thrift store finds: eagle prismapastel pencils

I found these lovely 1930s Eagle brand Prismapastel pencils a few weeks ago at The Village, where they were marked at $2.99. With a pair of jeans in my cart, I reached my $10 minimum to use a 20% off coupon, so these were a bit of a score. The original box is even in good condition still.

They're almost all there (except one slot that had been filled by a stubby modern-day Crayola), though all are sharpened and most worn down a bit.

I've owned something like these before, also bought used; they work more like chalk, blend easily with a finger or a cotton swab. Mostly I prefer watercolor pencils, but these are a nice way to change things up. And I admit I like looking at the box and imagining who they might have belonged to, and what they might have made with them.

Eagle became Berol in 1969, and the brand is currently owned by Paper Mate. Prismapastel pencils aren't made any longer, but Prismacolor pencils are. I was first introduced to them in junior high school art class back in ye olden tymes (c. 1991), and have owned some since then. Yeah, I'm officially all stocked up on colored pencils now. Unless I run across anything else in a cool box like these, in good condition with a working snap. :)

How about you? Have you ever used vintage pencils or art supplies to make anything amazing? Or maybe just to doodle? 

ode to turquoise (via an old door)

This is how I left you at the end of my arbor post, with the new white arbor, and primed door trim . . . and the antique door of the studio looking shabby in some reject paint from the hardware store from several years ago. 

Our Adirondack chairs, on the other hand, are painted in this friendly shade of turquoise, or pool blue. It looks happy and intentional, wheras that old door looked pretty sad and unwelcoming. Worse, I'd say, than when my brother brought me the old door in the first place, with peeling white paint.

We can mark the door off of our never-ending to-do list; I took advantage of the nice weather to prime and spray it, and now it's just as happy and friendly as our chairs. It gives the whole building a different character. (The color is Rustoleum's Aqua.)

Of course, it helps that the sun was shining that day, which always makes things look brighter and happier than on a cloudy day, but I'm giving the new paint an equal share of the credit.

Okay, just that quick update for now, but I've been weeding and planting and working on the yard a bit more since painting the door. You can bet I'll be posting about those adventures very soon.

In the meantime, thanks for reading!