What brushes do you find work well with your Water Soluble Oils

I'm just wondering which brushes people use with their WSOs.

I just recently found brushes that work great for me, they're the Robert Simmons Titanium brushes. I'm able to get better brushstrokes. They're better for blending and I can wipe paint off them much easier then my other brushes.

When I first switched from oils to ws oils, before all the various ws mediums were available, I was painting with natural bristle brushes. They get really soggy & mushy in water. I quickly switched to synthetics! I no longer mix water with the paints, but I do rinse the brushes out while painting - so still prefer synthetics. Mainly Silver Brush "Ruby Satin" and "Bristlon", and W&N "Eclipse".
I'm going to try some of the Silver Brush "Monzas" (synth. mongoose) next time I order brushes.
Janet - The R.S. "Titaniums" look like a good choice for a synth. bristle.

Synthetics are good too if you're using acrylics as well as ws oils.

So, what else is a good brush choice?

Thank you for sharing the brand of brushes you use.

The R.S. Titaniums do work very well. I'll probably still test other brands as well. The true test will be how they hold up in the long run.

Thanks for the info on the brushes you use Janet and Callie.

When I first started using the WMOs I used bristle brushes but they wear down too quickly for me. I've gone back to the synthetics. I prefer using flats and brights but have had success with filberts as well. I've never got into the habit of using rounds. I experiment with store brands that fit my price range. Right now I have some from the Princeton Art Brush Company which I bought in Calgary, and they perform very nicely.

I use natural and synthetics. I use a Loew-Cornell brush cleaning jar with Artisan thinner instead of water for rinsing my brush. The naturals do not get mushy in the thinner.

At around $17 for a 250ml bottle (which wouldn't even fill my brush-wash jar), that's a bit rich for my blood. I do put a splash of it in the rinse water, though. Works better than just plain water.

Sofie, I'm hard on my brushes, too. I like kind of rough canvas, add acrylic primer to it and the way I grind my brushes - well, natural bristles don't stand much of a chance!

A little brush comparison:

(Left to Right)
Grumbacher Nat. Bristle-Flat
Silver Brush Ruby Satin-Filberts (2)
Silver Brush Bristlon-Filbert and Flat
Grumbacher Nat. Bristle-Flat



Those Grumbacher brushes started their lives as flats, but look more like filberts now! All of these brushes have had around 10 - 12 years of use (and abuse ). I do want to try the Silver Brush Grand Prix hog bristles, since I've been happy with their other brushes. I just need new brushes like I need a hole in my head

Oh dear, that's high ! I can usually get it on-line for under $11.00. I used to put about a teaspoon in a small palette cup and dip in my wiped-down brush, then stir it back and forth into another palette cup. I would eventually use up the thinner in both cups. I never used more than a teaspoon or two in any painting session. But I paint relatively small (8x7" - 12x16").

I've only just started using the jar, but supposedly the gunk gets trapped by the sponge and you can occasionally wash the sponge out and top off the thinner. I've only put an inch or so in the jar.. We'll see how it goes.

Callie wrote:

At around $17 for a 250ml bottle (which wouldn't even fill my brush-wash jar), that's a bit rich for my blood. I do put a splash of it in the rinse water, though. Works better than just plain water.

All those brushes have been i use for around 10 years? Wow! You must pamper them, Callie. my bristle ones looked like that after a few paintings.

I've never cleaned up with thinner - just soap and water.

Debra - the thinner is a lot less on-line, but with the shipping, it comes out the same. So I wait to order it when I need to get a bunch of other stuff too. I tend to use med. to large brushes, with a lot of paint, so I change the rinse water several times during any painting session.
Let us know how that jar/sponge works out, I use those Silicoil jars (with the spring) in them. I'm guessing the sponge would be easier on the brushes.

Sofie - I can't imagine what you're painting with - they must look like old brooms!

Callie, I know what you mean. I have a LOOONG wishlist going at Dick Blick.

Sofie, I clean up with soap and water at the end of the session, too, but because I use natural bristle brushes, I like to use the thinner for between color changes. Since it contains no water, the bristles don't soak it up and get mushy like they do with water.

