For an assignment in a bookbinding course I took at The Academy of Fine Arts in Beirut, we were asked to recreate the writing tool. Given unlimited possibilities, and inspired by natural fractals, I challenged myself to design a paintbrush that would render painting a straight line impossible.
![](https://cdn.myportfolio.com/eda8147428f203760f88648269c6a6af/600529bd-e5ea-486d-8a1a-ff85a0e97775_rw_600.jpg?h=ba5e02d80ea17ba2a9ea98e62cccc7b5)
Operating the brush like a puppeteer, the user’s wrists are tied with a piece of waxed string that links their wrists to the body of the T-shaped leather brush with human hair bristles at its end. With the help of the physical properties of the leather body, and the imperfection of the human-hair brush tip, the brush would be suspended and the contraption would be impossible to finely control.
![Untitled (Puppet Brush Test 3), 2017 - Ink on paper - 35 x 25 cm](https://cdn.myportfolio.com/eda8147428f203760f88648269c6a6af/41a7d63b-4aef-4866-a602-75aa99add298_rw_1920.jpg?h=444a940aac1ce24cdca65b705dc403ad)
Untitled (Puppet Brush Test 3), 2017 - Ink on paper - 35 x 25 cm
![Untitled (Puppet Brush Test 5), 2017 - Ink on cloth - 50 x 35 cm](https://cdn.myportfolio.com/eda8147428f203760f88648269c6a6af/5f398184-ee11-4f7a-a64c-a258bd715ce0_rw_1920.jpg?h=1bfe922143b4d2d69a5bcdd535411146)
Untitled (Puppet Brush Test 5), 2017 - Ink on cloth - 50 x 35 cm
![](https://cdn.myportfolio.com/eda8147428f203760f88648269c6a6af/c7a578b5-8d50-4563-af3d-25f4a0a872ca_rw_1920.jpg?h=83ee02887b85abf9d3f3a26da769c695)
Test 5 was as used as a cover of a coptic-bound sketchbook for the same course.