Using a Wire Brush to Really Clean the Base of the Brush (water based paints)
Work the wire brush slowly through the paintbrush, concentrating around the ferrule.
This is a tip I got years ago from a pair of old painters in London called Tom and Jerry (no really!) and it’s one I still use today. Instead of just using your fingers to manipulate the bristles of the brush under running water try using a wire brush as well.
Use the wire brush just like a hairbrush or comb. Holding the paintbrush steady in your left hand (if you’re a righty) and with the wire brush at a shallow angle to the paintbrush, slowly push the wire brush through the bristles starting at the ferrule and going all the way through and out the end. Repeat all around the paintbrush, several times. Watch that you don’t slip off the end though or you can spray painty water all over!
Finish cleaning the brush in the normal way, manipulating the bristles back and forth with your fingers a few times until the water runs clear. The reason this tip works so well is that it cleans off all the ‘dried on’ paint around the ferrule and in the base of the brushes bristles.
I find this tip works especially well with the new generation of water based paints which dry really quickly around the base of the brush.
Hope that helps!
Stay well
Ian
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