Stationery Secrets: Fun Facts About Your Favourite Tools

“It’s amazing how many people even today use a computer to do something you can do with a pencil and paper in less time.” – Richard P. Feynman

We rarely take the time to reflect on small things in our life that have become so common-place that it is as if these small things have always existed, almost like an extra organ in our bodies. One such item we have become so accustomed to using over many decades is stationery, a simple yet essential invention. At Scribble & Scratch we have a love for all stationery: big and small, expensive and inexpensive, black and white and all colours of the world! As such we look to share our joy and passion as often as possible by providing interesting insight into everyday stationery items, hoping to stir up more interest and appreciation for these small items we use each and every day.

Below is a set of 5 interesting facts about stationery that will surprise you:

1. The Bic pen is claimed to be able to produce a continuous line up to 3 kilometers long, but the standard pencil can draw a continuous line over 50 kilometers long! That means you will only need 28 pencils to draw a continuous line from Johannesburg to Cape Town if for some reason you felt like doing that.
2. Pen lids are more dangerous than jellyfish, wolves and 10 times as dangerous as sharks! According to statistics pen lids cause on average 100 deaths per year, thank goodness many manufacturers have now added holes in the pen lids to help prevent choking.
3. Of all the highlighter colours available, yellow highlighters account for around 85% of all the sales. Yellow highlighters work better than any other colour for people with colour blindness and this is one of the main reasons for the high sales of yellow highlighters.
4. What does corn, Post-it Notes, Cornflakes, Super Glue and Pacemakers have in common? They were all inventions discovered by accident! To focus on the stationery-relevant item in the above list, back in 1968 when Spencer Silver was trying to create a super string adhesive he only succeeded in creating a pretty weak adhesive that can be removed without leaving any mark. That was where the Post-it Note was created and has been used throughout the world since for keeping handy notes and for decorating a colleagues office chair.
5. Don’t you get annoyed when you’re in the middle of a nice swim on a summer afternoon or doing laps in the gym and the best idea hits you out of the blue. Well, we admit it doesn’t happen every time, but if it does you will be happy to know that pencils work underwater. So be sure to keep a pencil tucked into that costume to record your brainwave!

Stationery has so many uses and turns out also interesting stories and facts. We don’t believe anybody can, or should, try go through life without using and enjoying a good pencil and high-quality paper. However there is so much more to explore in stationery, art and crafts, so head over to Scribble and Scratch (www.scribbleandscratch.co.za) and you can find anything to satisfy your interests.

“In my opinion, there’s nothing that can be done to make the pencil better than it is. It’s perfect.” – Caroline Weaver 

Written by Richard Hyson