How to care for your tools and kits
Happy Tuesday! Today I’m going to share a cool tip that I learned from my friend Anita Beal! This cool trick makes it so much easier to see what glitter colors are in the poof bottles!
Happy Tuesday! Yes, I may be down in St.Louis teaching at MAX today, but I have not forgotten about my Tuesday Tips fans! I have a great tip for those of you who are like me, obsessed with making and re-making your kits! I like to line all of my kits with steel, so everything can move around easily and stay in place with super strong neodymium magnets. I will share with you the tools I use to magnetize my kits, and where I find the cheapest sheets of super thin steel!
Here are some Amazon links to the things I use:
E6000 glue (big tube): https://amzn.to/3UxsBh8
E6000 glue (with precision tips): https://amzn.to/3KBNK4Z
Neodymium magnets I put on my paint cakes: https://amzn.to/3UzmhFO
Smaller Neodymium magnets I also use: https://amzn.to/417Qnmn
Tin snips: https://amzn.to/43pFIFb
Happy Tuesday! This week I’m talking about how I keep my Sparkling Faces practice boards and my Mehron practice head looking great for years! I hope you enjoy today’s video and if you use other types of heads or boards, please share with us in the comments how you keep YOURS looking good as new!
Happy Tuesday everyone! It’s been a busy couple weeks here at Paintertainment, with Easter gigs, preparing to teach at the MAX convention, releasing our spring issue of Wet Paint Magazine, and adding new products to the shop! We have Elodie Ternois’ pretty pastel palettes and cakes just in time for Easter, Mehron Edge makeup in black and white, and our latest magazine issue!
Okay, back to today’s topic…it’s time for a Tuesday Tip at Ten! This week I dived into the archives to revive an old video on reviving old brushes! Check this out and give one of these methods a try if your brushes are getting old and crusty! You might be surprised how much life is left in them. And, well, if this doesn’t work for you, you can always hop on over to our shop and get yourself a new set! 🙂
Thanks so much for watching, and happy painting!
Happy Tuesday! This week I’ll share with you my brush care best practices…this is how I have kept my brushes working their best for many years!
Happy Tuesday everyone! This week I will show you another cheap thrift store find that can be great for storing and organizing your stencils: Visor CD holders!
Not a thrift shopper? Here are some Amazon links to a few holders like the ones I show in this video:
For today’s tip I am sharing one way that I love to organize my small tools using this cool thing I often find at thrift stores! Not a thrift shopper? You can find a link to this product on our links page too!
It’s time for another handy tip! This week I share how I like to store my stencils! Got a better idea? Please comment below and share it with us!
When artists tell me that they are having trouble achieving good linework, more often than not I find that the culprit is the brush. Many new face painters start out with cheap brushes from their local craft store…which is fine to start with, but everyone quickly learns that good, quality brushes are worth every penny! However, even the most careful professional artist who treat their brushes with utmost care will find that they eventually come to a point where they become split, splayed out and even twisted.
If this has happened to you, don’t throw them away just yet! While no brush lasts forever, there are ways to revive those splayed old bristles and make them useable for a while longer. Here’s a video showing two ways that I have found online and have had success with so far!
Tried these methods and they are still split and splayed? You can always donate them to an artistic kid, and then pop on over to Paintertainment.com to get yourself a brand new set! Also be sure to check out our other post on how to clean and care for your brushes!
(This is the 3rd in our “cleaning series!” Click here to see our post on cleaning your brush tub, and click here to see our post on cleaning your practice head!)
Taking good care of your brushes is absolutely essential if you want to have clean, crisp linework and brushes that last more than one gig!
This is what I do to my brushes at the end of each gig or practice session. It’s the same method taught to me by my college painting instructor….
First, pump a small amount of liquid hand soap into your palm.
Next, add just a tiny bit of water.
Now, swirl your brushes around in your soapy palm in a circular motion.
Rinse the brushes…it doesn’t hurt to repeat this process either, until your soap and water are clear in your palm.
It’s always a good general rule when using a brush to avoid getting any paint so far into the bristles that it touches the ferrule. However, in our industry and the speed with which we work, this can be almost impossible for face painters.
If you find that you have paint up inside the base of the bristles and the ferrule, after you do one cleaning and rinsing of your brush, add some more soap and water again. Then, with the brush pointing up, firmly grasp the tip of your brush with your fingertips, and the handle with your other hand. Work the soap and water down into the base of the bristles and the ferrule by moving the handle in a circular motion, as if you were cranking a fishing reel.
You’ll see the soap work it’s way down into the ferrule, while the spinning motion will scrub the bristles together, loosening paint. Now, thoroughly rinse the brush to get the paint and soap out of the ferrule.
Once your brushes are clean and rinsed, gently dry them and squeeze excess water out of the bristles with a towel.
(If you really want to get serious about extending the life of your brushes, check out our new assortment of Loew-Cornell brush cleaning jars, pads, and fluid!)
You’re not done yet!
This next step is really important, and critical for keeping a nice point to your brushes.
Grasp the base of your bristles with your fingertips, right where they come out of the ferrule. Pull the brush back while you squeeze and re-form the bristles into a nice point.
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| Clean, formed bristles, ready to air dry. |
Do the same with your flat brushes, only with these you will press them flat as you pull the brush back.
Now, lay them FLAT to dry. I lay mine on a towel. Never store them with the bristles pointing up while wet. This allows the water to seep down into the ferrule, eventually loosening it from the handle and sometimes even rotting the handle.
Better yet, you can even hang them upside down to dry. This draws the moisture down and out of the bristles. We actually carry a wonderful little Brush Well made by Loew-Cornell ($6 on Paintertainment.com), which not only stores your brushes safely so that the bristles aren’t touching anything, but the foam that holds the brushes and the string attached also allows you to hang the entire container upside down for drying.
Once they are fully dried, they are safe to put away in your storage container of choice! Or, if you use the brush well, simply screw on the lid and you’re ready for your next gig!
Got any other cleaning and care methods that you swear by? Please do share with us in the comments! Thanks for visiting and happy painting! 🙂
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