brush addiction - help needed

Alright I have about 70 brushes I have a bit of a brush addiction- so as I am having a really hard time cutting down. how many brushes do you bring to a job? From birthdays to events. I am really struggling with leaving any behind (I really, really love them) I have managed too get it to say…54. But need help with this as they take forever to pack up. how many do you take and what sorts, for what types of things?

I too have way too many brushes, in fact I just recieved my newest addition, a kabuki. But I mostly only use just 7, 2 round #2, 2 round # 4, 1 philbert # 10, 1 round detail brush #0 and 1 one inch flat. Will I part with any? Nope they are like my children, Plus I never know when I might get that odd request where by only my left threaded swizzlebacked brush will do the trick. If I must travel light, like on an airplane, then i'll take only my favorite 7 (plus maybe just another 20 to be safe)

Thank you I just counted I have 90 face painting brushes.
I have been face painting for 5 and a half months so I am buying about 16 brushes a month. and these only included the ones I like, others get given to the kids.
I have 47 absolutly need (mabye a little too many) and and there 20 just in case in my bag.
They too are like my children I have da vinci soap, and a pile of other brush parifinalia.
and I can see so many more I NEED!!! LOL
but I am having such a hard time getting the number down, as at the end of each gig I lovingly pack them away.

90 brushes are too many, I have around 25 but I discovered I just need 10 to work, round #1 black , round #3, round #6, filbert 4 and 6, flat 1/2 and 1" I have 2 sets of each, one for white and one for black. I have a set of mini foundation brushes I discovered they are perfect for my spiderman or full faces.

Elantaura, are your brushes all different types, or do you buy duplicates in different brands? I think that makes a difference.

I have a couple of hundred brushes... but that's because I paint other things...well, I USED to paint other things until I became addicted to face painting. Now my other projects are all scattered around the house in various stages of not-done-yet-I'll-get-to-it-someday-ness...I can hear them calling out to me "Please finish me. You loved me once, you can love me again...please complete me and make me whole." But, alas, I have a new love and it's name is face painting!!!!

Oh my word, Miss Ronnie, I think we're soul sisters. That's the story of my life!

I have filberts in varied sises, varied flats and a varied angles My doubles are mainly with round no 4 no 3 no 2 and liner brushes. I always try to have a dedicated white and black with those, and one to paint with i either take the no 3 or the no 2 now but one for white one for black and one for whatever. I have five no 12 flats but take 2 with me, if it is big event I take 3 (due to snotty kids) Have butterfly brushes, ones that I like to do flowers with,leaf brushes, as well as rounds in other sizes.

I do have alot of rounds but. again due to some kids being little germ bombs, if my brush gets near them, and they sneeze I retire it and grab another, I dont know what else to do. Help with this itself may lead to reduction in brushes taken.

I have a starburst brush I just like and use it is very short and speeds things up. I have wisp brushes.and if I want to drybrush I generally you guessed it grab another (LOL) not that I do it more than say mabye 5 times in an event- but I guess there is a dedicated drybrush too for black. as the black brush is generally wet.and I drybrush paradise but wet brush wolfe. and drying it of on a paper towel seems to slows me down alot. to get it right.

The bigest reason I take doubles has to do with again kids who sneeze on them etc. also for the dedicated white and black part. so I retire brushes throughout event. and have spares. They are all good brands Mark Ried, Lowe Cornell ect.

I don't see anything wrong with what you bring. Each painter is different and has different brush preferences. And it's good that you have enough to change out the germ-infested ones. Maybe you could look for a way that would make it easier for you to set them up. Like keeping them in an ice tube tray, or a brush stand.

I bring tons of brushes, but it is because I never use the same brush on more than 1 kid during any event. (I don't feel I can clean them properly without running water) I do my best not to even go back into the paint with a brush once it has touched a face. So I generally take enough brushes so that I can have at least; a 2"flat, a medium (#1 or 2)sized round, and 2 liners (black and white); times the number of kids I expect, plus several fans, wisps, filberts, angles, etc.
I sort them by type, and I have this bucket with 3 compartments so I have 1 compartment for rounds and flats, 1 for liners, and 1 for all of the other extras.
I am a proud brush addict and I am nowhere near finished!

I have about 400 brushes in about 4 sizes. I too clean and dry before a brush gets reused. I just buy them in bulk containers. Also carry a few hundred sponge halved or quartered

I think I have around 75 brushes, I work with about half on jobs the other half are brushes for use on my face when I practice at home, and some replacement brushes for my workitng kit.

I'm also in the "only clean brushes in paint" camp - which means I take dozens and dozens of brushes..... however they only take a matter of seconds to pack so I'm wondering what about your pack up is making them take too much time for you? My clean brushes live in my clean brush bag(s), once something has left the bag it doesn't go back (even if it just sat out and didn't get used) - if it is getting cleaned during an event that's fine, but if it needs to be retired (due to germ related issues) it goes into a quarantine bag and regular "dirty" (cleaned but not home cleaned) brushes go into a dirty brush bag at the end of the event. One bag arrives, three for leaving, two that won't be leaving the house again before they and the sink have a meeting (with baby shampoo).

I wouldn't be surprised if I had that many! LOL I just weeded out some a few weeks ago. I really don't need all of them!

I put out about 25ish at my gigs. I have one of those ice cube tube trays. I like having several different ones for different colors. I also have 6-7 flat brushes and don't always like to reload those.

Most of my designs, I could get by with two Sapphire #6 one for white and one for black.

I'm so torn between my old favs and new favs lately. I need to go through them and narrow it down even more! LOL.

