Gesso Magic 2-Pak - Canvas Primer Silicone Brush Art Supplies for Use with Any Paint, Sculpting, Pottery & More (Original)

I happened across this little tool while looking for something else. I bought it not really expecting much, but I was very happy with the results. I hate applying gesso to pages or panels. It gums up the brushes and is hard to clean out of the brushes and leaves brush strokes. This applicator was great. I put a little gesso on the pages and it was smoothed over the page easily, quickly, and without having to add more gesso. It cleaned up with a wipe on my apron. Two came in the pack and I will be using it again. Thinking I may try the paint on the page with one of them next and see how that goes. You would need a bigger one of these if doing larger canvases. Not sure if there are bigger ones. But it would be nice if there were.

I just used one of my Gesso Magic Silibrushes for the first time, and it worked like a charm! It took WAY LESS TIME to apply the gesso, and I used so LITTLE gesso compared to how much I would have had to use with a brush. The photos of the Silibrush are accurate, even with the dimensions given. You can hold it with 2 or 3 fingers and only get a little on your thumb, or not at all, once you become accustomed to applying very little gesso to the canvas surface. It only took me 5 minutes to gesso 7 medium canvasses. That would never happen with a brush because I would be worried about lines in the surface; with Silibrush, there are few lines, and those are where the strokes overlapped, but they are very fine because of the small amount of gesso used. I always sand my gessoed canvasses, too, so they will end up being slick and smooth. I really love my Silibrush, and if you've been led to believe that the photos are not correct by another reviewer, then please understand that those reviewers are wrong. For some reason, they didn't see the photo of the actual Silibrush in the hand, or the the photo with the measurements given. AND they mistook the glob of white gesso for a handle. The Silibrush is easier to manage than a brush, quicker to use, and easier to clean. I'll be introducing my fellow art students to it very soon.

There is a layer of plastic over this silicone tool. However it is cheaply applied, likely by a shrink wrap machine in a factory in China somewhere. The tool would not work properly with how poorly the item is wrapped in this plastic. However the plastic on mine was damaged from the start, peeling back significantly over the majority of the tool. The tool underneath the plastic is incredibly sticky and essentially unusable on a canvas. Do not purchase this product.

Great product! I do mixed media art and have started to use clear gesso more in my work. These apply the gesso well without it soaking into a brush, are great for smoothing down collage pieces, and are much easier to clean up - even if the gesso dries on them. They do take some practice to get used to the way they work like any new tool. I hope they eventually come in a larger size - maybe more rectangular on one end?

DO NOT TRY TO REMOVE OUTER LAYER OF PLASTIC WRAP. I read the small print afterwards. It ruins it. There was plastic bits on the edge of it, so I thought it peeled off. I'm going to try to use it anyway. It was adequate for putting a layer of acrylic over a couple of small canvas boards. I thought it would be a little stiffer, but it bends easily.

This doesn’t just work... it works exceptionally well! I like my canvas surfaces very smooth. The old way of applying gesso with a paintbrush (and sometimes a wide putty knife), letting it dry and then sanding... then repeating those steps multiple times to get the finish I want was always time consuming, frustrating and the thing I dreaded about getting ready to paint. Not anymore now that I have this GessoMagic tool. I put a dollop of gesso on my canvases then use the GessoMagic tool and spread and smooth the gesso around and into the canvas weave. When the gesso is dry all that is needed is a very light sanding with extra fine grit sandpaper for a beautifully smooth surface. So simple to use and such fantastic results! Unprimed or some cheaper previously primed canvases with bad weave will need more than one coat of gesso, but it’s no longer a big deal to do when using this tool. Also, very little gesso is used compared to when using a paintbrush or putty knife. Clean up is super easy! I LOVE THIS TOOL! I wish I had more canvases that needed gessoing!

I go 2 the 1 star posts 2 for information regarding things I buy sight unseen. I have a better understanding of what the product does. I found pro's and con's. The instructions are not adequate. What would take their product over the top would be a you-tube video on how it works. It get's on your hands where a brush does not. It definitely will leave "brush marks". Had to water down the gesso and slightly mist my substrate with water or it hardly moved across the paper. After seeing all the streaks and lines left from the gesso, I crossed over the lines with a smooth movement back and forth and it was completely smoothed. So... IT WORKS! It is difficult to work with at first. But if you thin down Gesso, mist your substrate, use a cross hatch stroke to remove all the lines, you will have a BEAUTIFUL SMOOTH surface... as advertised! I will be looking for that instructional video! Hope they can provide one.

These little silicone beauties are easy to hold and grip, and they apply gesso easily and smoothly. I was delighted to see how fast and smooth application was, and there was practically no product waste. I'm looking forward to seeing how they do applying paint over my gesso layer next.