Long live the brush - how to care for your brushes
For Watercolor Painting, we need high-quality brushes. They need to hold a lot of water and pigment, and still help us to paint fine details. They have to be soft so they won't hurt the paper as well.
No wonder they do come with a price tag. I remembered the moment when I started to get professional equipment and my shock at what a brush can cost.
Of course, it's fair that good quality comes at a certain price. But if we can make them last longer, it will save us money. It doesn't have to be complicated; you should follow some simple rules to care for your brushes, and they will have a longer life.
Most of the care has to do with cleaning and drying the brush properly. Make it your firm routine to wash out the brush after every use, and don't let the remaining paint dry into the hairs of your brush.
I always have a clean towel on my desk to let my brushes dry safely. I check that all the fine hairs are in position when the brush is still wet and lay them flat on the towel until they are dry.
I use a mild brush soap. Watercolor is very easy to wash out, so you don't need strong chemicals to clean your brushes - that's healthy for your skin as well!
Even though I like to store my brushes in a really cute earthenware pot, I never let them dry in this upright position. After gently washing them, I straighten the hairs of the brush between my fingers and lay them carefully down until they are dry.
When you see the difference between a used brush and a new one, it seems like they are two types of brushes.
But they are the exact same model, size, and brand.
After being used for a while, a brush won't look new anymore. But in wet condition, they still serve you well.
To extend the lives of my most expensive brushes, which I always use for painting, I have a cheaper brush I often use to premix the colors. Like this, I spare my high-quality brushes from a job that's done equally well with a cheaper brush.
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