ETC: Pencil This In

Man. And I thought pens were cool. Check out these pencils:


A note to the prudish: Cover your eyes. This next one is naughty.

Yowza! These pics were sent to me by Doppelsis, and I know the second question you're thinking: Where can I see more? Check out the full gallery here. (I also know the first question you're thinking: Why is Doppelganger's sister sending her such dirty pictures?)

The artist, Jennifer Maestre, sells all kinds of pencil-related art on her Etsy site. Here are a couple of my favourites, starting with this sculpture made out of pencil shavings and wire (click on the image for an amazing close-up):


I don't normally wear pins, but I'd make an exception for this one:


So I got to poking around for more pencil art and -- I know you're going to find this hard to swallow -- the internet turned up some nifty things. First, there are these intricate Japanese pencil carvings:



This is more like something you'd do in the break room at work on a boring day, but still worthy of some props:

All this artifying may seem too much. This is just the common pencil, after all. Or is it? Not if you read the geneological autobiography I, Pencil:

I am a lead pencil—the ordinary wooden pencil familiar to all boys and girls and adults who can read and write.

Writing is both my vocation and my avocation; that's all I do.

You may wonder why I should write a genealogy. Well, to begin with, my story is interesting. And, next, I am a mystery—more so than a tree or a sunset or even a flash of lightning. But, sadly, I am taken for granted by those who use me, as if I were a mere incident and without background. This supercilious attitude relegates me to the level of the commonplace. This is a species of the grievous error in which mankind cannot too long persist without peril. For, the wise G. K. Chesterton observed, "We are perishing for want of wonder, not for want of wonders."