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Helpful HINT #11 -BRUSH CARE 101!
Let’s talk about the brushes we use for oil rouging! Do you know the best way to care for them? We have 2 kinds of brushes we use. There are the brushes we use to apply paint and Gel Transparentizer to our projects, then, there are the brushes we use to rouge the color over our surface. If you are not careful about cleaning and caring for your brushes, you will be replacing them more often than if you were really caring for them properly!
When I teach my seminars, I share brushes with all of my students. After class I ask them to go to the sink and clean them before turning them in to me, and most students do a really good job, BUT; there are so many times I get dirty brushes returned to me! Do you know the ones that are the dirtiest? The Liners!
First of all let’s talk about the soap you chose. You do not want soap with a lot of conditioners because it will make your brushes limp. Especially the Liners! I have the “noodle test” I like to conduct to see if they are cleaned the right way! After you wash and rinse your Liner, and it has air-dried, hold it upright and take your finger and bend the bristles slightly over. Do the bristles go back straight up and down, or do they stay bent over? If they stay bent, that means you either left soap in the bristles, or you used a soap that has too much lanolin or conditioners! That “snap” test is the proof in the pudding! I like to use very inexpensive soap. I do not recommend Murphy’s Oil Soap because of the excess oil. Masterson’s and Pink Soap are fine, but, remember the noodle test! Every now and then, use the cheapest soap you can find to free up the excess conditioner that these brush soaps can leave behind!
After completing your rouging for the day, go to the sink and run warm tap water, [not too hot]. Take one brush at a time and remember that the Blenders need that special attention along with the brushes you use to apply the paint. Run the brush under tap water, then, move it over the surface of the soap. Remember the old shaving mugs men used in the old days? They would lather up the brush on the soap and use it to apply it to their faces, right? This is what you should do ever so gently over the soap so you actually lather the brush up! Rinse under tap water and when you start cleaning the brush you will notice that oil color comes out of the brush onto the soap when you start, then, after the first shampoo you will notice less and less paint on the soap! I like to think about how we wash our hair and what the bottle of shampoo suggests…rinse, lather, repeat! Each one of the brushes you use for rouging whether it be the paint application brush or the blenders; all need that same attention to keep them from getting packed with old dried paint at the ferrule.
I think the reason that Liners get returned to me with excess paint in them is because students think they are too fragile! If you work the brush on the bar of soap without splaying the bristles or smashing it, you can work soap close to the ferrule where paint collects, and remove all of it! Don’t be afraid to wash it more than one time and check to see if there is paint residue left on the bar of soap!
Your Scumblers need that extra attention just like the Liner! After you get all of your brushes washed, rinsed, and gently pinch-wiped with either a towel or paper towel, lay them flat on a towel to dry completely before putting them back in your storage container.
I hope this helps you if you are new to oil rouging, or even if you are a seasoned “rouger”!! Your brushes are such an important tool and my hope it that they last you a really long time! Please feel free to contact us in the office if you have other questions or concerns! And, oh yes…Happy New Year!
Mary!
Helpful HINT #12 - How to Use Mary's New Brushes ! Posted 03/10/2011
Hello to everyone! Spring is just around the corner and we are starting our busy season of teaching, and conventions! This helpful hint is about my brushes! If you have read about the change in brushes on our website, I would like to invite you to view the short video on the site to introduce you to the use of these amazing brushes I have discovered! I have been testing them and working in close contact for the past months with the Princeton Artist Brush Company and Willow Wolfe to develop this new line. The reasons are detailed on the website in my latest newsletter.
The biggest difference in using these new brushes is the way they are handled when rouging. The video show you that I lay the brush on its side and literally “swirl” the brush in a circular motion. The pointed round shape allows you to use the brush and never wear it down because you are not placing it in the same position. You will always be accenting the point of the bristles. I have replaced all of the loaner brushes in my pouches for my seminars, and the roll out and presentation was in Vegas. The results were amazing! Please give me your thoughts as you read this and evaluate the video. If you know me as a teacher, I am dedicated to working with products I believe in and stand behind, and quality in the products I use and endorse. Please read the newsletter on our site to get the whole story and I look forward to your feedback!!
Thank you!
Mary
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sMBV-zDlrTI&feature=player_detailpage
Helpful HINT #13 - The Magical Fan Brush (posted 6/30/2011)
I have a helpful hint to pass on to you regarding using a fan brush! I am so blessed to get these tidbits planted in my brain every now and then, and to have tricks passed on to me by students and teachers; and it is so awesome how something that happens in a class can lead to a discovery that will help so many people!
Let’s talk about your bristle fan brush! Every time I break them out for use in class I hear groans!! Oh…I am not good with the fan brush…I cannot control the fan or get it to do what I want…it doesn’t look natural and “spritzy” like I would like it to look!!! Well; I think I might have a solution that will help you because I have found that doing this in my seminars has helped me with teaching this technique and I have heard lots of really good feedback from students after I shared this with them!!
This is the story of how I made this discovery: I share all of my brushes with students in all of my classes. When I teach students how to use a fan, I break out my loaners and pass them out. When we are using the fan with INK to replace inking in the greenery or “scribbles” with the pen, the rule is to use the fan with the ink and as soon as a student is done using my brush they bring it up to the front of the classroom and set the brush bristles down in a shallow glass of water so the ink does not set up in the brush. Well, one day I was teaching and all of the brushes were distributed and after we got done the brushes were all bristles down in the glass of water and someone wanted to add more stipples to their picture. I went up to the table and picked a brush out of the glass and pinch-wiped it between paper towel to express all of the water out of the bristles and gave it to the student to use. What I found out with this step was astounding and I have been doing this ever since and the results are wonderful! The water softened the bristles so they were more pliable and supple. With this looseness added to the brush, maneuvering it into tight spots and along areas like roof lines is so much easier to accomplish because the brush is so soft! If you have a fan brush you might agree with me that the more worn in the brush is, the better it works, right? Soaking the brush bristles for a few minutes before using it for oils, acrylics, or ink will give you so much more control!
This is what you should do: before using your fan, put a small amount of water in a cup or your brush basin. Just enough water to cover the bristles, not to go over the ferrule. This can be warm or cool water; it does not make a difference. Leave the brush in the water for at least 5 minutes or more. When you are ready to use the brush, remove it from the water and pinch-wipe between paper towel and go right to your project with your oil paint, acrylic, or as I do in my classes; ink! I have started doing this because so many students have trouble executing the scribbles that I use for my greenery! Try this with some scrap paper and a bit of acrylic paint and I think you will be amazed! Just MAKE SURE to express all of the water out of the bristles so you do not incorporate the water into whatever media you are using. I am sold on this and the results in classes are a wonderful testimonial!!
Please feel free to pass along your discoveries to me in an email so we can post them and include your contact information in case anyone reading it might have questions for you! I will be back in touch soon! Happy inking!
Mary
Helpful Hint #14 JW Undercover Youtube Video 8/1/2011
Click here to watch a great demonstration on the use of JW Undercover and its application!
http://youtu.be/6FR-g6yFbx4
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