what makes a quality oil & acrylic brush? Brushes of the Old Masters The Importance of True Why Brights? Bristle brushes are where paint- “Interlocked” Construction Brights are short flats. They won’t ing began. The Old Masters used The word interlocked is thrown hold as much color as a flat but only rounds. Flats weren’t devel- around rather carelessly. What does they are easier to control. Flats are oped until the nineteenth century. it mean? All bristle has a natural longer and they carry more color Sable and other forms of soft hair curve. In good brushes, all the bris- and they apply color with more sen- brushes were unheard of. The tles are sorted by size and faced in sitivity. Manufacturers then devel- painter would use a new bristle tied the same direction. Hair bundles are oped filberts, or flats with rounded at the head to form a round brush. made and placed in the ferrules in corners. Rounds, flats, brights and He would use this until the bristle opposite directions. This interlocked filberts became the range that fit became soft, then he would remake construction creates a brush that is the bill until the late 1800’s. the soft bristle into his detail brush- firm, responsive and one that resists es. It was the soft bristle that was spreading of bristles and losing its What is an Egbert? always used for glazing. Even back shape. During a painting class in France, then, they understood what made a an instructor was trying desperately quality brush. When going to the expense of creat- to loosen up the style of an already ing an interlocked brush you must accomplished painter. The man’s Two things determine brush use the finest Chinese Bristle. work had deteriorated from fresh to quality and price: materials When selecting the hair, care is flat. Using the bristle from a very and workmanship. taken in separating sizes as bristle large brush, he created a new, extra Bristle from hogs that have been may never be cut or trimmed when long filbert brush. This brush was fed additives and have been kept in making a good brush. almost impossible to control, forcing heat controlled environments may the artist to loosen up. The teacher make great pork, but they make ter- In fine bristle, the ends are very named this an “Egbert”. They are a rible bristle. It is cheap, weak and soft and many times split. This is tremendous exercise tool. S E makes for equally terrible brushes. called “Flagging”, and it is these H Hogs living outdoors in freezing soft ends that make the brush Summary of head S climates grow tremendous long really good. In cheap brushes, U shapes for brushes R bristle. Usually, these hogs have a machines stack and trim the bristle B poor diet… just what is required to make them look good and uni- ROUND – This is the original brush for good bristles. With the industri- form. In making a quality brush, shape, and still an important tool. alization of farming throughout the however, no cutting is ever used. FLAT – This is a flat brush that has world, the best bristle for brushes (See photo on previous page.) longer hair out. It carries more paint is getting harder to find and becom- but is harder to control. 27 ing more expensive. The cold, unde- The Evolution of Brush Shapes BRIGHT – This is a flat brush with less veloped provinces of China and Until the nineteenth century, we hair out. It carries less paint but is Russia produce the finest bristle in had only Rounds, and to this day easier to control. Better for a beginner. the world. they are the most important shape. FILBERT – This is a flat that has been With the Industrial Revolution, flats, built with rounded edges. brights and filberts arrived, giving FERRULES AND HANDLES ARE the artist a new range of tools. This EGBERT (CAT’S TONGUE) – An extra IMPORTANT not only for cosmetics, had a great impact on the style of long filbert. but also for structure. The handles work produced. FAN – The great natural blender. m of high end brushes are designed o c to reduce fatigue while painting. The t. r balance is carefully tested and the a n weight is always of great concern. o s e h c i r Workmanship is critical. For the w. highest quality, you should always w w insist on handmade brushes. These brushes feature carefully selected 4 and graded materials that are skill- 0 4 fully assembled by conscientious 2 3. crafts people. Each brush must 3 2 meet stringent specifications. 0. 0 8 1. Pure Bristle Professional Signature Brushes Jack Richeson’s “Signature” line of brushes is truly the finest in the world. “Signature” brushes are hand-made with quality, interlocked bristle set in polished, seamless ferrules and carefully fitted to long, black lacquered handles. S E H S U R B Signature Round Brushes Signature Flat Brushes Signature Brights 28 9617 Series 9628 Series 9627 Series NUMBER SIZE NUMBER SIZE NUMBER SIZE 961701 1 962801 1 962701 1 961702 2 962802 2 962702 2 961703 3 962803 3 962703 3 961704 4 962804 4 962704 4 961705 5 962805 5 962705 5 961706 6 962806 6 962706 6 961708 8 962808 8 962708 8 m o 961710 10 962810 10 962710 10 c t. 961712 12 962812 12 962712 12 r a 961716 16 962816 16 962716 16 n so 961720 20 962820 20 962720 20 e h c i r w. 9617 Round Series Size Chart w 1 2 3 4 5 6 w 4 9628 Flat, 9627 Bright and 9626 Filbert Series Size Chart 0 8 10 12 16 20 4 1 2 3 4 5 6 8 10 2 3. 