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like the title says, i need a way to clean my brushes, they're starting to get a gunky. Anything that's not gonna be to harsh on them would be great.

I tend to find my Tank Brush gets all sticky etc.

To fix this i'l give it a good clean with water a small amount of washing up liquid and make sure most of the sticky bits have gone. Then I'l leave the brush for at least a few hours if not ti'l the next day.

So long as your gentle with the brush, no harm will come to it from this method.

I've heard of some letting the brush soak in a number of the products that people use for stripping paint off plastic as well. Anything that isn't save for plastic use would probably do a bit of harm to the brushes though (acetone, etc)

There's a product called something like Old Master's Brush Cleaner that you can get at art supply stores or places like Michael's crafts. It's a small dish, looks kind of like shoe polish, but it's wonderful for cleaning your brushes. Just wet the brush, drag it around in the cleaning compound, and the paint is gone (including most dried paint, although it won't get paint out of the base of the brush).

Working liquid soap or washing up liquid works well. Don't use hot water, it makes the hairs fall out and I'm not sure about using paint stripper, probably for the same reason.

The best thing is to look after the brush when painting. Don't let paint get up into the base of the brush because this is difficult to clean and makes your hairs splay out. Also don't mix and your solvents, keep brushes that are used with water based paints just for those, and use different brushes for solvent based paints and clean them in solvents. Don't use the same brush for both mediums regardless of how clean it appears between uses.

But I'm guilty of letting both of these happen.

Iorek wrote:There's a product called something like Old Master's Brush Cleaner that you can get at art supply stores or places like Michael's crafts. It's a small dish, looks kind of like shoe polish, but it's wonderful for cleaning your brushes. Just wet the brush, drag it around in the cleaning compound, and the paint is gone (including most dried paint, although it won't get paint out of the base of the brush).

I use this and it works great. Use it with some warm water (note I said warm not hot). I try not to "soak" my brushes in anything, as most soaps tend to eat the glue that holds the bristles in place. For real gunked up brushes you may have to use it several times.

I'm going to chime in and support the Iorek and Loomisc. It's actually called "The Master's" Brush Cleaner and Preserver, and it will clean virtually anything out of the brushes, given enough repetitions. I've had brushes long consigned to dry brush duty be cleaned back to being able to hold a point.

Oh and something else...you can use it to protect the brush when not in use. Once you have finished cleaning the brush, wet it and coat the bristles with more of the soap and let it dry. This will help condition your brush as well is help it retain its shape. Simply rinse it with water when you are ready to use it again.