How to Make a Container for Rinsing Oil/Acrylic Paint Brushes

A helpful painting tip from a fellow artist.

From Jim Meaders

For oil painting I find small glass storage jars with hinged lids and a rubber seal (as in the photo below) at yard sales or discount stores. In the bottom I place a 'screen' to scrub the oil paint out of the brushes.

I have used several things for a 'screen': small mesh metal gutter guard cut into squares and tucked under to make hemispherical forms; metal window screen cut into squares and tucked and rolled into hemispherical forms; and my favorite, old kitchen strainers with the metal strainer part cut out and placed in the bottom of the jar.

^{This container allows waste oil paint to sink out of the solvent, to settle at the bottom below the mesh, out of reach of the brush you're rinsing clean.}

For acrylic painting I save and ask others to save one gallon plastic milk or juice bottles. I then take scissors or a knife (scissors are safer) and cut a section out opposite the handle. This leaves enough bottle on the bottom to fill with one or two quarts of water, gives me a carrying handle, and makes for a sturdy, hard to turn over, constant supply of water to both wash the brushes in and to just keep the brushes in so the acrylic paint doesn't dry in them.

^{This container for rinsing acrylic paint brushes is hard to knock over, yet can easily be carried around.}

See Also:
• Painting Problem Solver
• 5 Ways to Ruin an Art Paint Brush
• More Painting Tips