SobekPundit

Still Pissed Off About the Hawley-Smoot Tariff

Wednesday, March 29, 2006

ArtBlogging

I thought about Muslihoon's suggestion in the comments below, about taking pictures of this thing while it's in progress, and thought I'd see what my digital camera can do. It turns out, it actually gives me some pretty good detail. Maybe it won't work when the thing is finally done, but I guess I can do some progress reports.

This is the status after two nights of work. It's all pencil guidelines, and once I get the ink down, I'll erase the pencil. I included a shot of my Pilot P-500 for size comparison. I only use Pilot pens for the detail work on these things (sometimes I brush on liquid ink from a jar for larger patches), because that's the only pen that gives me both the precision I need for the fine lines, and still lays down enough ink.

Here's a close-up.

Note that I do all of that with the posterboard flat on the ground, so I have to spend literally hours hunched over it. My knees and back are killing me.

I'd also like to say I'm very upset with Pilot. The greatest pen I've ever used, the Pilot G-Tech C4, is not sold in America. I used them all the time when I lived in Europe, and neglected to stock up on them before coming back to America because I figured "Hey, this is the greatest pen ever. Of course they sell these things back home."

And, of course, I was wrong.

I went to all the office supply stores I could find, looking for that pen. I went to Staples, whose motto is "Yeah, We've Got That." They don't have it. Eventually, in despair, I e-mailed the company and asked if they could sell me some of these pens, and they actually told me no. I guess they have exclusive sales arrangements or something, so an overseas company which has the pens can't sell to me, and domestic companies can't sell to me because they don't sell them.

In other words, the only way I can get a Pilot G-Tech C4 is to get on an airplane, fly to Europe (or Japan), buy a box full, and fly back here. Hey, I'm pretty picky about my pens, but that's a little on the pricey side, you know?

So anyway, I'm not a huge fan of the Pilot company. Although I do love their pens.