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“Pink Pearl” and More Art Supplies

Posted on August 30, 2020October 9, 2020 By Hey You
Pink Pearl Eraser

In the previous post, Bill Stewart’s ​“Pink Pearl” eraser was there among his art supplies. That brand of eraser was not just an art tool it was used by all. I got curious about its origin and found — the science!
On June 17, 2019, Ray Hahn wrote this: (Search: Bottle Caps and Pink Pearl Erasers)
The Eber­hard Faber Company opened America’s first pencil factory in New York City in 1861 on a plot of land now occu­pied by the United Nations. It is uncer­tain when the eraser was invented, but in general terms, Joseph Priestly (the same man who discov­ered Oxygen) is frequently given credit for the eraser.
The history of the Pink Pearl eraser is much better docu­mented. It was invented in 1848 in Germany when Eber­hard Faber’s grand­fa­ther, Casper, decided that a new method of erasing wayward graphite marks (not, lead) might be achieved by using rubber. Erasers have been an impor­tant piece of writing history, but the pencil and the eraser were at first, two different tools. It was Faber who first added erasers to his pencils and he did so some­time after a new factory was built in the Green­point section of Brooklyn in 1872.
The magic ingre­dient in the Pink Pearl is volcanic ash from Italy. When mixed with rubber, it is the pumice in the ash that gives the eraser its unique smell. Unlike poorly formu­lated erasers that loosen and remove paper fibers, the Pink Pearl erases by cleaning the surface. It is elemen­tary science, which demon­strates that erasers don’t just work manu­ally; they also work chem­i­cally. ?Pencils work because, when they are put to paper, their graphite mingles with the fiber parti­cles in the paper. Erasers work because the poly­mers that are used in manu­fac­turing them are stickier than the parti­cles of paper. It’s that simple, graphite parti­cles end up getting stuck to the eraser instead of the paper. Erasers are liter­ally sticky graphite magnets. (This article appeared in an earlier form in the South Jersey Post­card Club’s McClin­tock Letter of October 2014, page 6.)
And More Art Tools

I have contributed photos of a lot of my old art tools to the ​“Museum of Lost Art Supplies” as we show in the column on the left under ​“Places We Like”. This is still a great collec­tion to look over.
Recently with the extra time and a few items still to send in – I found that the site was not respon­sive in accepting addi­tional items. After several attempts, I reached Lou Brooks.

Lou wrote:
Hey, Hi Ann! Sorry it took a while to get back to you. Lots of changes. Clare and I moved to McMin­nville Oregon almost a year ago, and we’re still chasing our own tails to catch up. Now, the CO-VID! But on we all go. My orig­inal provider has made it diffi­cult to get the Museum of Forgotten Art Supplies site to do us much good these days. I value your contribs and friend­ship, Ann, and strongly request you sign up on FB for my Forgotten Art Supplies Forum Pushing 4,000 enthu­si­astic members and climbing. With stellar results… tons of post­ings, and plenty of back and forth helpful dialog. All seem to enjoy it immensely. I enjoy you posts, and would love to see your stuff up there.
Just sign up and I’ll put you right in.
Lou Brooks

Rubber Cement Containers
Rubber Cement Containers 
Description of Rubber Cement Containers
Descrip­tion of Rubber Cement Containers 

I don’t do Face­book but I slipped my collectible into Richard’s FB account —to place these two exam­ples with my written descrip­tion. It went up quickly on the ​“Forgotten Art Supplies Forum”. I was surprised as I received twelve comments about my submis­sion. Lou Brook’s new Face­book collec­tion shows items that are in addi­tion than those on his previous site.

Museum of Forgotten Art Supplies
Museum of Forgotten Art Supplies 
Museum of Forgotten Art Supplies Collection
Museum of Forgotten Art Supplies Collection 

(We are keeping the orig­inal ​“Museum” on this site. It is still inter­ac­tive for viewing the exten­sive collec­tions but it doesn’t accept new addi­tions.) Or use this link.

I’ve thought of another subject – the Flo-master felt tip pen and its ink.
This attrac­tive felt-tip pen could be filled and re-filled. It was avail­able before Magic Markers and other markers appeared in art stores.

Flo Master
Flo Master 
On Telegraph Hill
On Tele­graph Hill 

The beauty of this pen was that I could control the wet or dryness of the strokes to the paper. As you pressed the felt tip a few times to a surface, ink would flow into it. When the felt tip became partially dry, subtle shading was possible. I used it often in life drawing classes and I carried it when sketching outdoors.
This sketch, above, I made on a land­scape sketching field trip in the summer of 1961 – a summer class at the Academy of Art (founded in 1929 by Richard S. Stephens) Mr. Stephens was leading us there on SF’s Tele­graph Hill. At the end of class, all were invited to a coffee shop (where Scoma’s Restau­rant is now) —where ​“Pappy Stephens” held court.

I mentioned the pen to Bill Stewart and I was surprised that he, too, remem­bered it as a favorite tool.
Bill Stewart wrote:
I was going to send a Pix of a Flo-Master Pen. A pre Magic Marker refill­able felt pen. When I was a student, Robert Fawcett gave a lecture. Of course, everyone wanted to know what he used for his beau­tiful, powerful illus­tra­tions. He said a Flo-master pen. After that, all the art supply stores sold out of Flo-masters. Actu­ally Flo-masters were orig­i­nally intended for use as sign markers in the retail stores. Later, a tool for NYC subway taggers.
Bill

This was my SF office/studio room —with lovely ​“North light”! (1 Lombard Street, where Battery Street met the Embar­cadero.) On November 6, 1997, I dragged my chairs, drawing board, lamps, two file cabi­nets and all of my art supplies —home.
Art supplies that I was sure I was going to need.
Now, I need to send photos of the last of my collec­tion of art tools— to the ​“Forgotten Art Supplies Forum”.

Ann Thompson


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