Ninth Wave Designs Blog

Dear, Dear Diary.

Ninth Wave Designs — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 15:13:19 -0700

ORIGINAL POST DATE: February 1, 2007 Here's a little example of the power of notebooks and diaries that I came across recently while reading Sarah Waters' novel, Affinity. "I had been sitting very still to listen to her. Now, becoming more aware of myself, I found that I was cold, and I drew my coat a little closer about me. The action made my note-book show at my pocket, and I saw her looking at it. All the time we talked, then, her gaze kept returning to that edge of book; until at last, when I rose to leave her, she said, Why did I always carry a book with me? Did I mean to write about the women of the gaol? I told her then that I take my note-book with me wherever I go - that it was a habit I had fallen into when helping my father with his work. I said I should feel very strange without it, and that what I wrote in it I sometimes later put into another book, that was my diary. I said that that book was like my dearest friend. I told it all my closest thoughts, and it kept them secret. She nodded. My book was like her, she said - it had no-one to tell. I might as well say my closest thoughts there, in her cell. Who did she have, to pass them on to?" Affinity is an epistolary novel, told in the form of entries from the diaries of the two main characters. What made this section jump out at me the most is the way that it captures the curiosity associated with carrying and keeping notebooks. Who has seen someone writing in their notebook or drawing in their sketchbook in a cafe, and hasn't secretly wanted to seize the thing and examine all the pages while the author is off getting a refill? Or conversely, who hasn't been themselves aware of the general interest that carrying a notebook inspires in others? It's part of the fun, really, to be doing something so intensely private as writing about your intimate goings-on in your diary, but doing it in such a public place. It's the feeling of - I want you to know, but I don't want you to know, at least not until I decide to show you myself. It's the fun of building a mystery. Additionally this section from Waters' novel appealed to me because it personifies the main character's diary as her closest friend, and reinforces the sense that she views her diary as a real person by having the second character also identify herself as a book of secrets. Viewing a diary as a friend has come to have more meaning to me lately, as I have finally come to a place in my life where I am actually keeping a personal diary. The irony of this shift in my perspective hasn't been lost on me - that only after coming to the end of spending three years selling diaries to others did I finally arrive at a place in my life where I had a deep need to write a daily, personal and confessional diary myself. I have come to see that for most of you out there, the real reason for your passion for Moleskinei diaries all these years hasn't only been (as I thought) about form, function and quality, but that it has also been about being selective with the company you keep. It's been about whom you are willing to trust with your most personal thoughts - it's been about carefully choosing your dearest friend. As sappy as all that sounds, I still think it is absolutely true. Hidden under the weight of all the cynicism associated with well-crafted marketing plans you will find that your Moleskine is still just a diary after all, and as such its worth is determined only by what you yourself entrust to its pages. You may also discover as I have, that when you do find a friend that you can share your closest thoughts with, one who you know will keep them secret, life feels a lot less lonely because of it. Ninth Wave Designs Blog

Ideas Won't Keep: Cahier Idea Notebook

Ninth Wave Designs — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 14:58:40 -0700

ORIGINAL POST DATE: August 17, 2006 The title for the post comes from the following quote by Alfred North Whitehead: "The vitality of thought is in adventure. Ideas won't keep. Something must be done about them." This is a combination post of "Quotes for Your Notebook" and "Moleskinei Creations" themes, brought about by my need for a notebook to have handy to toss various ideas into. I generally use my Moleskine Pocket Daily Diary to record stray thoughts and brief ideas - of the more random and passing nature of made up movie titles or simple plot outlines for stories I will never get around to writing. I also needed a notebook that would provide the space for larger ideas, where I could write several pages compared to the several sentence lengths in my daily diary. I chose a Moleskine large kraft Cahier with squared pages, but since I have several of these floating around for different uses I wanted the idea book to stand out from the others. I started by making the painting of the light bulb in my pocket size Moleskine Watercolor Reporter notebook. I used watercolor colored pencils and Pitt brush markers to paint the image, and then removed the page from the notebook. I cut a hole in the cover of the large Cahier in the shape of the light bulb, and then used a combination of glue stick and tape to secure the watercolor page inside the front cover. I am happy with the results, and it is easy for me to find this notebook among the clutter on my desk. If Alfred North Whitehead's words are to be followed, then something indeed needs to be done to keep our ideas - and the pages of a humble Cahier might be just the place for those vital intellectual adventures to work themselves out. Ninth Wave Designs Blog

Love Triangle Update

Ninth Wave Designs — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 14:46:15 -0700

ORIGINAL POST DATE: July 14, 2006

I have a late arrival for the Love Triangle pencil comparison, the Lyra Osiris 45100. I found these a few days after the original post and find that they are a very nice addition to the triangular pencils I use. They have a nice yellow lacquer finish, similar to the California Republic Golden Bears, but do not have a finished end cap as the Golden Bear does. They are made from good solid wood that appears to be cedar, and are more substantial than the Grip 2001 and the impossible to find Mars Ergosoft. They have a very similar feel to the Golden Bears, but a better graphiteⁱ core. The graphite in the Osiris is dry compared to my still favorite Staedtler Noris Ergosoft, but isn't as hard and light as the Golden Bear. For me the Osiris will be a good second to the Noris, for times when I want a slightly tighter line.

