Learn how a piece of used printer paper can be a quick-fix for a dull drawing pencil.

It's an inexpensive way to put a finished point on a drawing pencil.

There have been numerous times that my printer has developed a mind of it's own, and decides to perform some mischievous prank in the middle of a copying job.

This usually makes it necessary for me to throw-away the mistake, and start the job over.

That is until I decided to recycle the used printer paper by using it to do practice sketches, and using it to put a fine point on some of my drawing pencils.

Because paper has a "tooth", or roughness, this is a good way to put a finishing touch on the point of a pencil

Actually, any type of paper will work for this.

Try these...

• the back of a failed drawing project
• old newspapers
• notebook paper
• old magazines
• construction paper
• all types of art paper

You're going to probably need to use a standard pencil sharpener to get the initial point on a pencil, especially a new pencil.

The paper is used to maintain the point, so you should first sharpen it as much as you can with a pencil sharpener without breaking the lead.

The technique for putting a fine point onto a pencil with paper is the same as it is when using a piece of sandpaper.
Click here to go to the sandpaper-sharpening page

Place the pencil at about a 20 degree angle onto the paper.

Move the pencil back and forth across the paper while rolling the pencil between your fingers, sort of sculpting the point

Move the pencil to clean spots on the paper when the material from the lead covers the paper so much that it makes the paper less effective.

As with the sandpaper, you should tape you piece of paper somewhere close-by so you can easily do a quick refresh on the point whenever needed.

You can even use paper to sharpen the lead of a mechanical pencil if a very fine line is needed for a drawing.

If you are short of printer paper, just go to some local businesses or schools and ask if they would save their used copy paper for you. You could even give them a box that they could set down beside their copy machine

So don't throw away that printer paper...reusing it is a nice way to recycle it.

New! Comments