Later Rosemary shared some tips on taking care of watercolour brushes. I didn't make a note of all of them, but I keep some relevant tips for my self:
1. Always clean brushes thoroughly after each painting session. For Kolinsky or Sable, rinse in cold water. Remove as much moisture as possible with kitchen roll and reshape before storing.
2. To prevent brush's handle from loosening/ cracking, try to keep handles dry when you dip the brush head into water. Only wet the ferrule.
3 Expensive/ perfect pointy brushes shouldn't be used to mix the paints.
4. Another special treatment is to recondition your sables as you would your own hair! Once a year, take ordinary hair conditioner and apply just one or two drops to the heads allowing to soak, then rinse well before storing again.
I also ask what to do to repair a bent synthetic (nylon) brush, she said to dip it in boiled water for about 2 seconds, reshape the head and let it dry naturally. Warning! It was for synthetic brushes only, never do it to natural Kolinsky/ Sable brushes.
5 comments:
Great post and really good tips - I must take better care of my good brushes! Best wishes
Thank you, Vicki. I ever dipped my sable brushes in hot water before knowing that it's very wrong. Never do something stupid like that again after meeting with Rosemary :p
But I found that dipping synthetic brushes in hot water and a few drop of gum arabic does work to reshape them. Best wishes.
I also keep a dirty water and clean water container on work station, so I can rinse as I go. Dirty water can destroy a fresh look while painting. Thanks for sharing your tips ;0)
T.Gomez, thank you for adding more tips! :) I do agree :D
This is a very interesting article, thank you so much for sharing this information!
I was surprised to read about the tip, to use hair conditioner once a year for your sable brushes. Some botanical painters stated, that they have to buy new brushes after finishing about four or five bigger paintings. So for them brushes as more a consumable than an investment.
Hence I was not expecting my brushes to "survive" more than some weeks and am very surprised to read about a treatment that should be employed once a year. I'm a beginner, so I can not say how long my brushes will stay sharp and fully functional.
What is your experience?
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