One element I didn't cover in the original Love Triangle post was the element of cost. Some of you may want to have pencils of varying price ranges for different uses, such as economy priced pencils for work or school where you are more apt to lose them. To this end here is the estimated price break-down on the triangular pencils I have compared - yours prices may vary:

- Ticonderoga Tri-Write 2/HB with eraser: 18 - 25 cents each.
- California Republic Golden Bear HB: 20 cents each.
- Lyra Osiris 45100: 37 cents each.
- Dixon Tri-Conderoga 2/HB with eraser (large diameter): 35 - 40 cents each.
- Mongol Trio with eraser (large diameter): 42 cents each.
- Staedtler Noris Ergosoft HB 2: 80 cents each.
- Faber-Castell Grip 2001 2=B: 75 - 85 cents each.
- Faber-Castell Jumbo Grip: $1.54 each.

If you want an all-around comfortable pencil that you won't care if you lose it, then the Ticonderoga Tri-Write is a bargain. If you up your budget a little bit you can have a very nice writing pencil with the Osiris for less than twice the price of the Tri-Write, and for double the price of the Osiris you can take a leap in graphite quality with the Staedtler Noris Ergosoft.

What is missing from this selection is a high end triangular pencil. With the news from California Republic that there are no plans to release the Palomino in a triangular version, I am left to invent another dream pencil. My current fancy for the ultimate triangular pencil would be a Tombow Mono Professional in HB or B grade with a sleek black finish. The black lacquer with cream and gold on the Tombow Mono is luxurious, and it has a nice thick end-cap. This would be a beautiful pencil in triangular form as well. Although there is yet to be a high quality addition to the triangular pencil trend, and no indication that there ever will be, I think the Tombow Mono would make a likely candidate for such an innovation.

Ninth Wave Designs Blog

Love Triangle

Ninth Wave Designs — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 14:30:19 -0700

ORIGINAL POST DATE: July 3, 2006

Pencils have changed very little over the years, at least in their outward appearance. They are still the same length as they have always been, give or take the presence of an eraser, and a pencil made 100 years ago could easily be mistaken for one made yesterday. Triangular pencils are a big innovation then compared with all the years of stability in outward design, and rather than being just a novelty item they seem to be growing in popularity. I am excited by these new triangular pencils - as excited as one can get about pencils anyway. The shift from hexagonal shape to triangular shape is a wonderful functional improvement, a major jump forward in the slow evolution of pencil design, and it has me trying out a bunch of new pencils.

I love the feel of a triangular pencil in my hand; it just fits so much better. I also have issues with tendonitis from years of drawing, so the improved ergonomics of the triangular shaped barrel is something I really appreciate as well. From a geometric perspective the new barrel shape, which I recently learned is not actually a triangle but a curve of constant width known as a Reuleaux Triangle. The fact that this shape does not have a fixed center of rotation means that triangular pencils don't roll off your desk as easily as a hexagonal pencil, which is another nice feature of the design.

I have been using a variety of triangular pencils lately to find the best one in the lot for my own use. They include:

- Dixon Tri-Conderoga 2/HB with eraser.
- Mongol Trio with eraser.
- Faber-Castell Jumbo Grip.
- Faber-Castell Grip 2001 2=B (available in other grades).
- Staedtler Mars Ergosoft HB (available in other grades).
- Staedtler Noris Ergosoft HB 2.
- California Republic Golden Bear HB.
- Ticonderoga Tri-Write 2/HB with eraser.

The first three pencils on the list are large diameter pencils designed for small children. I was unable to track down the Staedtler Noris Learner's pencil which is another larger diameter triangular pencil that I wanted to try, but they don't seem to be available in the US any longer. I like the large diameter pencils for sketching, since they are even more comfortable to hold than the smaller versions, but they may be too large for most people, and they require a special size pencil sharpener (the Tri-Conderoga comes with a sharpener for that purpose).

These three pencils all have a very similar feel to the graphiteⁱ, so none of them exceed the others on that front. The Tri-Conderoga has a black "grippy" finish to it that makes it easy to hold without feeling sticky and the Grip 2001 which features raised textured dots. The Mongol Trio has a nice semi-gloss natural finish that isn't slick at all. Each of these finishes works well with the large format triangular barrel, adding to the ergonomic comfort of using these pencils. When it comes down to choosing one over the other for these three pencils it will be a matter of subtle preference; do you want an eraser - do you like the color - do you prefer the finish. My choice is the Dixon Tri-Conderoga because of the construction of the pencil. Even though I prefer the little dots on the Jumbo Grip, the wood used by Faber-Castell to make these pencils is not cedar, but some other very light-weight wood that makes it feel insubstantial to me. The cedar of the Tri-Conderoga sharpens very well compared to the Jumbo Grip, and gives a better overall feeling to the pencil. The Dixon and the Mongol pencil are very similar but I prefer the style of the Dixon over the Mongol. Additionally, the Dixon Tri-Conderoga is much easier to find in stores in America.

