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Paint eaters anonymous.


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My name is Jeff Tibbetts, and I am a paint eater. 

 

So, I started painting in '88, and I probably used Testors and slopped it all over for the first year or two. After I got a little brush control, I moved up to GW paints in the chimney pots, and decent brushes. For as long as I can remember, the easiest and quickest way to get a nice point on those brushes is to run the tip through my pursed lips. 

 

I am far from alone in this practice. That being said, I've probably been eating paint since about '90 or so. That's like 23 years. Of course, like many hobbyists I've taken some breaks and I've gotten better at painting, so I don't do it nearly as much as I used to. It still happens. 

 

Some changes to the paint lines have really forced me to rethink this practice (those 'foundation' paints tasted downright toxic and it didn't take me long to leave those well alone.) 

 

Last night I went to cut a paint with some things I use for airbrush juice, namely Liquitex Flo-Aid (or whatever they call it) and Slow-Dry. Like I said, I rarely put the brushes in my mouth anymore but there is one case where it really helps. When I'm highlighting my paints are usually really thin. Once in a while when I paint around a recess, I'll slip up and the paint will flow into the recess. In that case, I always pop the brush in my mouth to remove any excess paint, and then I can touch it to the model and wick up the overpaint no problem. It's muscle-memory because it has to be done fast to work. Last night, with these chemicals added, I did it by accident and knew right away that it was a mistake. My tongue felt numb, and to my shock it lasted for about 2 hours. This morning my throat feels a bit scratchy but it's not too bad, and it's getting better. I won't be making that mistake again anytime soon.

 

Anyone else have interesting stories about the practice of mouth-shaping your brushes? When I think about the damage to my nerves, teeth, etc. it kind of freaks me out. 

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I'm not a paint eater, and when I first started in the hobby, I couldn't fathom how anyone could put that brush into their mouth.

 

But I must concede that my brushes don't last as long as a paint-eater's.

 

Which isn't a huge deal at all if you're not making the rookie mistake of buying GW brushes.

 

In any case, I wholly advocate breaking the paint-eating habit. Though I doubt the paint is all that bad for you (but I can't speak for the chemicals used in airbrushing!).

Hello all, I am Aridene and I am also a paint eater. I usually don't do it till after I have rinsed a brush. I started out with Testors also, thou I haven't owned any of it in many years. I have been lucky so far and have not had thinner on a brush that I have re-tipped. Thou I have wrecked a few pairs of pants do to my many times of spilling shade on myself. lol

I was once a paint eater, but once I graduated from acrylic paints to oils, I broke that habit quick. Eat enough chromium and cadmium and you start cutting off body parts as gifts for girls you want to notice you.

I will admit that now that I don't put my brushes in my mouth anymore, I don't seem to get the same points that I used to.

well i do not think of myself as a paint eater ... more of a conneseur of fine pigments ...

 

my first year in school it was paste .... followed shortly after that by white glue ...

 

then when i discovered model cars i progressed to enamels and laquers >.< (i refer to that as my dark years) ...

 

i have since moved on to acrylics ... though the occasional metalic does remind me i really should try to cut down...

Someone should get you guys off the street! :D

 

Toxic or not, paints are not edible. I would like to make this absolutely clear for the young and impressionable. You may think what's a little acrylic going to do to me? Probably nothing, but then you move on to harder stuff, enamel or oils and then there is no going back.

 

When someone offers you Nuln Oil, JUST SAY NO!

 

Seriously, don't eat paints.

The problem is much more severe than I had thought. And yes, metallics are terrible. I think most of us show the sense of appropriate reticence that one should expect. It's a terrible habit.

 

Just don't do it, kids. You don't want to end up with a problem.

I used to be quite blase about getting paint into my mouth, thinking it was non-toxic and I would be fine. Then someone on another forum was very ill due to ingesting paint from brush licking and it shocked me into changing my habits. Hearing about someone spending a month off work due to paint poisoning will do that. I used to quickly rinse my brushes in water before using my lips to point the brush, which would often result in some of the moisture from the brush getting into my mouth. I was also quite lax about changing the water while I painted and although it rarely had an effect on the colours (i'd only really change before I painted white), it most certainly had an effect on the amount of paint I got in my mouth from the residual water on the brush. I used to be able to identify which paint range/type i'd been using by taste alone.

 

I do still point my brush with my lips, but not until it's been thoroughly rinsed in clean water (which is regularly changed) and dried on a paper towel to absorb most of the moisture. I probably still get a miniscule amount of paint in my mouth - that's inevitable if you ever use your lips to point a brush, but it's not enough for me to notice. I couldn't tell you how any of the paints I use taste now, which is a good sign because it only takes a tiny amount of paint on the brush to make your entire mouth fill with the taste.

The only story of when I ate paint is when I was having some hobby ADD, painting and building stuff at the same time, I'd been washing one model with badab black when I had the idea to cut up another random model with my xacto knife, seconds later I cut my thumb open which had been covered in the affore mentioned badab black, stuck said digit into my mouth to stop the bleeding (because sticking an open wound into a place that's full of germs already is a winning idea) t'was not a pleasant taste that. Neither is Guilliman blue (it put my taste buds in stasis), nor Lamenters Yellow (which tasted of despair), though Flash Gitz isn't too too bad, I mean if you enjoy tasting acrylic.

Yeah I agree many times I've mistaken my coffee for a paint mug :/ and every time you hear all manner of improper words leave my mouth

 

I've dunked the brush in tea more than once, and I'm slightly ashamed to say I still drank the tea...

 

I suck the brush to bring it to a tip, after rinsing it in water. I'm very surprised about ToxicHobbit's story of someone getting paint poisoning, surely a tiny amount of highly diluted acrylic paint can't do that? He must have been using oils or enamel?

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