BRUSH CARE AND MAINTENANCE

• Clean brushes immediately after each painting session. Do not allow brushes to dry with color in them, or to soak in water or solvent for long periods of time.
• Clean brushes thoroughly, especially at the ferrule, as a deposit of hardened color at this point will cause the head to lose its shape and impair its use.
• Brushes will lose their shape if allowed to stand on their hair or bristles.
• Artists' brushes should be stored in the upright position on their handle ends in a vase, water glass or jar with the hair end pointing up. Brushes may be stored in a horizontal position if necessary. For long term storage, protect the brushes with moth balls or moth flakes to prevent insect damage.
• Brushes should not be carried loose in a paint box because their hair or bristles are easily damaged. We recommend rolling up the brushes in a bamboo placemat or a piece of stiff drawing paper and secured with rubber bands.The protective cover should extend over the tops of the brush heads.
• Brushes used with special colors, such as Japan colors, lacquers, bronzing liquids and varnishes must be cleaned in a solvent appropriate to the product.
• The use of natural hair brushes with acrylics should be avoided since they tend to jam up rather quickly during the painting process and lose their shape. Synthetic hair brushes are preferred for acrylic painting because they offer better flow for acrylics and do not lose their shape unless abused. Care must be taken not to allow acrylic colors to dry on the brush since this makes them almost impossible to clean
• The use of the same brush in different kinds of paint is not recommended. Brushes that the artist intends for use in water-based colors or acrylics should never be used in any oil color. For best results, brushes should be used only in one kind of paint.
• Excessive use of strong solvents and paint removers should be avoided since these products will ruin artists brushes. Cleaning brushes immediately after use will save money on brushes.
• Sign painters using oil and Japan colors commonly treat their brushes with lard oil or vaseline to the hair at the end of a day's work to prevent the brush from drying out overnight. While this practice is proper for this group, we do not recommend it for the fine arts painter, because any trace of lard oil or vaseline in the brush will mix with oil color and prevent it from drying properly.
• Brushes that become unmanageable or lose their shape through rough handling should be thoroughly cleaned and then dipped into a 4%, solution of gum arabic (which is available from most pharmacists). After the brush is wet with the gum arabic solution, form the hair with ones fingers to its original shape. Allow the brush to rest for a week to ten days before using again. Before using the brush, the dry gum can be powdered off by rubbing the hair between fingers or combed out with an ordinary hair comb.
  

CLEANING PROCEDURES

For brushes used with watercolor, gouache or acrylics:

1. Rinse brush free of excess color with lukewarm water under running water.
2. Soap up the brush with Grumbacher Brush and Hand Cleaner (#588-2). Work up a lather in the palm of your hand . Work the suds into the interior of the brush, especially at the ferrule. Rinse the brush under running water. Repeat this process until there is no color in the soap suds.
3. When clean, shake excess water from the brush and shape the hair into place with your fingers. Lay brush on its side to dry. After dry, store upright on the handle end.

For brushes used in conventional oil color, oil-resin or alkyd colors:

1. Wipe excess color from brush with rags or waste paper. Dispose of paint contaminated rags and waste paper only in an approved covered metal waste can because oil soaked rags and waste left in the open air are subject to spontaneous combustion.
2. Clean the brush thoroughly with Turpentine (#568), Grumtine (#538) or Pre-Tested Odorless Paint Thinner (#565).Wipe dry.
3. Rinse brush under running water. Soap up the brush using either Grumbacher Brush and Hand Cleaner (#588-2) or Grumbacher Brush Soap (#430). Work up a lather in the palm of your hand or by scrubbing the brush on the inside of the brush soap cap. Work the lather into the heel of the brush, using your fingers if necessary.
4. Rinse the brush under running water.
5. Repeat steps 3 and 4 until no color appears in the lather. After each rinsing, inspect the interior of the brush next to the ferrule to ensure the heel of the brush is clean.
6. Press out water and shape the hairs or bristles into place. Place the brush upright on the handle end to dry.
   

For brushes used with Max Grumbacher oil colors:

1. Follow all directions for cleaning oil painting brushes except that running water is used instead of Turpentine, Grumtine, Odorless Paint Thinner or other conventional solvents.

For brushes used in varnish:

1. Clean the brush thoroughly in the solvent that applies to the type of varnish used. For brushes used with Damar Varnish or Mastic Varnish, only Turpentine (#568) or Grumtine (#538) should be used. Odorless paint thinners should be avoided as they do not completely dissolve Damar or Mastic Resins.
2. The cleaning of varnish brushes in soap and water is not advisable because it may result in formation of a sludge that will prove very difficult or impossible to remove.

Grumbacher Brush and Hand Cleaner
This liquid soap is used for cleaning brushes and hands. It cleans quickly and safely.

588-2
2.5 fl. oz. jar