I figure there has to be something!! What did the Masters use before the days of spray cans?

Spray diffusers:



the thin pipe goes into a bottle of fixative, the wooden end goes into your mouth, you adjust the hinge to a right-angle - you then blow (not suck!!! - and don't breathe in with your mouth still on the end of it).

(EDIT - while this is what was used historically, I'm not recommending this here, as I think there are far safer alternatives - please read on... Dave )


Dave

Although Dave's post seems like a fun challenge, you might what to ask about these two vendors :

Delacroix Fixative
Latour Fixative

They carry pump spray bottles of fixative.

I found a reference to Delacroix here

Actually, I took the original question to be historical in nature!


I completely agree that a pump spray is a far better, more practical, and safer choice!



Dave