Brush Cleaning Pt 2

So it has been a while since my last blog but if I’m honest time has just ran away with me over these past few weeks so I apologies to all you lovely people.

So a while ago I highlighted the importance of hygiene when it comes to your kit but only with beauty brushes but I myself as an artist not only have my beauty brushes but my SFX and Face Paint brushes as well.

So with my beauty brushes I would have the routine of killing the germs with IPA, followed by a shampoo and rinse then letting them air dry, now with my Face Paint Kit I have a mix of sponges and brushes and even though sponges aren’t expensive it’s a waste to use new sponges each time I have a Face Paint event but of course you have to wash them after each event.

In a reasonable sized bowl I firstly rinse the sponges with warm water to remove any excess paint, then squeeze any excess water out of the sponge and pour the dirty water away. I then put the sponges back in the bowl and squeeze a little mild shampoo on top filling the bowl with BOILING hot water to kill off any germs that maybe on the sponge, leave to soak. Being careful pour the water away and then squeeze out the excess water, refill the bowl with cold water to rinse of the shampoo then leave to air dry.

For the Face Paint brushes I simply thoroughly wash them in a mild shampoo and rinse with cold water, I then with my fingers smooth the brushes over making sure there aren’t any stray hairs. I also keep my brushes in a folder type case to keep them flat and away from any bending of the hairs resulting in ruining the brush hairs. I use 'Tag' Brush holder available here.

My SFX kit is full of a mix of old and new brushes as there is no point in spending stupid money on brushes that a likely to get ruined. One glue that mostly ruins my brushes is the dun dun DUUUUN LATEX! I have chucked many brushes because of Latex BUT one thing I found helped when using latex was immediately

once finished with the brush to vigorously wash the brush in a cup of boiling hot water and fairy liquid, yes fairy liquid as you swoosh the brush vigorously round the latex tends ​to come off in strips but

the brush has to be washed immediately not an hour later or even 10 minutes, but your best bet is not to use your favorite brush so your not disappointed if left too late. For the rest of my brushes I always rinse them in IPA, this not only gets rid of germs but any SFX coloring on the brush, I then wash them in a mild shampoo and rinse.

All the above in my blog is my opinion and what works for me as an artist. I will also try and not leave it so long till the next blog once again and will continue to try and give you an insight to the experiences I’m having a new artist, lows and highs, thank you for reading.