When I was a wee one, getting in the way of my grandfather in his basement-cave workshop, it was watching him working with his painting tools and materials that really made a lasting impression on me. I remember the numerous coffee cans full of turpentine and brushes; his large, well-cared-for brush collection; his rows of carefully marked paints; and the paint stirring sticks with advertisements for various paint and hardware stores. Probably my first “maker project” was a painting project in Gramps’s shop. He told me I could paint something. I couldn’t think of what to paint, but I really wanted to do a project next to him while he worked. My parents had just bought me a metal Lone Ranger lunch box, so I decided I would paint that. I painted both the box and the thermos silver. It was a strange thing to do. I ended up with a generic-looking, all-silver box. My parents weren’t too happy with what I’d done, but I was proud to carry my new lunch box because I had “made it.”

I wish my grandfather was around today so that I could pick his brain for painting tips. I bet he would have some good ones. In lieu of tips from Gramps, here are some from friends and fellow makers that I have collected from conversations, YouTube videos, online projects, and the pages of Make:.

Re-pointing Detail Brush Tips

To re-point small detail brushes after cleaning them, pinch the tip into the crease of your palm (at the base of your fingers) and at the same time twist the handle.

Use a Paint Shield

When you’re painting trim, don’t use painter’s tape to mask off above baseboards and other areas you don’t want paint on; use a paint shield. Paint shields are inexpensive and come in various styles and sizes. You can also use a wide putty knife, a dustpan, or even a piece of cardboard with a straight edge to shield the area you don’t want to paint while you paint the area that you do. The shield is especially useful when painting baseboard on a carpeted floor.

Raise Up Finishing Work with Screws

To raise up chairs and other pieces of relatively light furniture you are painting, drill some temporary screws halfway into the bottom of the legs. Just be careful not to split the wood. Raising the piece up will keep it from sticking to whatever you are painting it on and will make it easier to reach all the areas you need to.

Squeegee with a Rubber Band

To give you a better, neater way of wiping paint off your brush (so you don’t get it in the gutter of the lid and down the sides), create a drip stopper/squeegee in the middle of the can. You can use a bent coat hanger or even just put a taut rubber band around the can and across the center of the top. The idea is to have a rigid piece across the opening in the top of the can to scrape the brush across to clean excess paint from the brush.

Don’t Contaminate Your Supply

While many of us think nothing of working right out of a can of paint, squeegeeing the brush over the can as we go, professional painters tell you not to do this. Always transfer a working quantity of paint into a tray or an extra paint can and work from there. When you squeegee right into the can, you are introducing dirt, dust, or anything else that the brush picked up from whatever you are painting. The less you work directly from your supply, the cleaner you will keep your paint.

Create Drain Holes in Your Cans

To prevent paint from pooling in the gutters of your cans (and spattering everywhere when you tap the lid shut), sink a few drain holes in the gutter with a nail or ice pick. [JD]

Trim Crusty Rollers

Trim the crusty, splayed edges of your rollers at a tapered angle to prevent the edge of the brush from creating tracks as you paint.

Masking with Aluminum Foil

Use aluminum foil as a quick and clean masking material for door knobs and fixtures.

Lining Paint Trays with Foil

Aluminum foil can also be used to cover the inside pan of a paint tray, extending over the edges, so that cleanup is little more than balling up the foil. You should cover it with several layers in case the foil tears.

Concoct a Paint and Brush Holder

You can make a quick and handy paint receptacle and brush holder out of a plastic milk jug. Cut into a gallon milk jug about 5″ from the bottom on the side of the jug opposite the handle. Cut from this 5″ mark all of the way up and stop where the jug starts to curve toward the spout and back around, cutting away the rest of the two sides of the jug, but leaving the whole top and spout area intact. You now have a 5″ deep paint tray (or however deep you wish to make it) with a carrying handle and a ring at the top where you can slot in the handle of your brush.

Make Your Own Fabric Paint

You can take your favorite acrylic paint, in any color, and turn it into fabric paint simply by adding textile medium to it, which you can find in any craft store.

Whip up a Binder Clip Brush Holder

When cleaning brushes, you should never let the brush rest on the bottom of the solvent container. An easy way to create a brush holder that suspends the brush at the desired height in the solvent is simply by using a binder clip with one “pressing lever” up and one down, sitting on the edges of a jar, and the clip holding the brush in place above the cleaning solution.

Reviving Wood Putty

To re-soften a can of wood putty, simply add corn oil to the dried-out lump, and keep adding oil until you work it back to its original consistency. [DFJ]

Label Your Paint Can Bottoms

On the bottoms of your paint cans, write the names of the rooms, pieces of furniture, and other items you painted with that color, so you won’t forget. [CS]

Creating a Brush Cleaning Rack

Maker Craig Smith made this three-stage paint thinner jar/rack system. The top board has 4″ circles cut out of it with a circle cutting bit, and the bottom board has 3¾″ holes so the jars cannot fall through. Four dowels glued in hold the rack together. The jars should be filled with thinner no more than ¹/₃ full. After several weeks of sitting, oil-based paints will fall out of the brushes and settle to the bottom of the jars. The now-clear thinner in the tops of the jars can be carefully poured into a container, the settled paint sludge cleaned out of the jars, and the thinner poured back in. One quart of paint thinner will last dozens of brush cleanings with excellent results and minimal waste. You can be confident in buying high-quality paint brushes to achieve superior results, and you’ll be able to use them over and over.

