The tool, Artists have used for hundreds of years. The humble
pencil, it's interior made of graphite and clay invented by Nicolas-Jacques Conté in 1795.
Around 1500 to 1560 a enormous amount of graphite was discovered, at Grey Knotts
 |
| Grey Knotts. credit; Mick Knapton |
by the hamlet of Seathwaite in Borrowdale parish, Cumbria, England.
The Cumbria area has a tradition of pencil making, dating back many decades.
The Derwent pencil factory, in Cumbria England was one of the first to manufacture and make pencils, in the UK. I have used their pencils for years. It's a pleasure to purchase a product made here in the UK, and gives employment to local people, in the Cumbria area.
It is a pity many capitalist in this country, use labour in other countries, to make vast profits from exploiting very low payed workers. Many unemployed people here in the UK, are labeled "work shy", mainly by governments blaming the unemployed, for their own misfortune, because our governments, don't really have any ideas on how to persuade firms and companies to employ UK citizens. Which is why so many people are actually forced out of work, due to greedy, selfish capitalists who's, agenda is not to pay income tax and keep all their money, off shore.
It has been said, if the current government, made more effort to investigate tax evasion, the deficit, would be payed off twice over!. What are governments all over the word waiting for?.
Rant over, for now.
Back to a great company, The Derwent pencil factory, sadly the only large, pencil
manufacturing company left in the UK. Have a look at the following video.
I'm thinking we need to get back to "Buy British".
My Brother John, uses pencil(s) to sign his limited edition, Landscape images.
You can see his work here;www.amethystlandphoto.com
The advantages of using pencil are that, the mark left will be unaffected by UV
light, and it should never fade, not to mention the pencil flows on
the paper as if it were lubricated. In fact the graphite has that ability to detach
and slide over itself. So this brings us to why the pencil hides a secret.
Graphite may hold the key to faster computer chips, flat/flexible
TV screens, and be able to conduct electricity, much faster that copper.
One more property is it's strength, stronger that steel and very lightweight.
Turning graphite into this super Material, requires the graphite be made only
one molecule thick, this material has been named Graphene.
In 2004 two scientists Andre Geim and Konstantin Novoselov at the University of Manchester, utilizing Graphite they were able to create for the first time, a
single atom layer of Graphene. They went on to make many discoveries, and
in 2010 they were awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics.
If you have the right app on your choice of mobile device, scan the QR Code below
to listen to Radio 4s archived science program; In our time "CARBON".
Alternatively click the link below the QR Code.
Intesting radio 4 programme "In our time" Carbon. Click here to listen
Here you can find more information on Graphene; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graphene
Almost every few months new uses for Graphene, are being made. Only time will
tell if Graphene is the new revolutionary material.
As for Artists, they know what mysteries Graphite contain.
