india ink

#1

i have a quick question…i recently had to do a pproject useing india ink for a uni course, and i bought some ink brushs, simpply because i didnt want to ruin my normal painting brushs. my question is: how do i clean india ink off goat hair brushs? some of the brushs i bought cost 25 dollars each, so obviously i dont want to toss them, or ruin them :stuck_out_tongue:

#2

As a general rule, India ink is not the best stuff in the world to dip brushes in. It is corrosive in nature and over time they will ruin the brush. The best treatment is to wash them immediately with warm water and soap and let them dry with the hairs not resting on anything. That way they keep their shape. Of course I am talking about the tradional india ink like “Black Magic”. However I do not know if it would be more forgiving to your brushes if you use the new arcylic based permanent ink. It probably would. Clean them often in both cases. Hopes this helps. I am an old india ink fan myself.

#3

from what i can tell, its acrylic-based. thanks for the help :slight_smile:

#4

I personally wouldn’t use goat hair brushes with India Ink. Although I am a newcomer when it comes to inks, especially brush inks, I use sable-synthetic brushes that are pretty cheap. After every session I wash them in soapy warm water, but if you want to be really careful, wash them after each use, like turtlemock says.

#5

There’s no way around it–ink will corrode the hair on any brush–synthetic or not. I was a comic book artist for 8 years and did a lot of inking, and as careful as I was with taking care of my very expensive brushes ($50~75 each), they will eventually die from the inks. You can prolong their life by using hair conditioner/brush conditioner on them after washing, or get some conditioner on them before dipping into ink, but in the end they only help a little. When you lose that spring in the tip, you just have to retire the brush to doing less demanding tasks like filling in large areas or dry brushing.

#6

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