Know Your Touch Screen
Find out which type of touch screen your device uses. There are several different types of touch screens and your homemade stylus may not work with all of them. iPhones, iPads, Androids, Kindles, and many other smartphones and tablets have a capacitive touch screen, which needs an electrical conductor (like the human body) to register where contact is made. Nintendo DS, The 3Ds, the Nook, and some other phones and e-readers use resistive or infrared touch screens, which only require pressure to register contact. You can use just about anything as a makeshift stylus--just be careful not to scratch the screen.
Test your screen if you're not sure. Touch the screen with the tip of a pen cap. If the device responds, it has a resistive or infrared touch screen. If nothing happens, the screen is inactive.
Making a Stylus with a Sponge (Capacitive Screen)
Gather your materials. Find a clean dish sponge (not a scour pad) and a ballpoint pen with a removable tip. A cheap, plastic pen works best, as long as you can easily pull off the plastic tip and remove the ink. A slightly see-through pen can make it easier for you to see what you are doing.
Cut off a piece of the sponge about the width of the pen. You can approximate this measurement by holding the pen against the sponge and marking the measurement with a marker, or you can just eyeball it.
If the sponge has an abrasive side for scouring (like a Scotch-Brite sponge), cut or tear it off. Anything abrasive can scratch and damage your screen. You only want the actual sponge part.
Wash and dry the sponge. Some sponges come with soap already added, so to be safe rinse the sponge in warm water. Squeeze out all of the water and let the sponge dry.
Remove the plastic tip and the interior of the pen--the ballpoint tip, the ink reservoir, and spring if it is a click pen. You should be left with the empty base of the pen. You should be able to pull the tip off with just your hand. If you have difficulty, try using a pair of needle-nose pliers.
Insert the sponge into the pen. Pinch the sponge to make it smaller and push it into the base of the
Leave about 1/4-1/8 of an inch of the sponge sticking out of the pen. Use your finger to feather and break up the fibers of the sponge.
Hold your stylus near the tip for it to work. Your fingers need to be touching the base of the pen that is in contact with the sponge. If you hold the hollow part of the pen, the electromagnetic current won't pass through the sponge and the touch screen won't register the touch of the stylus.
Making a Stylus with Aluminum Foil (Capacitive Screen)
Gather your materials. You'll need about a foot of aluminum foil, tape of any kind, and an unsharpened pencil. You may also need a sharp knife to whittle your pencil. If you don't have a pencil, you can substitute a pen, a chopstick, a dowel--anything pen-shaped. Pencils or other wooden objects work best, however, as you may want to cut your stylus to have an angled tip.
Use a sharp knife to whittle tip of the pencil to a slight, flat angle. You are not sharpening the pencil tip as though you are going to write with it. The angled tip should still have a surface area of at least four millimeters, about the size of a pencil eraser or the very tip of your finger. Many capacitive touch screens will not register the touch of anything smaller. The stylus will work without this step, but you will have to hold it straight up and down. This will make it more comfortable to hold. Always be careful when handling a knife--remember to cut away from your body. Never pull the knife toward yourself.
Wrap the entire pencil with at least two layers of aluminum foil. Fold the aluminum foil neatly over the tips. If you are using a pen, keep the cap on the pen when you wrap it.
Smooth the aluminum foil over the angled tip of your pencil. It should be smooth and flat on the tip. You don't want any crinkles or bumps. If your tip is not flat, your stylus may not work.
Wrap a piece of tape around the center of the pencil. This will keep the foil in place.
Wrap the tip of the stylus with scotch tape. This will protect your screen from getting scratched by the aluminum foil.
Try your stylus to see if it works. If it isn't working, try to flatten your tip even more. Remember that you want the tip to be at least the size of an eraser or else it may not be acknowledged by your touch screen.
Making a Stylus out of a Wooden Chopstick (Resistive or Infrared Screen)
Gather your materials. You'll need a single chopstick, sandpaper, and something to sharpen the wood. A hand-operated pencil sharpener is the easiest way, but you could also whittle the tip with a sharp knife if you don't have a pencil sharpener. Try not to use an electric pencil sharpener--it may break.
Sharpen the tip (the narrow tip that touches the food) of the chopstick with the pencil sharpener. Sharpen it less than you would a pencil--you want it to look more like a blunt pencil tip.
Smooth the tip using sandpaper. A sharp tip may damage your touch screen (or you). Rub the tip with the sandpaper until it is blunt. It should not be painful if you press it into your skin. Sand any rough edges of the chopstick as well so you don't get splinters.
Decorate your stylus with Washi tape or paint. A few layers of tape wrapped around the stylus may make it more comfortable to hold. Remember: this stylus will not work on an iPhone, Android, Kindle Fire, or other device with a capacitive screen.
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