Save the Coffee Cans!

Good day creatives!  Today I have a couple quick tips I recently had the chance to apply to my workflow that might be useful to yours as well.  All you need is an empty coffee can and a rubber band (if you don't drink coffee, any spent 30 oz. container will work just fine):

First make sure the coffee can is rinsed out and cleared of all stray grains (nobody wants grounds contaminating their paint) and set aside the lids for later.  Once fully cleaned, the cans are ready to mix some paint:

After you get your paint mixed, simply wrap a rubber band around the length of the can so that it spans the open top.  The lid can still be applied to preserve your paint for later:

The idea with the rubber band is to unload the brush of excess paint before using it to apply paint on the painting surface: 

Load up the brush with paint.

Gently slide brush across the rubber band.

Preserve extra paint for later use.

Money in the bank!

One last note:  If you're using acrylic paint, hang a damp paper towel on the rubber band before replacing the lid.  This should keep the moisture in the can at an optimum level to save even more paint in the long run.