hello
how do you people keep your paint brushes
all the help you can give on paint brushes to would be nice thanks
ed

I was wondering if anyone used an ultrasonic cleaner to clean their brushes?

cbreezel

Ed,
I keep my brushes in a black canvas brush holder. This stores many brushes and rolls up like a chefs knofe bag. This is made by the company "Loew Cornell" and I am sure you can find them on line. This rolls up, is easy to cary, and was inexpensive at local craft store.
Also, I keep my "Junk" brushes, my acrylic brushes, and my oil brushes seperate from one another.

I keep all my brushes points up in a Loew - Cornell "Multi - Bin" brush stand. It keeps the bristles pristine and makes choosing the right brush very easy.
I've never put any of my brushes in my ultrasonic cleaner, but that is a brilliant idea. It would clean the bristles all the way to the core and I can't see how it could harm them. Iwata-Medea airbrush cleaner is also recommended for brush cleaning and I know it's safe for the ultrasonic cleaner.

I keep them in a paint brush holder jar. I used to have aN ultrasonic cleaner, it was very good because it could clean all brushes without having to touch the tip at all but now it's broke. When it was operational it kept my brushes in a good state for quite some time.

P.A.

I keep my back-up brushes in an old tea container. The ones I use most often are on a brush tree I built. Good idea with the ultrasonic cleaner. Have to add that one to my 'tools list'.

Store 'em bristle up, handle down. Just about any kind of open container will do as long as they're not so crowded that you can't pick one up without disturbing the bristles on the other brushes and the container won't fall over easily. If you need to transport a brush, put a tube over the tip (carefully without catching any of the bristles) before carrying it flat in a box or roll-up. (Save those little tubes that come on good brushes when you buy them.)

Clean well after use - obviously. But really, to get the paint out of the ferrule you need to do a bit more than swish the brush around in clean thinners. That works fine when changing between colors in the same painting session, but once you've finished a painting session, your brushes need a more thorough cleaning.

I've become a great fan of Windso & Newton's "Brush Cleaner and Restorer." It will, with persistance and work, actually clean dried acrylic paint out of a sable hair brush. It's pretty potent stuff, and will soften and remove the laquer and paint from the wooden handles if you're not careful. I dunk the bristles into the stuff to about mid-ferrule and set the brush aside laying flat for a few minutes to soak.

To actually clean the bristles, I use a rolling and pulling motion across clean paper towels. You can actually put quite a bit of sidewards pressure on the bristles at the join with the ferrule and then pull back while rolling the handle. This will spread the bristles somewhat and create some friction between them to dislodge paint. As long as you're always pulling the bristles across the toweling you won't bung them. A bit of experience and judgment is in order when doing this.

Repeat this process until the brushe is clean or you run out of patience. Once I get the brush clean with the W&N Cleaner-Restorer, I give it a swish in clean water and carefully shape the tip. The classic, traditional method for tip shaping is by licking the bristles. I'll neither confirm nor deny that I'm a traditionalist.

I've never used a sonic cleaner, but by using the above methods, I've got brushes that are over 15 years old that I use on just about every project that I've built in all that time. With careful cleaning, generally the tips will hook over long before paint build up in the ferrule will ruin the brush by spreading the bristles. I've never found a way to restore a brsuh for detail painting once the tip has hooked over, so when that happens, the brush moves on to use in harsher tasks.

Also, that ol' saw about different strokes for different folks...

There are different brishes for different purposes and different mediums. Acrylics paint like water colors, so if you're an acrylic painter, try natural bristle round water color brushes. If you're an oils and enamels painter, try sables (which are generally too stiff for acrylics). However, sable liner brushes (like 10-0 liners) work well for acrylics, too, because the bristles are rather long and flexible. I use both acrylics and oils and enamels, and I have differnt brushes for each.

Finally, good brushes are somewhat expensive, although you can get a good selection of excellent W&N Kolinski Sable brushes for the cost of a single DML kit - cost is relative. Good brushes will last a long time, though, if you care for them, so think of them as an investment rather than an expendable or fungible expense (like X-acto knife blades that wear out quickly and must be tossed). So, as your skill increases, don't hesitate to up-grade your brushes to keep pace.

I store all handle-down standing in a Cambell soup can rack - 4 cans taped together in a line allow me to segregate brushes into "new - higher-quality - small" for detailing, "good larger - sized" for area-painting and oil-washing, "brushes for pigments and chalks", and "rough use old stuff" for harsh tasks.

I try to keep those bristle-cover tubes on brushes while they are in top shape to further protect them.

When I take some somewhere, I have a small PVC pipe brush-tube (3/4 inch white PVC with end-caps) with cotton balls at either end to keep brushes from slamming around.

Cleaning is pretty much as above posters, using the gentle drag-and-press approaches. Careful cleaning and shaping (yeah... traditionalist...) is a must after the session is over. The ultrasonic approach sounds good and I'll have to try it out!

When a good brush starts to develop that bent-over tip, I trim and re-shape the tip with a new Exacto blade.

"Different strokes for different folks" and all that... there are lots of bristle types and shapes available and you should read some posts on brush v paint types, and then give different types a try to find those which do what you want them to.

Bob

To store my brushes, I use an empty juice concentrate container. The small plastic ones. I store the brushes handle down, works well and didn't cost me anything other than a pitcher of juice!