If you read my recent post about Uncle Thulu and the Supernatural Branch you would know that I had some brush issues! I have mostly only purchased synthetic brushes which have a short shelf life although I probably don't look after them 100%. While at a local art store I tried to find some good stable hair brushes however they didn't seem to have anything that would be good for the fine details modelling requires. However I did pick up some brush cleaner, The Masters brush cleaner seemed to be a common brand used amongst some of the blogs I read so I got a pottle.
I followed all the instructions and watched a couple of youtube videos of people cleaning brushes which looked like they were clean in the first place then gave it a shot.
So how did it fair? As you can see in the picture there was some improvement after about 10 minutes of cleaning them. They were a little softer although I think I may have made the tips worse making it harder to paint fine detail. However I think the improvement was pretty minor and the brush cleaner is designed to stop brushes from getting to this stage rather than fixing them when they do. Alas the true test will be when I paint up some models.
My next course of action is to buy some hopefully good brushes. However what to get, especially in New Zealand where postage for such a small item is a hassle. Here are a couple of questions I would love answered if you have the time. Are brushes simply labelled Kolinski stable brushes ok (there are some from NZ Slave to Panting which look ok). From what I understand Kolinski stable provides high quality horse hair and a few different companies who turn these into brushes. Or does Kolinski stable manufacture its own brushes? What size brushes should I get and what is the best way to store brushes. Also how often should I use the brush cleaner. Some answers and tips would be great!
Inside was what I thought was some kind of cream. However it actually turned out to be almost but not quite solid mixture of some kind.
Anyhow I thought I may as well give it a shot on some of my well used synthetic brushes to see if it would make a difference. I figured it wouldn't but I also figured people on their blogs always say things like, I never expected so and so to work out but in the end it did! I guess this would most likely happen to me and revolutionise my life. Sweet.
As you can see below my brushes have a lot of paint stuck near the base and the brush at the bottom is very stiff.
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| Before |
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| After (I pretty much gave up on the middle brush as it was to far gone) |
So how did it fair? As you can see in the picture there was some improvement after about 10 minutes of cleaning them. They were a little softer although I think I may have made the tips worse making it harder to paint fine detail. However I think the improvement was pretty minor and the brush cleaner is designed to stop brushes from getting to this stage rather than fixing them when they do. Alas the true test will be when I paint up some models.
My next course of action is to buy some hopefully good brushes. However what to get, especially in New Zealand where postage for such a small item is a hassle. Here are a couple of questions I would love answered if you have the time. Are brushes simply labelled Kolinski stable brushes ok (there are some from NZ Slave to Panting which look ok). From what I understand Kolinski stable provides high quality horse hair and a few different companies who turn these into brushes. Or does Kolinski stable manufacture its own brushes? What size brushes should I get and what is the best way to store brushes. Also how often should I use the brush cleaner. Some answers and tips would be great!
