Simple Brush Cleaning Tips and Instructions for Every Miniature Painter

Every painter needs a solid brush cleaning and care protocol. For miniature painters, this is especially important because brushes are often small, fragile, and expensive! If you’re a miniature painter and hobbyist who loves work on scale models, tabletop gaming minis, and similar small figures, your brushes are your most important tool. Acrylic paints dry quickly and if left on a paint brush will slowly destroy bristles and ruin the brush. Brush care is essential for extending a brush’s service life, and will enhance your enjoyment of the miniature painting hobby.

In this article, I summarize the best practice for brush care and maintenance.

RELATED: 5 MUST-KNOW FEATURES OF BRUSHES FOR PAINTING MINIATURES AND MODELS

Whether you’re a tabletop gamer such as for Warhammer 40k, Bolt Action, Infinity, or Warmachine/Hordes, your miniature hobby painting will require good tools and the knowledge to care for them. This is especially true if you use more expensive Kolinsky sable brushes for your work. Continue reading for more info tips and review for best brush care practices!

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Top 5 tips for cleaning your miniature paint brushes

1. Remove any residual acrylic paint by swishing your brushes in clean water (read about my favorite water pot)
2. Use a dedicated brush soap, like Masters Brush Soap & Cleaner , an inexpensive but effective way to keep your brushes in top shape
3. Try and hang your brushes vertically to dry (bristle tip down), or horizontally with a brush rest
4. For a more thorough deep cleaning, soak your brushes up to the ferrule in Winsor & Newton’s Brush Restorer solution
5. Use cool or lukewarm water to avoid damaging your bristles and brush

Scroll below for optimal care instructions for your paint brushes!

Why you need to clean your brushes for painting miniatures

The answer might seem obvious. But, I’ve met so many painters who complain that their brushes fall apart. If you want to read more about the main reasons why brushes “die”, check out this article. Look, it’s simple.

If you don’t clean your brushes, they will fail you. Imagine your teeth if you didn’t brush on a regular basis. Eventually all the eating and drinking you do will destroy your precious teeth. Sure, you can save some time if you skip the oral hygiene, but it’s a deadly mistake.

Alright, I admit this post took years to create. I’ve dabbled with all kinds of cleaners, soaps, and brush restorers. Part of the reason is of course that I have a habit of trying out all sorts of brushes for miniature painting, including expensive Kolinsky sables, and cheaper synthetic brushes. It doesn’t matter what brush you use, for best results when painting minis, you need to maintain your brushes. And, this means keeping them clean after each painting session.

Hate brush hair splitting? How do you care for your Kolinsky sable brushes for painting miniatures? Want to avoid the pronged bristle tips that often haunt you in the darkest moments of your miniature painting hobby? Look, there are bad quality paint brushes, then there’s just horrible upkeep on the miniature painter’s part. It’s your fault your brushes suck.

How do you care for your expensive sable brushes for painting miniatures? Or, what is the best way to clean and condition your kolinsky sable brushes for miniature and model painting? Kolinsky sable brushes are a natural haired bristle and require special attention for obtaining their expected proper service life. This includes cleaning off residual acrylic paint after each session and conditioning the bristles so they retain their natural oils and moisture (which contribute to the brush’s desirable painting characteristics).

Read on for more details for how to best clean and keep your brushes like-new!

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When should I clean my paint brushes?

Here is the recommended service schedule for your paint brushes.

You should clean your brushes at the very least with clean water after every painting session. It doesn’t matter if you only painted a few strokes on a miniature, or embarked on an epic overnight painting session, you should rinse your hobby paint brushes in clean water after every session to remove any acrylic medium from the bristles. Better yet, you should use a dedicated brush soap formulated for cleaning brushes (more about this below).

If you’ve taken the steps to avoid getting paint up in the ferrule (the metal part of a paintbrush), then you’re also on the right track for keeping your brush life long and healthy. Acrylic paint seeping up into the ferrule will eventually disrupt and damage the bristles, and the brush will lose its shape.

For best results with brush care, I recommend a deeper cleaning using liquid Brush Cleaners and Restorers every week if you paint on a regular basis, e.g., more than 3 hours per week. These are specialized brush cleaning solutions work best on natural hair bristles (which require extra care), but will also help clean synthetic brushes, too. These liquid brush cleaners will get up into the ferrule where acrylic paints and inks tend to hide and break them down so you can clean them out. Another side benefit to these cleaners is that many of them act as restorers, helping to restore and maintain the oils in natural-haired bristles that supports their ability to maintain shape, snap, and paint flow.

To summarize, this is how often you should clean your brushes for painting miniatures and models:

• After every painting session, a thorough wash and rinse with clean cool or lukewarm water. Use brush soap, for best results.
• Every week or every 3-4 hours of painting (whichever comes first), perform a deep cleaning using a liquid brush cleaner. This helps remove paint from deeper in the bristles, e.g., up in the ferrule.

