Follow your gifting, hone your skills, and no matter what your gift, pursue it with excellence and integrity. Anyone can be an artisan–even David Rees. This video will give you all the proof you’ll ever need. Watch and be amazed (do not fail to check out the website).
Pete Peterson is the author of the Revolutionary War adventure The Fiddler’s Gun and its sequel Fiddler’s Green. Among the many strange things he’s been in life are the following: U.S Marine air traffic controller, television editor, art teacher and boatwright at the Florida Sheriffs Boys Ranch, and progenitor of the mysterious Budge-Nuzzard. He lives in Nashville with his wife, Jennifer, where he's the Executive Director of the Rabbit Room and Managing Editor of Rabbit Room Press.
20 Comments
Chris
Wow…that guy takes his pencils seriously.
David
Throughout the whole video, I couldn’t tell if this guy was absolutely serious or pulling my chain. Still not completely sure, actually.
Jonathan Rogers
This isn’t as artisanal as Mr. Rees’s approach, but here’s an interesting video about how pencils are made in a pencil factory:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iwYTibTbYHQ&feature=player_embedded
Maddy
Mesmerizing!
Rebekka
Sort of off topic, but if you haven’t seen the work of Dalton Ghetti and his pencil lead carvings….man. Talk about mesmerizing!
http://oddstuffmagazine.com/extraordinary-art-on-pencil-tips-by-dalton-ghetti.html
Eric Peters
I can think of other artisanal ways to spend $1000.00.
whipple
I find myself drawn to buy (and read) his book.
Pete Peterson
@peteYou’ve got to admit, though, that $1000 is pretty reasonable for that level of sharpness.
TheOneTrueStickman
Wow. I was just going to go sit down with my notebooks when I saw this and suddenly my Sharpie Pen seems so very inferior.
@Whipple: Haha! Your pun is sharp.
EmmaJ
“And this is why you don’t sharpen pencils with sandpaper on an airplane or a moving bus.”
Wow. That is devotion to an art.
EmmaJ
@david… i think the latter. but he does do an excellent mimic of dead-earnest sincerity.
Jessica
I couldn’t help but laughing and comparing the seriousness of his pencil sharpening to my third grade students who sharpen and resharpen, break, lose, step on, and chew on their pencils all day long as well as spill pencil shavings all over the floor on a regular basis! Pencils and sharpening pencils are a curse to any elementary school teacher. I never thought of it as an art form! I’ll have to share the tweezer tip at my next collaborative meeting.
Eric Peters
I came *this close* to buying a super heavy duty, electric pencil sharpener at a yard sale today b/c of Mr. Rees. If for no other reason than to mail it to him.
Justin
There is no way this isn’t a parody, but I’m stunned by the attention to detail in the execution. Quite impressive.
Favorite line: “the plastic bag is to collect the pencil shavings, which are property of the pencil’s owner and must be returned to them.”
SIR SKETCH the LONGTOOTH
Observation Window…….Nice! Those are handy for those rainy days when you like to watch pencils being sharpened for hours on hours.
Dan R.
@EmmaJ, @David,
If you go on his website there’s a page in which he lets you know just how serious it is. Though somewhat enigmatic, it is also quite humorous.
Becca
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1hN89U_XD9E
He needs to date this woman.
Loren Warnemuende
I want one of his pencil sharpeners. None of the ones at our house work at the moment. Though maybe the reason our pencils constantly break and need to be resharpened is because they’re the cheapest available, given as birthday “treats” by my kids’ classmates. I hear Rees charges $15 per sharpened pencil. Think I should send some in?
Becca, the title on that video is frighteningly appropriate!
Peter B
“Artis what?”
He’s so punny on so many levels.
EmmaJ
@Becca – hand model video – so weird!
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