We'll be interviewing members of the Derwent team over the next few months to learn about the different roles within the company. Here, we interviewed Angela Eland our Quality Technician.

How long have you worked at The Cumberland Pencil Co?

I have worked at the Cumberland Pencil Co for 11 ½ years. I started working in the Pencil Museum in 2000 and moved to the Laboratory in 2006.

Can you give us a brief description of your job?

My title is Quality Technician. I test all the raw materials that are used to make a pencil, for example checking the colour pigments to make sure the shade is perfect or testing the cedar wood for moisture, appearance and size. I test every batch of pencil strips for shade texture and breaking strain before they are put into the wood casing. The different waxes that we prepare the pencil strips in have to be tested for melting point, setting point and frothing. All the pencils we make are tested for lightfastness in a machine that replicates 1,000s of hours of Florida sunshine. All materials are tested for toxicity on an atomic absorption spectrometer.

What do you love most about your job?

I love all aspects of my job as it is so varied; each day brings something different. I work with a team of six, Barbara (Technical Manager) Alan (Assistant Technical Manager) Ian (R&D) Adam (R&D) and Judith (Specifications Coordinator); they are all wonderful to work with and it is a joy to come to work.

What do you enjoy doing in your spare time?

In my spare time I make silver jewellery which I make for friends and sell in galleries around the Lake District. I also like to keep fit by jogging and cycling.

It's a well known fact that drawing & painting is one of the most relaxing hobbies. For a lot of people drawing is a chance to escape their day to day life and focus on creating something imaginative.

Art therapy is increasingly used to help people manage their stress levels, deal with trauma and to raise self-esteem. In a series of features, we aim to shed some light on how drawing and painting has helped so many people in their lives.

In our first feature, we interviewed Pete Wheeler about how drawing aids his & his son's disabilities in day to day life.

1. Hello Pete & Ben. Can you tell us a little about yourselves?

Hello, I am Pete, aged 42 and recently registered as disabled. I have arthritis, no cartilege in my knees, neuropathic pain, diabetes and depression.

Ben is 9 and has a genetic disorder called Phenylketonuria(PKU), this is a life long condition where his body does not break down a base protein and if not treated and monitored carefully can lead to brain damage.

For more information about us please have a read of this blog piece I wrote recently.

2. Can you tell us a little about how drawing helps in your day to day family life?

Drawing is a calming influence, while concentrating on drawing myself and Ben can ignore the distractions that can lead to friction and stop us both dwelling on day to day problems.

3.What are your favourite things about drawing?

Drawing is similar as reading for me, while immersed in a picture the rest of the world dissolves away. I switch off to all other external events and become lost in the picture and ideas flowing through my mind. It even helps reduce some of the pain levels as on occasion the depression makes the pain worse and just getting out of that spiral of pain/depression/pain can break the cycle for a while.

I love envisaging an image or idea and making it come to life on paper, be this an idea for a new tattoo or just something that needs to be drawn.

4. Who or what inspires you in your work?

 
Lots of people and things inspire me; my friend George Vranjkovic has been a great source of encouragement. A simple collection of shapes in nature or seeing other artists works can start ideas forming in my mind. A lot of what I have been drawing recently is with tattoos in mind, both for myself and for my wife, simple-ish images that will flow and enhance the body. Vines and flowers for my wife and I will be copying and tweaking a classic design from the Two Tone era so it will fit and flow on my legs.

I also love scribbling cartoons of people or just making up silly faces and bodies for a laugh.

Ben is inspired by what I imagine to be the same for most 9 year old boys, robots, Dr Who and cartoons. Ben draws what he plays and reads, very literal drawings but this is the same for most children his age.

5. Who is your favourite artist and why?

I wouldn't even know where to begin answering this question. I have different favourites from different schools of art. I love a lot of the pre-Raphaelite brotherhoods work, but if I was pushed I think Dali for his sheer uniqueness and vision or M.C Escher for how he combined art and form. A special mention should also go to Austin Osman Spare, probably the most underrated British artist of the Twentieth Century.

6. What advice would you give to someone who wants to start drawing?

Scribble and doodle randomly. Look at the shapes developing and if an image starts to form then try to expand upon it. Sketch what is around you, be it a cup or a folded newspaper. Look for the shapes that objects are made up of, draw the shapes then try to build the image outwards from there. Above all, just draw for yourself, nobody has to see it and there is no 'competition'.

7. Do you think there are any health benefits from drawing (such as stress relief etc)?

I wouldn't make any claims to actual health 'benefits' but drawing can definitely help make you forget your pains for a while and help as a stress reliever or to help lift you out of a depressive spiral.

Unfortunately as my health deteriorates I am finding it more difficult to sit and draw for any length of time and have to concentrate on short bursts.

8. Do you have any top tips to share with our readers?

The more you draw the better you will be, don't imagine that you will be van Gogh over night.
Always draw for yourself and not for an audience, if other people like what you do that is a bonus but should never be the aim in and of itself.

We'd like to thank Pete and Ben for sharing their experiences of drawing and creativity with us. Do you find drawing helps in your life? Please leave a comment and share with us your own experiences.

For more information on art therapy please visit the following links:

What is Art Therapy?

Art Therapy Sample Activities

An excellent Facebook Group on Art Therapy

Ever wanted to know how we test our pencils for lightfastness? Well, Angela Eland from our laboratory explains how:

"A lightfastness test is a measure of how quickly something will fade when exposed to UV light (sunlight). There is a standard test that has been used for many years called the Blue Wool Scale.

Here at Derwent we use a lightfast machine to test all our ranges of pencils and because we are continuously improving our products with the use of different raw materials we test the pencils for lightfastness every time a change is made.

The machine we use has a light that replicates intense Florida sunshine. We place two identical samples into the machine one sample used as a control is covered by a metal strip so that no light can affect it and the other sample is placed in the ‘sunlight’ for 3 months in total. A standard blue wool card is placed in the machine under the same conditions as the sample.

The blue wool shade card has 8 different pieces of blue wool which fade according to the length of time under the intense light. The amount of fading of the sample is then assessed by comparison to the original colour; a rating of 1 to 8 is awarded by identifying which one of the 8 strips on the blue wool standard card has faded to the same extent as the sample under test."

It's just fascinating! We think that the lightfastness machine looks like some sort of space ship! It's amazing how many quality tests we do here at Derwent; keep your eyes peeled for more features on our lab.