7 Objects That Changed Graffiti

Graffiti has always been about using what is around you.

Some of its most important tools were never made for graffiti in the first place. Writers took markers, shoe dye bottles, aerosol caps, stickers and even fire extinguishers and found new ways to use them.

Here are seven objects that changed graffiti.

1. Uni Paint Marker

The Uni Paint marker became a classic tool for tagging. It is small, easy to carry and writes on surfaces like metal, glass and plastic.

Its oil-based paint leaves a strong, opaque line, which made it useful for tags in places where using a spray can was not practical. For many writers, the Uni became one of those markers you could simply keep in your pocket and use almost anywhere.

2. Shoe Dye Bottle

Before graffiti brands started selling mops, writers were already making their own.

Shoe dye bottles had a soft applicator on top and could be refilled with ink or paint. Writers reused them to make thick, wet tags with the drips that later became closely connected with mop tags.

A simple shoe-care product ended up helping create one of graffiti’s most recognizable tagging tools.

3. New York Fat Cap

The New York Fat Cap is one of the most famous spray caps in graffiti.

Writers discovered that caps from other aerosol products could be fitted onto paint cans to produce a wider spray than the standard cap. Wider lines meant faster fills, bigger tags and more control over the thickness of a line.

What started with writers swapping caps between different aerosol products eventually became a whole part of graffiti equipment.

4. Blackbook

A lot of graffiti starts on paper.

Blackbooks gave writers a place to sketch letters, try new styles, plan pieces and test colour combinations before painting. They were also passed between writers, collecting tags and sketches from friends, crews and visitors.

Over time, some blackbooks became personal archives, keeping drawings and names that might not exist anywhere else.

5. Fire Extinguisher

A fire extinguisher can become a very big marker.

Writers found ways to fill pressurized extinguishers with paint and use them to spray huge tags. The lines are rough, difficult to control and often full of drips, but that is exactly what gives extinguisher tags their look.

It took something designed for emergencies and turned it into a way of writing a name several metres high.

6. “Hello My Name Is” Stickers

Originally made as simple name tags, “Hello My Name Is” stickers became closely linked with sticker graffiti.

Writers could draw a tag or character on the sticker beforehand, carry a stack with them and put one up in seconds. They were cheap, easy to find and easy to trade.

The format became so connected with graffiti and street culture that the red-and-blue name tag is now instantly recognizable even without anything written on it.

7. Paint Roller

The paint roller made it possible to go much bigger.

With a bucket of paint, a roller and an extension pole, writers could paint letters across rooftops, highway walls and large buildings. Places that would take a huge amount of spray paint could be covered much faster with a roller.

It is one of the simplest tools on this list, but it completely changed the scale a name could reach.

Made for something else.

That is what connects many of these objects. Shoe dye bottles were made for shoes. Name-tag stickers were made for introductions. Fire extinguishers were made to put out fires. Aerosol caps came from other products.

Writers gave them another use.