Weirdest thing in your paint kit?

Do you have any weird things in your kit? Things you wouldn't expect other people to have? Perhaps things that weren't originally made for the purpose they serve for you but end up being extremely useful?

Yesterday I was on the lookout for a brush at the art store, you know the kind with the bristles spread like a fan and evenly spaced tufts higher than the rest hoping to find something to make a nice fur pattern. I need to do a lot of full face animals, and I was thinking of doing a werewolf for my final contest entry. So a brush like that might do the trick! They didn't have any. Later I was at the Jewel and just happened to see one of these http://www.chinatraderonline.com/Food-Prep-Gadgets/Barbecue/Silicone-Basting-Brush-093201471.htm And then a crazy thought came over me. So I bought it. Tried it. And I found I can get two different fur patterns from it! I can either load the sides and tap/flop the brush sideways to make it have a smooth fur pattern, the way you hold the brush determining the direction of the fur. Or have a more patchy top coat by loading the bottom normally and then dragging like you would a normal brush. It's much thicker at the 'root' of the stroke and then tapers off like fur. I'm not sure if it actually looks good though. I kind of think if I keep practicing with it I can get it to look good. Or maybe it's just a dumb idea. But this is what I can do just playing around after a couple seconds https://imgur.com/NBKGD (The wrist area is where I painted and dragged, the lower area is just tapping the side of it to let the 'bristles' make the pattern. I think I'll hold onto it until I find a better way to do fur. I'm hoping to pick up some stencils, though I think this will be 'lighter' than what a stencil will give me.

I also use this for squirting paint off my brushes. http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_MYRNDMf_IWo/TLI96kFhk2I/AAAAAAAAHmA/B_VXByXg4Fg/s1600/House_BBQ_Sauce.jpg (Same bottle, but water only!) Debating if I should add a swish bowl first, then this second to get the last bit of paint off. I'm not sure if this one is weird or not XD

And the last weird thing I have is this http://trinityceramic.com/tools/clay-shapers/angle-chisel/size-6-angle-chisel-firm . It helps me when I make... mistakes. It could be easily replaced with a Qtip I suppose, but after getting it to experiment with it, it helps when I accidentally get too much water on my brush and I can quickly stop it from 'escaping'. Or if I need to do a touch up later sometimes this lets me get away with removing paint in a certain area rather than smudging everything everywhere with a paper towel and having to redo the entire dang thing. It can be used to paint with, but I haven't played with that possibility yet since I've got brushes that do that already.


What weird things do you folks use? I think I saw someone blotting paint on with burlap for texture? Which may seem strange, but also a good technique I bet!

Since i am new the stranges thing in my kit ---mints---not for painting, for me! I did add a large screw after seeing someones robot on here--

AvidLebon: Is that little chisel thing made of rubber with a little "give" in it? I bought a cheap set of those on the off-chance I might be able to use them as dotting wands, but they didn't work for that use. They might not be a total waste though (even if they were only 1.99 or something) if I can use them how you describe.

Amy: Ooh, the screw is a good idea! I haven't seen the post you describe, but I'm definitely stealing a large-headed screw out of the home toolkit.

I don't really have anything that unusual in my kit, being so new to this. I do keep Rescue Remedy Pastilles in there for nerves, Dextro-Energy tablets for the shakes and ibuprofen tablets for headaches, though....but I'm guessing none of that is very unusual, it's just planning ahead!

Mints are essential kit when you're breathing in people's faces!

Oddest thing in my kit is probably a cut off piece of fishnet stocking. I very occasionaly use it as a fabric 'stencil' for texture, but mostly i haven't got round to throwing it away. I find it hard to use since it's stretchy. You need three hands!

Yep! They're rubbery with a bit of give, they let me swoop in and grab a drop before it runs amuck! If I'm fixing my own face I can get it wet (well, more like balance water on it) and get the paint I smudged wet and them I can scoop the old old paint off

Screw? I must have missed that thread- do you paint the top of it and use it like a stamp?

Mints are a great idea! I forgot gum for work once- ohhhhy I was so self conscious I'd take a few steps back and pretend to grab something whenever I talked to them.

I wonder if a fishnet stocking attached to a needlepoint frame would make it more stencily? I'm not sure what design you could use that pattern on offhand http://www.threadsandpatches.co.uk/acatalog/Wooden_Hoops.jpg

That's not a bad notion, actually. As to what you use it for, on faces it makes a nice net pattern for masquerade masks or veils. I'm sure there are other things, but I didn't bother after I found it needed more hands than I had available.

