Brush Care
Learning and getting into the habit of good brush care is as important as selecting the brush itself. Failure to clean your brushes adequately will cause bumps in the hairs at the base of the ferrule, forcing the hairs to form a tunnel or separate. Scrubbing the brush improperly with soap, sponges, toweling or even your hand can cause the tips to curl or curve away from the shape of the brush.
HOW TO CLEAN A BRUSH:
After removing most of the paint by rinsing in water or thinner, finish with a very thorough soap ad water cleaning.
Gently fill the brush with liquid soap or brush cleaner.
Using your fingers, squeeze the soap towards the ferrule while working it into all the hairs.
Rinse the hairs well. Repeat until no color is present.
When brush is completely clean, add little brush cleaner or soap to the bristles and form the hairs back into their original shade with your fingers.
Allow the brush to dry flat rather than standing. The soap in the hair will protect the hairs during storage. When you're ready to use the brush again, rinse the soap from the brush.
After your brushes are completely dry, store standing on the handle end in a brush holder, or flat in a rolled canvas brush holder.
BRUSH CARE: Your brushes are going to be a major investment in your supplies. If you take good care of them, they will last a long, long time.
Always work hairs in their natural direction.
Don't allow paint to dry on your brush, or work its way up into the ferrule.
Don't soak a brush in liquid for long periods of time. The brush fibers act as wick, drawing the liquid up into the wooden handle. The wood will expand, cracking the paint off the handle and loosening the ferrule. Eventually this will cause the wooden handle to rot.
Always clean your brushes thoroughly and promptly, using a cleaner suited to the media used.
Store brushes lying flat or with their heads upright.
Many very good brush cleaning products are available for today's painters and should be used. But if you are on a budget, you may clean brushes with solvents already found in your home. Natural brushes, for example, may be cleaned with everyday shampoo, which synthetic brushes may be cleaned with a grease-cutting dish soap. You may want to invest the money you save on cleaning products in higher-quality brushes. Synthetic hair tend to be more difficult to clean than natural hair. Synthetic fibers are not as forgiving as natural hairs--they are stingy in releasing color. Most people don't take the time to clean and care for brushes.