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Hey guys, I am notoriously bad at keeping my paintbrushes straight and when I do dabbing effects on my models it absolutely ruins the brushes. I used to just go buy brush after brush and it started to eat into my model budget. So I started to look around and a friend of mine showed me this cool trick that fixes brushes pretty well.

1. Soak it in soapy water for about an hour.
2. Get a piece of tinfoil and put some soap in it
3. Place your brush in the tinfoil and then wrap it up in whatever shape you want the bristles to be in
4. Wait for 24 hours and then clean the brush with water

It doesn't seem to be a permanent fix, it seems to fray again at a faster rate than an original brush, but its much cheaper than constntly buying new brushes.

Hope this is helpful to someone!

1. Don't poke your brush tips straight in to things. They are not designed to do that.
2. Clean your brushes properly after each use, and rinse them constantly during use.
3. ???
4. Profit.

You do that, and a proper set of brushes will last decades.

Aerethan wrote:1. Don't poke your brush tips straight in to things. They are not designed to do that.
2. Clean your brushes properly after each use, and rinse them constantly during use.
3. ???
4. Profit.

You do that, and a proper set of brushes will last decades.

QFT

Aerethan wrote:1. Don't poke your brush tips straight in to things. They are not designed to do that.

Unless they are designed to do that...

Gavin Thorne wrote:

Aerethan wrote:1. Don't poke your brush tips straight in to things. They are not designed to do that.

Unless they are designed to do that...

Ok, any brush with a point to it isn't designed for poking. Stippling and stencil brushes are the only times it's ok to poke.

Aerethan wrote:
Ok, any brush with a point to it isn't designed for poking. Stippling and stencil brushes are the only times it's ok to poke.

depends which side of the brush you poke with!!

back on topic though;
I use "the Masters" brush cleaner and conditioner, which is both a soap and if you rinse out the soap and put some extra brush cleaner on it and make a nice tip before you set your brush away, you will train the bristles of your brush to stay in that tip!

dont forget to rinse your brushes before use though!!

sometimes you can have some luck restoring a destroyed tip by twisting the brush as you dab the water out of it on a paper towell. Spinning the brush forces the hairs to align in something approximating a tip, I do this with crappy brushes all the time, even while painting, and it puts a tip back onto what's lost it's tip, but It will never go back to perfect, ever. You might get a little more time out of the brush, but it's just dead and done. I've managed to "recover" a few tips, but this situation is far less than ideal. The solution you have posted is essentially the same thing.... The fact is it's best to learn proper brush care. My first brushes lasted me a few months, my current ones have been in service a few years now.

I have found that it also depends on the individual brush or manufacturer, to a degree. I've bought 6 W&N S7 brushes from different retailers and out of 6, I have 3 still in okay shape even with regular cleaning (having lost the definition of their tip for the most part despite repeated reshaping) but the other three lost bristles or had bristles break and aren't even useable as drybrushes.

The Raphael 8404's that I picked up in February are showing no signs of damage, bent bristles, or splitting with the same methods of care. Some of the cheap craft brushes I own have held up better than the S7's.

Gavin Thorne wrote:I have found that it also depends on the individual brush or manufacturer, to a degree. I've bought 6 W&N S7 brushes from different retailers and out of 6, I have 3 still in okay shape even with regular cleaning (having lost the definition of their tip for the most part despite repeated reshaping) but the other three lost bristles or had bristles break and aren't even useable as drybrushes.

The Raphael 8404's that I picked up in February are showing no signs of damage, bent bristles, or splitting with the same methods of care. Some of the cheap craft brushes I own have held up better than the S7's.

and material of which the bristles are composed. No idea what the hell I picked up last week, but I have a seething hatred of this paintbrush. It does not behave in any fashion that I'm used to.

Generally for what we do, we should use natural hair brushes, and at the peak of that category is Kolisnky Sable. Red sable is a close second, and other hairs are behind that.

For ANYTHING alcohol based, such as oil washes or IPA for pigments you need to use synthetic brushes like Taklon or nylon. Alcohol and oil paints eat away at natural hair and will ruin those expensive brushes you got. Sadly, synthetic brushes tend to have the tips curl over after long use, so they pretty much come with an expiration date when you buy them.

Sable brushes of any quality(I use Rosemary & Co. series 33) will last decades if maintained properly.

My local FLGS guy told me to soak brushes in paint thinner, as it's a surer way to get rid of the bits of paint clogged at the base where the bristles meet the metal part. According to him, warm water causes the metal part to expand, meaning that there's a possibility that some of the bristles will actually loosen and fall out, plus soapy water isn't that effective in removing dried paint.

Thoughts on this, guys?

Paint thinner is a good way to ruin a good brush...especially if it is left to soak in it.

If you get paint dried up in the ferule of your brush, you can normally clean it using a good quality liquid brush cleaner. W&N makes one that works quite well. I have a bottle of "Better Way" that I am using right now and it works as well.

The chemicals in a liquid brush cleaner don't damage the bristles and work well enough on the dried paint. The chemicals in the paint thinner though will (which is the same reason you want to use synthetic bristle brushes with oil paints and enamels).

The water temperature can cause the ferrule to loosen. It is a combination of the water expanding the ferrule itself (brass especially) as well as it causing the wooden handle and the bristles to swell - pushing out on the ferrule. When they go back to normal dry size...the ferrule is loose and in exceptional cases can fall right off. More often, you will have funky bristles and possible shedding.

So one of the painters that I know who does a lot of commissions swears by dipping the brush briefly in thinner to break up the paint, followed by a rinse, and then an overnight soak in shampoo water.

He reasons that the organic bristles are no different from your own hair, and that shampoo both cleanses and softens it back into its original form, a point. Given that I've inspected his stock GW brushes and they're in excellent condition despite the amount of wear they go through, and how long he's been using them, I'm convinced.

I replaced the paint thinner part with a brief soapy scrub and rinse. The bristles are still pretty funky, though, and a little stiff despite the paint having been washed off. I'm soaking them now in the shampoo water and will let you guys know of the result tomorrow!

The only problem with that is that your natural hair has sebacious glands that restore it's oils when washed away. The bristles of your brush do not. Brush soaps and cleansers have oils that work effectively to clean, moisturize, and protect your brushes.

Oh, that is true.

Can you guys recommend brush cleaners? Actually, I'm also thinking the GW brushes I have are kinda crappy... They didn't really have a point when I bought them in the first place, should've checked. :/ Should probably get non-GW brushes too, the quality I found has dropped.

Dip it in water and find the crease in your hand, twist gently with the crease folded over the brush.

Creates a perfect point again

Unfortunately, it doesn't hold once it dries. The bristles becomes frayed once more.

Use Masters Brush Cleaner and Restorer.

i will second all the members saying to properly clean your brush, and once its dead, its pretty much dead, not much you can use it for save washes at this point. im not the best with brush care and even i can get a $4 brush to last a year.