Dry Cleaning Pad

This old-school tool for artists and conservators may look a bit strange, but it's a very useful object, and it's a lot of fun to handle and use. What you're looking at here is a Dry Cleaning Pad—essentially a soft muslin bag filled with tiny gum eraser crumbles. There are two primary ways to use it:

First, while you're working on dry media drawings, the Dry Cleaning Pad keeps your paper clean and prevents smudges. Tap it above your paper a few times and it releases little eraser bits in a controlled sprinkle. When you draw with these small particles on your paper, they grab stray graphite and collect would-be smudges. This is especially great if you are using a straightedge to draw. The ruler glides along the eraser particles like a tiny conveyor belt, reducing friction and keeping graphite from being dragged along with the ruler.

Second, the Dry Cleaning Pad is excellent for gently cleaning artwork. To remove surface dust, stray hairs, etc. from finished work, tap the pad over the piece to release some eraser particles, then wipe them away with the soft pad. Repeat as needed to carefully prepare artwork for display, storage, or further conservation work.

We'd be remiss not to mention that this is an outstanding desk toy. We instantly started tossing one around the office to unsuspecting co-workers, who wanted their own weird cloth bag to squish ASAP. Keep in mind that it sheds eraser particles, so maybe keep it away from your keyboard.