Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

I just saw and article on BoLS about a quick and easy brush storage tray, and it got me wondering how the average painter actually stores their brushes. So, how ya doin it?

I glue magnets to my brushes and keep the, on a strip above my desk.

This is one of two cases I use, these are the most used brushes. I usually take out what I need for a session and lay them out flat on the workbench. When I am done I wash the brushes in brushsoap, reform the tip and put them back in the case.

That's very thorough. I would never dare put those caps back on.

I think we had a thread about this recently.

The brushes I care about I just have sitting on their side with the caps on on top of the speaker that's on my desk.

The brushes I care less about (drybrushes, glue brushes, mixing brushes, the brushes I use for masking fluid, etc) just sit on their side on the circular plastic palette thingo I have.

I will admit earlier in my hobby life I damaged some brushes putting the caps back on, but I haven' damaged a brush for years doing that and I figure I'm more likely to accidentally knock them off my desk than I am to damage them putting the cap back on.

Yup, Here's the earlier thread Dakka Thread

As I say in that thread, I store my regular brushes on their sides on dinner table knife rests on my painting tray. In fact while antiquing today I found a lovely pair of Victorian knife rests I'd have loved for my brushes but £55 for the pair a couple of weeks before Salute was pushing my taste for frivolities a little too far lol.

My main sable brushes just lay on the desk (keeps them in easy reach), capped. I've yet to damage bristles putting the plastic sleeves on - seems to me you'd have to be pretty unsteady or already have a badly splayed tip to do so (at least for the smaller sizes, which generally have steeper tapers that make capping easier than, say, a size 12), but maybe I'm just generally more careful about things like that.

The rest - assorted synthetics and coarser bristle brushes, large and small - are shoved into a coffee can. I ran two small perpendicular bars through the top, dividing it into four sections to roughly separate brushes by type/task. Makes digging around for what I need slightly easier, but they're all just "occasional use" items, anyway, so I'm no more concerned about organization than that.

I saw the BoLS case and it just seems like a terrible waste of space, to me. I can understand wanting a case if you travel with your brushes, frequently, but there are much better options already out there. Hard-sided zip cases like granander's are both compact and sturdy, nylon brush rolls (preferably coupled with the plastic tip-sleeves) are quite inexpensive, condense nicely, and offer surprisingly good protection, as the material stiffens once rolled up.

Glad I'm not the only one who stores my brushes like this, it's handy and keeps them all together.
Not only that I keep my basic tools there aswell.