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What are the best soaps or cleansers for brushes?

I’ve tried many brush cleaners! But, I realized keeping it simple was the best rule to follow. Not only are you more compliant with your brush care routine, you’ll spend less money.

I recommend only two products for all your brush care needs:

1. General Pencil Masters Brush Cleaner & Preserver – a fantastic, simple conditioning soap you should use after each and every miniature painting session.
2. Winsor & Newton Brush Cleaner & Restorer – a more robust liquid solution for deeper brush cleaning. Use this less often, as it works best with a 10-30 minute soaking in a cup/mug or brush tank. I also happen to use this for cleaning out internal clogs in my airbrush. Works like magic!

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How do I use brush soap and cleaner for best results?

Follow these 8-step instructions for how to best clean your paint brushes after each painting session

1. Wipe off excess paint from your brushes on a paper towel
2. Dip your brushes in clean water and swish the bristles around to get any paint washed out
3. Don’t jab the bristle tips or splay bristles on the bottle or side of the paint
4. Shake off excess water and gently wipe the bristles along (lengthwise) a paper towel or clean cloth to remove excess water
5. Repeat steps 1-4, if you don’t want to use soap. This might be okay for very short painting sessions. For longer painting sessions, and best care of your brushes go to step 6.
6. Wet your brush again using a small bit of water and lather up your brush soap
7. Use your fingers and rub the foamy lather into the bristles
8. Go to step 1-4 again
9. Store your brushes lying horizontally or vertically with the bristle tips down (you can hang them with a vertical brush holder)

This procedure should keep your more expensive kolinsky sable brushes, or other natural hair brushes, perfectly ready and enjoyable for your next miniature painting session.

For a deeper cleaning after a week or so of painting minis, or for visibly dried acrylic paint on bristles, you should use a full-strength liquid cleaning solution.

Here’s what you do for a deeper cleaning using Winsor & Newton Brush Cleaner and Restorer:

• Follow the 9 steps above using soap
• Clean your brush using clean water
• Submerge the bristle tip of the brush up to the ferrule in the cleaner (the cleaner will destroy the lacquer coat on a wooden paint handle)
• Let soak for 10-30 minutes, depending on how much dried paint needs removal
• Shake off excess brush cleaner and wipe the brush on a clean paper towel to absorb excess cleaner
• Repeat steps above, if necessary, and clean off any brush cleaner with a rinse in cool or lukewarm water

In my experience, the water-soap routine for regular brush care works great. But, after a while a brush tends to build up residues deeper in the bristles and requires a stronger brush cleaning solution. Using a full-strength brush cleaner is good for brushes that have visible caked up, dried acrylic paint on the bristles. To get a brush like this clean and maintain the brush shape and painting enjoyment, I highly-recommend using liquid soaps and preservers. The reason I wouldn’t use these on a routine basis is because these liquid brush cleaners tend to be more expensive and are harsher chemicals (e.g., they also smell a bit).

Remember to reshape your brushes after each cleaning session and store your brushes horizontally or vertically with the bristles facing downwards.

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Is there a difference between cleaning synthetic and natural hair paint brushes?

The steps for brush care above is how I maintain my expensive Kolinsky sable brushes. Synthetic brushes are more robust and generally less expensive, so you can follow the same instructions.

Key points for optimal brush care for any kind of brush material is to ensure that you do the following:

• Avoid letting acrylic paint dry on the bristles
• Avoid using hot water for cleaning your brushes
• Reshape the brush tips after cleaning
• Store brushes horizontally or vertically to avoid water logging wooden brush handles
• Don’t let brushes soak in solvents, cleaners, or water for any prolonged period of time
• Don’t let your brushes rest on their bristle heads or tufts

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Where should I store paint brushes for optimal care?

You should store brushes horizontally or vertically. Keep your brushes in a place at room temperature 20–22 °C (68–72 °F). The location and ambient conditions for best brush storage are more important for natural hair bristle brushes, e.g., sables, since these are organic materials and more susceptible to environmental conditions.

RELATED: 7 REASONS YOUR BRUSHES FALL APART

If you’re looking for holders and storage options for brushes, take a look at a few I’ve reviewed here.

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Conclusion

Casual or professional miniature painters must all follow the same guidelines for brush care. If you want a more enjoyable and productive experience painting miniatures, cleaning and maintaining your brushes is essential. The brush care tips and protocols in this article are based on my experience and what I’ve learned from other painters. How do you care for your brushes?

Here’s one final tip I embrace related to brush care and the miniature painting hobby.

Don’t baby your tools. Use them well and enjoy the hobby!

I hope you found this article helpful! Thank you for reading!

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