I sat down to work today and was ashamed at the way my brushes looked!

I know better, was taught better, but here they were with paint in the feral, hadn’t been really cleaned in who knows how long, to the point where I actually considered turning them into ‘glue’ brushes.

But, I decided to give them a good cleaning and see if they could be salvaged. I’m sharing this so that together we can

SAVE OUR BRUSHES!

1.)  Determine the condition of your brushes. Do they need a DEEP cleaning? It there’s dry paint in the feral (metal part of the brush) they do. If they’re just a little dirty you could probably skip to Step 6. Overuse of the brush cleaning solution is not good for them either.

If your brushes look like this (yes, I’m hanging my head in shame) then it’s most definitely time to try and save them!

2.)  I really like this Brush Cleaner and Restorer by  Windsor Newton. It doesn’t stink, and it’s water soluble. The best thing is that it works!

Use an old cup and put just enough of the cleaner in to cover the bristles and feral of the brushes. Don’t allow the the cleaner to cover the handle of the brush; it’ll ruin the painted wood!

If your brushes are really dirty like mine, you’ll want to let them soak overnight.

3.)  After their soak, take an old toothbrush and gently scrub out the old paint wiping the toothbrush from the feral out. Don’t go back and forth, just wipe away from the feral.

4.)  Rinse the brush and then wipe it across the Masters Brush Cleaner and Preserver several times and rinse again.

5.)  Take the damp brush and run it across the Masters Brush Cleaner once on each side to put a thin coat that will dry keeping the bristles together and maintaining the chisle edge of the brush. This is important because the paint in the feral tends to splay the bristles and you need to put them back into the original state. Next time you use the brush you just rinse the dried soap out.

The challenge is not to let my brushes get like this again…