Recently Dixie Belle sent me a few of the new brushes they have come out with. In fact, they sent me three sets of two of them. The first set were prototypes of a sort and they just wanted some feedback on the quality. Then they sent a 2nd set of them … honestly, I’m not quite sure why … maybe they just mistakenly sent them? The third set was the final version of the product, and they have the name of the brush engraved on the side of the handle which is a nice touch.
I’ve worked with both of these brushes now and I found that the Best Dang Brush works beautifully for stenciling.
It’s nice and big, so you can make quick work of it.
I also think the Best Dang Brush would work well for waxing, although I haven’t tried it. I did try the La Petite brush for waxing, and it worked quite well.
That pointy end is perfect for working the wax into corners.
Both of these new brushes are now available on the Dixie Belle website in case you are in need of a fantastic stenciling or waxing brush.
Receiving these new brushes made me realize that my brush storage system was already at full capacity and I needed a new solution. So I headed off to Hobby Lobby and I came home with these galvanized containers.
They are divided into three sections each (although you can’t see that in the ‘before’ photo) which will help keep my brushes standing upright.
They aren’t terribly exciting to look at, but I liked the size of them and the price was right. They were originally $12.99, but 50% off the day I found them, so I got them for around $6.50 each.
Of course I had to dress them up a bit first, so I added some sections of the IOD Label Ephemera transfer to the front of each one.
Someone recently mentioned in a comment that this transfer has been retired. Such a bummer! It was so perfect for using on small projects like this. I guess you should stock up while they last (but leave some for me please)!
I decided to put all of my paint brushes into one container, and my wax brushes in another.
I know some of you must be looking at all of those brushes and thinking ‘jeesh, that’s an embarrassing quantity of brushes!’ and I don’t disagree.
When it comes to paint brushes, I really can use lots of them though. In the summer when I’m able to paint out in my carriage house workshop I often have multiple projects in different colors going at one time. I’ll often have half a dozen or more brushes in use simultaneously. I also like having different brushes for different things. Sometimes I want an angled brush (to get a clean edge), sometimes a brush with a short handle (to paint the insides of cupboard), sometimes a smaller brush, sometimes an inexpensive chip brush because I know I’m going to wreck it (using it for applying mod podge, I can never get that brush perfectly clean again) and so on.
So yes, I really can use this many paint brushes.
On the other hand, I definitely have too many wax brushes.
Don’t get me wrong, I always apply my wax with a brush and it’s very convenient to have enough wax brushes that I can use each one exclusively for a particular color of wax. At a minimum it’s good to have one brush for dark wax, one for white wax, and one for clear.
But as you can see, I have far more than that.
Quite honestly, having this many extra wax brushes has led to total laziness on my part. Rather than wash my wax brushes, I just pull out a new one when I’m ready to wax. How wasteful is that? So as soon as I’m done writing this post, I’m going to wash all of my wax brushes so that they are ready to go for my next painting project. I find the Fusion Brush Soap is perfect for cleaning wax brushes (check out this post for more on keeping your brushes clean).
I always end up feeling a bit guilty when I have ‘too much’ of something. Excess makes me uncomfortable.
So I’ve decided to give away the extra set of these brushes that I received from Dixie Belle. I suspect that some of you don’t have a bunch of wax brushes, or possibly don’t have any at all. For the first couple of years that I was painting furniture I applied my wax with an old t-shirt because I didn’t want to splurge on a good quality wax brush (and FYI, it’s much easier to apply wax with a brush). I’m hoping this pair of brushes can go to someone who will put them to good use.
The rules: Simply leave a comment on today’s blog post to have your name thrown in the hat to win.
Your comment must be left on this blog post, not on Facebook or Instagram. You are not required to follow my blog, although it would be awesome if you did!
I will randomly draw the name of a winner for today’s prize from all of the comments left on this post by Friday, March 26, 2021 at the stroke of midnight (U.S. Central time).
The fine print: no purchase necessary, you must be 18 years of age or older to win, void where prohibited by law, the number of eligible entries received determines the odds of winning, approximate retail value of prize is $50, if the prize is not claimed by Friday, April 2, 2021 another name will be drawn at random to win, blah, blah, blah.
As always, thanks to Dixie Belle for providing the items I am giving away. Good luck!
q is for quandie 