The five other pencils on the list are all regular sized and of similar grades of graphite. The Mars Ergosoft and the Staedtler Ergosoft pencils have the best graphite in my experience; with the other pencils having good but not excellent writing qualities. The Golden Bear HB doesn't match my hexagonal Golden Bears for graphite quality, lacking the smoothness I have come to expect from California Republic. It's not bad graphite, just not as smooth as it should be.

The finish on these pencils is varried, with the two Staedtler pencils have the same "grippy" rubberized finish, the Grip 2001 having the same dot grips as its larger version, and the Tri-Write and the Golden Bear having a traditional lacquer finish. Of the last two the Golden Bear has the best finish, with a nice thick orange lacquer with a blue endcap. I like the rubberized finish of the Staedtlers and the dots of the Grip 2001 over the lacquer, but if you have a tendency for sweaty hands these may not work as well for you.

The wood of the Grip 2001 and the Mars Ergosoft are lighter than I like, as I mentioned above, with the Mars pencil being so light that it seems to be made from Balsa wood. The Mars Ergosoft is nearly impossible to find, but it would be nice to have the choice of graphite grades that it offers available with the Noris as well. The Noris Ergosoft, Tri-Write and Golden Bear are all made from more substantial wood, and fit my liking better. As with the larger pencils, your choice among these may depend on subtle preferences, but based on graphite and quality I prefer the Staedtler Noris Ergosoft over the others. I like the look of the design as well, with the black and yellow stripes and the distinct red end cap.

Let me know if there are any good triangular pencils I missed or if you have anything to add on the pencils discussed in this post.

UPDATE: 7/14/06 You can read part two to this post HERE.

Ninth Wave Designs Blog

Artifact

Ninth Wave Designs — Tue, 27 May 2008 17:23:29 -0700

ORIGINAL POST DATE: June 21, 2006

The latest addition to the Alchemy Notebook series consists of a separate scrap of paper that relates to the pages in the notebook. I have wanted to make something in this series to take advantage of the back pocket in the sketchbook, so that there would be a loose element to carry around with the notebook itself. I wanted to create something that answers the question "What has it got in its pocketses?"

Ninth Wave Designs Blog

Eclipse

Ninth Wave Designs — Tue, 27 May 2008 17:13:27 -0700

ORIGINAL POST DATE: April 3, 2006

I have updated the Alchemy Notebook gallery with a new image from my Moleskineⁱ Pocket Sketchbook. The image above, called Eclipse, is a combination of liquid acrylic inks, Prismacolor colored pencils, and collageⁱ elements.

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M Is For Medieval: Or How The Irish Invented The Moleskine

Ninth Wave Designs — Tue, 27 May 2008 17:09:44 -0700

ORIGINAL POST DATE: March 15, 2006 Following is the post I wrote that first appeared on March 17th, 2005 on the Moleskinerie weblog. This post was the birth of the blogging bug for me, although it wasn't until many months later that I started my own blog here. I am posting this in time for St. Patrick's Day to celebrate a bit of Irish in the Italian recreation of a French original: The Moleskine. Ninth Wave Designs Blog

Moleskine Traveler & Pencils: Put A Lid On It!

Ninth Wave Designs — Tue, 27 May 2008 16:48:17 -0700

ORIGINAL POST: March 14, 2006

I want to share this little tidbit with readers of NWD, not because I think this is particularly clever, but because it is a simple but useful little trick. If you are an owner of a Moleskineⁱ Traveler notebook case, or have a carrier case with similarly designed pen slots you may want to try this. I have always had trouble carrying real pencils with me away from home - if you put a nice sharp pencil in one of these types of pen slots the points usually end up poking through the fabric, or the pencil point breaks off.

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crowmap.jpg

Ninth Wave Designs — Tue, 27 May 2008 16:32:43 -0700

ORIGINAL POST DATE: February 27, 2006

Here are two new pages I've added to my Alchemy Notebook series in my pocket Moleskineⁱ sketchbook. The images were done using liquid acrylic inks, Prismacolor watercolor pencils, and metallic acrylic paint. The right hand page incorporates the slider from the Cipher Table (shown below) that is on the reverse side of the page, so this band slides from one side of the map to the other. There are two small circles cut out from the band that line up with key points on the map.

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Frankenpencil

Ninth Wave Designs — Mon, 05 May 2008 13:38:38 -0700

ORIGINAL POST DATE: February 22, 2006

Blackwing 602I have tried out a few new pencils lately, part of my continual search for the one pencil that seems just right to me. I have been very happy with the Palominos made by California Republic (as blogged about earlier HERE), and even though they have the best graphiteⁱ I have found since the Blackwing 602, they lack a certain, well, sense of style. The bright orange color, although definitely distinctive, is a little too loud for my liking. The design of the Blackwing 602 is as cool as it gets when it comes to pencils, and even though ultimately the important thing is how it writes, I find I'm still longing for a pencil that looks as good as it writes.

I have been piecing together the perfect pencil in my mind lately, exhuming the parts from the assortment of good pencils I regularly use to create the ultimate writing tool. In order to create the perfect all-around pencil I first need to harvest a few parts. My goal here is a pencil that would be highly functional for day-to-day use, comfortable for writing for longer periods of time, and not too specialized (i.e., it doesn't also have to be the best sketching pencil).

