How To Make the Perfect Pencil Holder
I want to thank everybody for leaving me so many nice comments and e-mails about my studioffice. A few of you asked how I made the pencil holder. I responded that I would try to find the instructions. I had SUCCESS. I had to figure out where I filed it. I looked in my files under – instructions, project directions, and DIY ideas. No luck. I never throw instructions away and started thinking maybe I gave my Dad, who made it for me, the only copy. I kept searching under – Art Supplies, Resources, ….then there it was – filed under “Artist”. As I said, I didn’t make it. I handed my dad these directions with a photo. He loves woodworking and happily went right to work on it. I paid him with lots of hugs and kisses. The fact that he made it for me makes it all the more special to me.
It would be a great way to organize kid’s crayons – help inspire the budding artist in all of them.
I found the directions from The Colored Pencil Solution Book, by Jamie Gildow and Barbara Newton. The book is still available on Amazon.
Here is mine.
Here is the back view to show how the hinge is attached.
Perfect Pencil Holder
This pencil holder is made of four sections. Each section is made of two pieces of wood, hinged together at one end to made a V section that opens like a book. You can make one or many V sections depending on the number of pencils; one section holds thirty-two pencils, sixteen on each side. ( Mine only has 15 holes on each side. I also put a tin can in the center to hold other supplies and graphite pencils.)
To make one section-
supplies needed:
2 pieces of pine or other wood
– 3 1/2″ – high x 8 1/2″ – long x 3/4″ – thick and the other piece 3″ high x 1′ – wide
Light gauge butt hinge or piano-type hinge with 3/8″ screws. (Piano hinges can be found in hardware stores, they can be cut with a hack saw to desired length)
Drill with a 5/16″ drill bit or larger. (Check the diameter of your pencils)
Use a graphite pencil to indicate the placement of each hole, spacing them 1/2″ apart at center along the 3/4″ -thick side of the wood. Drill the holes 1 1/2″ deep to hold the pencils upright. After drilling the holes, sand lightly and attach the hinge to join the two pieces of wood together at one end.
Four of these V sections fit nicely on top of a 21″ Lazy Susan that turns for easy access to pencils and small tools (erasers, etc.) stored in the V of each section.
My Dad, love him XO – custom-made the Lazy Susan to fit the pencil holders perfectly.