graphite (b)rain

Didn't think I could fall in love with a notebook (a Rite in the Rain No370F-MX) again, but I did and here we are writing, happily, away. In PENCIL (a Pentel Kerry 0.7mm) – which I've always preferred to pen: the RIR being the first notebook which allows me, an inveterate leftie, to scritch/scratch away without smearing graphite all over my hand and all over the page. Thank you, RIR, for whatever it is you do to your pages to make them writable when wet. Also: a useful switch from the standard notebooks (and the reMarkable Pro) given that at least half of my day is spent with metal and other dirty oily things instead of keyboards and mental abstractions and words. Considering swapping out the 0.5mm graphite in my CW&T Pencil Type C for 0.5mm blue / no-photo lead for drawing and sketching (I love sketching in that blue speaking of welcome to the mysterious case of what the fuck happened to all of my blue pencils?) and, while I love my Kerry, I would be beyond thrilled if Blackwing made mechanical pencil lead (they don't do they?).

process space

Now that I'm in month four of working in The Shed, I've finally figured out what the space is (beyond the obvious, a Shed in which I work and figure out the right heater-solar panel-grid balance, especially in today's brutal wind): it's a space where process – not result – reigns supreme, the spatial equivalent of my "Working" folder. Over the last few weeks, I've been removing anything finished or completed from the space, be it Weldo Quixote or Miggy the Shovel Creature or comics or finished drawings or scripts or anything so that, with the exception of a few pieces from CW&T and odd antiques and entertainments, The Shed's filled with nothing but the tools I use to make things and the limbs and sinew of various works in progress, a space of freedom from result in which I can alternate between planing a drawer built by my great-grandfather and writing another tale of REDACTED for mi hermano's musical inspirations.

CW&T - Solid State Watch

Received my CW&T Solid State watch (one of ten from their latest batch drop) and I’m transfixed, intrigued, and in love:

Already decided that this one is going to become my everyday watch – at least until the next time change, upon which my Dick Tracy yellow GShock will assume the mantel (unless I decide I need two Solid States); either way, I will remain hypnotized by the shifting globule of resin encased within. Head over to CW&T’s site to learn more about the Solid State Watch and its creation and to check out more of the wonderful things Chei-Wei and Taylor are building - like the “where were you all my life?” Superlocal.

“Hard work doesn’t always pay off”

Fantastic episode of the CLEVER podcast featuring Taylor Levy, one half of CW&T, the (oft-mentioned here) design studio behind beloved essentials such as the Superlocal and the Pen Type-C. Great interview, with this bit, “Buy lots of lottery tickets,” from their Principles page, really speaking to me:

While how, precisely, that will manifest in my own work remains TBD, I’m definitely looking to what Taylor and Chei-Wei are doing and using that as a basis for reconceptualizing my practice and how I think about the processes within. You can check out the whole interview here:

superlocal

Week of indulging my passion for unique timepieces continues: CW&T's Superlocal, their 24-hour magnet-and-steel daily ritual sculpture (inspired, in part, by Mason Curry’s DAILY RITUALS book), had been on my radar since I fell in love with their Pen Type-C (at first use on the day it arrived) and I finally let myself take the plunge: a hefty, stunning work of art and function that’s already giving me notions of how to reshape my day.