I paint in acrylics. It's important to take good care of your brushes if you want them to do good work for you.
Cheap brushes are more expensive because you go through a lot of them to get a brush that works well and they wear out quicker. It's important to have good brushes for painting with acrylics. I love the Scharff brushes. They are quality, have a great shape, and retain their shape if you care for them properly.
After painting I clean my brushes with DecoArt's DecoMagic liquid brush cleaner. I pour some out on my palette, or my glass table top, and work my wet brush in the liquid, pushing and pulling, lifting the handle to spread out the bristles and wiggling the brush side to side. I make sure I have the paint worked out of the ferrule by grasping the bristles in my left hand while I wiggle the brush side to side. Then I rinse my brush thoroughly in cool water. If your brush is separating down the middle lengthwise, you are not getting the paint cleaned out of the ferrule..
I always lay my brush flat on the table to dry. Gravity will pull dirty paint water or slightly soapy water down into the ferrule, dry, and cause your brush to separate.
Brushes have a specific shape to perform a specific task. Try to keep them is that shape.
Old brushes have uses too. Like drybrushing. And letting the kids use them.
If you use a water basin with a ridged bottom, avoid pulling your brush across the ridges. If you can't remove the paint with just pouncing in one of flat bottomed section, pull your ferrule across the ridges just 2 or 3 times, in one direction, to vibrate paint out of the ferrule. Never pull the bristles across the ridges. This is like curling ribbon! Never pull your liner and smaller brushes across the ridges. Just flick them side to side in one of the small basin sections to clean and vibrate the paint from the ferrule.
I like the Master Brush Cleaner too. The 1/4 oz size if great for traveling.
If you have paint dried up in your brush ferrule, you can soak it in DecoMagic awhile, then clean as above. Winsor & Newton Brush Cleaner and Restorer is also excellent for removing dried paint. Just remember it eats plastic so use a glass container for the the solution.
It's much easier to paint with a good brush. If you take care of your brushes they will paint nicely for you.
Here are some additional tips from Scharff:
- Always clean your brushes immediately after every use.
- Never let the paint dry on your brush.
- Never use the cleaning tubs with a rippled bottom. This is not the proper way to clean your brushes. It is a very good way to ruin your brushes.
- Do not let a brush stand in water or cleaning solvents for any length of time. This will cause the liquid to leach into the handle and swelling will occur in the wood. This will lead to the paint chipping off and the ferrule becoming loose.
- After thoroughly cleaning your brushes, store them lying flat or with the ferrules up. Never store your brushes on the hair.
