When you have allowed your paint brushes to harden with paint on them, you can easily soften them by placing them in hot vinegar until paint loosens and the wash them in hot soapy water.
Don't mess around with cleaning brushes and paint tools inside your home. Take them directly outside, being careful not to drip inside the house, and clean them on your lawn with a hose.
The best course of action for maintaining your paint brushes is to clean them thoroughly after every use. But there are times when this does not happen. Depending on the type of paint used there are ways to revive a stiff brush and remove the old paint. You can even temporarily slow or stop the loss of bristles. This page contains several suggestions for repairing paint brushes.
How do I safely rinse brushes with oil paint. I used to love painting with oil paint, and still have my brushes, paints, palette, etc. I would like to start up again, but I am not willing to use mineral spirits (highly flammable and bad fumes) to rinse/clean my brushes. I also do not want to use bar soap on the brushes, letting oil paint go down the sink, without knowing what I am doing.
Is there a way to safely use my oil paint and brushes that will still keep the brushes in good condition? How do I rinse/dispose of oil paint rags safely if I no longer have access to a paint studio? Or is this the end of my painting days?
By Bonnie from Spokane, WA
Murphys Oil Soap will remove oil paint from your good brushes easily. Just pour a little into the palm of your hands and swipe the brush gently back and forth over it and rinse. This will keep your brushes conditioned too. I took an oil painting class and that's what was suggested to the group to use for cleaning their oil painting brushes. Happy Painting!
You could use Turpentine. Believe it or not it's "natural". This is what wiki says about it "Turpentine- is a fluid obtained by the distillation of resin obtained from trees, mainly pine trees".
I took oil painting in college. The professor was an artist from Paris, France. We did the normal rinse in turpentine, but to actually clean them we used regular soap and hot water.
I have been an artist for about 30 years and do mostly oil paints. The way I clean my brushes is to first clean them with Turponoid Natural which is non-toxic and then I finish cleaning them with The Master's Brush Cleaner. I don't use rags for anything anymore, I use paper towels. I let most of it settle down the bottom of a jar and pour off the top into another container and wipe out the bottom of the residue which can be disposed of in the trash. If I do have any residue of Turponoid or anything toxic, I keep under my bathroom sink in separate containers and eventually I want to take it to a toxic disposal center.
Also, for anyone using acrylics, which I do sometimes, I filter my used water through coffee filters and then I pour it off into another container after most of it has settled down the bottom of a jar of can. Then wipe out the residue with a paper towel which you can throw in the trash.
I now use mostly water-miscible oils and clean up initially with soap and water then with a squirt of "Awesome" lemon or orange cleaning liquid in the palm of my hand. (Wear gloves if doing a lot of class brushes or have sensitive skin!). I rub the bristles gently until all color is out on my paper towel wipes, then rinse thoroughly.
Here is the absolute best paint brush cleaner recipe known to man. I take a sherbet-sized plastic container filled 2/3 with water and I add 2-3 drops dishwashing liquid.
Vegetable oil cleans paint brushes and keeps them soft and pliable.
After cleaning your paintbrush, wrap the bristles tightly in a dry paper towel folded in half. The towel will get damp so you can shape the bristles in their original shape.
I did not want to throw my $1.00 brush away. I am a bit thrifty. It has many other uses to come. I soaked in vinegar water for a day and the brush cleaned up, no more dried floor patch. I will get a few more years out of my paint brush.
Use a laundry bottle. Cut the handle at the top just before it curves to join the bottle. You should have a straight tube that connects to the bottle at the bottom of the handle.
I use Murphy Oil Soap, to clean my paint brushes. I do decoupage, and the brushes get gluey. So I will soak them overnight in the oil soap, and they are clean again.
Hardened paint brushes can often be made as good as new by simmering them in boiling vinegar for a few minutes, then washing them in soapy water.
