If you’re a crafter or like to DIY then you’ve probably got a stash of old paint brushes lying around somewhere. Maybe they keep on losing their bristles or they’ve gone hard after you’ve left them in some mysterious concoction for too long. It happens often here 😉 I get so involved in creating something and completely forget to clean the paint brushes when I’m done. In fact it’s not unusual to find a paint brush in the fridge and I have on the odd occasion been known to wander aimlessly around the mall with a wet paint brush, or two stuck behind my ear. I plead the 5th. Anyways,I needed to find a way to repurpose some of them. Meet my stash of unsavable paint brushes and the adorable new addition to our family. EeeeeDeeeee Riley Pipsquick The Third. My daughter named her 😀 Isn’t she just too cute?

Hello EeeeeDeeeee

She’s a Jack Russell crossed with a UFB, or unidentified fur baby for those of you that don’t know 😉 Apparently she comes from a long line of UFB’s, hence the very important suffix “The Third”. Speaking of three’s, I grabbed three of those well loved paint brushes and decided they’d make pretty awesome hooks.

Wanna see how I made them? Oh good.

How to Repurpose a Paint Brush Into a Hook

This is a really easy repurpose and you can customize the paint brush hooks to suit your own decor. You’ll need:

• Old paint brushes
• Thick, sturdy wire and pliers
• Paint in any color you like. We used a flat black spray paint and some copper leaf.
• Mod Podge or Glue or Varnish or any of that other stuff that normally makes a paint brush hard. Resin works too.

Wipe the paint brushes with some vinegar and water to remove any traces of oil and then dip the bristles in the hardener. We used  Hard Coat Mod Podge but wood glue and exterior varnish works too. Basically anything that makes the bristles hard.  If you already have a few of those lying around you can skip this step 😉

Leave the brushes to dry fully before painting them. I really loved the rusty bits on two of the brushes so I masked those bits off before spraying them with a flat black spray paint.

Nothing is sacred from my paint brush

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Once the paint is dry, use a sharp skewer or pliers to lift the metal bracing that holds the bristles in place just a little bit. That’s were the hooks will go.

Time to get creative. I wanted the paint brush hooks to look like they’re been dipped in molten copper, so I masked off the handle and a portion of the bristles, before applying some spray adhesive and copper leaf.

All that’s left to do is to make the hooks using a piece of wire. Just measure how long the hooks need to be and double it. Cut the wire, fold it in half using your pliers and then bend to form a hook. Spray them to match the paint brushes.

Use a strong all purpose glue like E 6000 to glue the hooks into the back of the paint brushes.

Attach them to a piece of wood or onto the bottom of a small shelf and you’re done.

To make the little shelf, the hubby just cut a pallet into two equal lengths and glued and screwed them together. After sanding it down he used the same flat black spray paint to a give the shelf two quick coats before lightly distressing the edges.

BTW that beautiful young lady is my Mom when she was about 7 years old. I’ve always loved that picture of her, so sweet and innocent. She’s still sweet but the innocent part has long since left the building.

Pinny Please!!

I’d love to know what you think of the paint brush hooks and if you have any other ideas on how they can be repurposed. I’ll probably have a few more quite soon 😉 Hope you have a happy week, and thanks so much for coming to visit.