How to make drawing charcoal?

How hard would it be to make Vine Charcoal for drawing and what would I do to make it?

I was going to buy some artist charcoal for sketching, but it's at least a dollar a stick.  These are made from willow and grape vines (usually willow) which grow in abundance on my farm.  I'm frugal.

Can I make my own?

Looking online there are a lot of different opinions on how to do this.  Many of the videos I watched had the charcoal container either explode or the contents burn up.  So I'm not sure who to trust.  I know permaculture people make lots of charcoal for other reasons... what do you think?


Do I have to make charcoal outside?  Can it be SAFELY made in an inside woodstove?  Or an oven?  

Would the sticks be okay green?  Or should I cut and dry them now?  Or should they be harvested while dormant?

What do I want to look for in a charcoal-making container?  Can I re-use the tin to make more?

Is this vine charcoal the same that is used to make vine black watercolour paint?  Or ink?  If so, maybe I want to make lots.  

How long does a stick of charcoal usually last?  One drawing?  Ten?  Two hundred?  (assuming the length of my hand size stick)

I have to wait a month or two before I can have a fire (inside or out), but I would love to gather some more information about this.  

I have used a well cleaned out paint can to make charcoal.  I punch a few holes in the lid, put the wood in it and set the can on a fire outside.    I have no idea if the charcoal is art quality …I have never used it for that.

One of the major biochar projects that I've been involved with over the past few years is led by artists. The material that we're making gets used as drawing charcoal and also gets ground up and made into ink. The things to play with are type of feedstock and temperature of pyrolysis. It's very intuitive: soft woods like pine and poplar make soft charcoals and hard woods like oak or materials like bamboo and coconut shells make tougher stuff, which is good for fine points and detail work.

Lower temperature methods leave behind products of incomplete combustion, like tars and oils. These act as binders and can help the pigment stick to your drawing surface, but also give off a smoky smell. Higher temperature chars are more "pure" and if you use a retort in a hot fire, you can learn to make grey or white charcoal. Another thing to try is soaking the feedstock with mineral additives to add colour. Rust water will give you reds, oranges and browns. Copper salts give nice blues and greens.

This video uses grape vines, tin foil, and an inside wood stove.   She said a couple of hours.



Our wood stove can melt aluminum foil, so it would need to be as the fire is finishing.   I wonder if we could leave it overnight.

We are moving to a property with willow trees so I looked for so info on making artists charcoal sticks. I liked this video from a UK guy and it seems pretty simple to do. ( I'm thinking about doing some bigger batches as well so I can try biochar, but that's a larger effort trial)

I am loving all these various details about haw to make drawing quality charcoal. It's one of those things that's been on my to-do list for a few years.

It sounds like one can really experiment a lot with all the variables- wood choice, thickness, temperature, even soaking it in different solutions first. We are studying chemistry this year in our homeschool and  this would be a fun STEAM project for us.

The only thing I can add new to the conversation is my experience drawing with charcoal. OP asked how long a stuck of charcoal lasts. For the skinny, soft sticks of charcoal, I could use 1/2 to 1 while stick per drawing session. The large, harder sticks, well, I went through only two the whole semester I took a drawing class in college and I was drawing with them almost every day on large 2'x3' pieces of newsprint as well as in a smaller sketch book.
(I know this because I was making individual art supply boxes for my kids yesterday and found my original package of charcoal from college in the back of a drawer.)

From what I can tell, it looks like a small handful of short sticks will make enough vine/drawing charcoal for a year or two.

For people selling handmade charcoal,  3 or 5 sticks is the usual.   For commercial,  10-25 sticks in a container.

I love this book. It has a chapter so about making charcoal- just the basics of prepping the wood, the container, the fire.

I have the adult version of that book out from the library.  The librarians have a standing joke about it because the last few years it spent more time at my house than in the library collection.  (I have to take it in to the branch every 6 weeks to prove that I haven't lost or damaged it and sometimes other people want to borrow it so I reluctantly let them have it for 3 weeks until I can borrow it again).

I really need to get my own copy.  I've put it on my wishlist, but it's expensive in Canada, so I'm hoping to find it second hand one day.  

r ranson wrote:
I really need to get my own copy.  I've put it on my wishlist, but it's expensive in Canada, so I'm hoping to find it second hand one day.  

