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I was brushing dirt off a pot sherd with my own paintbrush for a whole year
I was working on a dig site near Tucson, carefully cleaning finds with a soft brush from my art kit. My professor walked by, pointed at it, and said, 'That's putting microplastics into the record.' I never thought about the bristles shedding. Now I only use brushes made for conservation work. Has anyone found a good brand that doesn't cost a fortune?
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grantf735mo ago
Oh man, that's brutal! You're out there trying to be careful and then get hit with the microplastic guilt trip. Classic professor move, right? It's wild how something so small can mess with the record. I've been using some synthetic brushes from a brand called Stable, and they've held up pretty well without totally killing my wallet. You just have to make sure they're labeled as low-shedding for archival use.
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uma_martinez5mo ago
Totally feel that, grantf73. It's like everything we touch these days has some hidden cost we're supposed to feel bad about. I see it with packaging on everything, not just brushes. You buy the "right" thing and then find out it's secretly polluting in a whole new way. Makes you want to just give up sometimes, but then you find a decent option like you did. The whole cycle is exhausting.
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