TIP: Restoring paintbrushes
Last week when Mia Bergeron was painting with me in my studio, she told me how she restores dried hard paintbrushes without solvent.
Now, I don’t know if I’m a typical lazy painter, but I have quite a few brushes that I thought were totally dead. Even solvent wouldn’t bring them completely back to life. So I was very interested to try her method.
It’s very simple - take a glass jar (I think she said it needs to be non-reactive - which would be vessels like ceramic, glass, stoneware, food-grade plastic, wood, or porcelain, as opposed to reactive vessels like copper, zinc, cast iron, brass, aluminum, carbon steel, or galvanized anything) and place a bar of ivory soap inside. Fill with enough water to cover, and drop your brushes in.
The soap makes a nasty grey slurry mix. Like so:
Let sit for a couple days, then wash with soap & water. It really works - and my bristles are softer and more workable/pliable than ever! I think I’ll let all my brushes get hard & crusty with paint, so they can go through this process.
Or not.
Mia says that you can also dip your brushes in skim milk and then sandwich them between cardboard & press - let dry and their shape will be restored. Have to try that - I’ll report back when I do.
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Who knew? Too late to retrieve mine from the landfill. I’ve added Ivory soap to my grocery list. Thank you! Kristine Kainer
A word of caution: While I have not tried this method, and do not have an opinion against it, I do want to warn people not to fill the glass higher then the handle-end of the ferule (or even lower to compensate for displacement with many brushes). If water leaks down into the ferrule, or even if it makes its way up between the hairs, past the glue/cement and into the wood of the handle, the handle will absorb the water (especially over several days of soaking) and the handle will swell. The effect is to loosen the ferrule crimp and to crack and split the paint on the handles.
Anyone who has visited my studio has seen my hundreds of brushes from my 30-year career, the first 10-20 of which were characterized by the exclusive use of water-based paints. I have many, many brushes that have ruined, warped and rough handles from the absorption problem.
I’ve learnt over the years that you get what you pay for with brushes, and this has lengthened their lifespan and my pocket no end!
I thought there was no hope… until now! Thanks.
I also concur with David Darrow on the ‘jar not too full’ tip. I’ve had brushes shed their paint due to expanding wooden, water-logged handles and it’s harrowing to see having spent lots of money buying them.
Also, does the “skimmed milk sandwich” method work for those brushes that have curled from being too low in the brush pot to regain their shape too?
Thanks, I am going to try this on my brushes. I too am a ‘typical’ painter with quite a few brushes that have seen better days.
Good point, Dave. Thanks for adding that. But, you’re too dang late, I ruined 3 of the brushes from that photo!
Ah, well. Live and learn.
Tom - I’m not sure but I think so. And, you do know you can restore synthetics shape by dipping them into hot (almost boiling?) water?
Tie a piece of masking tape around the bristles after cleaning and hang them upside down. I often soften mine with a drop of olive oil afterwards.( as long as you’re working with oils of course).
Thanks for the advice. Take good care and get as much joy as you can everyday.
I’ll be trying the Ivory soap this week for sure. Another way to reshape old brushes is with starch, coat them very well with it, then reshape them with your fingers, or press them between cardboard or anything else hard and flat then let dry, works perfectly.
murphys oil soap also works well.
idrop them into a corner of a lg baggy and
fill with this soap up to the ferral.
mr.muscle oven cleaner will remove
dry paint from canvases.
I hear that vinegar works wonders when cleaning brushes that are crusty
All good tips.
The best solution, of course, is to not be lazy and wash your brushes after every use, right? We all do this, right?
Riiiight.
I have found that Goop, a hand cleaning product sold in automotive stores (or in the automotive section of the big box stores like Walmart) is ideal for cleaning brushes and keeping them soft. I try to minimize water on my brushes. When it’s time to clean them, I dip in solvent, wipe, then dip in olive oil, wipe (lots of paint comes out in the oil!), and then work some goop into each one, wiping and squeezing all the remaining pigment out of the bristles. It is quick, easy, effective, and conditions the brushes nicely. I end with a quick rinse with water. At that point, no toxins are left to go down the drain. Finally, I wipe them dry, and lay out flat so that no water will get into the ferrule. I got the idea of using Goop from Steven Assael. Goop is very cheap too. In the case of a badly soiled brush, a soak in Goop overnight works well.