Storing pencils and markers so they last
Storing pencils and markers so they last
Two things ruin art materials, and neither is use. Coloured pencils are destroyed by being dropped, and markers are destroyed by being stored badly. Both are easy to avoid once you know what is happening.
Why coloured pencils break
The core inside a coloured pencil is brittle and glued to the wood casing along its length. When a pencil is dropped on a hard floor, the impact can crack the core in several places inside the barrel, without any visible damage to the outside.
The result appears later: the point breaks off every time it is sharpened, and it keeps happening several centimetres down the pencil. This gets blamed on the sharpener or on the quality of the pencil, when the cause was a drop weeks earlier.
What to do about it
Keep pencils in a case or tray rather than loose in a jar that can tip. If a pencil is already breaking repeatedly, the damaged section has to be sharpened past before it will behave — sometimes that is a centimetre, sometimes more.
Roll-up cases and fitted tins are effective for the same reason: the pencils cannot move against each other or fall.
Sharpening without waste
A blunt blade tears the wood and puts twisting force on the core, which cracks it. A sharpener with a genuinely sharp blade removes thin, clean shavings.
Long points look impressive and break easily; a shorter, stubbier point survives normal pressure and is what most work actually needs. Sharpening in short stages rather than driving the pencil in hard also helps.
Why markers should be stored flat
A dual-tip marker has a nib at each end and a reservoir between them. Stored upright, gravity pulls the ink towards the lower nib. Over weeks that nib becomes saturated and floods on contact with paper, while the upper nib runs dry.
Stored flat, the ink stays evenly distributed and both nibs behave. This is the single most useful habit for anyone with a marker set, and it costs nothing.
Caps and evaporation
Alcohol markers dry out through an imperfectly seated cap faster than through use. Capping firmly until it clicks, every time, is what determines whether a set lasts one year or five.
A marker that has partially dried can sometimes be revived if it is refillable. One that has dried completely with the cap off generally cannot.
Heat, light and damp
Direct sunlight fades pigments in pencils and markers alike, and a windowsill is the worst place for either. Heat thins marker ink and softens wax-based pencil cores.
Damp is mainly a problem for paper: pads stored somewhere humid cockle and can develop spotting. Flat and dry, away from a radiator and out of the sun, covers almost everything.
Organising a set so it stays a set
Sets get lost one pencil at a time. Two habits prevent it: keeping the original tray or case and putting things back in the same slot, and not mixing several sets into one pot.
Colour order is a personal matter, but returning pencils to a fixed position makes a missing one obvious immediately, which is when it is still findable.
A short maintenance list
- Store markers flat, always.
- Cap markers firmly until they click.
- Keep pencils in a case or tray, not loose in a tipping jar.
- Use a sharpener with a sharp blade and take short stages.
- Keep everything out of direct sun and away from heat.
- Store paper flat and dry.
None of this takes any real time, and it is the difference between replacing a set every couple of years and keeping one indefinitely.
Where this sits in the shop
Everything discussed above comes back to one part of the shop: Brush Markers and Pens, which currently holds 3 listings between $8.99 and $26.99. The whole of it is picked and packed at Rudy's Hobby & Art, 35-16 30th Ave, Long Island City, NY, during Wed–Sat 11am–6:30pm, closed Sun–Tue — so anything written here can be checked by phoning the counter on ((718) 545-8280.
From our shelves
- 36 Dual Brush Markers for Adult Coloring Books, Double Tip Pens Art Set — $8.99
- 120 Colors Dual Tip Brush Pens Art Markers for Adult Coloring Books, Artist Drawing Sketch Markers Set with Fine & Brush Tip — $26.99
- Alcohol Markers Set, 80 Color Dual Tip Art Drawing Markers, Artist Pens with Organizing Case for Adult Drawing Coloring Sketching — $16.99
What we get asked about this
How long will my order take?
Handling takes 1–2 business days and carrier transit is normally 3–7 business days, so most orders land in 4–9 business days. Tracking is emailed as soon as the label scans.
How much is shipping?
Orders of $49.00 or more ship free inside the United States. Below that, a flat $5.99 covers packing and carrier handling, whatever the box weighs.
Read next
- Oil-based or wax-based coloured pencils: what actually changes
- Blending coloured pencils without a solvent
- Choosing your first set of brush markers
Ordering from Rudy's Hobby and Art
Orders of $49.00 or more ship free anywhere in the United States, and a flat $5.99 covers everything below that. Handling takes 1–2 business days and carrier transit is normally 3–7 business days. Unused items can go back within 30 days, and if the mistake was ours we pay the return postage.
Questions about anything above go to [email protected], answered within 1 business day, or call (718) 545-8280. Full detail is on the Shipping Policy and Refund and Returns pages.