A quest for uniqueness: Fabulous upcycled pencil/pen holder

Stop the presses, everyone.
I made a pencil/pen holder out of other writing utensils.

I am going to assume that my household is not the only one with a large and overflowing bin of pens, pencils, highlighters, makers, and the like. I realized that although this bin in stored in my craft room, I struggle to quickly find a pen when I need one. My moment of epiphany came and threw together this fun and slightly ironic project.
To create your own you will need:
Various writing instruments (I used about 30, but it depends on the size you want to make)
A hot glue gun and LOTS of hot glue sticks (I think I used 6)
Spray paint

First I went through the bin and selected a variety of writing utensils that were dried up, ugly, or no longer working. Then I sorted them from longest to shortest. This step is essential. You may want to glue the lids of the pens on as well, just to have less margin for error while gluing.

Next I began to glue them together. I started with the shortest pen, and then began to form a 90 degree angle, gluing pens on either side, alternating with my shortest pens (meaning I glued one on the right side, then the next one on the left). I did it this way to create the height gradient.

Every few pens I added horizontal lines of glue to reinforce the structure. Keep your horizontal lines low, though, because you don't want them too be seen when you are all done (I learned through failure). Keep gluing your pens to create your shape. I chose to make a diamond, but a circle, heart, or star would be just as simple. When you turn corners be sure to reinforce the joint. As you glue the pens together you may run into issues with the pens tapering down to a point. DO NOT FOLLOW THE TAPER! You will end up with a lopsided shape. Instead, only glue the places where the 2 pens touch. This will result in small gaps between the 2 pens, and that's okay. Be intentional about keeping the pens perpendicular to your work surface. If you are using pencils you will not have these issues.

Next I cut a small square of plastic from a blueberry container and (haphazardly) glued it into the bottom. In retrospect this would have been easier if done earlier on, but live and learn.

Thought: if you chose to make a shape like a heart, what if you cut your base first and then used it as a guide for gluing all the pens/pencils. Hmmmmm.

Alrighty, now it's time to paint! Well, actually, before you paint try to remove all the hot glue stands, and scrape off and clumps of glue that aren't holding anything together, or general excess glue.

When you begin to paint make a point to get paint into all those nooks and crannies, because there sure are lots of them! I chose to go with a gold paint because it's opulent and eye-catching (and I already had a can), but you could easily match a color scheme or preexisting decor.