What to do with our brushes after painting?

Hi ;

    Depending on what kind of paint you bought , I could see the recommendation for thinner . I would be willing to bet it is an acrylic thinner , such as Tamiya's or Mr. Color. I really don't understand the need for it except for thinning acrylic .It's too expensive to clean brushes in !

I use lacquer thinner to clean my brushes. It removes even dried acrylic. I have a clear jar filled half way and I gently roll the brush on the glass inside the jar, then wipe the brush on a clean paper towel and store it upside down in a plastic bottle to keep the bristles in good shape. Most of my brushes are at least 10-20 years old.

I paint icons as an exercise in prayer. I keep a separate set of brushes dedicated to that, as opposed to y modeling brushes.

Treat your brushes as an instrument of the way you wish to be remembeerd.

I have the same problem as Digital_Cowboy.  I work at the VA craft center here in Tacoma, and most of the time when I clean up, I use alcohol, and just literally watch the paint come out of the bristles.  On a side note, I have helped one person literally get the modelling bug, and helping another.  He is coming around.

One thing i'll add, always store your brushes upside down - ie, with handles at the bottom of a jar/brush holder - don't store them bristles down.

This seems obvious to avoid splaying the bristles, but, i did it for years before reading about it - i might just be a slow learner though.

Alternatively, buy a long tupperware style container and store them lying down, again to prevent bristle damage.

Before there was a latex or water-based paint (I believe that Dupont Lucite was the first widely used latex house paint), painters customarily suspended their natural bristle brushes in linseed oil.  That kept them nice and soft and pliable.   Proper cleaning and storage is the key to longevity for brushes. 

I have brushes for house painting ( both interior and exterior), bristle and polyester/nylon, that are nearly 20 years old that have been cleaned hundreds of times and they are still viable tools.   To keep their shape, those type of brushes should be wrapped properly in paper or kept in their cardboard "scabbards".  

Gary

use denatured alcohol for best results!!

TB,

    I have to admit that I have also wondered about that.  Everything I've read has always said to use enamel thinner with enamel and lacquer thinner with lacquer and acrylic thinner with acrylic.  And I would have to think that mixing them is just asking for trouble.

    Can't say that I have, nor have I ever considered making one.  How does one go about doing so?

Well;

    I could never figure out WHY anyone would use Lacquer thinner in enamel . I have posted before about my brushes and forgot to mention that I do hang them Bristles down in a cool dark place after reshaping the tips .You had to do this with Pin - Striping brushes anyway . Now those are over forty five years old and going strong  .Has anyone ever seen a brush made of Mink ?

   Made four about six months just to see how they would work ,Two 1/4 " by 1' flats and two 1 1/2 " long rounds . All I can say is WOW .Never made brushes before . Definitely will do it again . I still have the old Mink stole I made them from . Well a couple of inches of it anyway .The cat has claimed the rest .

DD,

    You've raised some good points there.  And those points are at the heart of a discussion on why MM intermediate blue isn't mixing for another member.

    They say that they used laquer thinner on enamel, claiming to have done so in the past with good results.  But that now they've gotten poor results.  And are now trying to say that they got a "bad" bottle of paint.  Even though "everyone and their brother" has tried to tell them that it's probably because they used lacquer thinner on enamel and/or thinned it out way too much.

Alcohol should only be used to thin acrylics. Water works with acrylics, too. I've also read many times that Windex (glass cleaner) can be used to thin acrylics, and to clean brushes that were use to brush acrylics (never tried Windex myself). 

Enamels should only be thinned with thinners made for enamels. Personally, I use thinner made by the paint's manufacturer to thin the paints for use, and then I use paint cleaner/stripper (not thinner) that I buy in bulk at Lowe's or Home Depot to clean my airbrush and paint brushes. Don't thin your paints with the paint cleaner - it will probably produce results that you don't want.

Not sure where you can buy paint cleaner/stripper in Italy. Most home repair stores should carry it. You should be able to buy paint thinner wherever  you buy your modeling paints.

Question for those who wipe their brushes on a bar of soap as the final step.  When do you clean/remove the soap from the brush?

Awesome, that is good to know.  I can't mail order anything that is flammable liquid through the mail and living in Italy it is hard to find craft stores.  Do you know if rubbing alcohol will work with an air brush too?  I just bought one and couldn't get the thinner with it.  Also, does rubbing alcohol only work with enamel or acrylic, or both.

I'm a big fan of sable brushes also.I've had some for over  30 years .I still have the bad habit of sticking them in my mouth to bring them to a point,after they are clean of course. Mike

            I can attest to that.  I volunteer out at the VA in the Craft Center, and there are a LOT of brushes that have been used for acrylic paints.  Sadly, those who have used those brushes don’t always do a good job of cleaning out those brushes.  However, they do, do an excellent job of cleaning various pieces of equipment.  Such as Lazy Susans, and the like.  As the stiffness of an improperly cleaned brush work very well in this regard.  And using them to clean other equipment has the advantage of “restoring” said brushes to be used to paint with again.

HI hellwarrior :

   When I use acrylics I clean my brushes with warm water and DAWN dish soap . When I clean regular oil based enamel brushes I use paint thinner in three stages .First for the worst .Then the second and lastly a clean jar .This ensures I get the brushes clean .

