We recommend food-grade safflower oil, a non-drying (or technically, extremely slow-drying) variety of safflower oil. It is typically available at your local grocery store. However, it is extremely important to follow the How-To steps described above to ensure that this oil does not get into your painting (clearly, this would cause drying problems).

A slow-drying artist-grade oil, such as walnut oil, is also an option, but it will behave differently. These oils will become gummy in the tray and on the handles of your brushes as the oil begins to oxidize. If left untouched for a long period of time, it will oxidize (dry) and can ruin your brushes—the opposite of our goal! If you choose to employ walnut oil (it's worth noting that this is what Rembrandt did!), please keep a close eye on it and be mindful of changing out the oil when it begins to skin over. You can remove any stickiness that might build up on the ferrule or handles of your brushes with rubbing alcohol.

If you are using a drying oil such as walnut, a good wiping (after removing your brushes from the tray to begin painting) is all that is required. You do not need to rinse your brushes in solvent unless you wish to, since walnut is a traditional painting medium and it will dry (albeit a bit more slowly than linseed).

In short, yes. It's really, really important to fully remove the food-grade safflower oil from your brush in a solvent prior to resuming painting. This is relatively easy with small to mid-sized brushes. It's a bit more challenging with large brushes, however. If you are concerned, or if you tend to use larger brushes, artist grade walnut oil is definitely the best choice for your brushes and tray!

Yes! As long as the bristles are fully submerged.

One important thing to be aware of: it is much more difficult to fully remove the oil from big brushes prior to painting. Therefore, if you're using large brushes, a drying oil such as artist grade walnut oil would be the best choice for your tray to ensure you don't end up compromising your paint film with leftover non-drying oil in the bristles.

This depends on your painting style, brush size, frequency of use, how well you rinse your brushes, and other factors. So the simple answer is: when it is too dirty for you to want to continue using it.

Larger brushes, less rinsing or no rinsing in solvent after painting, and frequent painting sessions (ie. daily) will all result in the oil becoming dirtier faster. When you'd like to exchange it for fresh oil, please pour off and dispose of the old oil, then wipe out any remaining oil and settled pigment in the tray with a paper towel and dispose of this as well. If desired, you can also wash your tray with warm water and dish soap.

*You may need to change your oil more frequently if using a drying oil, such as walnut. Please see "What type of oil should I use?" for more information.

No! We strongly recommend against this practice. While it's unlikely to damage your brush tray, this is very bad for your health. In addition, it will definitely ruin your brushes over time, degrading both the bristles and the glue inside the ferrule.

Health-wise, it creates a large surface area for off-gassing and evaporation of the solvent (yes, even "odorless" mineral spirits off-gas), and this is one of the greatest health hazards in oil painting, particularly with prolonged exposure over years in the studio. Do yourself and your body a favor, and minimize your use of solvent as much as possible! We use it only to quickly clean our brushes, and re-cap it immediately afterwards. The Savvy Brush Tray is designed to be used with the recommended food-grade safflower oil (see solvent-free FAQ for more information about other oils).

This can happen for two reasons:

1. If/when you touch the bristles against the wall of the brush tray to remove excess oil, it can spill over the edge a bit if you're not careful (then it will drip down and pool beneath the tray with repetition). Check to see if there's a shiny oil trail down the side of the tray where you wipe your brushes. If so, just wipe it off and adjust your technique a bit!

2. It's possible that, if the shipping carrier handled your tray too roughly, it may have developed some hairline cracks. One of the few downfalls of ceramic! If this has happened and oil is leaking through the previously invisible cracks, you should be able to see the oil-filled crack lines in the white porcelain on the underside of the reservoir. If this is the case, please snap/send a few photos for our records, and we will happily replace your tray!

Probably, with a few considerations.

Obviously you don't want a non-drying oil getting into your painting, otherwise, your painting won't dry! And this can certainly happen if you aren't able to thoroughly rinse the safflower oil out of your brushes with odorless mineral spirits before you resume painting.

If you're painting solvent-free and want to make use of the Savvy Brush Tray method, we recommend using a traditional slow-drying oil in your tray, such as walnut or poppyseed oil. Rembrandt used walnut oil! However, it will need to be changed more often, as soon as it starts to feel sticky. Slower drying oils such as poppyseed will last longer, whereas standard oils like linseed would likely dry too quickly. You will want to be careful not to overcrowd the tray so that the brush handles stay clean, as a drying oil will likely become sticky on the handles over time.

All of these considerations lend themselves to frequent painting (yay!); the more often you use your brushes, the more readily you will cycle through oil, keeping it fresh. If you're using a drying oil in your tray and you need to be away from your studio for a time, we strongly recommend removing and washing your brushes, and pouring the oil from your tray into a sealed container for storage during your absence.

This is usually happening for one or more of the following three reasons:

1. Too many brushes in the tray. If the brushes all touch each other, it allows oil to creep up between them due the to capillary effect. Try leaving a little space between your brushes. The tray should fit 8-12 brushes (depending on size) without them needing to touch. You can certainly cram twice that number in the tray (we do), but the handles will definitely get oily.

2. You may be tilting the brushes when removing them. Try to keep the tips pointed down until you wipe them.

3. Too much oil in the reservoir. If the oil level is too high, it may creep over the top of the ferrule onto the handle or inside the ferrule.

Each time you remove your brushes and wipe/rinse them, a bit of oil is lost. No big deal—just top it off as needed with fresh oil.

Even though we call food-grade safflower oil a "non-drying" oil, it's actually just very, very slow-drying. If left undisturbed for a long period of time, especially during hot weather, even this oil will become gummy. If you're planning to leave your studio for more than a month, we recommend removing and washing your brushes, then pouring any useable oil into a jar for storage.

Gumminess/stickiness can also occur if you've used a drying oil in your tray, such as linseed oil. See the "Can I use the Savvy Brush Tray if I paint without solvents?" question for more information on this topic.

We at Savvy Studio Supplies, as well as the many artists who tested this product during development, have not experienced the oil damaging our brushes or breaking down the glue inside the ferrule. Quite the opposite! However, we haven't been able to test every brush brand out there. If you're feeling concerned, we recommend a test-run: Take a handful of your least favorite brushes, and keep them in an inch or so of food-grade safflower oil in a cup for a few months, then check their integrity.

At this time, we only ship within the United States. More options coming soon!