Any tips for maintaining your brushes?

[chato de shamrock]

Recently i've noticed some of my favorite brushes have begun to lose their shape. It's not too bad of a problem (yet) but 2, 3, 4, 5 bristles sticking out does get annoying when you're doing detailed work. My current solution to this problem has been cutting off those bristles, but does anyone have any tips to keep the shape of the bristles?

If this has already been asked I'd appreciate a link and we can close this thread. Thanks in advanced.

[RonCla]

I've always used my art teachers advice of a little dribble on your finger then twirling your brush through it when you have finished using it.

I've seen some just stick the brush in their mouth and twirl it but the hygiene would be questionable

[Seamus McRae]

I do a couple of things to try to keep my brushes in as good a state as possible. 1 I went to an art store & bought a little bottle of brush cleaner/restorer. The sort of stuff artists use. It's like a detergent, translucent amber in colour. Works a treat & lasts an eternity. 2 Every so often I'll give the brushes a hot water treatment. Being synthetic, I can work the fibres back into a point between my fingers whilst they are warm.

HTH

[nugundam93]

given that i mostly use tamiya acrylics, once in a while i dunk them in almost hot/quite warm water and it loosens up the gunk that gets left behind. i do tape/secure them to the mouth of the jar so that the bristles are suspended in water and not folded sideways if i just put the brushes in the jar itself.

[Jammer3285]

I use the $1 shampoo samples to clean my brushes.

For enamels, I clean the brush in thinner first, then dip the brush in the shampoo and gently knead/massage the brush to get the paint out.

For acrylics, I rinse/clean the brush in hot water, then gently knead/massage the paint out of the brush.

Seems to work pretty well for me and I think (not sure) that it is reconditioning some of the brushes I use.

I also make sure I prep the brush prior to painting by either dipping it into water (for acrylics) and thinner (for enamels) to keep paint from sticking to the brush as much.

HTH

Doug