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Glass paint cleaning tips

Glass paint cleaning tips

Glass paint cleaning tips

No painting project is complete until it’s cleaned up, and the same is true for a glass paint project. Cleaning up your glass paint project is easy, as long as you have the right materials on hand. Paint is solvent-based, and as the solvent dissipates, the paint dries and cures. Therefore, the quicker you act on your clean up, the cleaner your painting tools will be!

How to clean glass paint from your painting tools


Solvents are essential to clean up glass paint, but they can be dangerous to your health. Protective clothing is essential, as are protective coverings for your hands and eyes. Work in a ventilated area, because solvent gasses can “pool,” making it difficult to breathe and potentially creating other hazards. Some solvents are flammable, or explosive, so keeping their fumes away from ignition source and well diluted with fresh air is a must!

Cleaning a HVLP paint sprayer is essential to its continued use. HPLV sprayers have some small pieces that can get clogged with paint easily, so a quick cleanup of the parts is in order. Paint dries quickly, so empty any remaining paint from the sprayer and break it down immediately after use. Once the parts are separated, use acetone to clean the individual sprayer parts. Acetone will eliminate dried and drying paint on your sprayer components. You can use an acetone-soaked cloth or brush to clear out the body of the sprayer.

For the smaller parts, run a stream of acetone through the sprayer parts for about 30-60 seconds. You can also soak HPLV parts in acetone, or use small brushes or pipe cleaners to clean nozzles and other small parts. Rinse the cleaned parts to remove any remaining acetone and set them aside to dry.

Acetone will also clean paint brushes, so if you’ve applied Glassprimer™ glass paint with brushes, dip the brush end into acetone and allow it to soften and dissolve paint. Acetone is very harsh, so use high quality, natural fiber brushes. Don’t dip the brush tip more than half—way into the paint. This will help you avoid getting paint into the base of the brush. You could also “prime” the brush with acetone by dipping it all the way into acetone and letting the brush dry before using it.

Acetone will soften and in some cases, dissolve, plastic. Do not use acetone to recover inexpensive plastic brushes. If you’ve used inexpensive brushes, your best bet is to cover them in foil or plastic food wrap and dispose of them.

If you’ve chosen to use good quality, mohair rollers with a solvent-resistant core, you can use acetone to clean the roller nap once you’ve finished your glass paint project. Inexpensive rollers tend to have plastic cores, which – like plastic paint brushes – won’t fare well in acetone. If you’ve used inexpensive, plastic core rollers, you may want to wrap them carefully and discard them instead of trying to clean them. (A melty plastic roller can make a big mess!)

If you’d like more information about working with glass paint, please visit the rest of our site. If you’re ready to purchase Glassprimer™ glass paint, please visit our online store at glasspaint.com.

Photo Credit: farrahsanjari, via Flickr.com