panels and inside of automatons. as the holidays near, i wanted to proposea thoughtful, humble - if not abbreviated - gift guide. well actually, it's hard to even call it aguide, rather it's a gift idea. in the spirit of my grandfather's tools, it'sa gift that encourages making and one that could be passed from one generation to thenext. i'll show you an idea for wrapping it thatfeels just as designed as the gift object itself.
i'll put all the links in the descriptionbelow and on the video cards using them won't cost you anything extra but it will help meto keep making these videos. ok, on to the gift idea, which is: a beautifullycrafted, wood lead holder. this lead holder is made by e+m; a familyowned and operated business founded in nuremburg, germany in 1899. incidentally, the nuremburg area is knownas the pencil capital of the world, it was the first place to begin mass-producing pencilsin 1662. this clutch retails for between sixteen andeighteen dollars on amazon or jetpens. at first glance, eighteen dollars may seema bit extravagant for a pencil, but this is
really an investment in quality, it's a bespokeobject. e+m fabricates their writing implements fromnatural materials and like all of their products, this one is made from fsc certified wood. in addition to the black, it's also availablein natural beech and mahogany. the grip is ten millimeters in diameter, whichis about three-eighths of an inch; and it feels like a chunky crayon in your hand. there are two lengths available; the "pocket"is the shorter version it's just under four inches while the long one is five and a half. unless you have unusually small hands, i thinkmost will prefer the longer one.
you can see it fits my hand comfortably andits weight - just over an ounce - provides lots of control, but also the potential forhand fatigue after a long session of sketching. because the lead retracts, the workman clutchslides easily into your pocket. now, for a gift set, you might pair this with:e+m's matching cube sharpener, which retails for $5.50 or perhaps a nicely cut piece ofsandpaper. some lead, a 6-pack is about $8.00. it does come with one stick of hb lead, butyou'll probably want to pick some more up of varying densities or perhaps even somewhite chalk lead; i know koh-i-noor makes some which fits the clutch.
and perhaps a nice sketchbook. now, i've tried countless sketchbooks, rightnow i'm really into kraft paper sketchbooks as i can use graphite, colored pencil, ink,and white chalk pens on it. japanese paper is some of the finest, mostversatile paper in the world and i like the midori sketchbooks. fountain pen users particularly like midori'spaper as it accommodates the water content of fountain inks well. the same is true for chalk pens, which havemore liquid in them. for size, this one is roughly five by eightand half inches long, which offers enough
room to sketch at a variety of scales withoutmy hand falling off the edge. pocket sketchbooks are great for their portabilitybut i find them too small to be truly functional. the wire bound edge is my favorite as it allowsthe paper to lay perfectly flat. lastly, you might add in a pencil case. i like the clear plastic ones by muji, whichare inexpensive and unobtrusive. the case, in this instance, gives us merelya container to wrap the object in. okay, now on to the wrapping. the idea here is to make the wrapping everybit as considered and designed as the object we're gifting.
you'll also notice that everything is recyclableor reusable in some way. i began by filling the pencil case with woodshavings; this keeps the pencil, lead and pointer from rolling around. next, we wrap the pencil case and the sketchbookin kraft paper, which again can be recycled or burned in the wood stove if you have one. for tape, you might use washi tape, blackcloth tape or even drafting dots, which would be an upgrade from the scotch tape that iused. i designed a cover sleeve as a place to writethe recipient's name or a message, this will fit around the wrapped pencil case, as you'llsee.
here i'm testing a few different options printedon heavyweight gray card stock. if you have one, use a bone creaser to getnice crisp folds. i cut the back of the sleeve with a slit toact as a keeper for the sleeve, but tape will work too. after a test fit i begin assembling the package. an extra large black rubber band fastens thepackages together and its topped off with a minimalist laser cut ornament designed andcut in-house. all-in, this gift falls well under $50 evenwhen you add in the wrapping materials. it's a chance to show someone how design canenhance life's simplest of gestures: the act
of giving a gift and perhaps this will oneday be an object that they too hand to their grandchildren to remember them by.
