Brushes are made of natural or synthetic bristles. Of course, we recommended you to buy good quality brushes. But however good the quality of your brushes, poor brush maintenance will not help you to obtain good results. After a while, the brush’s bristles will splay out due to paint residues and the bristles become brittle and will break. So it is important to clean your brushes properly. That has two objectives: removing all paint residues and keeping your brushes smooth and elastic, and in the right shape.
How to remove acrylic and watercolour paint residues
1. First, wash away the paint residues using lukewarm water.
2. Then clean your brushes with a small amount of soap. To do this, use a soft green soap (soap with no colouring and fragrance). These soaps have no unwanted additions and also have a ‘greasy’ action, so that the brush’s bristles stay smooth and elastic.
3. A commonly used method is to rub the brush clean in the palm of the hand with a little soap and lukewarm water until no more colour is given off and the soap produces a white froth.
4. Then remove the soap with lukewarm water, shake the water out, and restore the brush’s bristles to their original state.
5. Put the brush in a pot with the bristles pointing upwards to let it dry properly.
How to remove oil paint residues
1. First, remove as much paint as possible by wiping it off onto a piece of cloth.
2. Then rinse the brushes as clean as possible with white spirit in a pot; repeat this a few times.
3. Do not press the brush hard on the bottom of the pot to avoid breaking the bristles.
4. Afterwards, rinse the brushes clean with lukewarm water and soap as described above with water-soluble paints.
And one more thing
And one more thing
– Never leave brushes lying on the bristles for too long, this will break the bristles and the brush’s original shape will disappear.
– Do not put your brushes on the heating to dry; this will shrink the brush’s wooden handle and the ferrule will come loose.
– Acrylic paint is indeed a water-soluble paint, but it dries water-resistant. If the acrylic paint on your brush has become hard, then you can throw it away.
– When using oil paint, do not leave the brushes in the white spirit for too long as this will make the bristles brittle and they will break more easily.
– Sometimes, hog bristle brushes will seem a little ‘coloured’ even after a good clean. This is because the bristles no longer transfer the colour. But the brush will still be properly clean and not transfer colour when used.