HOW SHOULD I CARE FOR MY WATERCOLOUR BRUSHES?
“Take your brush out of your water. Take your brush out of your water! TAKE YOUR BRUSH OUT OF YOUR WATER!” There’s a reason why I constantly repeat this phrase during my watercolour classes in Australia. I even remind my online watercolour course students of it constantly. Why? Because keeping your brush in you water will ruin it! Plain and simple.
WHY LEAVING YOUR BRUSH IN YOUR WATER IS A TERRIBLE IDEA
Think about how a brush is made. Tiny hairs are grouped together, dipped in glue, slotted into a wooden handle and then clamped tightly together. But what happens when wood (such as a wooden brush handle) sits in water? It swells.
What happens when hair sits in water? It also swells. In fact, hair can swell up to 15% in diameter when sitting in water.
You know what doesn’t swell? Glue. When dry, glue likes to stay put, not move or bend. It isn’t flexible. So when you leave a brush sitting in water, the hairs swell, the wood swells, the glue cracks, the clamps bust and your brush goes *POOF!* That sleek, fine tip on your brush disappears leaving a shaggy, split and moulting mess. So what’s the moral of the story?….don’t keep your brush in your water!
But there’s also a few other things you should know about caring for your watercolour…
CAN I USE MY WATERCOLOUR BRUSH FOR ACRYLIC OR OILS?
No. Don’t use acrylic or oil paints with your watercolour brushes. They are far too fine haired and soft for such harsh and heavy paint mediums. Watercolour brushes are also not for faces (even though they’re so soft all we want to do is rub them against our cheeks). Makeup and skin oils can damage your watercolour brush and affect its use.
SHOULD I CLEAN MY WATERCOLOUR BRUSH?
Never use any brush soaps, shampoos or detergents on your watercolour brush. If you’re using good quality, natural-haired watercolour brushes (and if you’re not you should read my post here) any detergents will strip the hair of its natural qualities. Watercolour pigments are water soluble so all we need to do to clean our watercolour brushes is rinse them out in some clean, cold water.
WHAT’S EATING MY BRUSH HAIRS? BEWARE OF THE HAIR-EATING MITES
Demodex mites that live on humans (if you’ve never heard of this before I’m sorry to horrify you with another gross fact of life).
WHERE SHOULD I STORE MY WATERCOLOUR BRUSH?
Give your brush some space. Store in the open air with the hairs pointing up. If I’m not using my brushes for a while, I like to store them in an air-tight container with a moth ball.
DON’T KEEP THE CAP
If your brush had a protective cap when you bought it, throw it away after opening. These caps are just to protect the brush during manufacturing and transport and should never be put back on top of a used brush, even after one use! New brushes (particularly goat hair brushes) are also often coated in starch to hold the shape during manufacturing. This should be rinsed out before use. Most watercolour brushes will go fluffy when they are dry, but will reform their tip once wet.
If you struggle to use soft, natural hair watercolour brushes or you’d like to learn correct techniques for keeping your brush tip nice and pointy while painting, I have videos in the Artory Academy that show you how I pick up paint with my brush, how I rinse and dry my brush to keep the tip pointy.