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Tips on Buying and Cleaning Brushes
Submitted By: david in Arts Tips category
 One of the main essentials of art supplies is a brush. You can’t paint without a brush. You need a brush to apply colors, strokes and give life to your painting. Brushes come in multitudes of varieties and each brush serves a different purpose. Hence, it’s important to understand brushes before you buy them with the help of tips on buying and cleaning brushes.
Tips on Buying and Cleaning Brushes
Tips on Buying Brushes: Different kinds of brushes are used for different mediums of paints. Buying good brushes can be complicated and confusing. But knowing your brushes will help you buy the right set of brushes.
Firstly, you should know what medium the brush is made for. There are different brushes for oils, watercolor and acrylic.
Further, brushes are categorized by its shape – mainly, round brushes and flat brushes.
Brushes also have numbers assigned to them, with the size increasing in ascending order of numbers. You’ll need a thin brush for intricate details and a big brush to cover large surfaces.
Also, brushes come with either natural or synthetic bristles. Natural hair brushes are costlier than the synthetic brushes and work well on certain mediums of paint. Natural brushes are generally made with animal hair hence expensive. But synthetic brushes are also good.
So pick brushes based on your requirement, budget and medium.
Tips on Cleaning Brushes: Just buying brushes isn’t the end; you’ll need to maintain them as well. Since brushes cost money, you have to take good care of them and keep them clean. Clean brushes are important to make a good painting.
Firstly, make sure you have some turpentine, mild soap, clean water and a soft cloth.
For watercolor brushes, you just need to wash your brushes in clean water till your brush is devoid of any color.
But in case of oil paints, you will first need to dip your brushes in turpentine to remove the paint from the brush. Once you’re done with that, gently wash your brush with the help of mild soap and luke warm water to remove all stains. Rinse and repeat this procedure till all color is eradicated. Then wash with clean water.
Once the brushes are washed, you’ll need to dry them. Remove all excess water by jerking them a little bit. Then wipe them with a soft towel. If the brushes have lost their shape, use your fingers to get it back to its shape and leave them to dry at room temperature.
Following these tips on buying and cleaning brushes will make your brushes last forever. This guide to buying and cleaning brushes should be followed by every artist.
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