Reviving Old Cans of Spray Paint

Occasionally, a used can of spray paint will refuse to spray. Remove the nozzle and soak it overnight in a solvent such as mineral spirits or paint thinner to dissolve the gunked-on paint. If that doesn’t work, try putting the can in a bucket of hot (not boiling!) water. This will reduce the viscosity of the paint, and help increase pressure in the can. Obviously, be careful not to heat the can too much. You want the contents warm, not hot.

Learn Basic Spray Paint Techniques

First, make sure that the surface to be painted is clean, free of rust and debris, and smooth. Any surface bumps or imperfections will show through the paint, so use sandpaper or steel wool to clean and smooth the surface; then use a lint-free cloth to remove any remaining dust.

Start with a can of spray paint that is room temperature and shake it for three or four minutes to mix the paint thoroughly. You can’t shake the can too much, but you can shake it too little! Be sure to shake the can occasionally while painting as well.

Press down on the nozzle, holding the can about 10″ to 12″ away from the surface, aimed to one side. Then, in one fluid motion, sweep the paint horizontally across the surface and release the nozzle when you reach the other side. Use your entire arm to move the can, not just your wrist, and be sure to start the spray before reaching the surface and release after passing the other edge of it.

For a large surface where multiple passes are required, overlap your passes slightly. Several light coats, allowing the paint to dry in between, will look much better than one heavy coat. Different paints dry at different rates, so read the instructions on the back of the can for drying times. Be patient; apply multiple light, smooth layers of paint (usually at least three); and your paint job will come out looking professional.

This was excerpted from “5 Techniques to Spray Paint Like a Pro,” by Jordan Bunker, makezine.com.

Sanding off Edges on Masks

YouTube maker Laura Kampf, shared this tip for using sandpaper to create a clean edge when masking off an area for painting. Once you have the area masked off, you simply sand your mask along the edges of the workpiece with fine sandpaper to “cut” the mask cleanly away. Of course, this only works when masking defined edges and on materials that are hard enough to create a workable cutting edge. [LK]

Use Painter’s Tape as a Template

James Floyd Kelly writes: “Stick painter’s tape to a piece of glass. Place the glass over a pattern (or lettering) you want to transfer to the tape. Shine a light from underneath the pattern and glass and you can now trace the pattern onto the blue tape. Once the image is transferred, cut it out with a hobby knife blade. Peel the tape off the glass, apply to an object, and you’ve got an instant template.” [JFK]

Taking Advantage of the Low Tack of Painter’s Tape

If you peel slowly and carefully, the low adhesive nature of the tape won’t damage paint on an item, and can even be applied to cardboard and other paper items. It’s strong enough to hold electronics components in place before soldering, and it doesn’t leave any residue (like duct tape often will) when you peel it away from plastics. [JFK]

Clearing Spray Paint Nozzles

Here’s a tip that everyone should know already (and always practice). When you are finished using canned spray paint, turn the can upside down and give it one more toot to clear any paint remaining in the nozzle (which can dry and clog it). [LK]

Store Old Nozzles in Acetate

One of our online readers, BonzoDog1, says, “In addition to clearing paint nozzles by inverting the can and spraying propellant, I remove all nozzles before throwing used cans away and keep them in a jar of acetone. If a new aerosol can clogs, I can usually find a replacement.”

Adding Agitator Balls

If you have hobby or craft paints in small pots or bottles, consider buying some stainless steel agitator balls (also known as tumbling shot and burnishing balls). You can get packages of these online for under US$10. Drop one or two of these in your paint bottles, and you’ll be able to mix your paints with a few good shakes. That shaking ball sound, so familiar in “rattle can” paints and nail polish bottles, is also strangely satisfying to hear.

Making Your Own Paint Washes

Anyone who’s ever done any high-end hobby painting, such as tabletop miniatures, scale modeling, or cosplay, knows how effective washes can be in achieving the look of realistic weathering, battle damage, and deep shading. Knowing how to use washes effectively is one of the things that separates the beginner from the more advanced painter. And if you already know this, you also know that commercial washes can be expensive and the range of colors limited. To make your own, all you need is a few drops of your desired paint color, some matte medium, distilled water, and some empty eyedropper bottles. There are many DIY paint wash recipe videos on YouTube. Some of them add Flow Aid medium to the above recipe. This helps the wash resist clinging to high surfaces and flow better into the nooks and crannies where you want it. This tip appeared in a video on the Brush4Hire YouTube channel.

Making Your Own Matte Glaze Medium

Thinning acrylic paint with matte glaze medium for painting miniatures and other models can be a game-changer. Everyone who gets serious about miniature painting knows that keeping your base paints very thin and adding them in several layers makes for a much nicer paint job. But thinning the paints in water tends to separate the water and pigment, which makes it difficult to get a thin coat and achieve adequate coverage. Enter matte glaze medium, such as Lahmian Medium, sold by Games Workshop. It is designed to maintain the integrity of the thinned paint for smoother coverage. And, it turns out that you can very easily make your own (for next to nothing). All you need is a quantity of deionized (distilled) water, say 6–8 oz., into which you add 4–5 drops of matte medium (available at any art/crafts supplier). Shake, and that’s it. You can experiment with the number of drops that give you the best result. I made up a batch of this and it has already made me a better painter. Being able to thin your paint, while maintaining decent pigment density, allows you to paint beautiful, thin layers. This tip comes from the Luke’s APS YouTube channel.