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| Sunset Dual-Kolor pencils |
I
admit I bought these purely for nostalgia.
It
had been so many decades since I last saw Dual-Kolor pencils that I didn’t even
know they were still part of my psyche. But as soon as I saw the thumbnail
image on Etsy of their triple-striped barrels, I instantly recognized them from
my childhood. They may very well have been my first colored pencils ever. I was
endlessly impressed that each pencil had a different color on either end!
In
particular, I remember an orange and green one that had a string tied around
the middle; the other end of the string was attached to the kitchen telephone
cord. My mom used it to jot notes and grocery lists with some kind of color code
(I’m a color-coded notetaker too, so I obviously got that gene from her).
Made
by the US pencil manufacturer Empire, Sunset Dual-Kolor pencils were probably
considered more of a novelty than a high-quality product even back in the ‘60s.
Now, with my vast familiarity with a huge number of colored pencil brands and
obvious higher level of sophistication, I can confidently state that these are the
coolest colored pencils I have ever owned – at age 6 or nearly 60. They are
also among the worst colored pencils I have ever used. Dry, hard, practically
unpigmented, they will remain in a vase where I can reminisce about the utter
coolness of bicolored pencils.
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| A bouquet of nostalgia |
At last... someone else who remembers these! They were the only type of colored pencils available in my childhood, as I lived in a very rural county. I was an adult before I encountered even decent-quality scholastic colored pencils. Crayola colored pencils were a gift from the angels compared to these.
ReplyDeleteBTW, Dick Blick now carries double-ended colored pencils from respectable brands. They don't tempt me, because how do you use an extender with these? But they have them.
I'm happy to hear the Dual-Kolors are nostalgic for you, too!
DeleteI had these pencils as a child, too! They sucked and put me off colored pencils for decades...until I discovered Prismacolor.
ReplyDeleteYes, they are nostalgic but quite terrible! Glad that colored pencil quality has gone up over the decades!
DeleteI have searched for these pencils for years now. Every yard sale, every thrift shop, especially Savers Thrift Store. Each visit to Savers, I would immediately search the wall of plastic bags filled with used crayons, markers and pencils. Yesterday was my big day! Found them, though not at Savers, but a local Thrift store.I got a full bag filled with the usual used assortment including several vintage Empire Dual Kolor Pencils! Wow, and all for $1! Hurray, Hurray!
ReplyDeleteWow, what a treasure hunt you've been on...and finally the treasure! Congrats!!
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