It has taken me a year to find something that works for me.  There is really nothing on the market to hold pencils the way a colored pencil artist needs them held.  Once I got a set of 120 pencils, I realized I needed to see them and have them available at all times if I were to get to know them.  So, I took the advice of some creative artists and made my own pencil holders out of toilet paper rolls.  It was a flimsy thing and only lasted a week or so.  Then I bought a set of glass tumblers and grouped the pencils according to color in the 6 glasses.  At the time I was still moving around from the living room to the dining room and back to the office and moving all those glasses around became rediculous.  Pretty soon I had my greens and blues in one room and then I couldn't find where I last left my reds. 

I had a little rubbermade thing with 3 drawers that worked great for holding my pencils, but the 3 drawers weren't enough so I bought another one and stacked them.  That lasted the longest, but I mostly just ended up with pencils all over my desk since I didn't put them back in the drawers they belonged in.  I just didn't like opening and closing the drawers much so I left them open and then it was just easier to have what I was using out on the desk...

So, the search continued until I found some artists discussing a bait box one uses to hold her pencils.  I knew that's what I wanted until I discovered it was $75.  It really is a fabulous idea for a pencil holder and can be mobile as well.  There are 96 slots that are 7" deep= just long enough for an unsharpened pencil and it comes in a nice canvas carying case that zips up.  Holly Bedrosian turns hers on it's side and can see all of her pencils set up nicely in front of her.  I wanted one, but I just couldn't spend $75 when I bearly made $20 on the last portrait I did and haven't had any bites since.  A hobby this expensive needs to pay for itself at least a little bit.

Then one day at the craft/art supply store I saw a cardboard box and got an idea.  Sure enough, they had the exact size of plastic rectangular boxes to fit into this cardboard box!  So, that's what I have and it's wonderful!  I glued the plastic lids onto the box to act as an easle so my set up is angled and I can easily and always see whatever colors I have.  The only thing is that the shorter pencils don't fit nicely.  They end up at the bottom and I just can't fish them out.  Nor can I see them.  So, I'm using one of those glass tumblers to keep my pencil stubs in and actually, the stubs are the colors I use regularly so to have them all in one container isn't so bad.  My set up cost about $10.