Gramma Weeze's Brushes

milk paints and my grandmothers brushes, feb 09

what you can't see when the trees are in leaf, feb 09

Recently I ordered Milk Paint samples. Have you heard of milk paint? I discovered them through Amy Sol's blog posting about her materials (check out her work by the way, it's lovely). After doing a little more research was really impressed by the following: they are non-toxic, environmentally-friendly, and method of painting steeped in historical tradition using ground pigment and milk protein. I've only just started experimenting with them, but so far I like them. They can be used for a huge variety of projects from painting a home, to furniture, to art work. Right now I'm working on a lot of flower orders, but as soon as I have some time to play with these more, I will post up some pictures.

Here they are shown in the open lid of an old wooden box that would have held silver in a previous life. The brushes (with the exception of a handful I've aquired and added) belonged to my grandmother Louise; I called her Gramma Weeze. My grandmother was clearly fastidious about the care of her wide variety of paintbrushes because they are still in such excellent condition. I feel very lucky to be the guardian of these tools now and have sometimes wondered if some of her spirit is contained in the brushes, flowing through me when I use them.