If you make a mistake with a pencil it’s not the end of the world – just rub it out and do it how you want to! It’s a good metaphor for life!
Emily Winter from Pobble & Ping is singlehandedly running a revolution from the semi-organised chaos of her dining room. Her objective: to bring back the pencil! Emily knows that, like its more permanent friend the pen, the pencil is mightier than the sword… and the ones Emily makes have mottos and inspirational quotes emblazoned on their very armour. We caught up with Emily to find out how her revolution began, where she finds the inspiration for her witty, hand-stamped pencils, and which pencil she would take with her to a desert island…
Can you introduce yourself and describe what you do?
My Name is Emily, I’m 27 and I am the owner of Pobble & Ping – I give boring plain pencils some personality by hand stamping them with funny sayings, quotes, names, pretty much anything that fits!
The opinion that nobody uses pencils nowadays definitely needs changing.
How did the Pobble and Ping revolution to ‘Bring Back The Pencil’ begin?
It actually started a while after Pobble & Ping was created. I was at a Christmas Fair last year and an old man told me that “nobody uses pencils nowadays anyway,” before striding off. My first thought (after feeling a bit hurt) was, “well, I’ll show you!” I think it’s probably not an uncommon opinion but it’s definitely one that needs changing.
What is it you especially love about the pencil?
If you make a mistake it’s not the end of the world – just rub it out and do it how you want to! It’s a good metaphor for life!
If you make a mistake with a pencil it’s not the end of the world – just rub it out and do it how you want to! It’s a good metaphor for life!
When did your passion for stamping mottos and quotes on pencils begin?
Before I even got my first box of pencils! I was waiting for them to be delivered and I was so excited I had notebooks full of plans and details. I really throw myself into things and hate not being able to do something, so I couldn’t wait to get started and turn it into a real thing not just a notebook full of ideas!
Because they are manually stamped there is a lot of room for error – you can stamp them too hard or too soft or the text might be squint or for some reason they just don’t stamp properly!
Where do your ideas come from?
I have to say the best ones come from other people – long car journeys are great for brainstorming (and your fellow passengers can’t escape!). Often when people hear what I do, they tell me something they think would be great on a pencil. I have a little notebook that all my ideas go into, and that acts as a shortlist. Then I sit down and weed out the good ones that actually make it to pencil!
Where do you look for inspiration?
Everywhere! tv, films, funny people, social media.
Can you talk us through your making process?
I use 10pt letterpress type to set up the text for each pencil. The type gets heated up by a hot foil stamper and the pencil is held in place by a little doodah. (Seriously, I don’t know the proper name – I’m a bit of a disgrace to the letterpress community! I’m lucky the man who built my machine is very understanding and good at working out what I’m talking about when I need help!)
Once it’s up to temperature (about 92-95 degrees centigrade) I stamp the pencil, then I remove any excess foil using a rubber and give them a last clean before packaging them up, ready to go to their new homes! It sounds quite a drawn-out process (no pun intended), but setting up the text is really the time-consuming part. Once that’s done, you can get quite a lot of pencils done in a short space of time.
I had boxes full of wasted pencils that worked perfectly but were unsellable. So a friend who was travelling to Sri Lanka to do charity work took several hundred pencils with her to donate to an under-resourced local school. The kids loved them…
Do things ever go wrong?
When I first started, it really was a case of trial and error. Because they are manually stamped there is a lot of room for error – you can stamp them too hard or too soft or the text might be squint or for some reason they just don’t stamp properly! I ended up with boxes full of wasted pencils that worked perfectly but were unsellable taking up valuable space in my pencil room. Eventually I found a good home for them as a family friend was travelling to Sri Lanka to do charity work, so she took several hundred pencils with her to donate to a small under-resourced local school. The kids loved them, so it was nice to give something back.
I’ve commandeered the dining room as Pobble & Ping HQ. It’s semi-organised chaos bordering on actual chaos most of the time!
What’s your workspace like?
I’ve commandeered the dining room as Pobble & Ping HQ! This is where I actually make my pencils. It’s semi-organised chaos bordering on actual chaos most of the time – although I tidied it up for the pictures! My little boy plays in there while I work, so it’s a half toy room / half pencil factory. The admin, social media and planning etc all takes place on the sofa!
What does your new puppy, Lupe, think of the pencils?
So far she’s not been massively interested, thank goodness – as anything that attracts too much attention tends to get chewed up! She happily sleeps under my desk while I’m working and when she wants to play, there are usually plenty of empty cardboard boxes from the pencils lying about for her to play in and drag about!
Lupe the puppy sleeps under my desk while I’m working and when she wakes up there are usually plenty of empty cardboard boxes lying about for her to play in!
Will there be any Lupe-inspired pencils coming soon?
Yes! Her name, Lupe, is Italian for wolf and I’ve had to explain it to a lot of people (who think her name is loopy), so I’m thinking some foreign language / translation pencils might be on the way.
I think people want something a bit different and not mass produced, and they value the love and skill that goes into something a person has made.
What’s the best thing about being creative for a living?
The freedom. You can do what you want with very few restrictions! If you want something that doesn’t exist yet, you can make it from nothing! If you ask my boyfriend he will confirm that I’m very good at making something out of nothing!
What would you say to someone thinking about selling their work?
What have you got to lose? Now is probably the best time to do it – I think people want something a bit different and not mass produced, and they value the love and skill that goes into something a person has made.
Craft is making something with your hands and having the satisfaction at the end of thinking ‘I made that!’
What does craft mean to you?
Making something with your hands and having the satisfaction at the end of thinking “I made that!”
How would you spend your perfect day?
I’m a keen amateur photographer and I’m lucky to live near some great beaches, so a family day out to the beach with a yummy picnic where I could capture some good shots, followed by a cheese fondue and a peaceful evening reading a good book or some online shopping would be perfect.
Which pencil would I take to a desert island? A blank natural wooden hexagonal one. They have a bit of a rougher finish than the painted pencils, so if needs be I could snap it in half and start a fire!
Which pencil would you take with you to a desert island and why?
A blank natural wooden hexagonal one. They have a bit of a rougher finish than the painted pencils, so if needs be I could snap it in half and start a fire!
See more personalised pencils and fabulously funny hand-stamped pencils in the Pobble & Ping shop
Enjoy 20% off all Pobble & Ping pencils with the code PING20
(Valid for a limited time only)
