Hey Fellas, I have 2 dedicated cups for water when i use normal paints and Metallics, Now, there was a switch around at some point ( dont know how) But now every cup of water I use is full of swirling metallic leftovers..

Now i clean my cups with oven cleaner to remove the paint, any idea why this is still happening, oh, also I have dedicated metallic brushes.

Another quick problem. My brushes keep splitting. I dont bash them on the bottom, i swirl and wipe. any clues as to why thats happenning, as i cant keep affording to drop for brushes every week. ( Pro arte 107 spotter 2/0)

Hi James

Are your cups made in plastic? You could wash them with a rag damp with a little lacquer thinner. If they are made in plastic be careful not to damage them

Regarding the brushes, they probably are of low quality. They keep splitting because the thinner damage their bristles

Try to keep some top qulity brushes. They are more expensive but they can last you for a very long time

Cheers

I use cheap brushes for just this reason. I can pick up a set of small, round, detail brushes from my local craft store. They only last a few months, but at $7 for four of them, I can afford more.

James- I've had that happen once or twice. I tend to wash my water dish out right after I use any metallics. However, if it is stubborn I will give it a once over with Mr. Color Thinner- this stuff is awesome and will cut through any paint pretty much instantly. You can get it here:

MDC

I use the odd Pro Arte brush too- I always keep a jar of Vallejo Brush Cleaner and Brush Restorer handy, every so often they get a swirl in them, elongates the life and helps the bristles recover. I would say you could get a decent cleaner and restorer at most art/craft stores.

Hi,Ive had the same problem with brushes,I use sables from historex and they split.What i found was my paint was to thick so i thin it more now and i dampen the brush in thinners before putting on any paint.

Metalics are a P.I.A.if you ask me i try to avoid them for silver like the bars on a german collar i use vallejo white grey also for medals like the iron cross and tank assault badge

the main reason brushes, of ANY quality, "split" is because of dried paint in the upper area of the bristles where they are secured to the brush.

If you don't want it to happen, basically don't ever get paint up into this area - which isn't always easy.

Once you have dried paint there, it is pretty much there forever.

As John suggested, pre-wetting your brushes will help when it comes time to clean them. The thinners run up the bristles into the ferrule area and help keep paint from flooding up into the same.

For cleaning, Winsor & Newton make a "Brush Cleaner and Restorer" which will remove even the most stubbornly dried paint from the base of the bristles and ferrule.

I use this after every painting session (not between colors, just when I'm done for the day). You might have to dip the brush into it and let is soak for a while. You might also have to do this several times to clean out the old dried paint. It's easier to clean a brush that only has paint dried from a recent session rather than from weeks or months ago.

However, the W & N cleaner will do the job!

After I clean my brushes with the W&N stuff, I rinse them in water and clean them again using "The Master's Brush Cleaner and Preserver" (aka "B&J Brush Cleaner and Preserver"). With this, I just work up a little lather in the bristles, form them into a nice point and leave them to dry. I rinse my brushes before I start the next painting session. (Remember the first tip above, pre-wet the brush in clean thinners before starting to paint!)

You could use ordinary hair conditioner in place of "The Masters Brush Cleaner and Preserver." What's important for natural bristle brushes is to add some lanolin-like substance to the hairs.

This all sounds like a lot of work, but really it's not. It's just a matter of developing a routine and using some design purpose brush cleaners. Cleaning a really "gunked-up" brush takes some time, but cleaning a brush that's just been used and was clean before you start isn't bad.

As to your other problem, if you can't get the one cup clean of metallic pigments, then throw it away and get a new cup.

I also use two diffirent cups of rinsing and thinning water. But I just use re-cylcled plastic jars from the kitchen. I do wash them, but if they get too nasty to bother, then I just toss them and start over fresh.

I use a third jar of cleaning water when painting with acrylics (oils and mineral spirit enamels is of course different). However, in this jar I add a dash of window / glass cleaner to the water. Not a lot, just enough to add a bit of color to the water. I find this extra does help in cleaning my brushes between colors and after a session. I rinse my brush in the first jar (either for normal colors or metallics) and follow this up with the water with window / glass cleaner.

Finally, when painting with acrylics, you need to clean your brushes quite often during a painting session, often several times when even using just the same color. Dipping the brush into fresh paint will not "revitalize" the paint that has started to dry in the bristles. This not only helps when it comes to final cleaning, but makes the paint flow from the brush better and more consistant. Paint will not flow from bristles that are stuck together with dried or drying paint.

Acrylics also need to be thinned quite a lot to paint well, but that's another topic.

HTH,

Sounds like i need some higher quality brushes, and i though i was splashing out when i purchased these pro artes.
I cant really budget for cleaner and restorer at the moment, but after some retarder, they are on my bucket list.
I gave my brushes a 3 min oven cleaner bath last night and then a heavy rinse, and for now, it seems to have fixed the splitting. and the cup is metallic free now ( drinking mug)
There may have been a residue on one of my older brushes that i may have used to metallics once before i dedicated brushes to do that job.

Thanks to everyone for your replies, much appreciated. BAck to the bench I think...