Tole Chatter #35

I’m baaaack ……. In Denver that is.  <smile>    Yes, I moved back to Denver and I’m loving it.  How nice to see my chapter friends at the luncheon, I sure missed seeing you all while I was living in Wichita.

Let’s start with a tip ……..   Do you have one of the rotary cutters?  If not, they aren't very expensive, but you can get a nice straight cut using one of them with a steel ruler.  I use them when I'm cutting the bottom off of sweatshirts.  Just hold the ruler down tight and roll the rotary cutter across using the ruler as a guide and you have a razor sharp cut.  Sharon Saylor-Chinn, CDA

Maxine's Mop Brushes … by Jamie Mills-Price 
They are made of a durable soft, white goat hair (you can easily tell when they are dirty) and they have great "pounceability.  The bristles are nicely tapered . You can mop with your brush held perpendicular to your project, as well as mop with your brush held parallel to your surface.  They have pretty purple handles!   <wink>
How to use the Mop Brush:
There are MANY ways to use a mop brush, this is what works for me...  Nearly every teacher will have a technique that works best for  them...try them out and see what works best for *YOU*.
The mop should be DRY.
When I mop, I begin in the water area of the float. In other words -I am going to start mopping in the clear area and work in towards the paint area of the float.  Mop with a soft up and down motion, (kiss the surface) don't pounce so hard you can hear it tapping!
As you move your brush up and down...bring it gradually in toward the paint area. This should soften any harsh floats, as well as pick up any little imperfections in the float that you aren't happy with.
You may need to clean your mop after several floats.  If you move from one strong color to another, you will 'see' that color come up in your floats if your mop is 'dirty'.
Clean your mop by swishing it back and forth across a water dampened paper towel.   IF you have old, dried paint built up in it...then you will have to use a brush cleaner to clean it. Just rinse it well, and make sure you let it dry before using it!

Since we are on the subject of Jamie be sure and checkout her website for  those cute free patterns she loves to give visitors to her website.   http://betweenthevines.com/index.html
Jamie has several offered right now.  She also has a video clips so you can watch her paint one of her methods.

If you enjoy watching painting videos here’s a link to YouTube that has twelve different well known artists demonstrating their techniques.   Whoa........ be still my heart!  The link will be on our website.
http://uk.youtube.com/results?search_query=smbrush&search_type=aq=f

Margot Clark …..  One of my “Prime Your Palette” columns in PaintWorks Magazine was on tiles and I did test that tile for 6 months in my shower that gets used at least once a day.  This tile was painted last September (2002) and has been in my shower since then, exposed to our hard water and daily showers for two people.  Every time I cleaned my shower tiles, I cleaned the sample too.  It cleaned up perfectly and showed no signs of wear or of any water damage.  I basecoated the clean, glazed tile with two coats of J.W.etc.  UnderCover allowing the UnderCover to dry thoroughly between coats.  This product bonded to the glaze and gave me "tooth" on which to paint.  I then painted my design with DecoArt Acrylics and let the painting dry for twenty-four hours.  Six coats of J.W. etc. Polyurethane Gloss, allowing proper drying time between coats finished the tile.  I did varnish the back, too, so no water could get in but that would not be necessary if the tile was grouted.  I let the tile cure for a week and then into the shower it went.  So ... careful preparation and proper finishing will allow you to create hand painted tiles that will hold up to daily wear.

Cleaning brushes … Phyllis Tilford, CDA
Now, I don't say this lightly, and I ABSOLUTELY DON'T recommend  that anyone use it ROUTINELY to clean their brushes, even though it's  tempting, but if you DO have a brush that, because of your actions, or  lack of actions, was not cleaned properly and/or left with acrylic paint to dry  in it, or so much paint or varnish buildup in the ferrule, or forgotten and  hardened with varnish that you pretty much feel it  must be trashed...this  de-natured alcohol will make that brush new again.   But...use it properly in the following manner:
Pour just enough in a GLASS jar to cover past the bristles/ferrule joint  area, not over the ferrule/handle joint.  Place the brush in the container, and swish, using some pressure on the bristles if totally hardened ... until they soften.  I hesitate to even say "soak" it, because too long of a soak is not good for the bristles. When the bristles begin to soften, use pressure to fan them out in the alcohol,  applying pressure up in the ferrule area.  Next wipe the brush, using heavy pressure on the ferrule area, on a  DRY soft paper towel.  You'll see the paint begin to lift off the bristles.  If you've ever had a "preggie" ferrule, and the chisel edge has a fish mouth as a result, you'll pull colors out of that ferrule area you won't even remember using!   Repeat this entire procedure until no more paint is visible when pulled from the ferrule when applied to a DRY area of the paper towel.   Then...immediately wet the brush and clean the brush thoroughly with Murphy's Oil Soap. Repeat this cleaning with Murphy a couple of times as well.  If you don't clean it properly or immediately, it can harm the bristles in other ways.  Your brush will be as good as new if cleaned properly this way.

That’s it for now.  I hope to see you at the colored pencil seminar or the museum tour in October!

Melinda