From the Turkic language the word “pencil” can be translated as “black stone”. This drawing and writing tool has an unusual history of the invention. It is still unknown when the first pencil appeared.
Today in stores you can buy both colored and simple pencils. A simple pencil writes in gray, the shade of the writing will vary depending on the hardness of graphite.
What did people draw before?
It is curious that in ancient times, artists had to use “silver pencils”, the stationery of the thirteenth century was a silver wire placed in a case or frame. This prototype of the pencil did not allow the drawing to be erased, and from time to time the inscription from gray became brown.
It is noteworthy that artists today often use silver, Italian, lead pencils in order to achieve a certain effect.
There were also “lead pencils” in the past, most often they were used to paint portraits. In particular, Albrecht Durer drew such a pencil. Then came the “Italian pencil” from black slate, after which the production of office supplies from raw materials extracted from burnt bone began. The powder was fastened with vegetable glue, the pencil gave a saturated line.
Lead pencils began to be made in the fifteenth century, when graphite deposits were discovered in England. But they began to use this raw material only after a series of experiments that showed that the mass leaves clear traces on objects. And at first, sheep were labeled with graphite. However, pieces of graphite got their hands dirty, so sticks made of material for convenience were tied with a thread, wrapped in paper or clamped with branches of wood.
