In 1905, Bittner, Hunsicker & Co., a Pennsylvania clothing company, had a truly excellent logo as their letterhead. It’s a skep – an early beehive – with the slogan: “Never Despair: Nothing Without Labour.” (FYI, bees and skeps were early symbols used by tradespeople. It’s not a Masonic, Mormon or cult thing. It’s bees, people. Bees are busy and productive – end of story.)
Now we have put the image on a bandana and printed the slogan on some excellent shop pencils. We are offering them together for one price: one bandana and five shop pencils for $33. Sorry, they are not available separately.
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About the Bandanas
The original art was a bit dense for a clean, crisp screen print. So our pal and talented illustrator Page Biersdorff tidied up the image with screen printing in mind, and our bandanna beaus at One Feather Press worked their magic
The Lost Art Press bandana is designed by us and made by the fantastic One Feather Press in East Nashville, Tenn. Each bandana is cut, sewn, printed and washed by hand, one at a time. It’s a true water-based discharge print, so the design is visible on both sides of the fabric. The edges are hemmed, and one edge is the fabric’s selvage – the clean edge of the fabric that can’t unravel. They’re softer than our old bandannas, and an even better print quality.
Limited quantities. Once they are gone, they are gone forever.
Some statistics:
22″ x 22″
100 percent cotton
Cut, sewn and printed in Tennessee
Limited edition of 240
About the Pencils
For years we have searched for shop pencils that were durable, had lead that wasn’t gummy, were easy to hold and didn’t have the silly eraser (which is worthless in the shop, in our opinion). And we wanted them to be inexpensive.
We aren’t pencil hobbyists who debate the fine points of the Blackwing 602 vs. the Caran d’Ache Hb1 (where each pencil costs $2 or more).
We finally found these pencils via one of our local contractors, who picked his up from an old hardware store. I traveled to the store and sweet-talked their buyer into giving up the supplier.
These are tough pencils at a full 3/8″ in diameter and won’t snap without a fight. The lead is stronger than a typical pencil, takes a fine point and makes a dark mark.
If you are looking for a pencil to take to the Fancy Lad Academy, look elsewhere. If you want a day-to-day tool, these are great.
— Christopher Schwarz
Source: lostartpress.com