5 Sustainable Art Tips to Save Paint Brushes
Buzz / Sustainable Art Tips
Our local artists and creatives can tell you that keeping the bristles of a paint brush pliable will make them last longer. Once you have finished painting, it's important to give your brushes a thorough cleaning for the sake of sustainable art and to save you time and money in the long run. With a little elbow grease and the right know-how, you can keep your brushes in tip-top shape, and preserve natural resources as well.
Sustainable Art Tip 1: Remove Paint Upfront
As you finish painting, get as much paint as possible onto a surface—any surface—other than your paint brush. Rub the brush across the lip of the paint container or tray, and then squeeze all of the left-over paint from your brushes with sustainable art materials, like old rags. This will help prevent more paint than necessary from going down the drain.
Sustainable Art Tip 2: Pick Your Solvent
If you're using solvent borne paints, you will need to clean your brushes and rollers with some sort of solvent. One thing you can do to create sustainable art is to find and use citrus-based solvents. In order to be as eco-friendly as you can, use as little solvent as possible. You can also make an effort to decant it, so you can even reuse the solvent for future projects.
Sustainable Art Tip 3: Use Water Wisely
An important part of sustainable art is to use just as much water as you need. Don’t just run the tap water over the brush because that wastes a huge amount of water. Instead, do so in a bucket with a little dish soap to a bucket of water. Fill the bucket with water and soap and clean the brush in the mixture.
Sustainable Art Tip 4: Comb your Brush
The best way to remove the residual pigment between all the bristles is to use a comb while the brush is still in the water. Once you have washed them, transfer them to another bucket filled with clean water and rinse them again. A sustainable art tip from our Rhode Island artsits: this is a similar process to washing clothes by hand.
Sustainable Art Tip 5: Rinse and Repeat
Finally, shake, tap, and towel the brush to get rid of as much moisture from the bristles as possible. Hang the brush from a hook to let them air dry. Our last sustainable art advice: Don't throw out the water in either bucket immediately. Wait until morning to let the paint settle to the bottom. That way, you can separate the paint and reuse the water.
Author: Ohanga Editorial
We envision a world in which creatives can grow and share their passions unburdened from the complexity of business management; a world where a community can easily access art for sale as well as celebrate and engage with their local artists.
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