Many people are probably familiar with these types of pencils and are very common. Most pencil manufacturers use this scale. Pencil lead is a mixture of graphite and clay. Depending on the manufacturer there could be additional materials. Taking care of your pencils is really helpful.
This will be one of the best steps to help prevent your pencil lead from continuous breakage issues. After a pencil has been dropped there is very little you can do for it. There are plenty of different ways to sharpen pencils that I will briefly cover. Before I do that I want to call out a few bad habits that I consider to be fairly universal and should be avoided if possible.
Uneven pressure Whether your use a hand-held sharpener or electric sharpener will cause uneven wear on the barrel. This leads to an awkward distribution of pressure on the pencil tip. Heavy hand people like me will snap the freshly sharpened pencil often if you are not careful. Too much pressure Pushing the pencil to aggressively into the sharpener is not good for the lead of the pencil.
The pencil tip could break while trying to sharpen it. Frequent sharpening Not letting the pencil tip wear down enough with frequent sharpening will place more unnecessary stress on the pencil barrel and tip.
Electric Sharpener This can be an expensive option, however a high quality electric sharpener can have self-sharpening and auto stop function to help prevent over sharpening. Maintaining an electric sharpener is important. For those of us who really like using Prismacolors, it pays to know how to spot potential problems before you buy and how to remedy those minor problems that can be fixed.
Interesting that problems would occur with this brand as they come highly recommended. Your tips were very enlightening. Thank you. In those days, they were a great product and very high quality.
They are still highly recommended based in large part because of that past reputation in my opinion. Your email address will not be published. Notify me of follow-up comments by email. Notify me of new posts by email. Skip to content. Hi Carrie, Prismacolor pencils break and break and break. Jana Thank you for your question, Jana.
Share this: Facebook Tumblr Pinterest Print. Like this: Like Loading I think your additional explanation is as good as any of mine. Thank you for your question! Leave a Reply Cancel reply Your email address will not be published. We use cookies on our website to give you the most relevant experience by remembering your preferences and repeat visits. Do not sell my personal information. Cookie Settings Accept. Manage consent. Close Privacy Overview This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website.
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These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience. Necessary Necessary. Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. These cookies ensure basic functionalities and security features of the website, anonymously. Knowing the right way to sharpen your colored pencil is just as important to its longevity as how to use the colored pencil.
Choosing the right sharpening method for the right pencil boils down to the tip you want to achieve and the type of pencil you are sharpening. Colored pencil artists have four options when it comes to tools for sharpening colored pencils: handheld manual sharpeners, electric sharpeners, sandpaper, and a knife.
Soft colored pencils are best suited for manual pencil sharpeners or can be sharpened with a knife. The best way to use a handheld sharpener is to hold the pencil still and rotate the sharpener with the other hand.
This gives you better control by not moving the colored pencil thus reducing the risk of breaking off the tip.
When using a knife, the blade needs to be razor-sharp in order to smoothly shave off the end of the pencil. This method requires a steady hand and rotating the pencil to get an even point. Colored pencils with a hard core will require a more aggressive method of sharpening than manual sharpeners and knives.
Slower methods like those will cause your harder colored pencil tips to crack and break prematurely. These types of colored pencils work well with electric sharpeners.
Be aware, however, wax-based colored pencils will leave residue on the blades of electric sharpeners which will dull the blades. The best way to clean and sharpen an electric pencil sharpener is to alternately sharpen a graphite pencil after every colored pencil sharpenings.
A helpful tip when sharpening your colored pencils is to use a fine-haired paintbrush to sweep away any pencil shaving debris that may have stuck to the pencils freshly sharpened tip.
This will prevent the tiny bits of core or pencil barrel from falling onto your canvas and reduce any accidental color mishaps on your project. The final sharpening tool to keep on hand when working with colored pencils is sandpaper. Available in sheets or blocks, using coarse grain sandpaper is great for sharpening stubborn or brittle colored pencils.
How can you tell if your colored pencil has a fractured core? Your colored pencil may not look damaged on the outside but could still be broken internally.
A colored pencil with a shattered core will not roll as far as one with a core intact. You will know the core is shattered if you find the tip is frequently falling out whenever you sharpen the pencil. Can you repair a colored pencil that has a broken or shattered core? Fortunately, a broken colored pencil core is able to be repaired. Since all colored pencils have some amount of wax in them, applying heat to the pencils will melt the wax and fuse the core back together.
Wrapping them in a heating pad for a few minutes until they feel warm to the touch should be enough to repair most pencils. Are crank-style pencil sharpeners safe to use on colored pencils? Those old-fashioned pencil sharpeners seen in classrooms are murder on a colored pencil. The grinding method it uses is too rough on colored pencils, resulting in constant breakage and the chewing up of colored pencils at an exponential rate.
Never use a crank-style sharpener on any colored pencil. Limit mistakes and mishaps with the help of my free adult coloring eBook and by signing up for my email newsletter HERE. Please note: This blog post is for educational purposes only and does not constitute legal or medical advice.
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