Ok, I am going to beat a dead horse here, but I am having a problem with my brushes not cleaning. I am using the Mona Lisa paint thinner from HL, and I go to clean it after using it, and it still has flakes of paint on the brush. I have thought about switching to turpentine to try and clean it. Any suggestions?
Use cheap lacquer thinner for cleaning and save the Mona Lisa for thinning.
Absolutely! LT cleans everything!
Yep. It also makes brushes last about 1 year, at most.
Clean your brushes following acrylics with hot water.
Clean your brushes following Testors enamel with LT but really keep it a quick operation.
Clean your brushes after using oils with Turpenoid.
When I write Icons, I use acrylics mostly and I clean them with water, spit shape them and then give them a little prayer before I set them down.
If you get to know your brushes by sight and by their temper, it will do wonders.
Sounds stupid? Maybe but they serve you well if you keep the solvent exposure to a minimum.
That is a good point. Keep the time to a minium in the solvent. When you are done with the LT you can use masters brush soap on the brush to help clean the solvent out and condition the brush to last longer. You can get it at craft stores and amazon. It’s cheap and does preserve brushes and will clean acrylics great. I forgot about it when I replied the first time but GMorrisons’ reply reminded me of it.
I actually went to the dollar store and picked up a cheapo bar of soap for basically the same thing.
Be careful cleaning brushes with lacquer thinner. Some brushes sold just for acrylic paint use synthetic fiber, and some of that stuff dissolves in lacquer thinner. These brushes may say “for acrylic use only.”