Dental tools - multiple uses.

restricted just to my paint kit? or my whole FatMax clown case? ... my paint kit is actually pretty boring... paint, wipes, glitter, qtips, bobby pins, brushes, glitter, business cards, gum, stencils... but my whole FatMax, now that's another story. Parachute, duct tape, crayons, colouring books, shower curtain rings, batteries, balloons, balloon pump, letter opener, sharpies, rubber duck...

OOOH I bet it looks great for masquerade masks. For some reason I was thinking of the really big looped ones.

Dental Tools? All I can think of is little hooks and mirrors. Gosh! I get enough kids afraid that it is going to hurt* already I can only imagine how much of a conniption they'd have if they saw THAT. What do you use them for? I'm half guessing something to do with your split cakes?

(I guess they've only experienced doctors and dentists and maybe a few haircuts, so they just assume that whatever is being done to them is going to hurt. But they squint their eyes tight, clench their little fists, and while trembling let me know they're ready. And I'll try to tell them it won't hurt, do my best to convince them it won't, painting a couple stitches on my cheek and then their hand so they can see what I'm doing. Yet some of them are still shaking, thinking it will hurt, but REALLY REALLY REALLY want to look like spiderman. They're so funny about it.)

Bobby pins? I've always had the problem with strands of hair in the wind when I'm painting outside, but always been afraid to use anything in their hair because little ickys can get transferred from one child to another so easily. So I just hope their moms have something. A solution would be so nice though. TeeHeeHee rubber duck XD

I buy bobby pins at the dollar store and most kids just walk away with them anyway, so no problem. If the give them back I toss them in the garbage can. I think I get about 100 for a dollar.

AvidLebon wrote:
Dental Tools? All I can think of is little hooks and mirrors. Gosh! I get enough kids afraid that it is going to hurt* already I can only imagine how much of a conniption they'd have if they saw THAT. What do you use them for? I'm half guessing something to do with your split cakes?

The picks clear the airholes in airbrush bottles, unclog glitter gels, clear the holes in my Fardel pumps, pry up stuck lids and the plastic covers on paints, are useful in applying sfx and gems...

The palette knife removes make-up from containers, mixes colours, scrapes things off, smooths out gels, cuts through any make-up, scoops liquids out of bottles...

The set contains about a dozen different tools - half picks and half scrapers. I use most of them for SFX.



Bottom one is my most useful. Middle one is good too.

Oh I see! Thanks for sharing I don't use airbrushes or sfx yet (Well, not since years ago when I did for fun helping at a haunted house), but I completely understand how useful they are now. It's really neat hearing how diverse everyone's skills and set ups are on here!

I never reuse hair stuff. I always have either bobby pins or the little teeny butterfly clips from the dollar store and the kids keep them.

The weirdest thing in my paint kit was a "Squishy Hand Slapper".
It was a gelatinous translucent hand on a stretchy gelatinous handle that my daughter got in the claw machine at the nearby hockey arena. Shortly after they got it, it was being used in the car, to torture their sister in the back seat. I was driving. I told them to stop. I got whacked with the Slappy hand. I grabbed it and peeled it off the side of my face. I kept it. I put it down on the dining room table. I spilled some Swarovski crystals and some got stuck to the Slappy hand.

I use the Slappy hand to pick up very small gems, apply glue and then apply to the face/body. I thought I could do more than one at a time with all the space on the Slappy hand. I can only do one at a time. It gets ugly and fuzzy and I just wash it in mild dish liquid. It still has a thumb and a middle finger. It is missing the other three fingers.

xoxox

Okay, I confess... I keep a cardboard paper towel roll (no paper towels left on it).

Bet NO ONE can guess why....

Um, to kill spiders?

xoxxo

Miss Ronnie wrote:Okay, I confess... I keep a cardboard paper towel roll (no paper towels left on it).

Bet NO ONE can guess why....

Brush storage?

To kill Mosquitos?

You're rather murderous thing morning.

I need a coffee.

I was going to go with brush storage too, or store sponges or possibly to outline eye sockets/circles.

PS Shannon love your name

Signed
Another Shannon

I have those things with rubber on it to (Also to make dots and very sharp lines! For dots it easier to use my normal brushes)

I can't get used to having the lage painting brushes (really long steels) it was a cheap set, but they paint great!!! Just looks stupid!

ooo I have pieces of cut up sponges we use in the kitchen...
These:

I want to know if I can make beards with them

Miss Ronnie, you could use it as a stamp... makes nice rounds I can imagine

daphne78 wrote:
These:

I want to know if I can make beards with them

You could... but be gentle as they are scouring pads!

Weirdest thing in my kit.


A couple of plastic cockroaches.

You just never know when you will need them.