One of those mysterious but creative gifts we got at Xmas in the Sixties was poster paint.
I've absolutely no idea what it was.
Was it really paint for posters?
I think they came in plastic pots with lids. For some reason I'm seeing the brushes already stuck in the lids, impaled through a hole! Can that be right?
The plastic lids I seem to recall had curled-in holes in the middle for the brush. Maybe these were non-drip in some unfathomable way.
What did we paint on? poster sized paper?
All in all poster paints remain a mystery.
Remember them?
I don't remember pots with brushes. Poster paint is an opaque water-based paint, (unlike water colour which is transparent)similar to gouache. I suspect it was used by poster painters! It was, and perhaps still is, a common paint to give to children. It had the advantage that the colours were fairly strong, unlike most cheap water colour blocks, which gave a very pale anaemic colour.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I recall them being strong colours Andy. There must have been a lot of art done at home although I have no memory of actually painting! I don't have any painted pictures from when I was a kid, just some drawings done with felt pens and a comic I made. Oddly enough, I also have a couple of posters I did as a teenager for a martial arts displays but I didn't use poster paints. I used felt pens if I remember rightly! ha ha
DeleteI've heard of them referred to as Tempera Paints.They are made with an egg base, and as such, tend to smell bad if not used for long periods of time.At Christmas, I can remember receiving big sets of art supplies,and the common contents were poster paints, crayons,colored "construction paper","poster paper"(which was stiffer than the colored paper),modeling clay,and maybe some paste and glitter.Yes, some poster paints had a built in brush or "safety lid" as you described to keep the kiddies from making a mess.These kits were always set aside for January and February, when we were sure to get some heavy snow.If it was too nasty for sledding and snowball fights,arts and crafts got us through the day.
ReplyDeleteNot to be confused with Tempura the battered vegetables! ha ha. Those art sets ring a bell too Brian. Ah, yes, glitter, What magical stuff when scattered over shapes of glue! I love the idea that arts and crafts got you through the day! Sounds like an art movement! Speaking of glue, did you ever make your own out of flour and water?
DeleteOur standard is Elmers glue-all.It's been around for at least a century.I don't know if it is a familiar brand overseas.It usad to be a thick paste that you spread with a woocen stick, then they made a thinner formula in a squeeze bottle.Now I think it sells in a "pen"that dispenses out the tip.Yes where I live, Winters used to get pretty nasty, and try as we would to brave the elements,we were usually cooped up inside.There was no home video games or movies on tape or disk back then, so arts and crafts really made the time pass.It was a better way than than video games,IMHO
ReplyDeleteI must admit the coldest place me and the Missus have ever been was New York in Winter, my 40th birthday treat in 2001. It was so cold on Broadway one night walking to the cinema that we literally couldn't speak. The Missus got chilblains on her shins we think too. It was freezing. We had an absolute ball though and walked everywhere in Manhattan. Loved looking across the Hudson towards Jersey City and Hoboken. It was another 4 years before I made it to NJ, staying with a pal in Woodbridge in 2005. We visited Carteret, Porth Amboy, Manhattan again and a trip North to Cape Cod!
DeleteNope, not heard of Elmers Glue-All. Its a great name. The smelliest glue over here is Cow Gum, which wreaks when you open the tub!
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