As part of my effort to go green, I’ve been planning to try to eliminate paper towels. Right now I use shop towels that come from Lowes in a box. I don’t use a tun of them – maybe an average of one per painting. But that doesn’t seem so green.
So far I’ve tried
- scraping my brush with the palette knife before wiping it. That’s great, and I plan to continue.
- wiping my brush on scrap cardboard after the palette knife and before wiping it. This is going to get some upgrades.
- using cut up old t-shirt instead of paper towels. This works best with thick fabric with low lint levels. Thin fabric is no good. I’m going to try more fabrics to try to get the best one.
After trying all that, I’m finding that going totally towel free will take more planning and work, although I do think it’s doable. I’m starting to research paper towels that I feel better about using – ones made from recycled material or bamboo or cotton, for plein air trips… Suggestions welcome!