Ever find yourself hanging on to some of those cheap wooden chopsticks that they have out for free at, say, a grocery store sushi display? Here's something to do with them, fellow hoarders. A super-simple process yields a really stiff wooden brush that i personally really like using for India ink drawings.

Step 1:

You can get these basically anywhere you would buy sushi in those little plastic containers - grocery stores, cafeterias, etc - and they're totally free!

Step 2:

If you don't have pliers you could probably do this with your teeth

Step 3:

really, be gentle

Step 4:

use your discretion

Step 5:

uh huh,

Step 6:

be aware of how the wood is reacting to you, be nuanced, pay attention to what you're doing

Step 7:

the packaging from triple-a batteries is what i have had success with

Step 8:

you can use the hard back of the stick for solid lines which come out with sort of a drip-shaped taper, like the 3 lines that constitute the little symbol in the bottom right-hand corner. i used black india ink but i bet these brushes are fun with all sorts of materials. have fun, experiment