Throw away the cap

Are you one of those people who use masking fluid sometimes? Maybe you are one of those who use one from Winsor & Newton which is a popular brand, in which case you have probably complained about their childproof cap which is as safe for adults as it is for children.

Not only is the cap difficult in normal cases, but when some of the masking fluid ends up in the mechanism, the problem worsens even more. A habit that some of my students have is to pour some masking fluid into the cap to use it as a kind of palette. When you do that with the W&N cap, the child safety turns into a permanent lock.

If you like the masking fluid from W&N but not their cap, you can of course just buy another brand, but aside from the awkward cap, the contents are excellent.

There is a solution to the problem, however: Ordinary caps from soda or water bottles work perfectly for the W&N bottle (at least the Swedish ones). If child safety is important to you, you should of course not do that. But if your home doesn’t have small children, try replacing the W&N cap with a regular cap from a plastic bottle. They are always easy to open and free unless you have to buy the soda just for this purpose.