The Miracle of Murphy's Oil

If there is any reader here that crafts, like me, you have more that a few things ruined by paint. Clothes, paint brushes, trays, palettes, countertops, sinks and probably more than a few other places in the kitchen.

There are a variety of products out there that are supposed to remove paints, oil or acrylics, maybe some glues but despite their cost, I really haven't found anything better than plain old Murphy's Oil. I think I've tried them all too. Everyone has their favorite and is willing to give you advice.

One type comes as a cake that works well enough on a still wet brush. Dried and hard, nope.  Some of the fabric paint removers are best used outside, maybe in a gale force wind. I nearly passed out on one that had enough chemicals to give you a true high! The paint still remained on my clothes but I'm convinced my sinuses were squeaky clean!

The Murphy's Oil tip was made offhand by a teacher I had in Vegas.  I was the only one that picked on it but made sure I got a bottle when I got home. Needless to say I had paint on my clothes. I put some on, let it set a day or so, troubled the spot again, gave them another squirt and washed them.  Most of the spots were gone.  What remained was nearly invisible and a few washes later was gone.

The more dramatic transformation though is what happens to a stiff brush. Stiff? I mean rock hard! Mixing a 50-50 combination of water and Murphy's Oil, soak that brush.  Sometimes it's pretty fast, other brushes take awhile but in the end the brush becomes clean AND completely pliable again.  It's truly a miracle. This also works on palettes and counters as well.  Tonight I cleaned a plastic palette dish that I had forgotten to clean yesterday. The paint was rock hard acrylic paint. I poured a little oil in there and awhile later cleaned it out.

Murphy's Oil also comes in a spray bottle that works well too. It's already pre-mixed. All you need to do is spray it on the let it do it's work.

I've been told another great attribute of Murphy's Oil is that besides removing paints on many surfaces, it also, for brushes,  puts back natural oils for the bristles keeping them pliable. No other products need to be used. In fact, I don't use anything else ... well, except Dawn Detergent to wash my brushes when I am through that session.

If you have paint on clothes, frozen brushes or paint spattered countertops, give Murphy's Oil a try! If nothing else it makes a great general all around cleaner and wood loves it!

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