  I have one going on about twenty years old now .I don't waste brushes .I take the thinner bottle with the worst and clean it out with DAWN once every three months and use the refuse as a fire ant killer .Works good .

 Always re-shape the bristles to the original shape and you're good to go .       Tanker-builder

When I worked as a professional painter, I was somewhat anal about paint brush care.  I would not let a painter's helper clean my brushes until he could demonstrate the proper cleaning method for me.  Often, I cleaned all the brushes on the crew because I trusted nobody to do it better.  Natural bristle brushes should never be placed in water.   That will ruin them; you'll see the ends of the bristles separating like split ends on human hair.  They should be cleaned with solvent only.  Water based/acrylic products need a polyester bristled brush.  Old time painters, in the days before latex paint (DuPont Lucite was among, maybe even, the first), often kept their cleaned bristle brushes suspended in linseed oil when not in use.  It kept them soft and usable for a long time.  I have paint brushes (both natural and polyester bristled) for house painting that are more than 20 years old that probably work better than they did when new.  They have been used and cleaned countless times.   Take proper care of your brushes folks and they might even outlast you!

Gary

I have three jars on my work table. One is iso-propyl alcohol to pre rinse acrylic paints, thinner for pre rinsing enamels, and lacquer thinner as a final rinse for both. The lacquer thinner really cleans out the brush. I wipe the brush with paper towel and set in jar, brush end up.  Try it you'll like it!

Ken

Another thought .... don't buy brushes with plastic handles. The thinner will eventually eat away the part holding the bristles and the whole thing will fall onto your model at the most delicate moment !!

Why ... its NEVER happened to me !!! LOL.  

I'd say that Red Sable brushes are the best (someone will correct me shortly, no doubt) for all around use and longevity, much more so than synthetics.   I buy them from arts supply places because they usually have a better selection of brush sizes, types and price ranges.

Good brushes are worth their weight in gold and I do not try and cut costs on them as they're so valuable for detail work.

Dre

Digital Cowboy, I don't know about Ox hair and residual gunk, sorry.   I just use and buy Red Sable as I'm most familiar with them and their characteristics.   The synthetics were a test buy and seem to be OK with enamels (I haven't tried them with lacquers).

Dre,

     I would think/hope that as with Red Sable that they should be "better" then synthetics or at least have similar properties.  And IIARC, I don't think that I saw any Red Sable brushes at either of the two LHS' that I've gone to.

Digital Cowboy, I don't know about Ox hair and residual gunk, sorry.   I just use and buy Red Sable as I'm most familiar with them and their characteristics.   The synthetics were a test buy and seem to be OK with enamels (I haven't tried them with lacquers).

Don't forget the 40% off coupon.  lol.

gunner_chris

Digital_Cowboy

gunner_chris

I have stuff called "Pink Soap" for a brush cleaner.  Works well for bringing back to life those brushes that were let dry from time to time.

GC,

     Is that "pink soap" something that is made particularly for brushes, or is it an "industrial" or "institutional" type of soap?  How do you use it?  Do you use it to remove all types of paint from a brush or a particular type?

Pink soap is a brush cleaner that i got at Michaels.  I normally only use acrylics and its worked for me.  It claims on the bottle it's good for oil based too..

Just put a small drop on my fingers and worked it into the brush bristles.

GC,

     Thank you for the information.  I'll have to look for it the next time I go into Michael's.

Digital_Cowboy

gunner_chris

I have stuff called "Pink Soap" for a brush cleaner.  Works well for bringing back to life those brushes that were let dry from time to time.

GC,

     Is that "pink soap" something that is made particularly for brushes, or is it an "industrial" or "institutional" type of soap?  How do you use it?  Do you use it to remove all types of paint from a brush or a particular type?

Pink soap is a brush cleaner that i got at Michaels.  I normally only use acrylics and its worked for me.  It claims on the bottle it's good for oil based too..

Just put a small drop on my fingers and worked it into the brush bristles.

Dre

I've also noted that some of the synthetic bristles used in some brushes will 'hold' more left-over gunk after cleaning than traditional red sable brushes, so there's that to consider as well.  

Dre,

     What about Ox?  I have a few brushes that are made out of Ox.  Does it have to be red sable or will any natural fibers clean up well compared to synthetic?

FlyItLikeYouStoleIt

Yeah, what they all said  . I only have one thing to add. No matter what I've used my brush for and properly cleaned afterward (enamels use thinner ....... acrylics use water)  once I've got my bristles clean, I brush a bar of ordinary bath soap (any kind) with the wet brush. Don't know what it does or why it works but all I know is if I DON'T do this, my brushes stay stiff and gummy. When I brush it on soap, the bristles will dry stiff but fluff right up as good as new with a little flicking. Try it. Just uhhhh .... don't let your wife / girlfriend catch ya doin this 

Bill,

     That is very interesting.  I wonder what it is about bar soap that works it's "magic?"  Has anyone else here done this?

I've also noted that some of the synthetic bristles used in some brushes will 'hold' more left-over gunk after cleaning than traditional red sable brushes, so there's that to consider as well.