Cleaning and storing brushes so they keep their shape
Acrylic is a plastic. Once it cures it is not coming out, and the place it cures first is the one nobody rinses: inside the metal ferrule, at the base of the bristles.
A brush with paint cured in the ferrule splays permanently. No amount of later care brings the point back. Everything below is about preventing that.
During a session
Do not stand brushes in water. It seems like the safe option and it is the most damaging habit there is: the bristles bend against the bottom of the pot and take a permanent curve, and water wicks into the ferrule and loosens the adhesive.
Lay brushes flat instead, or use a pot with a rack that holds them bristle-down without touching. If a brush must wait, wipe it and lay it down.
Rinse before the paint on the brush starts to tack. Acrylic sets fast, especially in a warm room, and a brush left loaded for fifteen minutes is already harder to clean than one rinsed immediately.
The end-of-session routine
Two minutes, in this order:
- Wipe as much paint as possible onto a cloth before any water touches it. Most of the paint should never reach the sink.
- Rinse in lukewarm water, working from the ferrule outwards, squeezing gently from base to tip.
- Work a little mild soap into the bristles in your palm until no colour comes out. Colour will keep coming out for longer than you expect — that is the paint in the ferrule that would otherwise have cured there.
- Rinse clean, then shape the bristles back to their original point or edge with your fingers.
- Lay flat to dry, or hang bristle-down. Never dry upright with bristles up: water runs into the ferrule.
Hot water is not better. It softens the adhesive holding the bristles and can swell the wooden handle, which is what causes the lacquer to crack and peel.
Storing brushes
Once fully dry, store flat or upright with bristles up — that is the one time bristles-up is correct, because there is no water to run down.
A brush roll or a case protects the shape in transit. Loose in a drawer, the tips get pressed against things and bend.
Keep them dry. A brush stored damp in a closed case can develop mould in the ferrule, which smells exactly as bad as it sounds.
Reviving a hardened brush
A brush with a little dried acrylic at the tips can often be recovered: soak the bristles only — not the ferrule — in warm soapy water for an hour or two, then work the softened paint out gently with your fingers.
Commercial brush cleaners formulated for dried acrylic do a better job and are worth having if brushes are regularly forgotten.
What cannot be recovered is a brush that has cured solid all the way into the ferrule. The bristles will separate into clumps permanently. That brush becomes a texture tool, which is a genuine second life, but it is not going back to being a detail brush.
Palette knives and other tools
Palette knives are easier: acrylic peels off a metal or plastic blade once dry, often in a single sheet. Leaving them until the end and peeling is less work than washing.
Palettes behave the same way. A sheet of dried acrylic lifts cleanly off a smooth plastic palette, which is why they are worth preferring over porous ones.
A short routine
- Never stand brushes in water.
- Wipe before rinsing.
- Soap until no colour comes out of the ferrule.
- Reshape the tip while wet.
- Dry flat or bristle-down, never bristle-up while wet.
- Store dry, in a roll or case.
Done consistently, a mid-range synthetic brush lasts for years. Skipped a few times, it lasts a few weeks.
Where this sits in the shop
Everything discussed above comes back to one part of the shop: Brushes and Tools, which currently holds 1 listing. The whole of it is picked and packed at PaintBox SoHo, 105 Thompson St, New York, NY, during Mon–Sat 11am–8pm, Sun 12pm–6pm — so anything written here can be checked by phoning the counter on ((212) 226-1300.
From our shelves
What we get asked about this
How long will my order take?
Handling takes 1–2 business days and carrier transit is normally 3–7 business days, so most orders land in 4–9 business days. Tracking is emailed as soon as the label scans.
How much is shipping?
Orders of $49.00 or more ship free inside the United States. Below that, a flat $5.99 covers packing and carrier handling, whatever the box weighs.
Read next
- Student and artist grade acrylics: what actually differs
- Setting up a paint night for six people
- Choosing canvas: panels, boards or stretched
Ordering from PaintBox SoHo
Orders of $49.00 or more ship free anywhere in the United States, and a flat $5.99 covers everything below that. Handling takes 1–2 business days and carrier transit is normally 3–7 business days. Unused items can go back within 30 days, and if the mistake was ours we pay the return postage.
Questions about anything above go to [email protected], answered within 1 business day, or call (212) 226-1300. Full detail is on the Shipping Policy and Refund and Returns pages.
