To expand on the hexagonal buildings I have made, I picked up a bunch of cheap pencils. 48 for £1. Can’t say no, really.

Pencils. 48/£1. What’s not to like!

The first step was to cut them to various lengths. Harder than it looks, when you don’t have the right tools! Making do with a junior hacksaw, I managed to carve up a dozen or so:

Short pencils!

I’m planning on incorporating the pointed ends, but to start with, I’ll just be making some hexes from the flat-ended pieces. The cuts needed sanding down, and my file is too small and too blunt (due to years of use and abuse), so I invested in a foam sanding block (£1.70 from Wilkos). This was a mistake. I have ripped most of the rough surface from it already! Not the right tool. I suggest a metal file.
But I now have a bunch of hexagonal bits of wood. Picking seven of roughly equal length, they are glued together into a larger hexagon. Rinse and repeat.

Hex of Hexes!

These hexagonal pieces can then be linked together to form a larger landscape. Some of the later pieces will have ‘spikes’ in them (sharp pencil-ends!), and hopefully it will stretch to at least a square foot (~300mm x 300mm in new money).

Linked Hexes

So there you have it! A Giant’s Causeway type effect, and the only real effort is cutting up the pencils. I’m not sure if power tools are the way to go for cutting them, as you could easily end up with them flying all over the place, or ripping sections off. So hand-saw it is.

Obviously, it will need a lick of paint, and some flock scattering about. More pics when I’ve got to that stage.