Debra, great tip on the brush cleaning jar with thinner thank you! I've added it to my list. I think like Callie said the sponge wouldn't be as hard on the brushes.

During my painting session yesterday I needed several small brushes and found out why the cheapies are cheap all the tips were falling off. I didn't bother buying the smaller brushes because I had so many left over from when I painted in acrylics. I guess now I'll need to load up on some new sciptliner brushes.

I do have a small assortment of liners and fan brushes that I try to be nice to.
A frayed liner is pretty useless I do have one liner brush that I had forgotten to wash (alkyds mediums are a bit sticky), and I found that it worked really well like that. I've been reluctant to give it a really good washing, but eventually it will get too stiff to use!
I'm going to have to try a piece of soft sponge in my jar and see how that goes. It might work better for smaller brushes - I think the larger brushes (8, 10, 12...) would gunk it up too fast.

Callie - I thought I'd thrown all my worn down brushes away, but today I found these three to show you - the half dozen I tossed were way shorter than this, if you can believe it. These used to be flats.

OMG Sofie!!! You are THE Champion Brush Abuser! I'd love to be able to watch you paint!

Sofie wrote:

Right now I have some from the Princeton Art Brush Company which I bought in Calgary, and they perform very nicely.

I have a fan and filbert from Princeton and they seem to work well, though I am new to painting so they could be terrible and I wouldn't know the difference, lol. But my 1" gesso from Princeton seems to have some bristles sticking out after just one use with WSO's. I used it with traditional oils a few times and didn't have problems like it was having a bad hair day. I thought maybe it was because of rinsing it in water, but I would figure a gesso brush would be made to handle water. Or could it be from going from traditional oils to w/s oils?

I finally tried my first w/s oil painting and I enjoyed using them. Now I just have to start picking up some new brushes that others have mentioned here as well as paints recommended in other threads.

I use Silver Bristlon and and Winsor Newton Monarch brushes - mostly in flats and filberts, but I like the 00 rounds for highlights and detail work at the end.
I use water and a bar of natural soap to clean them, then run them over Master's Soap, shape them, and stand them up in my container. They stay in nice shape.

Susan,

Do you stand your brushes up while they are still wet. I was always under the impression that you should always lay them down to dry so the moisture doesn't go down into the furl and into the wood handle.

Does anyone with more information about this?

Judy

I know what you are saying, Judy. I've heard that you should stand them and I have heard that you shouldn't . I think the concern with standing them is that they should not be wet, because the water can go down into the handle and cause it to split I am a "pick" with my brushes! After I have the Masters brush cleaner in them (to stay til my next session) I squeeze them in a cloth or paper towel to dry them out as much as possible and I shape them before I stand them up. Maybe I should lay them down!

I'm with you, Judy. You don't want water soaking into the ferrules and weakening glue or seeping into the wooden handles. I've got a few brushes where the paint on the handles flaked off and they're down to bare wood
I never leave brushes standing in water, and make sure they're bristle end down to dry. I've got a container with clips of different sizes around the edge - you just snap the brush into one of the clips and it holds it so the bristles don't touch the bottom of the container - very handy.

Callie, Thanks for spelling ferrules right. I never really paid attention to how it is spelled. I also have a holder which will hold brushes vertical with the brushes down. I just never think of using it. Thanks for reminding me.

Judy

I have a cheap brush cleaning tray that I got from Jerry's, I think, and it has holes around the perimeter to let the brushes hang, and I think I'll use it to let them hang!

I'm really bad with my brushes and leave them soaking in water until I paint next. I clean them and them let them dry flat. I think I'll have to stop that practice and purchase some of the special brush cleaning soap because I'm very hard on them.

I just realized (while reading this) I still haven't cleaned the brushes I used Thursday before last. When I painted Sunday, I couldn't use them because they were too stiff from the dried alkyd. They're still in my painting bag Yikes!

Callie wrote:

I've got a few brushes where the paint on the handles flaked off and they're down to bare wood

I have a couple of these, too. The Robert Simmons' Titanium brushes seem to do that very easily.

After reading one book that mentioned laying brushes flat instead of brushes-up to dry, I now do that and then put them in my "brush cup" brushes-up for storage.