Using your brushes so that they last a lifetime.
We all know that we need to care for our brushes, but after seeing some things recently, I have come to understand that there are a lot of people who don't know how to just that yet. So here are my guidelines for how to care for your brushes, and what to do if you don't sometimes...
These are guidelines, not rules to live
by. We all have habits, some bad and
some good. These are really just things
to think about was you use your brushes.
I would, however, say things in the ‘never’ list you really should try to avoid
doing.
• Always
o Use
a brush for one medium only. Don’t use the same brushes for oil paints (or oil washes) and then acrylics. The stuff used to clean oil brushes is
pretty harsh (mineral spirits) and will really wear a brush out.
o Always
wet a brush before you start painting.
Don't pick up paint with a dry brush.Unless you're dry-brushing, of course.
o Once
a brush is charged with paint, begin painting with it immediately. This will pull the paint away from the
ferrule.
o Once
you have rinsed a brush, shake out the excess water rather than rubbing or
squeezing it out with a cloth or paper towel.
Never pinch and pull on the tuft with a towel, as this will break or
pull out the hairs.
o Wash
and shape the brush hairs when you finish your work session, using lukewarm
water and a commercial
artists' brush cleaner (links below)
o Treat
synthetic brushes with the same care as natural hair brushes. The rule to never rest a brush on its tip is
even more important with synthetic brushes since they tend to retain any shape they get into.
o Dip
out and mix paints with an old brush or stick, never your best brushes. If you’re mixing on a palette using your good brushes, just be sure
not to get paint up in the ferrule.
• Never
o ‘Reshape’
a brush with scissors or X-Acto blade. Trimming the ends of a natural hair brush leaves them in a 'broken' state and they will never get back to 'normal'.
o Never
hold a loaded brush with the tip pointing upwards. The paint will ‘wick’ towards the ferrule and
make it harder to clean.
o Leave
a brush sitting point down in water
o Leave
a brush wet with paint for extended periods
o Let
it dry out with paint on it especially in the tuft (or ferrule)
o Clean
or rinse a brush in hot water. Hot water
can affect the glue up in the ferrule and allow the hairs to pull out or get
misshaped.
o Avoid
submerging the tuft in paint for long periods. This encourages the capillary
action that causes paint to migrate up the hairs into the ferrule, where it is
difficult to get out.
o Do
not submerge the brush in water beyond the top of the ferrule. Water will seep
into the ferrule from either end. This
could cause the handle to swell, crack, and loosen in the ferrule.
Cleaning brushes correctly
Cleaning is really straightforward,
but if you’re not doing it right, you can really ruin brushes fast. The cheaper the brushes, the more they get
affected by bad practices.
•
Never use hot water! (see above)
•
Use a purpose-made brush soap (Masters or
Jentastic Goop), baby shampoo or something super gentle. Never use hand soap or harsh cleansers.
o Get
the brush good and wet with water, swirl it in the soap until it lathers up a
bit, then brush it in the palm of your hand to ‘scrub’ the bristles. Never jab it or move it in a motion that
would go against the ‘grain’ of the hairs.
Always be ‘pulling’ it toward the natural lay of the hairs.
o Rinse
the soap out carefully in water, swirling it around for a while.
o Once
cleaned, shake excess water from the brush.
Don’t dry a brush by wiping the tuft with a towel. If necessary, shape the brush gently against
the side of your finger so that it comes to a balanced point. Wash brushes need
to be shaken out more assertively, as they hold more water.
o If
you’re crazy like me, now is the time to dip it into some hair conditioner (you’re
wife’s bottle is probably in the shower, go grab a small squeeze of it in a
small seal-able cup. She won’t mind.) Seriously, brushes are just animal hairs, and
they dry out. Conditioner helps them
Remedies - When you don't follow the 'guidelines'
A good brush is
always worth the investment. Not only is the finest quality, natural hair brush a joy to use, it can always be returned to its original
state no matter how bad you treat it. Cheap ‘box
store’ brushes are not so forgiving. Everyone I have met who swears by cheap brushes changes their tune when they
start using quality brushes.
That said, poor care and use of brushes can
lead to them getting really hard to use.
