01/07/2025
Fan-brush…🤦🏻🙄😭
No, this is not a fan brush. It’s one of my most expensive filbert brushes: a Raphaël Textura nr. 24.
And this is how I am trying to save it after it’s had a rather unpleasant confrontation with a fan.
My son, for some reason, thought it would be fun to hold this brush into an open fan while it was on.
About 1 row of bristles on the side were completely destroyed over a length of a couple millimetres. Curled, burnt from the friction and cut at a length of 0.5 cm. 3-4 rows of bristles on both sides across the full width of the brush were just curled outwards, totally misshaping it.
This is a BRAND NEW BRUSH and Raphaël brushes cost a ton of money. The bigger the size the more expensive they are and a nr. 24 is the third biggest one you can get.
The little man got an earful! He knows he is not to touch my brushes or my paints or anything that’s not his, but sometimes…(*sigh)
At first glance, I was quite sure I’d have to throw it away. Burnt and misshapen, it would never be as good as new. But the number of burnt bristles was limited. I tried to cut them as close to the ferrule as humanly possible and gave what was left my best judgement.
It could still work. It isn’t missing that many bristles but the shape could still be a problem.
I gave the brush a test run and to my feel, it performed as any of my other Raphaël Textura filbert brushes, but the shape would still need fixing, somehow.
I tried the boiling water technique (you dip the brush in boiling water and you fold the bristles into the original shape), but it was a bust, like I expected.
Maybe it helps with a loss of shape after pigment has been allowed to pile up in the brush, (happens when you don’t use brush soap with acrylics), but it didn’t help with turning a fanned brush back into a filbert.
So, now I’m trying the next trick on the list: someone said chapstick.
I don’t have any chapstick, but vaseline is a pretty similar alternative. I made a few brush strokes in the vaseline jar, removed the excess vaseline and for now, the shape is holding…
I don’t know if this will fix it completely, but I’m hopeful. I’ve got a few other tricks left I haven’t tried yet in case this fails. 🤞🏻🤞🏻🤞🏻
I could try glue (yes, it can be washed out), soap and there might have been a couple of brush hacks on the list I can’t remember right now, but I can look them up again.
I sure hope I’ll be able to restore the shape of this precious filbert because I don’t feel like spending money, AGAIN. 😮💨
Take a look at the greasiest filbert brush ever: ………(or should I say “fan” brush?)
