Fierce competition between two Tokyo pencil makers led to a "Golden Age" of Japanese pencil manufacturing from 1952-1967. As detailed in this article from the St. Louis Art Supply website, Tombow ...

My mom is the best pencil sharpener I ever saw. Each point was a work of art. A tiny black lead sculpture. And like fingerprints, no two were alike.

STURBRIDGE — Hidden deep in the woods, nearly overgrown by wildlife, lies the remnants of a former graphite mine, with a direct tie to the "world’s best pencil." Known as the Tantiusques, the ...

This is a revised drawing from my Mother’s Day tribute essay published here in 2013. Mom passed later that year. I was a bad thumb sucker, as my mama put it. But the one thing I liked better ...