How to care for your brushes so they last a lifetime

What is it they say? Buy cheap, buy twice? At You Can Folk It, we cannot tell you how long we have spent at Folky HQ instructing manufacturers how to create the right, high quality brushes for our Folk It kits, and how many different samples we tried before we found someone who knew how to create the perfect one.

But once you have opened your kit and started your painting journey, how do you look after your beloved brushes so you do not have to replace them?

Well, we do have a few tips we wanted to share with you...

1. Never leave your brushes in your water pot for any length of time. While they are ok for a few seconds, leaving them in there while you make a cup of tea or answer the door is a no-no. Doing this will bend and warp the bristles, something that can never be rectified once the damage is done.

2. Never leave paint in your brush. Always rinse out as much as you can, whether it is before swapping your colour or answering the phone, rinse out your brush! It can be amazing how quickly your paint can dry.  Once your brush gets dried paint in there, it's harder to get back out.

3.  When taking a break, prop your brush on your palette, or, if you have a painting pot, stand it, bristles upwards in one of the holes. The important thing is, that wherever it is laid to rest, it should never be in a position where stress is placed on the bristles.

4. Always pull your brush when creating your brush strokes. Pushing the brush will inevitably cause the bristles to splay.  While this may seem like a given, this is the reason why we suggest mixing your colours with a coffee stirrer or an old paintbrush.  Then there are some of us at Folky HQ who have tried in vain to save brushes from little hands who have got hold of them (as they're far more exciting than their usual chunky
paintbrushes!) and the pristine brushes are no more. Thank goodness our dotting tools are available for a bit of family Folk It fun :)

5. This last point is probably the most important one. We can do everything we have mentioned before and still fall at the last hurdle because if we do not wash our brushes properly, as soon as we have finished painting, our brushes are damaged by dried paint.

 As many of you have seen from our DVD's, the key to perfect brushstrokes is loading your brush well enough with paint. So once its in there, how do you know you've got it all out? We have so many questions and queries about how to wash your brushes correctly, we created a video with everything you need to know....

We hope these hints and tips will help you care for your brushes and as we understand that accidents do indeed happen, you can purchase our Round and liner brushes from our website.  What tips do you have for caring for your painting stash? We'd love to hear them.

Happy Folking,

The You Can Folk It team x