As a Zentangle artist, one of my favourite tools is a tortillion, that is used for blending graphite for smooth shading. But what do you do when the tip becomes worn and rounded? How do you recover the nice sharp tip that lets you work fine detail?
Cindy Angiel (rainbowelephant.com) shared a great tip. Here is a tortillion with a worn tip, and a straightened paperclip.
Insert the straight end of the paperclip in the top of the tortillion and push. This pushes out some of the paper in the middle of the tortillion and refreshes the tip.
Is this cool, or what?
What a great tip! Thanks! I have a whole baggie of tortillions I have been holding until I could "sharpen them".
Thanks - what a great tip!! I appreciate all the help I can get.
Dumb me thought you meant stick paper in the other end in the space. Yeah I am blond and sometimes stupid...lol. Great tip, thank you!
Brilliant! Just brilliant. I rescued three that would have soon seen the inside of the waste basket. Yay!
great idea! i wondered what you do with all those blunt-nosed things
Good to know...thanks, Genevieve!
a picture is worth 1,000 words! Thanks.
Thanks! I had moved to blending stumps because I could at least sand them to a nicer point than my tortillions.
Love this tip. Thanks so much for sharing it. Must find paperclip, now!
Would you believe that I actually tried to sharpen mine? It didn't work, BTW. Thanks for the tip!
wonderful tip
Thanks!
I use fine sandpaper or a nail file to resharpen mine. Saw it on YouTube and it works like a charm too. But I love this tip as well. Options are a wonderful thing.