California Republic Palomino

The graphite core needs to be a California Republic Palomino HB grade. I would also keep the same Cal Cedar wood from the Palomino, but loose the orange lacquer. The Palominos have a very nice professionally done finish, but I find the high finish to be a bit slippery at times.

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Cipher Wheel

Ninth Wave Designs — Mon, 05 May 2008 13:04:56 -0700

Here is the latest addition to the Alchemy Notebook series of images in my Moleskineⁱ Pocket Classic Sketchbook. This Cipher Wheel is a companion piece to the earlier pages posted of the Cipher Table, and features movable disks. I constructed the page so that the two middle wheels of symbols turn to various positions to make a double layer shift cipher. I have yet to put this tag team of ciphering tools to work, but plan to use them in upcoming pages.

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Quotes For Your Notebook: Oliver Wendall Holmes, Sr.

Ninth Wave Designs — Mon, 05 May 2008 12:56:37 -0700

ORIGINAL POST DATE: February 8, 2006 My only association with Oliver Wendall Holmes, Sr. is from my high school English class, and having to read The Autocrat at the Breakfast Table. I don't recall anything about that book, but it must have been better than reading James Fennimore Cooper (whom I dubbed "James Fenimore Awful"), since I didn't bother to come up with a derisive nick-name for Holmes. Here instead is someone who speaks deeply to one of the major conundrums of my life: "What refuge is there for the victim who is oppressed with the feeling that there are a thousand new books he ought to read, while life is only long enough for him to attempt a hundred?" -Oliver Wendall Holmes, Sr. Consider too that Holmes lived in a time that didn't produce the millions of new titles every year that we are faced with having to prioritize our reading lists from. The task is daunting. Take for example one area of reading that I enjoy: Mythology. I had recently reached a place of comfort having acquired a selection of books by Joseph Campbell, and a few titles by Mircea Eliade, thinking I had enough good titles on mythology to stop looking for any more. Yesterday I discovered that Karen Armstrong has published a new book, this time on the subject of mythology, called A Short History of Myth. I have read many of Karen Armstrong's books, so now I feel compelled get that one too, since I am very curious to read what she has to say about mythology. Just when I thought I had at least one subject covered, I add another book to the pile. Is there no end? I like the nostalgic feeling the Holmes quote provides, with the thought that reading 100 books in a lifetime is as much as is attainable. There was a time then, when reading 100 books (although clearly not enough) seemed like what was achievable in a lifetime. From the perspective of Holmes' time period I am doing pretty well, having read at least 100 books by now (likely many more than that), and (unless something unsuspected occurs) with many years still ahead of me. I haven't read much the last few days. I suffered a serious brain cramp on Monday after reading a particularly mind expanding bit of Jungian psychology. It actually made my brain hurt. It was a good pain, the sort of "feel the burn" sensation that lets you know you have expanded your capacity to think, but still, the kind of pain that lets you know when it's time to back off. I decided to give it a rest and to allow these new ideas sink in and mellow among the other collected ideas from my lifetime of reading. I have taken refuge, for a few days anyway, in the understanding that I am doing a pretty good job, at least by 19th century standards, of getting my fill of books. That is, of course, until the Karen Armstrong book arrives from Amazon. Ninth Wave Designs Blog

Desperately Seeking St. Anthony

Ninth Wave Designs — Mon, 05 May 2008 12:48:57 -0700

ORIGINAL POST DATE: January 30, 2006 Ninth Wave Designs Blog

Naturally, a Notebook: Umberto Eco & Recovered Manuscripts

Ninth Wave Designs — Sun, 20 Apr 2008 09:45:47 -0700

ORIGINAL POST DATE: January 25, 2006 Ninth Wave Designs Blog

Tetractrys: Prismacolor Watercolor Pencils

Ninth Wave Designs — Sun, 20 Apr 2008 09:37:11 -0700

ORIGINAL POST DATE: December 14, 2005

Here is another image from the Alchemy Notebook series in my pocket Moleskineⁱ sketchbook. I created it using a combination of liquid acrylics, Prismacolor watercolor pencils and Kooh-I-Noor Nexus pens.

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Moleskine at PostSecret

Ninth Wave Designs — Sun, 20 Apr 2008 09:21:41 -0700

ORIGINAL POST DATE: December 6, 2005 Ninth Wave Designs Blog

Alchemy Notebook

Ninth Wave Designs — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 17:34:47 -0700

ORIGINAL POST DATE: December 4, 2005

Just a quick post to say that there are new images in the NWD Moleskineⁱ gallery, continuing the image series for the Alchemy Notebook.

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Green Lion

Ninth Wave Designs — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 17:32:34 -0700

ORIGINAL POST DATE: December 4, 2005

Just a quick post to say that there are new images in the NWD Moleskineⁱ gallery, continuing the image series for the Alchemy Notebook.

Animal Kingdom

Quintessence

Ninth Wave Designs — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 17:26:30 -0700

ORIGINAL POST DATE: November 17, 2005

These pages are from my Moleskineⁱ Pocket Sketchbook and were done using a combination of liquid acrylic paints and watercolor pencils. I am interested in ways that Alchemical imagery corresponds with Jungian archetypes, and have begun this series of images to explore particular symbolic ideas.

