Clean Those Dirty Brushes!

If you’re like me, you put your brushes go through horrible abuse and never clean them in any other way other giving them a quick rinse when you're done using them. Yes, you know you should do some maintenance on them every once in a while, but you never quite get around to it.

Last year, I was lucky enough to discover Windsor & Newton Artgel Brush Cleaner. It worked wonders on my beat up brushes. Just a little dip of the brush in the yellowy oily cream, and my brushes where like new again. Ever since,  I've taken my brush care a lot more seriously and ended up saving a ton of money on new brushes.

Unfortunately, Windsor & Newton discontinued Artgel a few months back, which left rationing my last bottle until I found a suitable replacement. After alot of researching of brush cleaners and a few disappointing replacements, I settled on Jack's Linseed Studio Soap and "The Masters” Brush Cleaner and Soap. Both cleaners sell for under $12 online and have 5 stars on Amazon.

I’ll begin with the Linseed Studio Soap. I found a bottle of this stuff in my local art store and decided to take a chance. A lot of paint cleaners use Linseed and the online reviews were pretty good. Opening the little bottle, I had my doubts. It’s pretty thick stuff, thicker than I've seen before. It seemed more like a solid than a gel. At first I wasn't sure whether I was supposed to mix it with anything or just supposed dip my brush into it.

I took one of my saddest looking brushes, picked up a thick glob and massaged it into the brush. After a few minutes, I cleaned the brush off on a rag, and…my brush was pretty clean! Given that it was filthy and encrusted over to start with, I was pretty impressed. After a few more dips, my brush was nearly spotless except for some deep stains. It did notice that it was a tad dry and strawy at the ends. Perhaps I overdid it with the cleaning. I repeated with a few more brushes and was satisfied with the results. Overall a good cleaning agent for your weathered brushes.

Secondly, I tried “The Masters” Brush Cleaner which comes in a plastic container with an old timey ad on the top. I was a little taken aback when I opened the container and just saw a dry white surface. This was not the gel of Artgel or even the Linseed Soap. Read the instructions and it said to add water so I dipped a dirty brush in water and then into the white surface, lathering it up.

Instantly the white surface began to soap up around the brush and change colors to an ugly dark gray; obviously some cleaning was going on. I continued for a few minutes and then wiped the excess brush cleaner off with a rag. Again, I was very happy with the result. A perfect clean brush. Not just clean in fact, but perhaps I should even say rejuvenated. The bristles were clean and flexible and had a nice spring and shape. A brush I thought maybe only had a few weeks left of life got put in my “good brush cup”.  I tried with a few other brushes and same result with all of them. The brushes all sprung back to life. I have to say that the dry container is a bit awkward to use at first but you can't argue results. "The Master" Soap definitely puts a bit more spring in your old brushes than the Linseed Soap.

These are both great products and I think they complement each other nicely. The Linseed Cleaner is great with the really encrusted brushes that need desperate attention, while the “Masters Brush Cleaner” is better as a regular end of painting session routine. I now usually give my brushes a good cleaning once a week with one of these cleaners depending on the situation; Linseed treatment followed by “Masters Cleaner” for the really problem messes and just regular “Masters Cleaner” for the others, and my brushes look great. Of course, longer lasting brushes equals more money for actual actual paints and stuff.

To browse more brush cleanings supplies check out Amazon's full list.