😂 I haven't quite checked out library's copy THAT much. The adult edition is on my thrift hunting wish list list too.  I was so excited to find the kids' book at a children's consignment sale last year. My husband and my friends did not understand why I was so excited.

Would mulberry work?

r ranson wrote:I have the adult version of that book out from the library.  The librarians have a standing joke about it because the last few years it spent more time at my house than in the library collection.  (I have to take it in to the branch every 6 weeks to prove that I haven't lost or damaged it and sometimes other people want to borrow it so I reluctantly let them have it for 3 weeks until I can borrow it again).

I really need to get my own copy.  I've put it on my wishlist, but it's expensive in Canada, so I'm hoping to find it second hand one day.  

I have no idea what your idea of an expensive book is, what the cost of shipping something from the US to Canada is, or any of a number of other factors, but figured it might be worth pointing out:


On the US Amazon site, the adult and kid's version of the book look to be about a dollar different in price - I don't know if Amazon will ship to Canada from their .com site, but maybe a US permie could ship it to you if that isn't too cost prohibitive?

There also seems to be a digital version... though I realize that isn't the same experience as holding a physical book in your hand.

Jenny Wright wrote:

r ranson wrote:
I really need to get my own copy.  I've put it on my wishlist, but it's expensive in Canada, so I'm hoping to find it second hand one day.  

😂 I haven't quite checked out library's copy THAT much. The adult edition is on my thrift hunting wish list list too.  I was so excited to find the kids' book at a children's consignment sale last year. My husband and my friends did not understand why I was so excited.

Out of curiosity, how significantly different are the adult and kid's versions of the books?  

I feel like for myself I might be more interested in the adult version, but I also have a 9 year old and an almost 5 year old that would be pretty fascinated by a lot of these concepts if they're presented right.  

Wonder if I could get my library to purchase I copy of *both* of them... lol.

Actually, I just saw that they DO have the ebooks of both available to borrow! So I started downloading the kid's version just now. Maybe I can give it a look after breakfast or something once it is done downloading.




Edit: I'm also now trying to resist going down the rabbit hole - at least for now - of all of the other books that showed up when I searched Amazon for "Organic Artist." It looks like there may be quite a few really interesting ones out there covering some similar topics. Not sure how many of them would deal with making your own charcoal and the various techniques people have mentioned in this thread. Most that I scrolled through looked, at least on the surface, to be focused on pigments and dyes, making your own inks, painting, dying, etc...  

As much as soaking a dried willow branch in various chemical solutions before heating it to specific temperatures in a retort fascinates me; it also kinda seems like it may be viewed by many as a more advanced and technical process. But I haven't actually read any of these books to see how technical they tend to get with things.

Mulberry would be a great soft wood, not too different from willow as a charcoal feedstock.

willow sticks seem to do best so far.  They are easiest to peel and I like the black they give.  The grape vines are a bit thinner and give a warmer black.



It's a bit tricky making sure the fire embers aren't too hot or cold.  Too hot and the tin makes lots of fire out of the hole.  Too cold, the sticks don't draw as well and I need to put it back in the next time I have a fire.  But on the whole, I'm having a lot of luck and I think a few batches like this should give me enough charcoal for a year.  

It's a great medium to play with and I'm looking forward to finding a way to use this - although it's probably going to be a summer drawing medium as it gets EVERYWHERE!  



My first time drawing with charcoal.  

I have been having loads of fun making charcoal.  But I've noticed some things and I'm not sure what to change first.

The lids don't have as tight a fit anymore.

I put straight sticks in and get curved charcoal out.

The shrinkage is a lot more than it was.

I am using fresher wood instead of letting it dry in the house before making charcoal.  


So I'm thinking of starting with the lids.  Sometimes they pop open slightly.  Perhaps some wire to keep them closed?

Low tech - I use natural cork from wine or champagne. It also is great theatre make up. put in the fire of a candle. It has to be natural cork.
I realize you are looking for something more professional. I'm reading through now.
Peace, Jo

Found this video on commercial drawing charcoal.   I didn't know so much of it was done manually still.  I doesn't make me feel so bad for the work it takes to make mine.  And now I see why it's one to two dollars a stick here.