Making Art Together At Home Art Studio Painting Theory and Resources

DIY Silly Paint Brushes

Meghan Burch
December 14, 2011

We’ve purchased fun painting tools from art suppliers before. Many are made of such basic components, I figured we could make some with stuff we already had on hand. One of the Studio’s volunteers, Sarah, made and tested a batch of brushes with tempera paint. 

Curved Edge Brush
A hand folds a pink piece of thin foam in half.
A hand folds a pink piece of thin foam with cuts made along the folded edge of the foam.
A hand rolls the cut foam around the end of a pencil.
A hand holding a homemade brush, with the pink foam attached to the end of a pencil with a rubber band.
Starting with a 6” x 6” piece of flexible craft foam, she folded it in half and then made perpendicular cuts along the folded edge. Then she rolled the foam tightly around a pencil and used a rubber band to secure it.
A handmade craft foam brush creating orange dots.
Straight Edge Brush
A hand folding a thin piece of orange foam in half, with cuts made on the open edges.
A hand holding a homemade brush, with the orange foam attached to the end of a pencil with a rubber band.

To make this brush she made cuts along the open edge of the folded foam and then rolled the pencil inside.  It would be fun to try varying the space between the cuts to make wider or narrower fringe. A couple of our brushes slid on the pencil if the foam wasn’t rolled tightly enough. That was solved with a dab of hot glue down in the middle or re-rolling the foam.  I suppose you could also put a bead of hot glue on the end of the pencil before rolling it in the foam to keep it in place.

A close-up of the straight edge brush creating orange and blue marks.
I think theses paintbrushes would make a fun stocking stuffer or package topper. I could also see a  “bouquet” of brushes (use green pencils!) in a vase making a great gift for a teacher.
Meghan, smiling and wearing a grey shirt with a blue background.

Meghan Burch

Art Educator from 2003-2016, Meghan has a BFA in Illustration from Massachusetts College of Art and Design. She tries to think with materials and work with her hands every day.
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