The Humble Pencil

Last Friday we decided to have a day out in the Lake District and, after lunch in Kendal and a lovely drive past Lake Windermere, we ended up in Keswick. We were looking for the Pencil Museum. We had seen announcements that the museum was celebrating its 30th anniversary and were intrigued such a museum even existed, let alone that it had been around for thirty years.

The museum, run by the Cumberland Pencil Company, is easy to find, being just a few minutes walk from the town centre. From the outside it looks like a simple, plain, large shed. But on the inside it contains a fascinating mix of art and history.

Although we use pencils all the time, we had never really considered how they were made. In fact the "lead" in pencils is made from graphite. This was first discovered around 1500 near Keswick and was used by shepherds to mark their sheep. By the mid 16th century graphite from the Cumberland region was being used by many Renaissance artists in their work. Originally, rough pieces were wrapped in sheepskin but the Italians improved on this by encasing strips of graphite in wood to.

The pencil has changed little since then. Nowadays the graphite is mixed with clay and pigment to make pencils with a wide range of colours and hardness to suit all types of artist and other users.

We enjoyed our visit to the museum. There is an imaginative range of educational and entertaining displays including a mock-up of a graphite mine and a video room showing how pencils are now made and a clip from the Snowman animated film which was drawn by Raymond Briggs using Cumberland pencils. Other displays show manufacturing equipment and sets of pencils from the past. We even recognised tins of coloured pencils that we had received as Christmas gifts when we were children.

With a cafe area including displays by local artists on the walls, a kids' activity area and a shop with art books, souvenirs and, of course, a huge range of pencils to try and buy, the museum has something to interest almost everyone.

If you're not heading up to the lakes in the near future, you can visit the Pencil Museum web site for more on the history of pencils.

Vicky And Vince,

Love Your Art.