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Moonrise

Ninth Wave Designs — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 17:21:45 -0700

ORIGINAL POST DATE: November 17, 2005

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Quotes For Your Notebook: Sarah Vowell

Ninth Wave Designs — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 17:15:07 -0700

ORIGINAL POST DATE: November 16, 2005 This latest quote is from the book Assassination Vacation by Sarah Vowell, and addresses the "Grandfather Paradox"" concerning time travel. Ninth Wave Designs Blog

The Search for the Wild Blackwing

Ninth Wave Designs — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 15:52:00 -0700

ORIGINAL POST DATE: November 11, 2005

Finding the elusive Blackwing 602 pencil is a lot like bird watching. You need to be in the right place at the right time, and be very patient. If you are lucky enough to find one you will end up feeling like you have just spotted the Ivory-Billed Woodpecker: rare, thought by everyone to be extinct, but lurking in the wild waiting to be discovered by the devoted few.

I have written previously on the NWD blog about Blackwing 602 pencils (HERE and HERE), partly because they are my favorite writing instrument, and partly because I still can't quite accept the truth that they aren't being made anymore. In an attempt to move on in my life and find a way to acceptance I have focused my pencil obsession in a new direction: finding a replacement for the Blackwing 602. I have searched the web, read personal opinions among the comments from Pencil Revolutionaries, and haunted the aisles at my local Staples (until I started getting funny looks from the sales staff). Finally I am able to say that I have found a pencil that meets the challenge, which picks up the gauntlet thrown down by the Blackwing and offers a compelling alternative to the ruling champion of writing instruments.

First, a short eulogy: There is something about the Blackwing 602. Maybe it is the sleek silvery-grey color of the finish or the distinctive eraser shape that sets it above your average pencil. Maybe it is the slogan stamped in gold: Half the Pressure, Twice the Speed. For me it has always been the graphiteⁱ core that makes the difference. I love great design and innovative looks, but it is the function that is the ultimate criteria for me, the thing that makes or breaks even the coolest looking product. No other pencil provides that smooth and rich writing experience. But they are no more, driven into extinction from the same quirky detail that set it apart from other pencils; the metal clip that holds the eraser in the ferrule.

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Pendulum

Ninth Wave Designs — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 15:45:17 -0700

ORIGINAL POST DATE: November 9, 2005

This latest update to the Ninth Wave Designs Gallery includes images from my Moleskineⁱ Pocket Sketchbook.

The sizing of the paper in the Moleskine sketchbooks makes using watercolors on the paper difficult. I have found that tempera and watercolor pencils have more body and don't bead up when you apply them the way watercolor does. Even though Moleskine never recommended using watercolor in the sketchbooks, many users have found this to be an annoying quality in the sketchbook paper. In the spring of 2006 Moleskine will be releasing a new watercolor sketchbook, with paper expressly designed with watercolor use in mind. I eagerly await the chance to try one of the new Moleskine watercolor sketchbooks out, and will post about it as soon as I can get my hands on one.

I enjoy working in a wide range of mediums in my Moleskine sketchbooks, and have never been very troubled by the specifics of the sketchbook paper. Recently I was experimenting with liquid acrylics on the pages of my sketchbook and found that the peculiarities of the paper sizing made it easy to create a vellum effect on the paper, a very convincing looking vellum effect actually. This was an exciting discovery for me, since I have an interest in old manuscripts and imaginary writing. I was recently introduced to the mysterious Voynich Manuscript (thanks Paula!) and wanted to create some images that had a similar feel and contained mysterious elements. The image above, called Pendulum, is my first attempt at what I plan to be a series of pages along this line. In fact, I may just have to tint all the pages in my sketchbook to look like vellum - it is such a great effect!

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Quotes For Your Notebook: Magical Alphabet

Ninth Wave Designs — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 15:30:51 -0700

ORIGINAL POST DATE: November 2, 2005 This latest quote from the pages of my Moleskinei pocket diary is from the beginning of the book Mysteries of the Alphabet by Marc-Alain Ouaknin: "The magical alphabet, the mysterious hieroglyphic, merely reach us incomplete and distorted, either by time or by those very people who have a vested interest in our ignorance; let us find the lost letter or obliterated sign, let us re-create the dissonant scale and we shall gain strength from the world of the mind." - Gérard de Nerval (1808 - 1855) It is precisely the mysterious aspect of ancient scripts that makes them compelling to the artist and poet alike. Nerval was a French poet and bohemian, a friend of Baudelaire. I am not sure what larger context this quote is taken from, but I gather from reading his short biography HERE that he was the kind of writer that was drawn into the mysteries of ancient signs and symbols. As an artist it has always been interesting for me to try to see beyond the commonplace usage of language to the deeper symbols embedded in the words and letters themselves. Nerval's quote is a call to examine this magical aspect of the alphabet, and he even tempts us with a touch of conspiracy theory suggesting that there are deliberate means that keep us from knowing the truth. The challenge is finding something within the symbols of letters, whether contemporary or ancient, that carries deeper meaning for ourselves, since the original meaning attributed by the first writers of these alphabets are forever lost to us. Perhaps it was the way the first writing tools fit the hand that influenced their forms, that the charcoal stick or quill played an integral part in their development and left their own natural imprint into this human communication. Whatever the origin, whatever the form, Nerval's quote asks us to take time to contemplate these letterforms as a way to strengthen our minds. Considering that many early Greek philosophers felt that writing weakens the mind by removing the need for memorization, it may be good advice indeed! Magical Alphabet Quote from my Moleskine Diary Here are a few good books on the history of the alphabet: Mysteries of the Alphabet by Marc-Alain Ouaknin The Alphabetic Labyrinth: Letters in History and Imagination by Johanna Drucker Magical Alphabets by Nigel Pennick The Alphabet Abecedarium: Some Notes on Letters by Richard A. Firmage Ninth Wave Designs Blog

