Making a Fashionable Pencil Stand

Let's make a pencil stand out of plaster that will brighten up your boring desk!

Mould and Core -

• A Pencil
• Papers (A4 preferably A3)
• A Marker
• A pair of scissor
• A Glue stick
• A Ruler
• A Paper knife
• A Tape
• A Compass

Plaster -

• A bucket
• 2 small yoghurt cups (or any other cup that has a volume of around 130mL)
• Plaster
• A Spatula
• An apron

1. First, get an A2 paper. If you don't have one, tape 4 A4 papers together to create a big sheet of paper.
2. Then draw a circle in the middle of the paper with a radius of 6cm as shown on the first photo using a compass.
3. Then, mark every 72° on the circle using protractor as shown on the 2nd photo.
4. Then connect every intersection to create a pentagon inside the circle. It should look like the 3rd picture.
5. Then draw a rectangle with a size of 7x12cm attached to an edge of the pentagon. Draw four more identical rectangles for the remaining edges. It should look like the 4th picture.
6. Then cut it out.

1. First, get an A2 paper. If you don't have one, tape 4 A4 papers together to create a big sheet of paper.
2. Draw a 4cm horizontal line in the middle of the paper. Draw another 4cm vertical line starting from the middle and perpendicular to the first line. It should look like the 1st picture
3. Then draw a rectangle sharing an edge of the triangle. The longer edge of the rectangle is 12cm. Repeat the same for the remaining edges of the triangle. After doing so it should look like the 3rd picture.
4. Then cut it out.
5. Repeat steps 1 to 4, and create 4 more triangular prism nets.

1. Glue the net of the mould and the cores onto polypropylene and cut them out very carefully along the edges of the paper net.
2. Then make crease lines on all 3 edges of each triangle on the triangular prisms net and on all 5 edges of the pentagon on the pentagonal prism net using a paper-knife. This will help you fold the polypropylene nets easily and cleanly.
3. Then fold them along the crease lines to create 5 triangular prism cores and a pentagonal prism mould each core and mould with 1 open face.

Tape all the edges and corners of each mould and cores a couple of times. Later you will pour in the plaster so if you don't tape them properly the plaster will leak.

1. Get a bucket and a spatula.
2. First, pour 2 yoghurt cups of water into the bucket. Then add 3 yoghurt cups of plaster into the water.
3. Mix it with the spatula until there are no chunks of powder.

If you want to add colour to your pencil stand you can add 30 drops of liquid watercolour into the plaster and mix it well.

Pour in your plaster into the mould that you made carefully without spilling it.

*If the plaster starts spilling out of the edges or the corners, pour the plaster back into the bucket and tape the hole, then try again

1. Put the cores and secure them with tape so that they don't move while they're drying. It should look like the picture on the right.
2. Now, place it on a drying rack and wait for it to dry.

1. Once it's dry, cut the tape using paper-knife and pull the plaster out of the mould.
2. Then pull out the cores carefully, without breaking the sides.

Done!

Now you can put pencils and pens into your pencil stand.

*You can sand the surface to make it smooth