In a world where so many 3D-printed objects are still simply toys or test cases, it is refreshing to see such technology being put to use in the service of helping kids who cannot otherwise write and draw.

The ‘Glifo‘ (images by Sara Monacchi) series is a set of customizable writing utensils that can help young people with nervous system impairments to express themselves while also facilitating rehabilitation processes.

Affected children frequently have trouble with the smaller movements and grips necessary to hold and utilize implements, making it difficult to connect what their brain visualizes to the fine-tuned actions needed to realize that vision on the page.

The series consists of various handles and attachments that help hold down pieces of paper or make it easier to grip pens, pencils, markers and crayons.

The post Glifo: 3D-Printed Writing Tools Made for Disabled Children first appeared on Gajitz.

Sketching and drawing on tablet computers just doesn’t offer the same sensations or tactile feedback of paper. What they do offer is a ton of high-tech tools and the ability to do things that would be difficult to impossible on paper. Pencil from design studio FiftyThree is a stylus designed to be used with the award-winning iPad app Paper.

The Pencil provides users with the ability to blend and erase with the very same tool – flip it over to erase, just like a real pencil. It’s charged via USB and can last up to a month on a single charge. The Pencil replaces a traditional stylus or a user’s finger and makes the experience of creating art more realistic and more intuitive. Since the stylus is approximately the same size and shape of a pencil, the experience feels even more like traditional analog drawing.

When used with the Paper app, even left-handed artists can draw without fear of their palms smearing their work. Paper has active palm rejection technology, which means that it recognizes the user’s palm and ignores it while the artist works. No smudges, no frustration. The Pencil can work as a normal stylus on any other device, even without the Paper  app. The device comes in walnut finish for $60 USD or $50 USD.

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Plenty of students, office workers, artists and nervous people chew on the ends of their pencils, and it’s usually really gross. A Brazilian chewing gum company called Gang used that tendency in order to promote their gum flavors.

The company made up 5000 pencils with gum in place of the erasers. The pencils were handed out in schools during end-of-year exams to give students something tastier and less yucky to chew on while they contemplated their test answers.

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For the handful of people on the planet who still use pencils, this scenario should sound fairly familiar: you’re writing with a brand new lead, and as you go the line gets progressively thicker and blurrier. You turn the mechanical pencil a little to get to the sharp part of the lead, and it catches on the paper, causing a tiny rip. How annoying!

The Mitsubishi Pencil Company wants to ease your headaches with their Kuru Toga pencil. It’s a mechanical pencil with a tiny motor in it that rotates the lead a little bit every time you lift it from the paper. With the pencil always keeping your lead fresh, you’ll never again have to deal with the pain of blurred lines or the irritation of too-sharp leads ripping your paper.

To watch the promotional video you would think that this is a debilitating plague affecting lives all around the world. As far as we know, it’s only a minor irritation that occurs once in a while – but to some people, the self-rotating pencil could probably save some time and frustration.

The post Spin Me Write ‘Round, Baby: Super-Helpful Rotating Pencil first appeared on Gajitz.

If there’s one thing Sharpie is known for, it’s permanence. Their markers are used to write and draw on just about anything that needs to keep that mark for good. But they’ve just revealed plans to release an awesome new product with some pretty impressive qualities. The new Sharpie Liquid Pencil will write just like a pen, be erasable like a pencil, and become permanent like a Sharpie three days after the marks are made.

It’s a novel concept that will likely change the way Sharpie enthusiasts write. Since the markers are a favorite of artists and designers, making them erasable for the first three days is a fantastic benefit. Now one mistake won’t mean scrapping the whole work in progress. The new liquid pencils work with liquid graphite, which shouldn’t smear like pen ink. As of now, the pencils haven’t been approved for use on standardized tests, and we’re guessing some teachers will probably put up a stink when they first see them in classrooms, but the company calls the pencil a “No. 2 lead equivalent.”

The post Getting the Lead Out: Hybrid Writer Gets High Marks first appeared on Gajitz.