Paint Brush Storage: How to Dry, Store and Protect Brushes

The water jar is where most brushes are ruined. A brush left standing on its bristles for an afternoon dries with a hook in the tip, and one stored wet and upright drains water into the handle. Neither problem has much to do with painting, and both are settled by where the brush spends its time between sessions.

Good paint brush storage has two stages that should not be merged: a drying stage, where water is led away from the handle, and a storing stage, where the bristles touch nothing. Get the order right and even inexpensive brushes keep their shape far longer.

What bends and splays a brush in storage

• Weight on the bristles. Resting a brush on its tip, wet or dry, sets a curve.
• Water in the ferrule. The ferrule is the metal collar that grips the bristles. If a wet brush stands bristles-up, water runs down into it, where it can loosen the glue and swell a wooden handle.
• Crowding. Brushes jammed into a cup push each other’s bristles sideways.

Stage one: dry the brushes properly

You need a clean absorbent towel or cloth, a flat surface out of the way, and either a spare shelf edge or a few clips if you prefer to hang brushes.

1. Clean each brush as the paint’s label directs, then press out the water gently with the towel. Do not twist.
2. Reshape the bristles with your fingers: rounds to a point, flats to a clean straight edge.
3. Lay the brushes flat on the towel in a single row, not touching. Better still, let the bristle ends overhang the edge of a table or tray so that air reaches all sides.
4. Alternatively, hang each brush bristles-down from a clip or a drying rack, so water drains away from the ferrule. The bristles must hang free, touching nothing.
5. Leave them until the bristles are dry right down to the ferrule. Small brushes need a few hours; thick ones are best left overnight.

Give the drying stage a fixed spot, such as a tray lined with a towel beside the sink or on the lowest tier of a cart.

Stage two: upright or flat?

Once dry, a brush can be stored in either of two ways. Choose by how many brushes you have and how often you paint.

• Upright, bristles up, in jars or a holder. This is the best choice for brushes in regular use, because you can see every tip and take one without disturbing the others. Use heavy, wide-based jars that will not tip, and fill each only until the handles stand loosely. If you have to push a brush in, start another jar.
• Flat, in a shallow drawer or tray. This is the best choice for brushes you use less often and for very fine or very soft ones. Lay them in a single layer, all pointing the same way, in a drawer about 2 in (5 cm) deep. A ridged drawer liner or a strip of corrugated cardboard stops them from rolling into each other.

Sort by medium, then by shape and size

Keep brushes for different kinds of paint in separate containers, so each set stays with the medium it is used for:

• Watercolor brushes
• Acrylic and general craft brushes
• Oil brushes
• Glue, sealer and stencil brushes, which are rough-use tools and should never share a jar with painting brushes

Mark each jar with a band of colored tape or a label so the sets do not drift. Then, inside each medium, group by shape: rounds, flats, filberts, liners and large wash brushes. In a jar, arrange each shape from small to large around the rim. In a drawer, give each shape its own channel.

Store brushes near the paint they belong to, in the same zone; the guide to craft paint storage covers bottles and tubes. Other everyday tools follow a different logic, described under craft tool organization.

Sleeves, tips and the rule about bristles

Many brushes are sold with a clear plastic sleeve over the bristles. Keep those sleeves in a small bag near your brushes; they are the simplest protection for travel and for flat storage.

• Put a sleeve on only when the brush is fully dry.
• Slide it on from the handle end toward the tip where you can, so that no stray hairs are bent back.
• If a sleeve is lost, a strip of paper rolled loosely around the bristles and taped to itself does the same job.

The one rule that never bends: a brush does not rest on its bristles. Not in the water jar while you work, not in a cup, not in a bag. During a session, lay working brushes across the rim of a shallow dish or on a brush rest.

Brush rolls and cases for travel

A fabric or bamboo roll holds each brush in its own pocket, so the bristles do not rub together in a bag. A rigid case does the same and adds protection against crushing.

• Load a roll or case only with dry brushes. A closed roll holds damp in.
• If you must pack up while brushes are still damp, as after a class, unroll them and set them out to dry as soon as you are home.
• Place brushes so that the tips sit below the top flap or the case lid and are not pressed by it.
• Choose a roll longer than your longest brush, and carry it flat or upright with the bristles up.

Long-term storage for brushes you rarely use

Brushes that will sit for months, such as a seasonal set or good natural-hair brushes kept for special work, should be stored clean, completely dry and flat in a closed case or lidded box, with sleeves on or with space between them. Keep the box in a dry room away from direct sunlight and heat sources.

Look through stored natural-hair brushes now and then, since animal hair, like wool, is worth checking for damage. Reshape any tips that have flattened before returning them.

Adapting to a small or large collection

A handful of brushes: one drying towel, one jar. Skip the sorting, but keep glue brushes elsewhere.

A large collection: one jar per shape for your main medium, drawers for the rest, and a drying tray big enough for a full session’s brushes. A rolling cart can hold all of it; see the guide to setting up a craft cart.