It’s true. I’m an art school kid. Guilty as charged. Which translates to mean that I have an arsenal of weird paraphernalia for all sorts of artsy ventures whether or not that was my main focus (I’m a gadget junky – I once had 5 garlic presses at the same time – but I digress) . I have boxes full of charcoal and a few different amazing sets of colored pencils, water color and other drawing pencils out the wazoo….as well as tons of fabulous pastels which have done little in the last few years than color the ferret when she found them on a shelf….I have canvases and wire, carving wax and tortillion stumps, screen printing ink and squeegees and enamels and glaze for this and that among other hidden pieces of odd… junk? But the most useful of the bunch is the paint tube wringer (official name, really). I was never a painter, so why do I have it? Who knows – it’s cool – but you should have one too.
I don’t use it to squeeze the last of my oil paints out for a masterpiece (because really, oils are stinky), or my acrylics for a sexy Alaskan landscape…I squeeze my toothpaste. And occasionally my husband squeezes his mustache wax. Seriously. Why? Because just like paints, all those little things in tubes are expensive and folks throw away still useful product just because they can’t get it out of the damn tube. Don’t! Go to your local art supply store and pick up a tube wringer for perhaps $5 and see that you use possibly 1 less whole tube of these products a year. I find after I squish the paste, when we couldn’t get any more out the conventional way, we get another 3-4 weeks of use. It really is worth the investment. I’m sure my parents supplied the cash to buy mine many moons ago (thanks guys!) and it was a fabulous investment.
annie.crafty.pants 