What can replace a regular eraser?
An ordinary eraser can be replaced with a soft rubber mass under the funny name “nag”. This is also an eraser, but very soft, like plasticine, so you can also have fun and make something funny!
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What can't you do?
Acetone, turpentine, and dimexide are often cited as the most effective means. Their use will not only not help get rid of pen marks, but will also leave colored stains that will completely ruin the sheet.
Household chemicals used to destroy the inscription should not contain dyes . It is better if they are white or transparent. In such a case, there is a guarantee that after removing the paste from the paper you will not have to get rid of traces of the dye contained in the active substance.
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You will find many useful tips and recommendations on removing pen ink from various surfaces and objects here.
Silicone and castor oil
These home remedies to restore elasticity have some disadvantages. One of them is a short-term effect, which is not always convenient. But there are still some advantages:
- availability (silicone can be purchased at any specialized store, and its cost is low);
- does not require prolonged exposure (the product is ready for use within 30 minutes after the start of the procedure);
- there is no need to look for large containers for soaking products (you do not need to do this before softening the rubber with silicone).
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These features also apply to castor oil. The substance is able to penetrate the rubber structure, thereby changing its properties. But it is also easy to wash out.
Cleaning products with natural bristles
Combs with bristles made from natural materials handle strands very carefully and do not break or tangle them. They are recommended for dry hair prone to split ends. Their cost is higher than plastic and metal products, so special, careful care is required.
Here's how to clean a natural bristle brush:
- first remove the remaining hair from her,
- then moisten thoroughly with water and distribute your shampoo over the bristles, leave for 15 minutes,
- brush the bristles with an old toothbrush,
- rinse properly.
It is convenient to remove hair that is tangled in it from the comb with a regular toothpick, and you can clean the bristles with a household brush. This brush should only be used to clean combs.
If the item is made of boar bristles, it needs to be washed frequently, 2 times a week. Products made from horsehair or whalebone do not get dirty so quickly. For those with oily hair, it is better to buy a comb made of artificial bristles rather than natural bristles. It will get dirty less, last longer, and you can clean it the same way, using shampoo.
Attention! Brushes with natural bristles should not be soaked in an ammonia solution. For washing, you can only use shampoo or dish soap.
Products with natural bristles should be dried strictly with the bristles facing up so that their shape does not become deformed.
How to choose a quality nag
An eraser, just like a pencil, has every right to be called a full-fledged tool for creating an artistic drawing. It is necessary to select a high-quality eraser. Fortunately, different eraser manufacturers produce erasers that are almost identical in structure. The only difference may be the degree of kneading. Some kneads already have a soft and elastic structure from the first press, while some require kneading for several minutes or temporarily staying in a warm place.
Ammonia
The scope of application of ammonia is wide. Softening rubber is one way to use this drug. Many experts explain in detail how to soften rubber using this method. You can make the product softer by following this plan:
- Choose a container of the appropriate size.
- Before softening the rubber, you need to dilute ammonia in the required amount of water (proportions 1:7).
- Soak the product in this solution for a maximum of an hour (in no case should you keep the rubber in ammonia for longer than the specified time; if after 30 minutes it was noticed that the material does not become more elastic, then you should try another method).
- After restoring the desired level of softness, remove the rubber from the bath and rinse with clean running water.
Refurbished products should only be dried at room temperature. Direct sunlight and high temperatures can negatively affect the condition of the material.
Medical alcohol has similar properties, but additional glycerin is required. If the rubber has hardened, logic will tell you how to soften it. The damaged product should be soaked in medical alcohol for several hours, then it should be removed and washed with warm running water and soap.
After the surface has dried, you need to rub in the glycerin using a cloth or sponge. There should be a little glycerin, the excess must be removed. Instead, you can use car oil (in this case, you can use the product only after 30 minutes).
Why do you need to clean your comb?
A few hours after washing your hair, sebum begins to accumulate at the roots of your hair. Also, a lot of dust floating in the air settles on the hair, especially residents of megacities notice this.
To tidy up his appearance, a person uses a comb several times during the day. As a result, dust, sebum, small particles of dirt and dead skin flakes quickly accumulate on its teeth, and lost hair easily remains on massage brushes with a wide surface.
It is quite unpleasant to pick up dirty objects and use them; in addition, if you comb clean strands with such a tool, they will get dirty much faster.
Washing your hairbrush is a necessary hygiene measure that will allow your hair to stay fresh longer. Choosing the right comb is very important; you need to focus on your hair type and structure. And in order for the purchased instrument to always remain safe and sound, you need to learn how to properly care for it, know how to clean it and how to dry it.
How to soften rubber at home by heating?
This method is used in cases where a quick, albeit short-term effect is needed. For example, when a hose needs to be put on a pipe. Such problems are solved by briefly immersing the product in hot water. That is why the method is not suitable for products of significant size.
If the rubber has hardened too much, the product can be boiled. You can speed up the process and increase the effectiveness of the procedure if you add table salt to the water. The material must be boiled until the product is sufficiently elastic.
You can heat rubber not only with water. You can provide a targeted effect of high temperature using a construction or regular hair dryer. This is especially true when it is not possible to soak the product in hot water, for example, when you need to remove the hose from the pipe.
Restoring the elasticity of rubber can only be done in the absence of any mechanical damage or other deformations. You also need to be prepared for the fact that some performance characteristics will be reduced or lost completely.
Elena Akhvlediani. Photo: from personal archive.
When was the last time you wrote a letter - not typed on a computer, but wrote out the words with a pen on a piece of paper? We wouldn’t be surprised if this happened back in school or university. Have you read newspapers or a regular book - not an electronic one?
