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Hi Dakka Ive been painting for almost a year now and Ive noticed some of my brushes start to show damage like they start to bend and spread in the tip wich makes straight detail painting impossible, I know that its something Ive done wrong with my brushes but what? some help would be much appreciated so I can learn from my mistake : P

There's a Dakka article on brush care I think but it sounds to me like paint has got down into the ferrule. The ferrule is the metal tube that the brush hairs are mounted in. If paint gets up into the base of the hairs into the ferrule it dries and forces the hairs apart. Best solved by only using the tip of the brush and not dunking it in paint. Also banging it on the bottom of water jar or paint pot knackers hairs as does leaving the brush to stand in water. The only other thing I can think of is mixing solvents on the brushes, you should have seperate brushes for water based (acrylic) and solvent based paints (oil, enamel). Mixing between the two is bad for a brush.

Apart from just taking better care with brushes in general it's also a good idea to wash them properly at the end of a session. Wash the brush under running water and work in a little liquid soap or washing up liquid and get all the paint out. Don't use hot water it can loosen the hairs.

Howard A Treesong wrote:There's a Dakka article on brush care I think but it sounds to me like paint has got down into the ferrule. The ferrule is the metal tube that the brush hairs are mounted in. If paint gets up into the base of the hairs into the ferrule it dries and forces the hairs apart. Best solved by only using the tip of the brush and not dunking it in paint. Also banging it on the bottom of water jar or paint pot knackers hairs as does leaving the brush to stand in water. The only other thing I can think of is mixing solvents on the brushes, you should have seperate brushes for water based (acrylic) and solvent based paints (oil, enamel). Mixing between the two is bad for a brush.

Apart from just taking better care with brushes in general it's also a good idea to wash them properly at the end of a session. Wash the brush under running water and work in a little liquid soap or washing up liquid and get all the paint out. Don't use hot water it can loosen the hairs.

Many thanks, I shall take this into notice and do my best not to ruin more brushes.

Kabongman wrote:Many thanks, I shall take this into notice and do my best not to ruin more brushes.

On re-reading I notice you have been painting a year, how many brushes have you got and how long do they last? Brushes do wear out, they don't last forever, you might need to buy more!

My recommendation would be to buy yourself some brush cleaner and a bottle of brush shaper. These items can be found at most art stores and will cost you about 5-7$. You can use these when you are finished with painting for the day. The brush cleaner works fantastic...you will find it cleans pgment from the brush even after water has seemingly cleaned everything. After that you can take the brush shaper and mold your brush back into a fine point and let it set overnight. This will increase the life of your brushes dramatically.

Howard A Treesong wrote:

Kabongman wrote:Many thanks, I shall take this into notice and do my best not to ruin more brushes.

On re-reading I notice you have been painting a year, how many brushes have you got and how long do they last? Brushes do wear out, they don't last forever, you might need to buy more!

At the moment I have four brushes two Citadel, one davinci and a brush I got with a rackham paintkit. Oldest is one of the Citadel Starter brushes I got with the AOBR paintkit and that is FUBAR complete spread of doom, second Citadel brush is a standard brush that still havent spread or bent, the davinci was a fine detail and it didnt hold long untill it went mushroom cloud on me like 3months and the rackham brush just recently got a bent spread tip and it was from me losing depth perception when i dipped in the pot a few times over *cough*


Automatically Appended Next Post:

Element206 wrote:My recommendation would be to buy yourself some brush cleaner and a bottle of brush shaper. These items can be found at most art stores and will cost you about 5-7$. You can use these when you are finished with painting for the day. The brush cleaner works fantastic...you will find it cleans pgment from the brush even after water has seemingly cleaned everything. After that you can take the brush shaper and mold your brush back into a fine point and let it set overnight. This will increase the life of your brushes dramatically.

This sounds nice, but I live far off on the countryside on a remote Island in the baltic sea....so there is a chance of that not existing here

Kabongman wrote:
This sounds nice, but I live far off on the countryside on a remote Island in the baltic sea....so there is a chance of that not existing here

Hair conditioner works wonders. Just apply, gently work it in, and rinse as per norm after you've cleaned the brush.

I like to clean my brush constantly while I am painting - this ensures no paint dries on the brush while I am inspecting the model or if I am between colors.

When I am done for the night I use Pink Soap brush cleaner to do a final cleaning of the brushes, then I leave some of the pink soap on the brushes to act as a protectant/shaper.

It has been working well for me for a few months so far. We'll see how long my brushes last.

The spreading problem sounds like paint in the ferrule. As for the bent tip, I'm not familiar with the specific brushes you're using. What material are they? Natural bristles can be revived and shaped to a great degree (decent advice on here, already), but nylon bristles are prone to tip curling. It's pretty much unavoidable, given enough time and use - that's just the material. Obviously, the less you abuse ANY brush, the longer it will last and the better it will perform during that lifespan.

If you can get your hands on some, I LOVE Master's Brush Soap. It takes pigment off of bristles, restoring their original color and flex and helps loosen up the chunks of dried paint in the base that splays tips and that inevitable ring of paint that forms at the ferrule. With a bit of work, I've been able to restore some of my girlfriend's most heavily abused brushes - one of those poor things had spent a year encased in a mix of acrylic craft paint, fabric paint, white glue, and a piece of the sheet of newspaper it had cemented itself to while drying. Turns out it was a crap brush to begin with (as I found out when I had finished...), so I regret wasting the effort, but it's a great testimonial for Master's!