I have a ton of them too... my latest was a gift from my aunt, visiting from England - she wanted to buy me something and was mystified when I happily chose two brushes; one a regular small liner brush and the other was a specialty one with the middle cut out - it's perfect for making the open spots for a very quick leopard or cheetah - I love it! (she didn't understand my happy squeals at all )

I started off with cheapies, then got a few better ones, then a few better than that. I'm working through the rack and figuring out which styles of which brands I like best. But since I still have (AND USE) my cheapies the number is starting to creep up there. One thing I have found is that if I take too many brushes I wind up fighting with them, struggling to find the ones I want, and just wasting time.

That said, I think I'm going to go buy another brush tonight- can't pass up a coupon!

This thread has made me feel better about bying so many brushes

Now I am going to try explain what I have been using and doing.
Have plastic tub for brushes (i.e. plastic equivalent of jam jar method) I have this, as I long for an ice cube tray, but can’t find one in Australia and there was an amazon link on forum ages ago, they didn’t send to Australia.

I find the narrow holes of brush holders a bit annoying- why I like jam jar idea or ice cube tray-which I as yet can’t get.
I have the folding black flat cases for transport.
I pull out an entire case and a half to start put them in plastic tub. As I retire a brush I make a pile on the side. When I empty water into sponge bucket I clean them quickly, not thoroughly just enough, in that water, once it is in the sponge bucket. Thought that way I was keeping painting water germ free. I then just place them in the case and fold it over. I used to put them in behind plastic straps but at the end I still have to move them around to fit properly so just place them now to stop double handling.
When it comes to pack up. Flick palettes closed, lid bling and glitter nock them over - as they are in a plastic biscuit holder thing same size as palettes has all gems and little thing in this (really good for speeding up pack up) lid it, and lid bucket that this takes about 1.30 sec. then it is the brushes getting them in behind elastic bands seems to take forever as I want the flats/filbert/angles to lay flat against them so they don’t damage in transit. Then I have to say squeeze the little round brushes handles into the same part as for example the 12 the flats to make it all fit. In this time I always seem to get approached for that just 1 more child thing – I always say no but this really slows down the pack up. Last week I got approached 3 times they even said now its 3 more- Still say no.
The week before as it was Oktoberfest (done 3 two day Oktoberfests this month) had two drunken guys standing around hassling me to paint them while I was putting brushes away. Still said no but drunk guys in your face is not fun
Putting those brushes always is always the part that has enough time for the people to annoy me. It takes forever. Everything else is away in my bag absolute max 4 minutes including lids, bling tops glitter etc. I have the chair that has a bolt to undo I can even get this collapsed with bolt undone in about 1.30 sec.
I have now established that having so many brushes is not too bad, as my initial thought was to cut down. But I already have issues packing away what I have. It takes sooooo long.

I want to do the one brush per child also. At most events I can, but how many brushes do you bring if you're going to be painting non-stop somewhere all day?

3 brushes. Maybe 5.
I use a round number 1. 3. and 6. I don't bother with 2 or 4 or 5 or anything else because it's not needed when I can make different sizes with the 1,3, and 6.
The Superior brushes from http://wolfefx.com/ are really nice, they have a good weight to them and they are very smooth. I sometimes have a thick flat brush around for shaping out spiderman eyes or a pirate bandana. The 5th brush is a smush brush. Take a round number 6 and smash it in your hand (older brushes are good) and it makes for good texture, like fur around the edges of a tiger face or a pirate stubble.

As for storage I use whatever I can find. Wrap up in my apron, a long tupperware container.

Elantaura, I use a popsicle-maker tray instead of the ice cube tray. I just threw away the popsicle handles. Works just as good - maybe better, the openings are a bit bigger, which I like.

I think I'm on the right track to find a holder that works for me..... Vinyl tubing (cut into short lengths). Will see where I go from here with it!

I have about 70 brushes. I take about 40 with me and the other 30 are either body brushes or practice ones. I use a 3 compartment water container when I'm painting PPF because I can't bring3 or 4 hundred brushes with me to follow the 1BPK method.My clean brushes are in one large container of beads (clustered by size and type) and as I use them they go into another container of beads to be rinsed and reused as necessary. If I run into a cruddy kid, I drop the brush into my used sponge box when I'm done and pluck a clean one out of the clean brush cup. This works for me because at the end of the day, I know definintively which brushes have been used and which haven't. I just grab the used ones and drop them in my dirty sponge box for washing at home and I pack up the still clean ones for use at another gig.

I've tried everything from icecube trays to reptillian sponges... I'm just not regimented enough to put the brushes back where they belong, so my bead cup system works with my special brand of chaos.

Hi Everyone,

Super lurker here )! But will begin to post more. First, a HUUUUUUUUUUUUUUGE THANKS to all for the treasure of information on this site. I have learned a LOT.

Next, I'm going to try to post a photo of my brush holder. It's made with plastic toothbrush holders in a rainbow of colors. I screwed each one into the pine plank with a long screwdriver. For extra height and drainage (I use this holder when the washed brushes are drying, too), I wadded up a bit of paper towel in each.

I LOVE this brush holder. It is one of my favorite things in the WORLD ). (And yes, I have a serious addiction to brushes which I am not in denial about and not trying to cure!)

) Joan[img][/img]

Can't figure out the upload. Maybe later.

I have a few Ideas to try out now thanks, but has anyone got a quick pack up method? I was thinking of a sushi mat idea. but was worried about it damaging the 12 flats/filberts etc. as it rolls up.
I often dont get to clean my brushes for a few hours after I get home due to mainly my toddler. which means they are would be in the mat/roll for a while.
and I was looking at the bead cup idea but thought it would be a pain to transport. because I am a little chaotic, an the idea of sticking it in an it staying wherever- is appealing