Yesterday I gave you my overview of the new Martha Stewart Paints by Plaid– today, I’m going to give you the overview of some of the tools and accessories that are part of the line. While you may not NEED these accessories, they are so well-made and brilliantly-designed that you find that these tools will save you time and expand your creativity.
Brushes:
The Martha Stewart Paints brushes all feature ergonomically designed, soft grip handles and white nylon bristles. I used them in most of my painting tests, and they were SO comfortable in the hand- that “soft grip” is almost like a sueded finish, and if you are painting for hours at a time- like I was- they really kept my hand fatigue down.
I craft like a maniac and often I’m splashing paint and water about, and those handles stayed comfy and n0n-slip the whole time.
Striping and Patterning Brushes
Now, it wouldn’t be “Martha”if there weren’t some specialty finish brushes as well. These ones pictured offer brushes that make it a snap to create fish scales, stripes, dry brushing effects, even plaids!
I used the 3-pronged fine brush, the wider 2-pronged brush, and the “dry brush” ones to create the birdhouse.
 Specialty Tops
Here’s where I just got super-impressed. The Martha Stewart Paints have very small openings once you take the flip-cap lid off.
Martha and her crew devised set of specialty tops- a foam pouncer top, fine tips, rollers, and foam brushes- that you can screw right on to the top of your bottles and paint directly from them! I was SO impressed.
Of course, I tried these out immediately on some Transfer Medium (foam brush)….
…and also the fine tip.
It was SO easy to control the flow of paint using the fine tip- I loved the precision it gave me. And with the foam brush, you just squeeze and paint, squeeze and paint- no stopping to reload a brush. The best part is that you can just toss the cap if you are done with it or you can wash it out and get a few uses from it. (I opted for the former when I used it for the Transfer Medium, as it dries sticky, and the latter for when I was using paint.)
The only downside with these products is that while they give you an empty bottle for custom-mixing colors and mediums, they do NOT give you a funnel for that abnormally small opening! None of the funnels in my house worked- I’ll have to get some mini-funnels from ConsumerCrafts soon.)
Foam Pouncers
I use foam brushes all the time- you know they are super-cheap, break down in the middle of a project, but they are SO cheap you just throw them away. Well, Martha Stewart Foam Pouncers are, like, the opposite of that. Indicated as “best to use for painting smooth surfaces like glass,” I actually used them to apply paints to foam stamps for smooth even coverage.
They have a plastic handle that is pretty easy to grip (I kinda wish that it was more contoured) but the quality of the sponge is amazing. I was able to rinse and re-use them multiple times….and when I forgot to rinse it out and it dried crispy, I just took out the sponge part, flipped it over, and re-inserted it into the handle. You get a two-fer with each pouncer!
Now, I know I haven’t mentioned the Stencil Brush Set or the Specialty Sponge set…but I’ll get to those later this week when I cover the stencils, ok?
Feel free to leave a comment and/or ask questions-I’m happy to help if I can!
Disclosure: sample provided for review purposes.
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Linn Rivera says
cool martha stuff 🙂 love those wide pouncers thanks for sharing 🙂
Heather - Dollar Store Crafts says
Great reviews! Good thinking on the funnel!
Danielle says
thank you, for sharing with us…
edie says
Need coupons. Need coupons!
lol!
edie
Johnnie says
Thanks for the lovely review. That birdhouse is adorable! Stumble, tweet, pin! The Crafterminds spreadsheet link took me to a 404 error. I just clicked on your home button to find the post.
Saved By Love Creations
Mod Podge Amy says
Yay Jenny! Great review. Good points on all the tools 😀
Jenny says
Thanks, Amy- I appreciate the feedback!
Chris Wooten says
martha crafts are always so cool..thanks for sharing with us…
mcwooten1999@carolina.rr.com
Karen says
I gather that the custom lids won’t fit any other brands of craft paint?
Jenny says
You are correct. The Folk Art & Plaid paints I’ve seen all have wider mouths & the specialty caps will not fit on them.
whitnee says
The extra bottle included is not for mixing other colors. It is for cleaning the brush caps. You fill it with water and put the cap you just used on it and squeeze it through to aid in rinsing it. There is a video about it on the website.
Jenny says
Go figure. I would still use it for mixing custom colors! : ) -Jenny