Welcome Back to newsletter

Masquepen bottle Welcome to our Januaryissue of the Masquepen Newsletter. For those of you who are new to the Masquepen story, I'd better tell you a little about ourselves. The Masquepen is the brainchild of Len Cruddas,my husband - an English inventor. Len, who had retired in 1992 after a heart attack, was bored, and started messing in his workshop. He came up with a tool for removing blanket weed from garden ponds, the Pondwand, and was so successful that Len and I had to start a small company,which we called Cruddas Innovations, to make and market his invention. Len invented the first Masquepen for me after I'd had ruined his favorite brush with masking fluid. As you can imagine, a lot of midnight oil was burned before Len was satisfied that he had the definitive article.

We started marketing in a very small way, posting out mail order. Before too long we were selling to art shops throughout England. Life started to get very busy for a pair of senior citizens!! We then enlarged the Masquepen range to include the Refill, and the new attachment,the SUPERNIB. The Supernib makes spider thin lines. The Refill is also very useful. Switch tops, and keep on working. It is a wonderful masking fluid, as it doesn't skin, and lifts easily. The translucent nature of the fluid allows the artist to see through to exactly what has been masked.

Elena and Mark When orders started arriving from the U.S.A, Australia, South Africa and Europe, we knew we needed help. So daughter Elena, and son-in-law Mark then joined us, taking over the production of the Masquepen. In July 2003 we moved to Hereford to be closer to them, to enable us all to work together. Hereford is a small cathedral town, quite rural and very pretty. We live in a small village about five miles from town, with lots of lovely scenery, for when we eventually get time to paint again!

We both felt that this January was the ideal time to hand over the business to Elena and Mark. Whilst we both still feel like recycled teenagers, we thought that some energetic younger input was important. Mark and Elena will be responsible for the Masquepen products from now on, leaving us free to cope with Len's other inventions. Perhaps we'll get to go on holiday and even paint a bit, now we are retired!!

Now, as well as being sold singly, the Masquepen products are available in packs. The Masquepen pack contains Masquepen, the Supernib and free cleaning bottle. The Masquepen Master set contains all the above, with the addition of the Refill.