Handy Brush Holder/Cleaner



I don’t paint, but perhaps those of you who do, may have come across this brush holder/cleaner before. I’m sure its use can’t be limited to just art brushes, right?

I bought this holder middle of last year, an impulse buy. I got home, kept the whole box in the cupboard and with so much happening soon after that, I promptly forgot about it. Well, the holder is finally seeing daylight now!



You know what they always say about not leaving your wet makeup brushes to dry with the bristles pointing upwards. The water would flow back down into the ferrule and that can loosen the glue that holds the bristles together. I’ve always left my brushes to dry in a horizontal position, at the edge of a surface, or if possible at an angle so that the brush is pointing slightly downwards. I’d often thought it would be nice to clip the tips of brush handles to pegs on a clothes line (I’ve never given that a try though).

This brush holder would be like my imagined pegs on a clothes line, but it's only a partial solution. There’s no way it can hold a kabuki brush. In fact, it can’t hold a powder brush or any brush with a very thick handle.



So, I’m afraid its use is limited to smaller, narrow brush handles of less than 1cm in diameter. I think I was pushing it with that thick-handled brush in the middle there (see image). All one needs to do is just slide the brush handle into the tight coil from the sides. I wouldn’t recommend pushing the brush vertically from the under side of the coil as the (tighter) friction might damage the handle's surface. The holder can suspend quite a number of brushes simultaneously but it’s best to balance their positions out on both sides of the coil.


It's a handy tool. To me, it’s the standing coil that’s useful. My brushes don’t drip much, so the bottom part (to hold water) is rather redundant. Still, it makes the holder look complete.


I believe it's made of aluminium. The base measures 4" in diameter and when assembled, the holder is about 8.5" tall (and it's very easy to take it apart too). Officially, it's called Brush Cleaner (or Washer). The removable mesh screen is good for cleaning paint off brushes, but since my brushes are simply for makeup, I've never had to use that portion.

I can't remember now how much exactly I paid for it, but it was cheap (probably €3 or €4). I got it from Lidl but a little checking on the internet shows that it's also available through Amazon and some online art supply stores.

20 comments:

Sheefa F said...

Genius product! Gota try it out for sure :)

Liesewiesje said...

That looks good! :)

LJ said...

very cool! thanks for sharing!

Laura @ Sawan-Heaven said...

You can always try cable tying or twisty tying larger handle brushes to one of those loops.

It kind of sounds like a good idea!

XD

Unknown said...

That looks pretty cool. I used to love painting. :)

Silence is Loud said...

this is so convinient!! i would love to get one of these.

ThRiSzHa said...

cool.. i would like to try to make a DIY version of this.. thanks for sharing..

xoxo

Anonymous said...

Cool brush holder. Simple, cheap and effective for small brushes. "KTee"xx

Abbie said...

I always stick some bluetack on the side of my brushes and stick them vertical on the side of my desk or my bookshelf with a bit of tissue below it x

Anonymous said...

What a great idea. Sometimes it's so simple, right. Thanks for sharing this. Have a nice weekend,
Nicole x

DinaXYYan said...

This is a really great idea to dry the brushes, but too bad it's limited to smaller brushes. Anyways, it's still useful :)

dl.blogspot said...

Looks cool, but still prefer my brushes to flat dry on a towel. Oldschool but works best for me.

Shop N' Chomp said...

That is absolute genius.

Witoxicity said...

@Get Gawjus!
@Liesewiesje
@LJ
@London's-beauty
@Shop N' Chomp
I'm glad to hear that. :)

@Laura
That's a good suggestion. It would be ideal if the brushes have a hole through the handles. :)

@Silence is Loud
Have a check on Amazon. You should be able to get it there. :)

@ThRiSzHa
Well, if you have the resources for it, then it's definitely feasible to DIY. Good luck with that! :)

@KTee
Simple and handy. If only it could also hold larger brushes......oh, I musn't complain! It's a pretty good solution as it is. :D

@Abbie
Blu-tack! How creative! Well, as long as the brushes don't fall off, then that's fine. Thanks for sharing your method with us, Abbie. :)

@Nicole
You're welcome, Nicole. I hope your weekend is going well! :)

@Dina
Yes, despite its limitations, it's still a very handy holder. :)

@dl.blogspot
Well, I still do it the old-school way too for the bigger brushes. :)

Anna said...

wow never knew they have such thing, thats super convenient! and no damage to the brush hairs too

xoxo elle

Witoxicity said...

@Elle
It's certainly an ideal way to dry those (smaller) brushes. :)

Cynthia Z said...

I love this!So cool! Haha...I thought about clothes pegs too =D

♥xx♥

Witoxicity said...

@Cynthia
Haha, great minds think alike! :D

Anonymous said...

Oh how neat~! Someone in the makeup industry has GOT to take this idea up and mass produce this!

Witoxicity said...

@Natalie
Haha, yes! But we don't have to wait for that to happen. For now, we can just buy this version from some art supply stores. :)