Monday, May 27, 2013

Revolutionary Invention: The Paint Tube

Like many artists, Rand, a Charleston native living in London in 1841, struggled to keep his oil paints from drying out before he could use them. At the time, the best paint storage was a pig’s bladder sealed with string; an artist would prick the bladder with a tack to get at the paint. But there was no way to completely plug the hole afterward. And bladders didn’t travel well, frequently bursting open.

Read the rest of the Smithsonian magazine article on the impact of the paint tube.

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