Your Brushes Are Dying. Here's How to Save Them
, by Waterfront News, 1 min reading time
A good brush should last a year, not a month. Five habits that keep the point sharp and the paint where you want it.
Ask any painter what killed their favourite brush and the answer is always the same: them. Brushes don't wear out, they get abused. Here's how to stop.
1. Never let paint reach the ferrule
The metal bit is the ferrule. Paint that dries in there splays the bristles and the point is gone for good. Only ever load the front half of the brush. If paint creeps up, rinse straight away.
2. Rinse constantly, not occasionally
Swish the brush in clean water every minute or two, not just when you change colour. Acrylic paint dries in minutes and dried paint is what wrecks the tip. Two water pots, one for rinsing and one for clean thinning, makes a huge difference.
3. Don't stir with your good brush
Mixing paint, stabbing at drybrush texture and scrubbing washes into recesses will destroy a fine point. Keep an old brush or a cheap hobby brush for the rough work and save your detail brush for detail.
4. Wash with brush soap, then reshape
At the end of a session, work a little brush soap into the bristles, rinse, then pull the tip to a point between your fingers and stand it bristles-up to dry. Natural sable brushes especially love this.
5. Buy the right brush for the job
A synthetic size 1 or 2 does base coats. A sable size 0 or 1 does detail and lasts far longer if you look after it. A flat, stiff drybrush is a separate tool, not something you do with an old detail brush.
If your current brushes have already gone hooked and frayed, don't fight them. A fresh Wargamer brush will make you a better painter overnight, and you'll wonder why you put up with it for so long.