I was making a paint cup today and a fellow employee looked at me make one and said how amazingly quick I did it. I showed him how to make one and he got the hang of it after 1/2 dozen times. The folded paint cup that I was taught to make was from two 4â€￾ x 6â€￾ index cards was that I would use when working with a mahl stick. It had an approx. 2â€￾ x 2â€￾ pallette attacted to it, as part of it’s construction. It is held with the index finger and thumb, while holding the mahl stick with the other three fingers and palm. It allowed me to pallette without moving my mahl stick. I have been making these for so long, that I can make one in the dark with my eyes closed.

If someone could explain how I post a photo on this thread, I will post it and a diagram of how to fold one.

Gary Herpst (name added by admin 8-31-04)

When I first started working in my father's New Jersey sign shop at 16 we lettered mostly on a show card bench. My father only used a mahl stick when working on trucks and vertical surfaces. The mahl stick alwayed intiminated me at that age and I spilt paint all over myself using folded paint cups o...