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While spray paints are generally good for canvas surfaces, some may be too strong or too thin to achieve your desired effect. So, when painting on canvas, be sure to find spray paints appropriate for canvas. Spray paints in the market today are available in various finishes and designed for different types of surfaces. Compared to the other two methods of paint application, spray paints is faster to use and (if used properly) cleaner and more uniform.
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How Spray Paints WorkĪlso known as aerosol paint, spray paints generally work because the pressurized can contains paint and a propellant that, when sprayed, creates a mist of paint that can evenly coat a surface without the need for a paintbrush or paint roller. Some spray paint manufacturers would add a metal, marble, or glass ball (known as the pea) inside the can to help mix the paint when shaken. Seymour would go on to find his own company focused on spray paint, which more businesses adapted. However, it proved to be more useful than most people imagined as the spray paint can became a useful tool for painters and contractors in the building and construction industry.
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While most people at the time only saw it as a novelty product that wouldn’t last in the long run, he would patent the spray paint can technology two years later. In 1949, American Edward Seymour added aluminum paint to an aerosol can as a way to rapidly apply an even layer of paint. The aerosol can was invented in 1927 by a Norwegian inventor named Erik Rotheim. The spray paint device itself, however, would not be invented until 1949. This is the first known prototype of the spray paint, except it did not use pressure and aerosol that all spray paints use today. Joseph Binks, a decorations director for a retail business, created a hand pump that could easily spray white paint on the walls of the store. Spray paint origins stem back to the 1890s.
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