Digitalization is conquering the world at tremendous speed. But despite the development of digital technologies, traditional companies continue to grow and develop. One of these is the Belkanton group, the largest supplier of office supplies - paper, pens, pencils and much more.
with Elena Akhvlediani , co-owner of the business, at the counter... of the first stationery bar in Belarus - a place where every visitor can test pens, markers, scissors and much more. And we talked about how “paper” business is developing in the digital age.
“To jump high, you must first sit down”
– Our first offline store is the result of our company’s four-year work in the B2C segment. We started a business in the B2B segment back in 1994.
Why did we choose stationery? During the Soviet years, we lacked all this. Remember how the heroines of the film “The Most Charming and Attractive” soaked an eraser in kerosene to make it softer?
And after the collapse of the USSR, this niche in the market turned out to be unoccupied, moreover, a corporate environment began to form, new companies with corresponding requests appeared.
The founder and leader of the business is my husband, who over the years has become an expert in choosing the best products in this segment. In the early 2000s, Belkanton became the center for the formation of a group of companies: first, Ofiston, a business providing comprehensive office services, was spun off. And then gradually we began to occupy new niches. This is how “Logoton” - souvenir products, “Clinton” - office cleaning products and others appeared.
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That is, we “acquired” businesses in related areas – where we understood that we could become market leaders. We strived to ensure that our clients could receive the most complete range of services in one company.
How, for example, did the idea of going into “souvenir” come about? At one of the exhibitions, a representative of the supplier of Senator pens shared with us that 70-80% of their sales are made in the promotional products market. And we thought - why don’t we occupy this niche? By that time we already had a large base of business clients.
We expected that within a year or two we would become market leaders. Not everything was simple. Although the “souvenirs” segment is similar to the stationery segment, you need to work here in completely different ways. Other “points of contact”: when we supply paper and pens, we communicate with secretaries and supply department specialists, and when we offer branded products, then with marketers, designers or directly with managers.
In addition, “Ofiston” focuses on the needs of itself - more on their clients: you need to understand how best to design an advertising message on a product so that a person perceives it correctly.
Plus it was necessary to create a full-fledged production. At first we were engaged in pad printing on just one machine, then our fleet of machine equipment began to grow, we began to engage in silk-screen printing, laser engraving, and so on.
Yes, not in a year or two, but in three or four, but we became leaders because we knew that we could become the best in this area. It would be wrong to say that every day we only moved forward. After all, in order to jump high, you must first sit down. We have survived more than one crisis. And the result of each for us was growth.
It may be a hackneyed phrase that a crisis is a time of opportunity, but for us this has truly always been the case. We became more collected, faster, and more demanding.
Thus, there was a time when office paper accounted for the bulk of sales. It has low margins, but what can we do - we accepted this reality and provided what our clients needed in the best possible way.
“We don’t sell pencils and erasers, but emotions”
– In Europe and America, people are very attached to certain brands. If a person drew with Edding markers as a child, then as an adult he will 100% use the accessories of this company. And brands, in turn, do everything so that their customers at any age can get the right… emotions from their products. Yes, this is perhaps the most correct word.
In general, our business is actually very emotional. After all, everything in life consists of little things. Items on your desk—and we spend most of our lives working—help create the right mood.
I completely agree with Oscar Wilde's statement that a person should be surrounded by beautiful things. And we sell these beautiful things, besides, many of them have their own history. For example, the Faber-Castell company, which produces pencils, pens and other stationery products, is more than 250 years old!
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And we wanted every Belarusian to have such things, so that our children would begin to love certain brands from an early age. That’s why we entered the B2C segment 4 years ago. At first they opened only an online store. But we were immediately bombarded with questions: where can we watch it? It would seem, why look and touch an ordinary pen?
But the buyers insisted. And we opened our first offline store, which also has a stationery bar. This is our specialty, there is nothing like this in the country yet. We thought for a long time about how to give customers the opportunity to test our products - and came up with this solution. There is wi-fi, tea/coffee, and you can print or laminate documents. You wait while the printer is working and draw.
We think that in this way we will be able to attract Belarusians to those very goods - with history. For example, we have Cross pens, which are used by the American president to sign documents. You can come and try yourself in his role.
The shelves of the Ofiston store do not have the entire assortment: there are about 5 thousand items, and in total we have 17 thousand. Therefore, it is logical that we will expand our network of retail outlets.
“Will the paper disappear? No matter how it is!”
– We are often asked if we are afraid that with the development of digital, our business will become unnecessary. In response to such a provocative question, I ask my own: do you immediately put your child at the computer or give him a pencil and paper? Almost everyone here immediately agrees that the second is more correct. Although, for example, in the USA it has already been proposed not to teach children spelling, but to immediately type texts on the keyboard. And the negative reaction from parents was enormous.
You know, in the 2000s, when computers and the Internet became widely available, many predicted the death of paper media. But on the contrary, a paper boom began in the world - as there was a need to print documents in large quantities.
And the paper market (namely, it determines the development of the market for all office supplies) began to grow. By 2010, in economically developed countries it reached consumption volumes of up to 10 kilograms per year. By the way, here this figure is a little more than 2 kilograms.
True, with the advent of smartphones and tablets, the paper market dropped by 30 percent and froze. There is no further fall. But here's a new trend: paper books and magazines are gaining popularity again. We travel a lot and notice how bookstores have begun to scale: some of them already occupy premises of several floors.
In addition, although we are a traditional business, we have plenty of innovation. The composition, for example, of all paints has changed - they are completely non-toxic. Safe scissors for children have appeared - they cannot hurt themselves.
Digital and paper are not like theater and cinema: one is elite, the other is mass. These are two parallel worlds. Definitely, people will continue to use paper and pen for many, many years to come. The influence of psychology and genetic memory is too strong, because man has been drawing symbols by hand for centuries.
