Don't Clean Your Oil Paint Brush with Your Hands

I didn't do a lot of painting as a kid.  My first run-in with paint problems was when John was away on a trip to Ghana with Engineers Without Borders.  I was cleaning out the garage as a surprise for him at our house.  And when I say 'our house' I really mean John's family's house.  So it had many years of paint and varnish cans stored away in the garage.  When I went to cleaning... I deemed them all expired and threw them all away in the trash.  I didn't give a second thought to the rules of what you put in your trash can!

Well there were so many 1/2 empty paint cans in the trash can that the lid was propped open with them.  So when the trash man came around, he could see all of them.  I was at work, but my sister-in-law Missy called me to let me know that the trash man would skip our house that week and that he said "we were lucky he didn't fine us."

Lesson learned.

Lesson #2 of painting.  When you use oil paints, its really hard to get off!

Before we arrived in our house, it was agreed that the landlord would have latches added to our windows.  To do that, a welder had to come and add them.  Here is what they looked like after the welding...

So we bought some oil paint which apparently lasts a lot longer here especially with the humidity.  I thought I would surprise John when he got home because he's been asking me to do them so we can put the curtains I am in the process of making up.

Here they are finished...

So afterward, I decided to clean the paint brush so that we could use it again if need be.  (I guess that is another lesson I learned in painting along the way).  However, I have never used oil-based paint before and I did not know that you should not wash the brush by massaging it with your hands.

Oh I could not get it off!  I used soap, scrubbing really hard with my hands, even some rubbing alcohol.  Here is a picture after I did lots and lots of scrubbing...

 But the last little bit did NOT want to come off!  So I went down to see Chad to see if he knew anything that would get it off.  He said the only thing he could think of was gasoline.  Well, even if I have to smell like a gas station for the rest of the day, I thought it might be worth it because the next day I was going out to do a clinic upcountry and didn't want the patients to think I was leprous or something.

And it worked like a charm!  Oh I was so thankful despite my stench!

All clean!

Well, hopefully through my faux pas, you will not make the same mistake as I did.  Lesson learned: buy lead-free, non-oil based paint unless you live in sub-Saharan Africa!