From Rachael in Aug - serious pencil sharpening

Rachael's envelopes get the steal worthy tag quite often. She wasn't thrilled with this one - but, I knew the minute I saw it that I loved the idea and would want to try it. I was surprised at the note inside that she wasn't all that fond of how it turned out. On second look - I can see one thing that might have tipped the scale just a bit. Using black instead of gray might be too much contrast. If I try this idea - I'll use gray and see how it works out. I can think of a number of stamps that would work beautifully. 

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Once again, I think I have talked about this already but could not find it - and it would have been quite some time ago. In a workshop with Peter Thornton, we were taught how to sharpen our pencils with knives and create a tool that afforded the user a lot more *sensitivity.* 

If the *lead* is about an inch long, you have to moderate your pressure or it will break. However, if you get good at applying the right amount of pressure you can create some lovely lines with the humble pencil. This is probably something that is easier to learn in person than by DIY - so I will not spend too much time on it. Tomorrow we will indulge in some more silliness.

P.S.

I Googled - pencil sharpening with knife - and there are lots of hits. This was the first one. I did not watch all of them to compare.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Q2CLdLoalI

This is what Peter had in mind. Sometimes - the lead is even longer than pictured here.