Staedtler Non-Photo Blue Pencils - Product Test

WooHoo! My first Product Review is all about the BLUE, Non-Photo Blue.

 

We just stocked the Staedtler Non-Photo Blue Pencils, and I've never used them before, so I did a few tests to see how they worked with my photocopier.

 

First I drew some guidelines with the pencil on plain white paper, and I then sketched out my letters. (The trick is to draw pretty lightly, otherwise the pencil marks WILL show up in your copy.) I used a black pen to outline the letters.

 

This is what happened when I copied and printed the test using my Epson WorkForce copier / printer.

 

Here's another test. This time I bore down a little harder with the pencil, and I made both Black+White and Color copies. 

 

The Black+White copy came out great. No trace of the blue lines.

 

The Color copy wasn't perfect. You can see traces of the blue. So I know that if I need to do a Color copy (for instance, if my drawing wasn't just black pen), I'll need to ease up on the pencil pressure.

 

Here's a Pressure Test to see just how far is too far...

 

Black+White copies are definitely more forgiving. Only the three hardest pressures showed up on the copy.

 

With color copies, only the three lightest pressures lived up to the name "Non-Photo".
No problem; just draw lightly!