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How to look after your paintbrushes.


Test Valley Models

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One of the biggest complaints I get about paintbrushes is that over a short period of time they fork at the tip and no matter how much you clean it, you cannot stop it forking.

First we have to know why a tip forks ?

A paintbrush tip forks because pigment has gone down into the ferrule (that's the metal bit holding the bristles), this is normally caused by the person using the brush,

  • dipping it too far into the paint,
  • overloading the brush
  • not cleaning it properly
  • Incorrect storage

 

How do we stop it ?

  • Don't dip the brush so far into the paint, it's that simple, just the tip is enough.
  • Don't use the brush to take paint from the pot to palette, I use a small mustard spoon when using Citadel paint
  • You should rinse your brush each time you reload it, and when you finish with it.
  • Use two pots of water for rinsing, one I call the first (dirty rinse) the second is a clean final rinse.
  • Use a brush cleaner/conditioner like The Masters Brush cleaner, alternatively if you use natural bristle brushes add a tiny drop of hair conditioner to the final rinse when cleaning them.
  • Store your brushes flat, or bristles down, no matter how much you clean them, there will be some pigment residue in the bristles, storing them bristles up in a pot encourages this pigment to flow down the bristles and into the ferrule.
  • Don't throw the protective tubes away, these protect the bristles in storage, and stop the brush drying out so fast.

 

Don't buy cheap paint, no matter how tempting it is, cheap paint has pigments that are not as finally ground, Humbrol Acrylic earth colours are notorious for this.

Never use paint straight from the pot, always use a palette, and dilute a little.

 

Apologies if I am preaching to the converted, but I find a lot of my customers ask these questions.

 

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Thanks for the reminder, it's stuff we should all know but it's easy to forget these things.

 

Your advice is good for those that use acrylics but what about those that use enamels particularly with regards to cleaning?  I mostly brush paint and find it difficult to get all of the pigment out of the bristles.

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I've bought relatively good quality brushes for years now. After use, they get a good cleaning in the appropriate thinner, then a good wash with water with a drop of dish washing soap, between thumb and finger, followed by a gentle dry with some paper towel. I then wet thumb and forefinger with a bit of spit, to reshape the bristles to their proper shape. If I still have the clear protection tube that comes with the brush, I carefully slip it over the bristles and store it bristle end up. I've been doing this for years and still have a lot of older brushes that are still good.

 

I got this method out of some modeling magazine, possibly Fine Scale Modeler a few decades ago.

 

 

Chris

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11 hours ago, Wez said:

Thanks for the reminder, it's stuff we should all know but it's easy to forget these things.

 

Your advice is good for those that use acrylics but what about those that use enamels particularly with regards to cleaning?  I mostly brush paint and find it difficult to get all of the pigment out of the bristles.

As a bit of an environmentalist my initial reaction to the question is to ask you to switch to acrylics, they have advanced so much in the past few years the quality and variety of colours is massive.

Enamels are very hard to clean, and to keep clean.

My own experience with enamels is to soak them in thinners rather than just rinse them out, it's also important to condition them because the thinners will strip the bristles of any oils, the rest is as fro acrylics, store them bristles down or flat.

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On 14/03/2021 at 09:59, Test Valley Models said:

Store your brushes flat, or bristles down, no matter how much you clean them, there will be some pigment residue in the bristles, storing them bristles up in a pot encourages this pigment to flow down the bristles and into the ferrule.

Thank you for this advice! Even though it's self-explanatory, I've never thought about it. I'm going straight down to my modelling-den and switching places between sanding sticks (flat storage) and paintbrushes (upright in a jar). 

Have a nice day!

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