Geometric Colored Pencil Holder

When I first headed to Office Depot, I had big plans of making something very cool with basic office supplies like Post-its, washi tape, and paperclips. Of course, I also couldn’t resist getting some fun cupcake erasers, Sharpies, and scented markers as well. Also, did you know that Fiskars makes special scissors for cutting tape? The little blades are coated with a no stick surface so that the sticky tape residue doesn’t build up. (P.S. I found everything picture above in rainbow glory at Office Depot… even the Swedish Fish!)

However, I brought my four year old daughter along, and we both had a blast picking out some colorful office and craft supplies. She insisted we get this big tub of air dry clay, and I thought it would be a fun summer activity. But later when we got home and we started playing with the clay, I got this idea to make a cool colored pencil holder. I wasn’t totally sure if it would turn out quite how I had imagined, but it did!

I ended out using white paint, brushes, and a blade for cutting clay that I already had at home. However, you can find everything you need for this project at Office Depot.

What you need:

1. Crayola Air Dry Clay
2. Colored Pencils
3. White Paint
3. Box Cutter or large blade
5. Optional: Gold Sharpie Paint Marker

What you do:

1. Start by rolling a large piece of clay into a ball. I ended out making one for 12 colored pencils, but you could make a much larger one as well. The great thing about clay is that if you don’t like how it’s looking, it’s super easy to start over.

2. Flatten the ball into a little dome. You are going to cut away at this later, so make it a little bigger than you think you may need.

3. Start pushing colored pencils into the ball. I used an old set I had lying around, because a little bit of the wet clay may end out sticking to the ends of your pencils. They are easy to clean though. I left all of them in to make sure that none of the holes were crossing and to see if I liked the way they all looked together.

4. Wiggle and twist each of the pencils to make the hole a little bit larger, then take them all out. Set this somewhere to dry overnight.

5. The clay won’t have dried fully overnight, but will be harder and stiffer. I double checked that all of the pencil holes were still big enough.

6. Get your clay knife, box cutter, or sharp kitchen knife. Start cutting away chunks of the clay at random angles. It will create a cool geometric pattern. Make sure to cut away every surface of the clay so that nothing is rounded. Once again make sure that all of the pencil holes are clear of any excess clay, and let it dry again.

7. The clay probably needs 2 or 3 days to dry. Once it is dry, paint it with a couple coats of white paint, and enjoy. You could also use a gold paint marker to color in one or a few of the faceted areas.

 

 

 

(I picked up all of the Scotch Expressions washi tape in these pictures at Office Depot. Their selection of colorful tapes was seriously the largest I’ve seen anywhere.)

 

 

I had so much fun making this colored pencil holder, and I just love how it looks on my desk with my other colorful supplies. What’s great is that you could make a million different versions of this same idea with air dry clay. I want to try making one to hold my Sharpies! You could also make one for your kids to hold their crayons. You could make one to hold your collection of gel pens. And what’s great is that no matter what you end out making, you don’t have to measure or drill anything!