Most often, the head of a brush will start to splay as pigment becomes
trapped between the hairs in the ferrule.
This is what normally keeps them from holding a good point. This will occur if paint is not thoroughly
washed from the brush after every use, or the brush is used too aggressively to
pick up or apply paint. There are ways
to fix this though!
Winsor & Newton sells a brush restorer
chemical that is designed to ‘gently’ eat the paint that has dried in the
ferrule. I have used this stuff with
great success on even some of the most abused brushes (Elric!). All you need to do is put the brush into the
bottle of cleaner (or a separate container, see the photo.) up to and a little
past the ferrule. This will let the
cleaner fluid work the dried acrylic out of the brush. They recommend soaking the brush for hours or
even overnight if need be.
Once it has soaked for a decent period of
time, run through the cleaning cycle.
Use clean water, brush soap and gentle scrubbing.
Hair conditioner
As brushes are used and
cleaned in normal painting, the natural oils in the hairs are worn or washed
away. The usual symptoms are that the hairs will begin to look dried out or
frizzled, the brush will not point as promptly when wet, and stray hairs begin
to appear. Some folks will use brush
soap and actually leave it in the bristles without washing it out. Let it dry them in an hour or so, rinse it
thoroughly. Most times that will work to
recondition the brush.
You can also wet and wash
the brush in lukewarm water and then apply a small amount of hair conditioner
to the wet clean hairs, work it in thoroughly with your fingertips, shape the
brush to a point or flat edge, and let it sit for an hour or so. Thoroughly
rinse out the conditioner and shape the brush to dry, and repeat if necessary.
Brush shaper or Gum arabic.
After washing, if the
hairs or bristles are still crazy splayed out, you can use gum arabic or brush
shaper to shape the brush back to a point (most natural hair brushes come
preshaped with gum Arabic on them and need to be cleaned before use). Dip the brush in the brush shaper or gum
arabic solution, shape with your fingers, and set it down where it can rest
undisturbed to dry. The longer it sits,
the better the result will be. Keep in
mind though, if there is dried paint in the ferrule, it will not stay pointed
for long after this treatment. Go back
to the remedy section.
Stray hairs.
Almost always, just leave
these alone, as long as the brush shapes to a good point and the strays do not
interfere with your brushwork. If you
need to remove a nuisance hair, grip the hair carefully with thumb and finger,
or a pair of tweezers near, the visible base (not the tip) of the hair shaft,
pull it down and to the side against the edge of the ferrule, and snap it off
at the edge, using the ferrule edge to cut it.
Try not to ‘pull it out’ from the ferrule, as it will leave a tiny bit
of a hole in the glue and allow gunk to build up. Don’t try to cut stray hairs with scissors or
a blade, you won’t be able to trim it close to the ferrule without damaging the
tuft.
Never attempt to "trim"
stray hairs by holding the dry brush tuft near or against a flame. This will
very likely burn off other hairs in the tuft and can invisibly blunt the tips
of the hairs in the point as well.
Storage
o Never
store a wet brush upright, the liquid will just wick up into the ferrule and
that’s never good. Leave the brush
horizontal or face down (not resting on the hairs) to dry, then store them
upright.
o Never
store a damp brush in an airtight container. The dampness will cause mildew,
and that will destroy the brush hairs.
Baaad!
o Don't
store brushes near heat (furnace vents, sunlit windows). Heat is not a brush’s friend.
Traveling with brushes
o To
carry brushes on trips, use a brush roll holder or something expressly designed
for that purpose. Lots of companies sell
roll up or zippered pocketed holders for brushes. Tossing them into a box may not always be the
best answer, they take a lot of abuse banging around like that.
o Once
home, brushes should be immediately unpacked from the holders, cleaned, shaped
and dried in the usual way. (Unless you
already did it on your trip…)
Always remember, once a
brush is useless for one purpose, find something else for it to do. Maybe it becomes the brush you use to pull
paints out of a pot, or mix on your palette?
Maybe it becomes a new drybrush?
So there you have it, just an
average painters ideas about taking care of your brushes. Do you have to follow this like law? Hell no, nobody would, but if I manage to
change one bad habit, my work here will be done!