Samhain: Time Outside of Time

Ninth Wave Designs — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 15:01:29 -0700

ORIGINAL POST DATE: October 28, 2005 Many of the Halloween traditions celebrated in the U.S. originate from old Celtic traditions, so Irish immigrants must have brought many of the common symbolic elements with them to this country. One of the big ones, carving Jack-O-Lanterns, originated with the tradition in Ireland of making an effigy of a head from a turnip. There are not so many turnip carvers around nowadays, especially since pumpkins are far better suited for the job. The general idea is the same though, a scary face with a candle inside, and it hearkens back to the ancient Celtic fascination with severed heads, the details of which I will skip here. The one ancient Celtic tradition that is most commonly celebrated today is dressing up as otherworld creatures: ghosts, goblins and other frightening monsters. This tradition originates with the ancient festival of Samhain and how that celebration reflected the Celtic concept of time and the calendar. Samhain was one of the four major celebrations during the Celtic year, and is the point in the annual cycle where one year ends and another begins - sort of an ancient version of our New Year's Eve. The Celt's concept of the daily cycle provided that the old year ended at sundown on the last day in October (as it corresponds to our calendar), the New Year began at sunrise on November first. This resulted in a gap in time between sunset and sunrise which belonged to neither the old nor the new year - a time outside of time. This physical break in time was seen as a doorway through which beings from the otherworld could leak into the real world - similar to the concept of the Hell Mouth in Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Fires were lit to keep malevolent spirits at bay, and dressing as one of them would disguise your mortal aspect, preventing the terrifying possibility of being dragged into the otherworld by the evil spirits. I find this idea very compelling, that the calendar year could have a gap in it between ending and beginning again. Our contemporary year moves with very little interruption, and even the general idea of holidays has eroded with businesses being open through all the holidays in the year: 24-7-365. That there exists this concept of a time outside of the regular cycle of time, that the year has to stop for a while before it can begin anew, is something we could do well to embrace, even in small ways. Imagine a time outside of time; something magical that made the phone stop ringing, the internet idle, and had people staying home for some quiet contemplation; just as a reminder of the end of one important cycle, the beginning of the next. It is something almost impossible to think of today - a collectively ritualized secular experience of time - but it is an interesting concept nonetheless. Heck, even the ancient Celts had to have the frightening aspect of otherworld demons to reinforce the Samhain ritual to make them stop and pay attention. Perhaps then what we need is a renewed belief in otherworld monsters to get us to slow down a bit, for one evening at least. Choose your costumes accordingly and have a great time out of time on Halloween! Ninth Wave Designs Blog

Smooth Meets Silk: Blackwing 602 & Moleskine Van Gogh

Ninth Wave Designs — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 14:38:50 -0700

ORIGINAL POST DATE: October 7, 2005 I recently acquired some Blackwing 602 pencils to add to my small collection. Writing with one of these pencils in a Moleskinei notebook is a particular pleasure, and I spent some time mooning about it in an earlier post HERE. I have decided to make a limited offer to readers of my blog to allow them the opportunity to experience this for themselves through a combination set of a Moleskine notebook and an authentic Blackwing 602 pencil. In my mind only one Moleskine notebook is up to the task for such a special combination, and that is the Moleskine Museum silk covered notebook. In this combination of items Blackwing provides the smooth, Moleskine provides the silk. The Moleskine Museum Van Gogh Colours notebooks are a special edition Moleksine that were created in league with the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam in the spring of 2002. These pocket size Moleskines have covers made from silk shantung in bright colors inspired by Van Gogh's paintings, instead of the usual black oilskin cover material. Silk Shantung has a very tight, fine weave with occasional occurrences of thickening of the strands, called slubs in the world of fabric, as part of the weave. They have gone to great care to match the color of the elastic closure with the silk fabric on the cover, and even the expanding back pocket features the same silk on the accordion hinge. The Blackwing 602 has a growing reputation among writers and artists as the best pencil ever made. Production ceased on the Blackwing in the 1990's, so these are now collector's items, selling for a premium on eBay. The Blackwing features a larger than average ferrule with a flat eraser that can be adjusted outward as it is used. The Blackwing slogun of "Half the Pressure, Twice the Speed" attests to the smooth writing experience they offer. Ninth Wave Designs Blog

Day & Night

Ninth Wave Designs — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 14:27:34 -0700

ORIGINAL POST DATE: September 19, 2005

Here are the latest images from my pocket size sketchbook.

These images are the result of thinking about a mixture of cultural ideas; some Celtic, some Greek, some German, combined with alchemical planetary symbols.

