day
with soap and water, but they would be the better for such treatment.

Quite often, once a week, say, you should wash your brushes carefully
with soap and water. You may use warm water, but don't have it hot, as
that may melt the glue which holds the bristles together in the
ferrule. Use strong soap with plenty of lye in it--common bar soap, or
better, the old-fashioned soft soap. Hold several brushes together in
one hand so that the tips are all of a length, dip them together into
or rub them onto the soap, and then rub them briskly in the palm of
the other hand. When the paint is well worked into the lather, do the
same with the other brushes, letting the first ones soak in the soap,
but not in the water. Then rinse them, and carefully work them clean
one by one, with the fingers. When you lay them aside to dry, see that
the bristles are all straight and smooth, and they will be in perfect
condition for next painting.

[Illustration]

=Cleaning.=--But from day to day you need not take quite so much
trouble as this. True, the brushes will keep in better condition if
washed in soap and water every day, but it is not always convenient to
do this. You may then use the brush-cleaner. This is a tin box with a
false bottom of perforated tin or of wire netting about half-way down,
which allows the liquid to stand a half-inch or so above it; so that
when you put your brush in and rub it around, the paint is rinsed from
it, and settles through the perforations to the bottom, leaving the
liquid clear again above it. If you use this carefully, cleaning one
brush at a time, not rubbing it too hard, and pulling the hairs
straight by wiping them on a clean rag, you may keep your brushes in
good condition quite easily. But they will need a careful
soap-and-water washing every little while, besides. The liquid best
for use in this cleaner is the common kerosene or coal oil. Never use
turpentine to rinse your brushes. It will make them brittle and harsh;
but the kerosene will remove all the paint, and will not affect the
brush.

CHAPTER V

PAINTS

Of all your materials, it is on your paints that quality has the most
vital effect. With bad paint your work is hopeless. You may get an
effect that looks all right, but how long will it stand, and how much
better may it not have been if your colors had been good? You can tell
nothing about it. You may have luc