save the brushes!

If you haven't seen this advice on Pinterest or elsewhere, you've gotta be made aware!! There IS a way to resurrect those paint brushes you think are ruined by dried-in paint! What's the secret? Vinegar. Plain, white vinegar. That's it!! Just pop enough vinegar to cover the bristles into the microwave & nuke til it's at the boiling point. Then sock your brush in & wait for the magic! This brush was completely dried FULL of paint!!! I like to wrap my brushes when I'm painting but don't get finished or if I'm using more than one color, I keep one brush, wet with paint, wrapped in plastic. The great thing about doing this is you don't have to wash the brush each time you take a break or switch colors. The bad part is that sometimes, you kinda like forget about said brush and end up with what I found today at the bottom of a bucket of paint tools. A brush left completely FULL of paint, dried hard as a rock! Egads! Now, I didn't just leave this one sitting the vinegar since it was so horribly neglected. After it had sat in the stuff a few minutes, I swished it around to separate the bristles, then I let it sit awhile longer. After that, I used a butter knife to force the more solid sections apart and let it sit again. Then I laid the bristles across the middle section of my kitchen sink with hot water running on it and used the toothed edge of the butter knife to force the stuck-on paint off the tips of the bristles. You need to be gentle doing this so you don't pull the bristles loose, but if you have as big a mess as I did, you'll have to work the paint off somehow. I'm telling you, my brush is like new now!! And it's just a moderately priced Rubbermaid brush, not a high-dollar brand. Now go, try it for yourself!! You'll be glad you happened upon this piece of advice. I sure am!