3 2 0. 12 16 20 0 8 1. Pure Bristle Professional Signature Brushes Superior Interlocked Construction! S E H S U R B Signature Fans Signature Filberts Signature Egberts 9640 Series 9626 Series 9629 Series 29 This popular bristle fan is ideal NUMBER SIZE NUMBER SIZE for blending oils and acrylics. 962601 1 962902 2 NUMBER SIZE 962602 2 962904 4 964002 2 962603 3 962906 6 964004 4 962604 4 962908 8 964006 6 962605 5 962910 10 964008 8 962606 6 962912 12 962608 8 m 962610 10 o c 962612 12 t. r 962616 16 a n 962620 20 o s Assortment shown on page 51. e h Number 995036 ic r w. w w 9640 Fan Series Size Chart 9629 Egbert Series Size Chart 4 0 2 4 2 4 6 8 4 2 3. 3 2 0. 6 8 10 12 0 8 1. Chelveston Bristle Brushes Named after an area in England that saw the birth of many great painters, this is the line we market as our middle range. Using the same fine interlocked bristle as our top line, great attention is given to forming the brush heads. The flagging is excellent and the head shapes are designed to give the maximum life to the brush. The ferrules are a beautiful, highly polished copper nickel and the handles have excellent balance and are designed to reduce fatigue. S E H S U R B 30 Chelveston Round Brushes Chelveston Flat Brushes Chelveston Bright Brushes 9017 Series 9028 Series 9027 Series NUMBER SIZE NUMBER SIZE NUMBER SIZE 901701 1 902801 1 902701 1 901702 2 902802 2 902702 2 901703 3 902803 3 902703 3 m 901704 4 902804 4 902704 4 o c 901705 5 902805 5 902705 5 t. r 901706 6 902806 6 902706 6 a n o 901708 8 902808 8 902708 8 s e 901710 10 902810 10 902710 10 h c 901712 12 902812 12 902712 12 i r w. w 9017 Round Series Size Chart w 1 2 3 4 5 9028 Flat, 9027 Bright and 9026 Filbert Series Size Chart 4 1 2 3 4 5 6 0 4 2 3. 6 8 10 12 3 8 10 12 2 0. 0 8 1. Chelveston Bristle Brushes S E H S U Chelveston Egbert Brushes R B 9029 Series NUMBER SIZE 902902 2 902904 4 902906 6 31 902908 8 Chelveston Filbert Brushes 9026 Series NUMBER SIZE 902601 1 902602 2 902603 3 902604 4 m o 902605 5 c t. 902606 6 r a 902608 8 n o s 902610 10 e h 902612 12 Painting by Albert Handell c www.alberthandell.com ri w. Chelveston Fans w w 9240 Series Assortment shown on page 51. 9240 Fan Series Size Chart NUMBER SIZE Number 995035 2 4 4 924002 2 0 4 924004 4 9029 Egbert Series Size Chart 3.2 924006 6 3 2 4 6 8 6 8 2 924008 8 0. 0 8 1. Soft Hair Oil & Acrylic Brushes Painting by Jeff Hargreaves www.jeffhargreaves.com Oil & Acrylic Brushes belly and point that determine the Synthetic Fiber Soft hair brushes are relatively new quality of the brush when in the A tremendous change came to the to the Western world. It wasn’t until hands of a qualified brush maker. Art Industry in the 30’s. Acrylic about 1850 that soft hair brushes paint and advances by industry lead- It is critical that the belly of the started appearing in Europe. It was ers made a great technical change brush is just above the ferrule open- S about the same time that the first in painting. With change came the E ing. A brush maker trying to improve H brush manufacturers started their his profits will bring the hair out too need for new types of brushes. S businesses. far to make it look larger. The result It wasn’t until the mid-fifties that U R The first hair to be seen was horse, is a big brush that will not work and the need was really addressed. B pony, wolf and then sable. Soon a bargain hunter who cannot paint. Synthetic fiber brushes started to after, domestic animals such as surface. The first were nothing more The importance of the length of the ox were brought into the business. than bundles of blunt fishing line hair out of the ferrule is strength. Over the years, other hair types chopped up and stuck on a stick. When painting with thick oils or have come and gone, civet cat, fitch acrylics, you will be pushing and The technical advances continued 36 and mongoose. The favorite and pulling heavy paste and you will through the sixties, seventies and most reliable remains sable. need a strong brush to accomplish eighties. Each generation brought this well. Sable remains the best us a better and better substitute Kolinsky Sable product for this task. for natural hair and always at Only selected triple-dressed tails greater savings to the user. Today from the male Marten weasel Ox Hair there are some synthetic fibers that are used in these brushes. Very Ox hair is a beautiful hair for flat almost equal fine sable at a fraction expensive, but without a doubt it brushes. It does not do