I always warn students in my colored pencil workshops, of the dangers of
dropped pencils/broken leads.  At my most recent workshop, a participant
passed on this tip to repair the cracked up contents of a broken waxed based
colored pencil.  The advice was from a presenter at a Colored Pencil Society
workshop:   Zap the pencil in the microwave.

I have not tried this.

Cynthia Padilla, Editor of Sketching & Drawing:
www.gardenandhearth.com/SketchingandDrawing.htm
Join other Botanical Arts/Naturalist Illustration enthusiasts at:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/botanicalart

-----Original Message-----
From: JoanH Lee [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Monday, December 05, 2005 3:38 AM
Subject: Re: Question for colored pencil artists....

At a workshop some years ago we were told that if your leads break as
you describe it is because the box was dropped,...

On Dec 5, 2005, at 1:04 AM, Kathleen Garness wrote:

The Prismacolors were so maddening, even tho they had some lovely
colors, because in recent years I'd sharpen and sharpen them and the
points would keep falling out of the pencil, probably because the lead was
broken inside...