I have a couple of very small paint brushes I want to use for painting fine details. The first one I used was one of moderate quality. I used it a couple of times and then it got a bad case of 'split ends'. So I went out and bought a more expensive brush for small details. It was balanced much better, but soon got a bad case of 'split ends' as well. How can I keep my small paint brushes from 'frizzeling' ?

Paint brushes can frizzle if your not using the right type of paint .
ie: if your using a sable brush or sable components, with water based paints you will have frizzle problems. I buy good quality brushes (Winsor & Newton University series) that are synthetic material , these work well for both oil & water based paints. Many people swear by sable brushes, but I personally dont like them.
Another cause of frizzle is if you get paint up way inside the brushes where it will dry, this expands the hairs causing "frizzle" . You can over come this problem by getting a good tyoe of brush cleaner, i use Poly Scale paint & decal remover works great for this.

Cheers
Bruce

Hi

As sable brushes are natural hair try washing with a bit of hair conditioner occasionally.

Dennis

Chuck,

I have had similar problems with brushes in the past and found that it was mainly due to my own actions that brushes ended up frizzled and frazzled. lol

As Bruce has pointed out, part of the problem can easily be the brushes. The cheap brushes we all like to buy, don't tend to last very long. The cheaper synthetic fibers don't pick up the paint well and when run through the mill of being used for different jobs with different paints and thinners, they start to rebel.

Also as Bruce pointed out, it's very important to not get paint up inside the metal piece that holds the hairs. When paint gets up inside the ferrule it will dry and harden and split those hairs apart. This will cause you the problems you are saying you're having. Don't use good brushes to transfer paint from the bottle to your palette, if you do the paint will get up in the ferrule and cause you headaches. Use an OLD (frizzled) brush for this and to mix with thinner if you like but don't use that brush to paint. I've learned this through experience of running through several brushes already. Save those brushes, when they're done make sure you use a good brush cleaner to clean them well and let them air dry. I've used brush shaper to help with some of my brushes to help keep the point but that's moer of a fix-it thing that a real maintenance recommendation.

As for brushes, it is true that you get what you pay for. I've heard all the praise about Winsor & Newton miniature brushes have, I decided to pick me up some. I found them online and bought 3 brushes for about$20 or so and let me tell you, take care of those brushes and they will serve you VERY well. They pick up a LOT of paint and hold it and their points very well. As Dennis recommended, with natural hair brushes it helps to use conditioner on them from time to time. The same we do with our own hair, we can do with our brushes.

Hope that helps, I've been there and screwed up enough brushes to know! lol

Try to let your brushes dry while hanging with the tip down. Then the water doesn´t run that much into the ferrule.
Andreas