how to clean paintbrushes

When it comes to painting with acrylics, you don't want to slack with cleaning your paintbrushes. For to do so will result in a frayed and/or crusty brush that is no longer usable for traditional art-making purposes (as you will know after reading all about proper paintbrush care!). Therefore, once you are done painting, it is in your best interest to pamper your brush with a full beauty spa treatment to get it clean, refreshed, and ready for the next painting session!

How to clean paintbrushes

When you are done painting with a particular brush, you must clean it right away to avoid paint drying on the bristles. Follow this simple procedure for how to clean paintbrushes and you'll have sparkling fresh paintbrushes for the next time you want to paint!

1. At your work place, before you go to the sink, place the bristles in between a paper towel or rag and squeeze out the excess paint.
2. Swish the brush around in your cup of water to release any leftover paint.
3. Gently shake off the excess water.
4. Repeat Step 1.
5. Go to the sink, and rinse your brush under running lukewarm water. Using your fingers, gently and quickly squeeze the bristles to further dislodge any leftover paint.
6. Using special artist soap or regular hand-washing soap, put some soap on your brush and gently wash the bristles with your fingers by working the soap through the bristles.
7. Rinse off the soap.
8. Check to see if there is any paint left, and if there is, repeat Steps 5 and 6.
9. Once you are certain all the paint has been removed, shake the brush to remove the excess water.
10. Place the bristles in between a paper towel or rag, and squeeze out the excess water.
11. Let your paintbrush dry in a safe place, preferably lying horizontally.

*Take note that at some point or other, the hairs of your paintbrush will become tinted with some of the colors that you've been using. This is normal, and does not effect the performance of the brush. As long as the water runs clear as you're rinsing your brush, it should be clean, even if the bristles are tinted with color.

Do I need special soap to clean the paint brush?

There are special soaps that are meant for cleaning artist paint brushes. These soaps are gentle and milder on the hairs of the brush than regular hand soap, because they are specially formulated to clean and condition brushes. Usually one dish or bar of paintbrush soap will last you a very long time.

If you don't have any paintbrush soap, it's okay to use regular handsoap. Just don't use dishwashing liquid, which normally has chemicals that are too strong for the delicate hairs of an artist paint brush.

Here are some brush soaps specifically made for artist paint brushes:

Ugly Dog Brush Soap	Pink Soap Artist Brush Cleaner

The Artist's Mini Survival Kit is a handy little kit that contains everything an artist will need for clean-up and accidents, all in a cute little take-along bag. It comes with a jar of Brush Cleaner and Preserver, which can clean off oil and watercolor in addition to acrylic. Also included are a tube of Kiss-Off Stain Remover, for those oops moments when you get paint on your good clothes, and some Artist's Hand Soap, along with an informative pamphlet about paintbrush care.

How should I store and/or transport my paint brushes?

If you have a permanent workspace, you can simply leave your cleaned brushes lying horizontally on your tabletop or shelf until its next use. The important thing is that you don't want the bristles to get bent or damaged in any way.

I keep a lot of my brushes in one a

Loew Cornell Multi Bin Holder (shown left) with 50 holes for holding paintbrushes, pens, pencils, etc. I have a lot of paintbrushes (72 at last count) so sometimes I double up and put 2 or 3 of the smaller ones together in one slot. The system mainly works for me as storage and organization. Because I keep so many brushes crammed into this holder, it takes a few extra seconds to look through and find the ones I need. Therefore, before I start painting I'll select the brushes I think I'll be using for that painting session and set them aside.

This Richeson Brush Holder (shown right) is a more posh, up-scale version of the brush holder shown above. The Richeson Brush Holder is made of elegantly lacquered mahogany and stainless steel. It holds a dozen brushes in supreme style, and it gently rotates for easy access to all the brushes.

 

Paintbrush storage and transport ideas

If you have limited space and need to tuck your paintbrushes away somewhere, you can put them inside a long rectangular box, such as a shoebox or a plastic food storage container. There are also quite a few storage solutions available from the art supply stores, such as these:

This Holbein Adjustable Brush Holder is the most compact of the storage ideas, making it a good option for transport. It consists of a translucent plastic tube that can hold brushes up to 13" (22cm) long. While it is handy and compact, it doesn't have a way to prevent the brushes from banging up against the end of the tube. Therefore if you use one of these, be sure not to carry it upside-down!

 

 

An alternative to the plastic tube brush holder is this neat Bamboo Brush Roll-up that can safely store and protect up to 12 of paint brushes. You can put both wet or dry paintbrushes in this bamboo cloth holder, because it is quite airy and dries easily. To transport, simple roll it up and tie it shut.

If you need to store or transport more than a dozen paint brushes, the two boxes below are good alternatives. Both of these boxes keep the paintbrushes in place so that they won't bump against the end of the box and get damaged. The ArtBin Essentials Brush Box can hold 20 brushes, fastened in place with foam inserts. This box features vented sides, to allow the brushes to dry. The Plaid Brush Mate can hold 16 brushes.

ArtBin Essentials Brush Box

Plaid Brush Mate

Art is Fun Paintbrush Guide

Page 1........ describes the different types of brushes for acrylics and what each paintbrush can do.
Page 2........ answers all the questions that a beginning artist will have about paintbrushes. 
Page 3........ explains how to safely care for your paintbrushes and keep them happy.
Page 4........ demonstrates the best way to clean, store and transport your paintbrushes.

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