Care of My Showcard Brushes

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Posted by Charles Borges de Oliveira on March 18, 2003

Hello, I was wondering if anybody could help me with this question. When I started using my showcard brushes years ago my friend suggested using pure soap to clean out the hairs. My Uncle always cleaned his showcard brushes with just plain water and used his thumbnail to clean the heel. Does anybody know what is the best way to clean my red sable brushes? thanks for your time -Charles Borges de Oliveira

Raymond Chapman

My sables were always cleaned with soap and water, usually just hand soap. The soap was worked into the brush by "palleting" the brush on the palm of my hand and then rinshing completly with running water out of the faucet. The brushes were then stored standing up until the hair dried.

Charles Borges de Oliveira

Thank you Mr. Chapman.

Mike Jackson

When I was in college, the instructor told us the best way to care for our oil painting brushes was to wash them out in soap and water after each use. There was a large block of soap next to the sink and everyone seemed to use it daily. It seems that washing showcard brushes with soap and water would be the correct procedure, but washing oil paint brushes never really felt right to me with my sign experience.

Good luck,
Mike Jackson

Lee Littlewood

Wilbur Porterfield was a good cardwriter and designer in Portland, Or. As a second-rate calligraphy student I was sent to him to see if maybe 'that brush stuff' might be the answer. He handed me a red sable and some tempera and said (this is a quote), "Here's a brush, here's some paint; I'll be in the other room if you have any questions."
I never did learn shocard technique, but he always washed his brushes out by stroking them on a bar of Fels Naptha soap - leave the paper on and just cut one side off and it will develop a valley down the middle. After the water was rinsing clear he would leave some soap in the hairs and shape them to a fat chisel edge - when they dried they were a bit better protected from getting bent. His brushes had all the paint gone from the handles but still worked well.

Charles Borges de Oliviera

Thank you. -

Charles