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Engraving Pencils
I have been having so much FUN, engraving and creating pencils for my students, family, friends, and kindness pencils that I leave around the city for people to find. Pencils of all kinds, have been really popular and I’m sure you have engraved some yourself or are looking to find out how to get in on the engraved pencil trend.
Using a Jig
I have a glowforge laser cutter and you must remove the tray to engrave giant pencils, but once you know how, it is easy to do! I have created this tutorial with fun sayings to include on your GIANT pencils to make the process super simple.
The sayings in fun fonts include:
- Kindergarten
- Writing Sword
- Congratulations Graduate
- Signing Day
- Congratulations
- First Day of School
Why Giant Pencils?
A few weeks ago, I was looking through Amazon for pencils, when I happened upon some fun, GIANT pencils and I knew I had to have them! There were a few posts I had seen from friends where their child went to a kindergarten “signing day” and used a giant pencil to sign their name “accepting” their invitation to be a part of that school’s kindergarten class. As a teacher at a school, I wanted our school to have these. Once my second grade son saw them, he wanted one with his name on it as well.
If you want to make these for personal use or to sell, check out the action steps below to engrave your pencils today!
What is a jig?
A jig is a tool that you can use in your laser cutter for perfect placement every time. You can cut this out one time from cardboard or scrapwood and then use this placeholder for placing your designs on your design screen and for holding your materials, such as pencils, in place.
Using the Jig
Normally I would tell you that there are two ways to use a jig. The most accurate way is to cut out the jig, and then not moving it at all, remove the parts you cut out and place your pencils. However, because you must remove your tray to cut these large pencils, you don’t have that option.
You can also use the jig once it has been moved. The words might not come out as perfectly as the first way, but will still be very close, and in this case is your only option.
- Cut your jig and ignore the words.
- Remove the pieces from the middle of the jig.
- Remove the crumb tray.
- Place down board to make everything at 2 inches or less. (I placed three ⅛” boards and then the jig on top, then my pencils.)
- Place this jig in the very center of your crumb tray.
- Put your pencils in the jig.
- Center your words on your pencils in the Glowforge software. Make sure you are centering perfectly the middle pencil’s words. Even if the rest don’t look like they will line up, they will. This looks off due to the Glowforge’s camera.
- Choose engrave or score for your words and ignore the jig pieces (or delete them).
- Click on print. Your words will SHIFT, but DON’T move anything. That is just the fisheye of the Glowforge camera. Everything should print perfectly.
Ways to Use Giant Pencils
There are so many fun ways to use giant pencils! You can market these to your local market for the following uses:
- Gifts for first day of kindergarten
- Graduation gift for a student heading off to college
- Present for birthday/holidays
- With logo or name of the school to gift to admin or teachers
- For kindergarten students to use on their “signing day” just like athletes
- Decoration
These pencils are so versatile and can make someone’s day. Use the jig to simplify the process and have you engraving GIANT pencils in no time!
How will you use your giant pencils? Let me know in the comments!
Looking for pencils that are more normal sized? Check out this blog and then check out my favorites below.
The following are the best pencils to:
Engrave – https://amzn.to/3qHPfJ6
Give to Teachers – https://amzn.to/3P6q0td
Add Some Shimmer – https://amzn.to/3siQnmV
