Derwent Pencil Buddy

A much shorter review than I am normally used to, however, no less interesting or important with regards to the product. I have add a few reviews lately showing displays for colored pencils or markers that we all love to use, this review however is kind of storage, but not permanent storage for your colored pencils.

This is Derwent's Pencil Buddy, a small, but weighty little device used to house the pencils you are currently working with. The name of the accessory is perfect as it acts like a little buddy on your desk hand to you your pencils when you need them and protecting the ones you don't use.

Derwent Pencil Buddy Design

The Buddy is made from a sturdy white plastic, it is slightly angled toward one side, allowing the artist to have really easy access to their pencils when needed. On the bottom of the Pencil Buddy are four rubber feet, helping to keep the buddy still while situated on your desk, the combination of the weight and rubber pads on the bottom, allow the artist to place and remove the pencils without having to worry about the buddy being on the opposite side of the desk half way through the project due to movement.

The main event however is the black bristles within the white plastic, when I first seen the Derwent Pencil Buddy on Derwent's website, I actually thought that the black stuff was similar to the green material used by flower arranging, but this is absolutely not the case.

The material used in the Derwent Pencil Buddy is a collection of really thin bristles, thousands held together and once you place a pencil anywhere in the pencil buddy, the bristles splay apart, allowing for the pencil to slip into the newly created space. Even with the short pencils, the pencil buddy still holds them in place without allowing them to slip to the bottom.

Derwent Pencil Buddy Capacity

As I mentioned, the Derwent Pencil Buddy is not really a permanent storage solution for your pencils. I use it when I start a new project, I gather all the colors I will be using and place them in the buddy. So far, I have managed to comfortably place approximately 40 pencils.

For the majority of colored pencil artists, their colored pencils are obviously their pride and joy and so protection and care is paramount. Ordinarily when I have started projects in the past, I have collected the colors I am going to need and placed them in a jar. However, when one does this, the cores of the pencil remain pointing up, as to place the pencil core first into a glass jar is only likely to damage the cores. Even leaving them exposed pointing out of the jar is still risky and pencils cores can be damaged or chipped.

With the Derwent Pencil Buddy however, this is no longer an issue, the cores are placed core first into the bristles, fully protected and free from damage. This also means that you no longer have a jar with 40 tiny little spear sticking up waiting to impale your arm as you reach across your desk to get another pencil or eraser.

Aesthetically Speaking

The Derwent Pencil Buddy looks gorgeous on any desk, whether or not it is modern or antique. The brilliant white plastic with geometric design looks stylish, however, it would be nice to have one or two other colors introduced to the pencil buddy. Knowing artists as I do, we all love a splash of color and I could see a pink, kingfisher blue, lemon yellow and grass green buddies added to the collection, just to add a little bit of choice.

Derwent Pencil Buddy Pricing

I was very lucky to purchase my pencil buddy at the Derwent Pencil Museum not that long ago when they were having another amazing sale on, I paid £10 for mine. Ordinarily though the pencil buddy is £19.99 on the Derwent web site, which I still think is a reasonable price for this wonderful product, especially when you consider that this is not simply just something to look cool on your desk, it actually protects your pencils.

If however you shop about on other sites to can pick one up from anywhere between £10 - £20. In the US I seen the Pencil Buddy on Amazon for $21 and in Europe I have seen the buddy for €21. Unfortunately I find it really difficult to find prices for items in Australia, I don't want my Australian friends thinking that I don't care about pricing Down Under as that is not the case at all, I just cant find anything. If anyone knows of a good Australian source to use, I'd love to know please.

Conclusion

I love the Derwent Pencil Buddy and think that every pencil artist should have a wee buddy on their desk. Not only does it look fantastic and a small footprint on your desk considering the amount of pencils that it can hold, it does an awesome job of protecting our precious pencils.

Don't forget to check out my YouTube review of this fantastic product and see in real time just how safe and secure your pencils are housed within the unit.