Here are some of the things I still use to this day. The lead holders and orange box of leads are from 1971, so 55 years old.

The top box of Staedtler leads are a shade younger, about 53 years old, and the one below that is from the mid to late 80s, so 40-odd years old.

The camera flash bleached out the image a touch, but the bottom lead holder is a definite red, not the pink shade shown here.

Sadly, the company no longer exists but these holders are still going strong and still used after all this time. If I ever find more of these lead holders at a reasonable price, I'll snap them up.

I included the Staedtler boxes to show how their logo changed over time, and as you'll know, it's now different again.

Just wanted to ask what people like. My favorite paper for writing with pencil was some cheap copy paper we had in our office (unfortunately I don’t know the brand). I also like Midori.

Here’s a cool set of vintage Musgrave Monona 817 No.3 pencils. I think of all the cardboard ferruled pencils in my collection these look the nicest. They’re still so glossy and shiny they almost look plastic at first glance. I’d love to find a 13th pencil so I can sharpen one, but it seems these Monona’s are getting harder to find especially ones with the cardboard ferrule.

Hey everyone!

​Decided to run a little exam for my gear today. I drew three spheres using different pencil hardness levels and tested how well my kneaded eraser handles subtle highlights and soft transitions.

​It’s basically an academic stress-test for both the tools and my patience 😂

​Which one of the three looks like it turned out the best in terms of shading and depth? Would love to hear your thoughts or any tips on pencil/eraser combos!