Later in the week I earned my white coat status and was allowed to do QA inspections on the pencils. Here I am posing on the line between inspections.

Once I’d cracked the inspection side, they let me be a fully fledged lab technician. And that was fun. I did all sorts, played with scientific things & looked into microscopes and everything.

While I was a lab technician I met some really cool dudes. Although they were a bit quiet. Photo 20 shows a particularly quiet chap.

But in 21 I kind of clicked with this bear called Acco. So much so that I stayed at work all might & wouldn’t go home with Ruby. Got into trouble for that as I was supposed to be measured for a new suit that night.

On my last day I did some really exciting things. Tony let me help fix the computer server, although I have heard it’s not working quite so well after I had my paws in the wiring.

On my last day I did some really exciting things. Tony let me help fix the computer server, although I have heard it’s not working quite so well after I had my paws in the wiring.

After all that effort it was only fair that I had some fun, so Ruby took me to the pencil Museum in Keswick where I played in the graphite mine and posed with the giant pencil.

I also had a go at colouring & sharpening my own pencil. And I even managed to blag a pencil with my name on it.

After such an exhausting week all I could do this weekend was sleep. I found a Sirius sized bed in this house

and pinched a newspaper from the man downstairs
Comfy!

I had such a fantastic time at Derwent Pencils and with all my new pals in the lake District, if you want me to come and help you at your work email Sam@dogstarfoundation.com

Love Sirius x x x

Steph from corruptkitty designs made this for me , how clever is she ( and how cool do I look )




I am still sorting out more photos from my trip to the Lake District and Thailand and will blog again soon

Love Sirus

I arrived in Keswick to find that I had to dress in a shirt & tie plus a white coat. Told that if I’m serious about working at the pencil factory for the week, then I have to look the part.

We set off in the car to drive to the factory at Workington. I got my photo taken outside the factory – looking a bit nervous about the work that I’m about to do. It was a bit windy so I had to lean back in those bushes!

Anyway, I started off by making the ‘leads’. They call them strips here though – I’ve got the jargon sorted out now. I got to press the button to dispense the clay into the mixer.

Then I had to watch the pressure gauges on the mixers to make sure everything was OK.

The worst bit of my week came next as I had to clean out the mixer ready for the next colour. Took me ages.

The coloured pencil mix looks like green plasticine to me – hope it writes OK.

Once the mix is extruded into ‘strips’ these are rolled in cans to dry them. I had to dance a bit on the top of the rolling cans to keep my feet.

I couldn’t go into the woodwork department to see the strips being put into wood as it is really noisy and there were no ear defenders small enough for me. BUT I did get my photo taken on top of a batch of newly made pencils.


Next I helped to paint the pencils, although I did almost get thrown out with the scrap as I inadvertently rested in a scrap box for a while.


I was helping to ‘dip’ colours on the ends of the pencils, but the smell of the paint was a bit strong & I had to have a rest on the trolley. Fell asleep for a short while – almost got the sack.


After that they decided I should go into the packing department. Boy that was hard work. Look at the mountains of tins I packed.










I did so much more I need another blog entry to fit it all in later


Sirius x

have both been travelling the world the last few months and will be blogging their adventures shortly

sorry for the delay but trust me its worth it


Sam