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Urban Tartan

Ninth Wave Designs — Sat, 12 Apr 2008 13:05:16 -0700

ORIGINAL POST DATE: September 11, 2005

This weekend I filled a few pages in my pocket size sketchbook. I have been enjoying the results of using gouacheⁱ on these pages, as the opaqueness of the paint is a nice base to build up the colored pencil textures.

The final image of this weekend's moodling is called Urban Tartan. This painting started with a series of small square vignettes cut from a book of poems. I created an underlying grid, and the tartan theme emerged as a result of working along the gridded lines.

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Babylon

Ninth Wave Designs — Sat, 12 Apr 2008 13:00:39 -0700

ORIGINAL POST DATE: September 11, 2005

Another weekend of moodling in my sketchbook means another update to the NWD Moleskineⁱ Gallery.

This time I filled a few pages in my pocket size sketchbook. I have been enjoying the results of using gouacheⁱ on these pages, as the opaqueness of the paint is a nice base to build up the colored pencil textures.

This next image is called Babylon, and originated with a collageⁱ piece of cuneiform script taken from an old history book. The base coloring is gouache with Prismacolor colored pencils adding most of the texture.

A note about the books I cut up for collage, for the worried book collector: I only eviscerate books that have outlived their useful function, either because of loose or broken bindings, water stained and moldy covers, or otherwise poor condition. Never fear, I love books too much to destroy a good book even for art's sake.

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Base Five

Ninth Wave Designs — Sat, 12 Apr 2008 12:57:00 -0700

ORIGINAL POST DATE: September 11, 2005

Another weekend of moodling in my sketchbook means another update to the NWD Moleskineⁱ Gallery.

This image is called Base Five, and features a card from the Mexican-made Gallo de Don Clemente Loteria card game. I used one of these in last weeks images (La Luna), and they are a very interesting collection of images to use as a starting point for collageⁱ.

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Knotwork Theory

Ninth Wave Designs — Sat, 12 Apr 2008 11:35:21 -0700

ORIGINAL POST: September 7, 2005 As a professional illustrator I have specialized for many years in Celtic design. One of my favorite aspects of this intricate style is the interwoven bands of knotwork. Knot TheoryIt took lots of practice before I became comfortable with the underlying pattern for constructing the more complicated knots, but eventually I became familiar enough (through much repetition) with the geometric principles that aid in creating good designs. These knotwork patterns all begin with a system of grids, so Moleskinei notebooks with gridded pages have always been a favorite place of mine to work out the details of a knotwork design. Below is the frontispiece to my Knot Theory notebook, a large size Moleskine Volant with squared pages. It was only quite recently that I discovered this special branch of mathematics devoted to the study of knots, called, surprisingly enough, Knot Theory. It is a subsection of mathematical discipline of Topology which brings us such novelties as the Klein Bottle. In Topology mathematicians study the properties that do not change through deformations like stretching and twisting, but cutting and tearing are strictly not allowed. To a Topologist a doughnut is the same as a coffee cup, a cube equal to a sphere. This would make for an interesting parallel universe if the laws of matter adhered to these topological principles, and additionally a great plot structure for a possible episode of Farscape (also in a parallel universe, one where this series wasn't canned!). Ninth Wave Designs Blog

Raven Stone

Ninth Wave Designs — Sat, 12 Apr 2008 11:21:23 -0700

ORIGINAL POST DATE: September 6, 2005

The second image was also done in my large sketchbook, using a combination of collageⁱ, watercolor, gouacheⁱ, watercolor pencils and Prismacolor colored pencil. I introduced the use of gouache with this image from a desire to have a bolder look than I was getting with just the colored pencil and watercolor pencil combination. This is a companion piece to the image, Black Crow, which I recently added to the gallery.

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August Full Moon

Ninth Wave Designs — Sat, 12 Apr 2008 11:17:31 -0700

ORIGINAL POST DATE: September 6, 2005

This is from my Moleskineⁱ Classic Large Sketchbook, a combination of collageⁱ elements, watercolor pencil, and Prismacolor colored pencil. The theme is the August full moon, and was done in response to the early signs of a change in season that the few days around the full moon brought.

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Alchemy Fortress

Ninth Wave Designs — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 18:59:00 -0700

ORIGINAL POST: August 30, 2005

This second image from today's Moleskineⁱ Gallery additions is a drawing I did after looking at a lot of engravings from books about alchemy. I felt the urge to do a detailed drawing that had the look of a print. Done with a Pilot pen rather than pencil in this case.

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NWD Moleskine Gallery Update

Ninth Wave Designs — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 18:58:12 -0700

ORIGINAL POST: August 30, 2005

I have added a few new images to the NWD Moleskineⁱ Gallery. Both were completed in my large Moleskine sketchbook, each with very different mediums.

This image is a drawing of a crow that I salvaged from an earlier work and attached to the page of the sketchbook. The original drawing was done with dark brown ink and watercolors and I added some additional color using watercolor pencils and Prismacolor colored pencils.

The more I work in the large size sketchbook the more I like it. The surface of the paper offers a challenge for some wet mediums, but seems to work well with the watercolor pencils I am using (Caran D'Ache). It has taken a little bit to get used to what works well on this paper, but it has been fun trying different combinations of pencils and pens to get the desired results. It has been well worth the effort, and I love working on this scale between the unassuming black covers of my Moleksine.

