My new invention

So, we've talked a little about Bob Ross here. Because I’ve learned a little bit about his method, I’ve learned to use a 2 inch brush. Cleaning those larger brushes is a challenge.

Now Bob always cleans his brushes by dipping them in mineral spirits, and then beating them vigorously across the leg of his easel.  He always points out the cleaning his brush that way is a lot of fun. He also points out that if we clean our brushes at home that way, we’ll get paint and mineral spirits all over the walls.

I tried Bob’s brush cleaning method on the shower curtain bar in our downstairs bathroom. Bob was right, my wife was very unhappy with the results. But it worked, just like Bob says it does in his programs. The brush came away clean and dry after beating it furiously in the bar.

Since that experiment, I’ve given the whole brush cleaning problem a lot of thought. So recently I went to Deseret Industries, (a thrift store in Utah) and I bought an old plastic storage container for 2 dollars. Then I bought a wooden dowel at a hardware store. I cut the dowel to the width of the container, and I fastened the dowel about two thirds of the way down into the container, using screws through the outside. Can you picture that? Horrible description.

Anyway, the next time I painted, I cleaned my brushes the way Bob Ross does on his show. I dipped them generously in the mineral spirits, brushing them against the rack in the jar. Then I beat those brushes furiously against the dowel near the bottom of my plastic container. It worked PERFECTLY! The brushes came out dry and clean.

This is the first in a line of things that I hope will make my painting cleaner, faster, and easier.

I’ll upload a picture of my container, or bucket, as soon as I can.

Here it is: