[Aquanet] Brush Emergency + masking fluid

Wed Jan 30 07:27:07 EST 2008

Carol

Usually, when my brushes have problems like that, I wash them first with mild soap, rinse , then put in the hair some indiluted baby shampoo, let the baby shampoo in the hair and reshape with your fingers, let them dry like that for 24 hours. It's like an hairdo.

Recently, I bought some Cirrus brushes and Raphael, I love them. 

If you have stucked masking fluid into a nice brush (even a less good one), pour a lilttle lighter fluid in your hand, wash that brush with it carefully , rinse. Then wash again with mild soap, rinse, reshape. Voilà.

Have a good day.

LORRAINE P. DIETRICH, iaf, news
artiste peintre / artist 
--------------
français http://www.artsquebec.com/fr/html/oeuvre_artiste.asp?ida=1227
www.centrart.qc.ca/artistes/artvisuel/ldietrich/ecran.html

english  http://www.artsquebec.com/en/html/oeuvre_artiste.asp?ida=1227
http://www.eeag.org/ldietrich/ldietrich.html

IAF  http://institutdesartsfiguratifs.com/pages_public/artistes_fiche.php?id_artiste=5

Galerie le Bourget, Montréal
www.galerielebourget.com/
----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Carol Wickenhiser-Schaudt 
  To: aquanet-list 
  Sent: Tuesday, January 29, 2008 2:29 PM
  Subject: [Aquanet] Brush Emergency

  Hi all,

  I'll post the suggestions that I've gotten so far and what worked and what didn't.  

  All of the brushes were 100% kolinsky sable.  This is the first time that I have gone 6 months without painting.  The only thing different going on here was that the heat came on for a couple of days.  The hairs were not just splayed open  (not pointed), but many had kinked up sticking out to the sides of the brush.  They were curly.  When I wet them, they would not go back into form and the brushes were unusable.

  Suggestions (in BLUE) were as follows:

  1.)
  I've been there many times. Just get back to using them regularly again and they will reshape. It is not natural for hair to keep a point. The fact that yours were always pointed means that they were in constant use before.

  I think there is something to this as the brushes didn't seem to want to absorb the water.  I kept wetting a couple brushes over and over in distilled water, then shaping them by blotting on a wet sponge, for a couple of days, and they did become quite a bit better, but they were still unusable. 

  2.)
  I have no idea why this happened, but FYI, my brushes will point when wet, even though they don't when dry. I use WN and Isabey, a few Grumbacher, all kolinsky. I've been told that you can reshape a wc brush by dipping the wet brush into gum arabic and shaping it. Let dry, then rinse out the gum arabic. It can't hurt to try, since gum arabic is in all your watercolors anyway.

  I tried this and when they were rinsed & dried, they were the same as before.

  3.)

  My brushes are sable also, I clean gently, then 
  apply clear liquid dishsoap and form to a point and place in 
  my corningware bacon cooker tray (grooved) and into then
  into our freezer overnight.  I then place them in their cloth made
  brush holders, tips up of course.  I do not put my brushes into a 
  jar except to tip into paint or rinse in clear water jar.   
  PS  Hope this helps, I haven't had a problem to date except with 
  cheaper brushes that I use for liquid mask fluid.

  I have tried repointing brushes in the past when a tip has been bent.  I've used a mild natural non detergent shampoo, shaped the brush, let it dry and it has worked.  I tried it this time and had a difficult time getting the kinky hairs that splayed sideways to stick into shape.  This helped somewhat, but not completely.   I did not try freezing them.  I was afraid of the frozen hairs breaking.

  I don't use making fluid.

  4.)

  Try a little glycerin to paste the hairs down, let that dry, then wash it out in a day or so.  I'd be careful about cleaners and oils -- I wouldn't be a bit surprised to learn that natural oils from the sable's skin are no longer present by the time you buy the brush. 

  Have you used these brushes for acrylics?  Don't know why but that medium seems to make frizz very easily.

  I have never used the brushes for acrylic paint.  Watercolor only and the brushes are always washed and let to air dry after each use.

  The glycerine did not work on the splayed hairs.  It did work to restore the points.

  5.)
  Carol, let us know whether you solve the brush emergency - my brushes  
  dry out too and fear the day they will need replacing. What if you  
  used a rinse-out hair conditioner on one of your more expendable ones  
  just to try something different? That would be the first thing I'd  
  think of.... : ) Leave it on for a few minutes then rinse it out,  
  snap to a point and see if there's any improvement?

  It didn't work and I was afraid to leave it on overnight or let it dry.  The price tags on those brushes induce a certain fear in me.

  6.)
  There is one vendor who sells a product intended for reshaping brushes. I can't think who it is, and don't know much about the product. Maybe somebody else does.

  If anyone runs across this product, I'd love to know what it is.

  I've also heard of reshaping brushes by dipping them in one of the following, then shaping them and letting them dry:

  *a light lather of brush soap

  The last brush soap I used on these brushes was a round green cake from Grumbacher.  I have now trashed it.  Previously, I've used Master's cleaner and conditioner.
  *milk
  *a light liquid starch solution
  *a slightly diluted gum arabic solution

  7.)
  Might you call Daniel Smith? or any of the brush manufacturers?

  They are willing to send out a brochure on brush-care, which I've already seen.   Then I was told they can not be of help on any product over 90 days old.  They too are getting big.  DS. would never have let anyone say that in the old days.

  8.)
  I have been working with some Princeton Summit 6150 synthetics in  
  gouache (wouldn't dare use my WNs on anything but WC) with ok - not  
  great - results. Nice spring, iffy tips. I think brush standards have  
  been in a steady slide over the past 20 years, with quality falling  
  even faster than prices are rising... Would love to know if anyone  
  (who's still using brushes, that is! : )) has found an inexpensive  
  alternative to WN7s for water-based media?

  Try Kalish brushes:

  http://www.kalishfinestbrushes.biz/   This is a truly annoying website.  Best to give them a call and request a price sheet.

  Summery:
  What I have found to work the best is lathering them up with Master's brush soap (cake), letting sit an hour or two, rinse and repeat the process.  The hair no longer seems to be repelling water.  I have no earthly idea why this happened, so suddenly, and to ALL of the kolinskys ( W & N Series 7, DS Autograph Series and Kalish Series 7) brushes.  The age of the brush didn't seem to make any difference.  One W & N Series 7 was bought in '83 and is still almost as good as when it was new.  Others were bought in the past year and only used once.  

  I am thinking that the Grumbacher brush soap dried them out and that when the heat came on it was more than they could take.  I've got over 60 more brushes to treat.  Wish me luck.  So much for the spontaneity  of painting!  ;  )

  Thanks to all for your help.  Keep the suggestions coming.

  Since for the past couple of years, my studio has been shared with an oceanographic and meteorologic consulting company, I will do like we do with everything else that goes wrong and blame it on El Nino!

  Carol

  Signature Member:  Institut des Arts Figuratifs
  http://www.institutdesartsfiguratifs.com/pages_public/artistes_fiche.php?id_artiste=57

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