When you get your new quality brush it's best to break it in a little. To break it in proceed as follows:
- Slap the brush bristles against your hand several times to loosen them.
- Then slap the brush against a table edge several times to further loosen the bristles.
- Spin the brush handle in your hand back and forth to spin out loose bristles.
- Dip the paint brush in paint (1/3 the bristle length) and paint a newspaper page (several sheets thick) back and forth in an "X" pattern to break in the bristles.
- Look at the brush and remove any bristles that are bent and sticking out by cutting off with a nail clipper.
- For a natural bristle brush you may also want to condition the bristles by soaking the brush in linseed oil overnight before use.
