With A Pencil In My Pocket

Note: This project is now active with its own blog - click here to access video updates, participants' submissions, etc..

I am turning six subscriptions to 500 Colored Pencils into a participatory project.

Perhaps YOU would like to join in the fun?
(All spots have been filled - thank you!)

Here's how it will work: I will receive 150 gorgeous colored pencils per month for the next 20 months for a total of 3,000 (six complete sets). Every month when I receive the pencils, I will send one pencil each to the 150 project participants. The 150 of us will then have one month to seek out a real, material manifestation of our pencil’s color name – a place, person, thing, creature, activity, etc. – that somehow embodies the essence of the color name.

Each of us will document our experience by writing a very short story with that very pencil that the story revolves around. Participants will send me the piece of paper with their story each month and I will scan them and post them on the project blog.

For example, perhaps the “tragedy” pencil would lead someone to go see a Shakespeare play and write a poem about a lost loved one. Perhaps “tea with milk” would lead someone to invite a friend over for tea and write about their conversation. (See more examples below.)

By the end of the 20 months of the project, six boxes of 500 pencils will have become a set of 3,000 colorful experiences, distributed near and far. I am receiving one subscription to 500 Colored Pencils as a prize for a design contest and the other five are a generous donation from the pencil company, Felissimo.

I will be giving the pencils to project participants as a gift. I need some help with postage though, as I've discovered it will cost about $1.50 to mail each pencil. So, this project is open to the first 150 people to sign up by putting a $30 postage donation into their cart and proceeding through check-out. Please make sure your name and address are the ones in the "ship to" section so you receive your pencils at the right address.

Your first pencil will arrive in early January and will come with a small sketchbook for your stories as well as return envelopes for sending your stories to me.

Click here for the project videos (intro and monthly updates).

A BIG THANK YOU TO FELISSIMO & 500 COLORED PENCILS FOR DONATING ADDITIONAL PENCILS!

All 150 spots have been filled - thanks everyone!