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How pencils are made

If you pick up pencils to draw, you usually do not think about how they were made. You have an idea, you pick up a pencil and start drawing. The final product, the drawing is most important.

As an art fanatic, I sometimes realize that the tools that I use have already traveled a long way. At most pencil factories, the quality of the product is carefully considered so that I (and you) do not have to think about it but can immediately start drawing (or painting). This means that in a factory or office, people are testing whether the pencils are good in color and texture. The video below shows how they are made with love in the Derwent pencil factory.

I came across these “how-it-is-made” videos and I always find them fascinating to watch. I start with one video, but it does not always stay there, there is always a suggestion for a next video, and I often think: “This is also interesting!”.

Pencils start with graphite, this is ground into powder and made into a paste that is baked in long strips. For colored pencils pigments are mixed in. Would you like to know more about pencils and the difference between the hard and soft pencils?

pigment

Before you have a pencil in your hands, the pencil has already traveled a long way. The video below shows, more in closeup than in the previous video, how a pencil of wood is glued together.

And, because I always think when I watch a video on youtube: “The next one is fun too!” Is the second video about how brushes are made. I love to see how the brushes are dipped in the paint, perfected with a lot of attention.

I do not know about you, but I feel like getting my tools and getting started.

Have fun drawing and / or painting!

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