Tricks and Tips on maintaining brushes

[Neyuttad]

I know this question has been asked so many times but I thought I'll ask again

for my benefit and for those who are new to this hobby.

 

I was wondering if anyone has some personal tips on maintaining brushes.

Especially those expensive kolinsky sable ones. I personally use pink soap

but lately I found out that I have a little bit of paint near the ferrule and cannot

remove it.

 

Thanks,

Tyen

[Painfully]

I use Master's brush soap. It comes in a small, round, reclosable dish just a little smaller in diameter than a CD. Just get your brush wet and swish around in the soap for a bit. Rinse, and repeat until it doesn't leave any traces of paint, and you see no paint at the ferule. As you're swishing in the soap, some of it will build up around the edges of the ferule, and will gradually weaken/loosen the paint there--just keep swishing and rinsing until it's gone.

 

All my good brushes have stayed in tip-top shape, with my first W&N series 7 still in great shape after more than eight months now.

 

I don't always clean my brush everyday with soap, but certainly at least once a week. If you get a W&N series 7 brush and take good care of it, you will almost certainly notice that it outlasts brushes of any other kind.

 

There isn't much more to it as far as cleaning brushes goes, except maybe try not to get paint into the ferrule in the first place (which is impossible to do for smaller brushes IMO).

[Enchantra]

Well to maintain my brushes I wash them good in warm water and soap. I then reform the tip and sit it upright with the bristles pointing upwards in my brush holder. Now and then I would condition your brushes using a brush conditioner. Or as a few people here do just get a small bottle of cheap hair conditioner and use that. Will work just as well.

[Cade]

Check out this article by Bobby Wong:

Paint Selection and Care

[Whizard Hlavaz]

Quite simply -- you need to love them, and hug them, and call them "George".

 

Do this three times a day and they'll serve you well.

 

That and Painfully's recommendation of Master's Brand brush soap will carry you a long way. You can also try conditioning your brushes with actual hair conditioner. They are sable, after all, and sable is hair.

 

Regardless of whether you use the Master's or normal hair conditioner, at least once a week condition your brushes and allow the conditioner to dry on the bristles once you've shaped the tip into a sharp point. This will help to train the tip and prolong the life of your bristles. When it's time to paint, simply rinse in warm water and you're good to go.

 

Be sure also to periodically comb through your brushes and snip out any errant or damaged hairs. This will help keep your brushes in top shape.

 

Oh, and blood sacrifices won't hurt either.

 

Oh, one more thing -- For the paint in the ferrule (Bad! Bad! Bad! No cookie!!!), you can either get a brush cleansing solution and soak the brush for a bit or else GENTLY bend the bristles and scratch away the paint with a thumb nail. GENTLY being the key word here. Try the solution first. Just don't soak too long. Some of the solutions that are advertised specifically for cleaning out ferrules can be quite damaging/drying to bristles. Just take care.

[Cerridwyn1st]

If you have a lot of paint in the ferrule of a small brush, you can soak it in solvent to loosen the remaining paint. I use Plaid Brush Cleaner.

 

The trick is to soak the brush without damaging the bristles. I have a trick for this. I put brush cleaner in a GW flip-top bottle. Then I take a small piece of card stock and put a hole in it about the size of the brush diameter. I put the brush though the hole and place the cardbord on the open bottle.

 

The brush tip can soak without the bristles getting damaged. You can soak the brush up the 24 horus to loosen the paint, then wash as you normally would.

 

I haven't had any problems with either the solution or the soaking method damaging my brush. After a cleaning like this, I'll usually coat the brush with Pink Soap, shape it and let it dry.

[claymoore]

handprintbrush

 

Handprint has the most comprehensive brush info I've found. It is directed at watercolorists who may be working with larger more expensive brushes and therefore be more emphatic about care of brushes.

in addition to info posted if you have dried paint already in the ferrule Winsor & Newton Brush Cleaner and Restorer will get it out. Don't let this solution get on the handles.

After washing brushes it is best to let them dry in a brush holder of some sort with the points down at a slight angle so water is drained away from the ferrule. Drying wet brushes with points up will drain water into the ferrule where it can swell the handle and over time loosen the crimp.

[Whizard Hlavaz]

Drying wet brushes with points up will drain water into the ferrule where it can swell the handle and over time loosen the crimp.

dang fine advice, Claymoore! Spot-on!

[Enchantra]

Drying wet brushes with points up will drain water into the ferrule where it can swell the handle and over time loosen the crimp.

dang fine advice, Claymoore! Spot-on!

I've never had that problem. Then again I dry my brushes before storing them bristles pointing up.

[Whizard Hlavaz]

Drying wet brushes with points up will drain water into the ferrule where it can swell the handle and over time loosen the crimp.

dang fine advice, Claymoore! Spot-on!

I've never had that problem. Then again I dry my brushes before storing them bristles pointing up.

Neither have I, Enchantra. Just the same, can't be too safe with a $20 brush, I guess.