Watercolor paintbrush3/2/2024 I paint in both watercolor and acrylic, and I use different containers for my rinse water as a way to help remind myself not to leave my watercolor brushes soaking. It’s a bit of a nuisance, because you’ll have to change rinse water more often, but if the container feels likely to tip over from the weight of the brush, it will help remind you not to leave the brush soaking. If you already have this habit built in from painting in acrylics, one trick is to use a small, light container for rinse water for a while. A brush rest or chopstick rest makes a handy place to rest a brush, but a pair of towels works just fine, too. Instead, keep a sponge or towel handy to blot the brush dry and lay it down flat or tip down until you need it again. In some brushes, the brush hairs are glued in place and the brush may begin shedding hairs if left soaking in water. In some cases, the glue holding the handle to the ferrule will also be damaged and the handle will fall off. The water is absorbed into the wood of the handle, which swells, cracks the lacquered finish and loosens the ferrule (the metal collar that holds the bristles) from the handle.Įven if you only rest the brush tip in water, capillary action and time will draw water up into the ferrule where it can then be absorbed into the wood of the handle. You may also have been taught to do this with watercolor or tempera paint as a child as a way to prevent you from laying a paint-filled brush on the table.īrushes with fairly stiff bristles and plastic handles can tolerate this, but a soft watercolor brush with a lacquered wooden handle will be quickly ruined this way. When working in acrylics, it’s common to leave the brush soaking in rinse water to prevent the paint from drying in the brush. Don’t leave brushes soaking in your rinse water. Pretty aggravating if you meant to put down a pure, pale yellow! 4. A small amount of these strong colors left in the ferrule can sneak down into your first few brushstrokes. This is especially handy if you use powerful colors like the phthalo blues and greens, or strong quinacridone reds, violets and oranges. ![]() If there was any paint that didn’t get completely washed out after the last painting session, this will give it a chance to get rinsed out now, before it can contaminate your first wash. Rinse one more time before beginning to paint. ![]() Plus, having some water already in the ferrule will dilute any paint that does migrate up that far. If there is some old paint that didn’t get rinsed out entirely, this will give it a little time to dissolve and be rinsed out before it has a chance to unexpectedly sneak into your first wash. In addition to allowing the brush hairs a moment to absorb water, this also allows some water to move by capillary action up into the ferrule. When you set up to paint, dip the brush you are going to use in clear water, blot off the excess, and leave it resting on your table (preferably tip down). As synthetics have gotten better (closer to the behavior of natural hair) this has become true for them, too. Natural hair brushes, especially, need a few moments to absorb water before they will behave predictably. Wet the brushes you plan to use and let them absorb a little water before you start painting. You only have to do this once when you first buy the brush. It usually takes 30 seconds to a minute to really rinse all the sizing out. Instead, rinse a new brush under warm running water and use your fingers to soften the sizing and work it out of the bristles. At least until you’ve painted with it long enough to gradually rinse the sizing out. If you simply break the bristles free from the sizing while the brush is dry, there will be a residue of sizing in the brush, and it won’t perform well and will dry hard again. The bristles will feel hard and crusty, or maybe even be stuck together completely. ![]() New brushes are often shipped with a watersoluble “glue” holding the bristles together to prevent damage in shipping (even brushes shipped with a plastic cover over the bristles may have sizing in the brush). Even if they are repeats, they’re worth watching again.) 1. ![]() Apologies if you’ve already seen them I think I’ve posted both of these before somewhere, but I couldn’t find the links on my site today, so maybe not. The first is a tour of the Escoda brush factory, and the second is a fascinating and charming video of a master Chinese brush maker at work. In the third paragraph, there are two links to videos about how brushes are made. (Even if you know all this, you might want to skip down to item 9. I’m welcoming some new watercolor painters to the medium, so there have been some requests for information about caring for watercolor brushes.
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