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Notebooks: The Soul Reaching Toward Infinity

Ninth Wave Designs — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 18:26:12 -0700

ORIGINAL POST DATE: August 29, 2005 I came across this great quote on the Alibris website: "The buying of more books than one can read is nothing less than the soul reaching towards infinity, and this passion is the only thing that raises us above the beast that perish." - Alfred Edward Newton I am regularly buying books, and it wasn't too long ago that I realized I had reached the point where I couldn't possibly read all the books I have in this one lifetime. This realization didn't actually stop me from buying even more books (i.e., I received three new books in the mail last week), but it did give me a more determined sense of what I will spend my finite lifetime reading. I now will not finish a book just to be sure I have given it a fair try if it isn't satisfying my expectations. If it doesn't grab me by the end of the second chapter, out it goes. There are plenty more where that one came from. Where there are many books, there are many notebooks as well. I need any number of notebooks to record my thoughts about what I read, and pages to make the connections from book to book. This makes me wonder if what Alfred so comfortingly had to say about book collecting can equally be applied to the accumulation of notebooks. I think it can be said that the buying of more notebooks than one can fill in a lifetime is also a reaching toward infinity. Instead of experiencing a sense of infinity through information coming into the mind through reading, notebooks provide an experience of an infinity of blank pages to fill with what the mind makes of it all. If the infinite is not a part of the process of personal expression that we engage in with our Moleskinei notebooks, then would it really matter that the paper they are made of is acid-free? Yet this is a very important aspect of the success of these notebooks, that what we take the time to put between the pages will last, if not forever, at least as long as we need it to. Any effort at cheating the effects of time, such as choosing paper that will not disintegrate in a few years, is without doubt wrapped up with a passion for the infinite. I must also address the second half of the quote, the "beast that perish" part. I have checked with my resident perishable beasts about collecting books, and as you might expect they disagreed with what Mr. Newton has to say about it. My cat, who has asked to remain anonymous, said she felt she was speaking for all domestic felines in stating that reading is over rated. "Books are for those who have no imaginations of their own, I simply have no use for them." The idea that her superior sense of imagination and clear sense of life purpose would put her at a lower place than a book collector struck her as being so absurd that she refused to discuss it any further with me. My dog, Pearl, (who takes any opportunity to see her name in print and so wishes not to remain anonymous), says that it makes no sense at all that she should be considered beneath the book collector since you can't eat books. "What's the point, they don't even taste good? Why collect something like that, where's the passion in that? Clearly this book man has an overly high opinion of himself, but the bottom line is that book collecting is completely pointless." Pearl went back to watching the squirrels at the birdfeeder, and so I figured she was finished, but then she turned around and asked, "Why are humans so worried about infinity anyway? You don't have to reach for it, it is right in front of you all the time." Pearl has returned to her Zen-like meditation on the squirrels. She is sitting so still, I think I will make a sketch of her in my notebook. Ninth Wave Designs Blog

Moleskine & Blackwing 602

Ninth Wave Designs — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 00:42:47 -0700

Original Post Date: July 27, 2005

I began using Blackwing 602 pencils as an art student years ago and have never found another pencil to compare with the richness of the lead. They give a deep The Blackwing 602dark black without being overly smudgy, and all the silvery range of greys are there too. The feeling that comes to mind is "smooth" and it is a pleasure to put this pencil to paper.

Below is a rough sketch done using the Blackwing 602 in my Moleskinei sketchbook. The sketchbook paper in the Moleskine notebooks has a very high finish to it, but a small amount of tooth is still there, so the combination of pencil on the page is very satisfying. The cream color of the page nicely compliments the shades of grey produced by this pencil.

The Blackwing 602 has come back into style lately, or maybe for the first time, since they were never very well known to begin with. They were originally produced by Eberhard Faber, and then later by FaberCastell who stopped making these in the late 90's. This has made them somewhat of a rarity, and I have been watching with strange fascination as single pencils sell on eBay for prices ranging from $20 - $35 each. I am happy to have a good supply on hand so that hopefully I won't succumb to the need of having to pay so much for a pencil that must have originally sold for less than $1.00 a piece. I can understand how many feel that $20 or more is not too much to pay for a good writing instrument - look at how much money people spend on fountain pens! For now I have enough to still feel free to use and enjoy them without the concern of their being extinct hanging over my head as I draw.

One curious aspect of the Blackwing 602 is that it is a pencil with a motto: "Half the pressure, twice the speed." Do other pencil manufacturers market their pencils with mottos? It seems like an interesting concept for such a common item and I imagine it contributes to the developing legend surrounding the 602. FaberCastell currently sells a similar pencil the NOBLOT INK PENCIL 705 and it has a motto too - "A bottle of ink in a pencil". But in this case the presence of a motto is not enough. Sadly, this pencil is not the reincarnation of the Blackwing, and the lead, although capable of some very dark lines, does not compare with the smoothness of the 602. It has a rough and scratchy feel to it and is no where near as satisfying to use. When all the Blackwing 602s are sharpened down to their stylish ferrules, or else under glass in a pencil museum (if there is such a place), all I will have left will be my box of NOBLOTs and fond memories of the best sketching pencil ever made.