The Mother of Invention

They say that necessity is the mother of invention. This is never more true than when people start painting.

The application of masking fluid is unkind to brushes, so I always recommend using either a Colour Shaper, or a Ruling Pen. Both solutions are excellent ways of saving your brushes, but are quite expensive. I remember seeing how one student had whittled the end of a pencil rubber down to a point to use as an applicator, and was surprised to find another student recommending coffee-stir-ers from MacDonalds – excellent for the job, it would seem.

Home-made painting equipment comes in all shapes and sizes; I’ve seen Whiskey Bottle tubes used as brush containers and camera tripods converted into easels. I’m always in awe of brush-rolls hand-made by enterprising seamstresses…

Recently, I noticed a student of mine using what seemed like a fantastic ceramic mixing dish. It had 12 compartments that were sooo deep, and being ceramic, is wonderful to mix in (I much prefer ceramic to plastic – it’s like the difference between drinking tea out of a china mug compared to a plastic carton). I’d never seen such a mixing palette before and asked where she’d obtained it from, only to be told that it was an egg holder! It had been bought in Stafford, but recently she sent me a link to a place where the very same egg-holder can be purchased online for only £5.99! Here’s the link: http://www.lakeland.co.uk/ceramic-egg-tray/F/keyword/egg/product/12281

Thanks for that Wendy!!

I’m always intrigued by the ingenuity of students and their clever improvisations. If you have improvised, or know of some ingenious designs by fellow painters, I’d love to hear from you….