Brush cleaning filter

A Brush Cleaning filter

I’ve forgotten where I read this tip online but it struck me at the time as a very good idea and when I tried it out, it seemed to work well.

The original suggestion used a tin lid but it works with any material that’s reasonably stiff. I’ve used a plastic bottle but I imagine you could even shape a foil takeaway dish or a plastic lid to get similar results.

Find a lid or suitable item that will fit inside whatever you use to rinse your brushes. Ideally it should have a lip that lifts it off the bottom and gives you room for sediment to form underneath it.

Make some holes in it with something sharp. A hammer and nail if its metal, a sharp point if it’s plastic. You want the edges of the holes to be a little ragged, like those of a cheese grater but not too sharp – so don’t make the holes too big and make sure the ragged edges point upwards.

Put the filter in your water jar and cover with water. To clean a brush, rub the bristles gently against the holes, letting the excess paint sink to the bottom.

That’s it. If you were worried about damaging your brush, I suppose you could have a separate water jar and use this just for changing colours, but I found it easy if I just rubbed gently, and the filter really did stop me from accidentally pushing the bristles into the gunk at the bottom during a heavy painting session