Tuesday 31 March 2009

Coloured Pencil Savings Tip a la Frank Spencer

TIP: You can save on coloured pencil cost by glueing a pencil stub to a new pencil with crazy glue. Once it is dry you can continue to use the smaller pencil and sharpen it normally.


I've read this suggestion from many well know established coloured pencil artists. I have used this tip once to use up an entire pencil of a discontinued colour. Waste not because you have not! I thought I'd try and save the remains of my "Sky Light Blue" pencil. I could still buy this colour. It's not like they've discontinued this one, but why buy a new one when I can just keep using the remains of this one after all?

Are you familiar with Frank Spencer from the 70's British comedy "Some Mother's Do 'Ave Em?" I am the female version of Frank.

The Crazy glue was jammed up in the tube. I cut off the tip after being convinced there was no other way to rescue it. If I bought another crazy glue that would defeat the purpose of saving money by not buying another coloured pencil!

I glued a kleenex to my countertop, two of my fingers together and the pencil to my left hand.

Luckily for me the glue actually acts more like a paint stripper on the outer paint of the coloured pencil and I was able to coax the pencil from my fingers. I pried my fingers apart to wipe the glue from the counter. I pried my fingers from the counter and painstakingly picked the kleenex now glued to my fingers, from said fingers.

I now had a disturbing problem. How to get the thick layer of now hardened crazy glue and sky light blue Prismacolor pencil paint from my fingers. They were hard to bend because of the glue!

I got out my sanding block. I sanded my fingers until the blue and glue came off.

I now have fingers that any criminal would envy. Smooth and fingerprintless. The crazy glue remained in the ridges of my print and I sanded them to perfection.

I threw away both the crazy glue and the pencil bit.

If you are one of the artists that suggests this method for saving on pencil costs to you I say,
"Pthpppsssssts!!!!!!!!!!"

Spend the $2 for a new pencil you cheapskate!

4 comments:

Bella Rum said...

This post sounds a little scary but very comical. I can't decide if it's a sitcom or a Steven King novel.

BONNIE K said...

I think sometimes the efforts involved in trying to save money just aren't worth it!

richgold said...

I hadn't heard of this method. As I was reading through the first time,I was thinking, maybe she's going to take advantage of this new found superpower ... (instead of spider webs, you have Sky Light Blue!)

It's another way to explain to your kids that you can't break the rhythm of drawing.

BTW - have you read "The Artists Way"? I've got it from the library, but currently lent my brain to a squirrel and can't concentrate. I need to get some starter points.

Anonymous said...

lol! For the record I have crazy glued myself to no end - I hate the stuff. Vinegar works really well to get the stuff off - I soak in vinegar for a little while and then scrub a little, soak a little, scrub a little - it doesn't take very long - but works well. I must say - I have never tried sanding.