do-it-yourself foam brush

i use foam brushes all the time to apply varnish - they are great because they're so cheap and disposable, but they are also a huge waste. i came upon some gray foam the other day, and i decided to make my own brushes with it! using a wooden clothespin as the handle, it's easy to do and you can reuse the wood indefinitely.

Step 1 Cut the foam

you can cut the foam with a knife or scissors

Comments

[rolichu]

awesome! i just did this. i never would have though to do so otherwise

[RiddleOfSphinx]

This is good for making it extremely small, down to the size of the clothespin. I like any ible that makes something more versatile and customizable :D

[smokehill]

Good, simple instructable! I did something similar years ago when I came across some really nice-quality foam couch cushions being thrown out. I had no particular use in mind for them, but a few months later my wife ran out of foam brushes on a project, and I remembered the cushions, whose covers were completely shot, only good for keeping dust off the nice foam while it is being stored. I cut up some little blocks, finally deciding that big utility scissors did a better job than Xacto blades, etc. -- but didn't have the patience to fiddle with gluing little dowels to the foam blocks, so I used an old stainless steel hemostat as a handle. Worked fine, HOWEVER -- this might not be optimum for precise painting. Since we were just slopping stain and clear-coat, the hemostat was fine; for more delicate work the clothespin might give a better grip for the hand. The hemostat was great, basically indestructible, but one warning that might also apply to the clothespin: don't leave a used foam block to dry in the holder. After leaving a stain-filled block in the hemostat for a few days, it took a lot of work with a brass brush to get the impacted crud out of the serrated tips. I still have a lot of foam left, and I'm going ot pick up some wood or plastif\c clothespins at the dollar store for the next project. One thing I've heard, but not personally tried, is that an old electric knife (usually a buck or so at yard sales) does an incredibly fast & neat job of slicing foam (and fiberglass insulation), especially if you have a lot of it to do. Never tried it, but it seems believable & worth a shot.

[bcr8ve]

This is great! I use foam brushes for various artsy projects. I've washed some of them out with varying success. I like this idea because I can cut a brush precisely the width I need. Thanks!

[Mr. Rig It]

Ahhh... simple, effective, and efficient. You get my personal (Me Likey) award. Great Idea.

[stone3408]

This might be one of the shortest instructables I've seen. It may also be one of the most useful as well, outstanding idea! Simple. Perfect.

[advoo]

One of the best ideas i have seen over here.

[fungus amungus]

How do you get a good angled tip on it?

[theRIAA]

i think you can just cut it at an angle with the scissors