Hot take: Dollar store paint brushes vs. foam brushes for craft projects

I'm working on a set of small wooden signs for my daughter's wedding favors and hit a wall with my dollar store paint brushes. The bristle ones left streaks no matter how careful I was, but the foam brushes kept shedding little bits into the paint. I went with the foam ones after 3 tries because the streaks were worse, but now I'm picking foam fuzz off 20 signs. What's your pick for dollar store brush projects, and how do you avoid the flaws?

2 comments

2 Comments

lee.lucas1mo agoMost Upvoted

The dollar store brush thing is actually part of a bigger lesson I've learned the hard way with cheap tools. You can get two of three things from a bargain item: cheap price, decent function, and no cleanup hassle. With bristle brushes you get cheap price and no cleanup (just toss them) but bad function with streaks. Foam gives you cheap price and better function but creates that messy fuzz problem. For your signs, try cutting the little frayed edge off a new foam brush with scissors before you dip it in paint, that one snip saved me from picking fuzz off a whole batch of ornaments last Christmas.

wesleypatel29d ago

This whole idea applies to a lot more than just paint brushes honestly. @lee.lucas laid it out pretty well with that two out of three thing and I see it everywhere with cheap stuff. Kitchen tools are the same way you can get a cheap pan that cooks uneven or a cheap knife that won't hold an edge but at least you didn't spend much. The trick is figuring out which two things matter most for what you are doing right now. For quick projects where I just need it to work once that cheap and functional combo saves me time and frustration.