How to clean your brushes

As there are so many types of brushes and techniques, it's quite difficult to know how to take care of our most important tool, brushes. As we just launched our own brush collection, we've been getting a lot of questions about the type of care they need, as the hair type and technique we're using (whether the paint is water-based or oil-based) have a great influence on the way we should clean our brushes. In this post, we want to explain a little what we should and shouldn't do in order to take care of our brushes.

How to take care of your brushes

The most significant thing to remember is that brushes should stay as little time as possible stain with paint. So, as soon as you finish painting with them, clean them and try not to postpone this duty. Usually, people feel lazy about this chore, but cleaning them as soon as possible is the best thing, the paint will be removed faster, and we'll make sure our brushes suffer less, so, they'll last longer. To prevent the brushes from damaging faster, it's better not to use different techniques with the same brush. If you use watercolour with a brush, you should only use watercolour and not switch to acrylic paint, whose base is not water-based. And while you're using them, it is convenient to keep them always moist. The position you let your brushes rest matters. A lot. So it's best to not put them down, because if the brush is resting on the bristles, the weight of the brush itself will bend the bristles, and they will gradually deteriorate. A very common mistake is to keep the brushes underwater (or any other product) for long periods of time, as this can lead to deform the bristles and cause the wooden handles to become wet and damaged. If we need to immerse them for a long period of time for deeper cleaning, we can use special jars for this purpose. These brush cleaners allow us to can place our brush in a way only the hair is in contact with the liquid that we have deposited in it. In this way, neither the handle nor the ferrule will be damaged. Once our brushes are cleaned and completely dry, we can store them in any position (except resting on their own bristles, as we already mentioned). But, as long as they're not completely dry, the best thing you can do is to put them in a horizontal position or hang with the bristles down. If we keep them upside down, the water will run down to the ferrule and the handle, and they'll end up getting damaged. Metallic handles can rust if they are wet for a long time, and wooden handles can rot.

How to clean brushes when using water-based products

Water-based paints are less damaging for our brushes and some examples of water-based products are watercolours, latex paint, eco-friendly paints, or white glue.

To clean our brushes, first, remove the paint excess with a cloth. Then, wash the brush with neutral soap (or one with natural ingredients, they're less damaging to our brushes) and warm water. Apply some soap in your hand and rub it in. If you're using bar soap, rub the brush directly against the bar. Repeat the process as many times as necessary until the rinse water is clean. Now remove all the soap residue and let the brush dry in a horizontal position or with the bristles facing downwards.

How to clean brushes when using oil-based products

To properly remove the paint from your tools, you can use solvents or turpentine. To clean brushes, first, try to remove as much paint as possible with newspaper or towel paper, always following the direction of the bristles, i.e. from the roots to the tips. The best thing to do is to clean the brushes as soon as you finish working with them, and for this, you can use soap and water. However, if this does not work, you can pour a little solvent in water and introduce your brushes until the paint comes off. However, you must bear in mind that you should not leave your brushes submerged for a long time, as the solvent can deteriorate the condition of the brush. Remove the solvent with warm water and soap. If you still have problems removing the paint residues, use anti-grease soap, but it is better not to use this type of cleaner because it is more harmful to the bristles.

Once there are no paint residues left, you'll let them dry in a horizontal position or with the bristles downwards.

How to clean brushes with dry paint

Even though everybody knows that the best we can do for the condition and maintenance of our is to clean them as soon as we finish working with them, we sometimes forget to do so. And when it's time to clean it... surprise! It's a more complicated task. To get your brushes completely clean again, you'll need to do this:

1. Dip the brushes in solvent until the paint softens. This process will take longer than cleaning the brushes when the paint is still fresh, so the brushes will suffer more.
2. Rub the brushes with a newspaper to remove any paint residue.
3. Wash them with soap and water.

 

These are our tips to always keep our brushes clean, do you have any other tips? Let us know in the comments :)