When Size Matters (image is clickable)

Since my last blog was about what I consider my best mechanical pencil (the rotring 600) this one is about my biggest mechanical pencils -- or more technically -- lead holders. One is called The Chubby. This is a contender for the ultimate "big idea" charrette pencil -- it's like using a sharpie that can be erased. It lays down a big fat line when precision does not matter but boldness does. It has a round barrel in a sleek matte gray.

It also comes with leads in various colors (red, green, blue, pink, brown) in addition to a nice soft black lead. This pencil is supposed to have a sharpener in the end cap but for some reason it was missing in mine. Hmm. I was a little miffed about that at first, out of prinicple, but I doubt I would have actually used the sharpener. That is, quite frankly, a problem with buying on-line. Returns are a pain in the butt.

It comes in a fancy little padded tin, which probably is the reason it costs more than the Cretacolor pencil. About twice as much.

So, when you need to lay down some bold lines to convey those big ideas you can't do much better than whipping out your Chubby. Unless it is the Cretacolor 430 02 -- 5.6 mm lead holder -- a perhaps slightly more serious version of the Chubby. And this one does have a lead pointer in the cap. This hefty, solid metal tool comes from Austria. It is a serious pencil. For serious doodling.

The Chubby is available at Paper Source. I think that is who I ordered from. Cretacolors are hard to find too. I bought my Cretacolor in a store in Seattle a few years back.

http://www.paper-source.com/cgi-bin/paper/item/Chubby-Mechanical-Pencil/3907.010/444672.html


http://www.xonexpens.com/products/categories/pencils/chubby.htm