well for of the price. is the best natural hair available for rounds as each hair has a blunt tip. With these great advances, new m professional artist’s brushes. When o Ox hair comes from the hair around problems are created for the stu- c properly cared for, a Kolinsky brush rt. the animal’s ear. The animal is dent painter. There are a hundred na will last for years. You can care not injured; the hair is trimmed in different kinds of mixes and blends so for your Kolinsky by not using it much the same manner as a barber with various types of synthetics and e on rough surfaces and cleaning h does to a man’s hair. The result is nylons. Don’t believe that they are c it with a good brush cleaner ri that there are no points. Some fine all the same. A brush that is made ww. and conditioner. ox hair can be used in one stroke of 50% sable and 50% synthetic is w brushes. miles better than a brush made with Sable 92% synthetic and 8% sable. 4 It’s important to learn the merits Fitch Hair 0 of different hair. Sable, from the Some of the new synthetic fibers, 4 Real fitch hair disappeared years 2 Marten weasel, is a hair that when mixed with fibers of different 3. ago. Rarely will enough surface to weights are just fabulous. 3 comes from the tail of the weasel. 2 make a few brushes. Most fitch hair 0. Each hair has a belly that then on the market is actually pony or a 0 8 slopes to a needle point. It is this combination of horse and goat. 1. Kolinsky Sable Oil Brushes Professional Kolinsky Sable Oil Brush Series Very few companies today manufacture a pure Kolinsky Sable Brush for oils. Hair for this brush comes from the most Northern areas of the Kolin Peninsula and is most difficult to trap. It is the finest and the most expensive hair used in brush making. When using hair of this quality we use only the finest and most skilled brush makers. The brush is mounted in a gold ferrule and has a beautiful walnut handle. Kolinsky Round - 7162 Kolinsky Filbert - 7160 Long Handle Long Handle The round is a very difficult brush The shape of the filbert is to make correctly. You can not use achieved by gently moving the a watercolor head on a long handle hair in the finger tips of the to get a good oil or acrylic brush. brush maker to achieve that In watercolor, you are pushing very perfect oval shape. A knife can thin applications of colored water. never touch the hair, the tips Because there is very little resis- are never cut or trimmed. tance, you need a full bodied brush NUMBER SIZE with great snap but little muscle. 716002 2 With oils and acrylics you will be 716004 4 pushing very thick applications of 716006 6 heavy paste-like paint. Here muscle 716008 8 is required. 716010 10 NUMBER SIZE 716012 12 S 716202 2 716016 16 E H 716204 4 716020 20 S 716206 6 716024 24 U 716208 8 R B 716210 10 Kolinsky Bright - 7161 716212 12 Long Handle 716216 16 This brush is full bodied and 716220 20 comes to a razor edge. 716224 24 NUMBER SIZE 37 716102 2 Kolinsky Flat - 7163 716104 4 Long Handle 716106 6 This flat brush is full and lush and 716108 8 comes to a razor edge. 716110 10 NUMBER SIZE 716112 12 716302 2 716116 16 716304 4 716120 20 716306 6 716124 24 m 716308 8 o c 716310 10 t. r a 716312 12 n Assortment shown o 716316 16 s on page 52. e 716320 20 h Number 995044 c 716324 24 ri w. w w 7160 Filbert , 7161 Bright and 7163 Flat Series Size Chart 7162 Round Series Chart 4 2 4 6 8 10 12 2 4 6 8 10 0 4 2 3. 3 2 16 20 24 12 16 20 24 0. 0 8 1. Red Sable Oil Brushes Pure Red Sable has been the soft hair brush of choice for many years. Real red sable comes from the tail of the mar- ten weasel. In the U.S., everything from top sable to rat hair is used in brushes and called sable – it’s a buyer beware market. Our red sable brushes are pure red sable. They are not hidden in cellophane or strapped to a board. Know what you expect from a brush and then make the dealer let you test the brush. A good shop will have water available and let you test several brushes. S E H S U R B 38 Pure Sable Rounds - 9117 Pure Sable Brights - 9160 Pure Sable Filberts - 9161 Long Handle Long Handle Long Handle The head of this brush is somewhat Our bright is hand crafted by master Our filbert is full bodied and comes stout so that it will manhandle the brush makers using the finest pure to a razor edge. Few filberts on the heavy loads of oils or acrylics. The red sable. The brush is full bodied market will hold the edge that this head comes to a fine but firm point and comes to a razor edge. brush does. and is excellent for detail. NUMBER SIZE NUMBER SIZE NUMBER SIZE NUMBER SIZE m o NUMBER SIZE NUMBER SIZE 916001 1 916002 2 916102 2 916104 4 c t. 911701 1 911702 2 916003 3 916004 4 916106 6 916108 8 r a 911703 3 911704 4 916006 6 916008 8 916110 10 916112 12 n so 911706 6 911708 8 916010 10 916012 12 e h 911710 10 911712 12 c i 911714 14 r w. w w 4 9117 Round Size Chart 9160 Bright Size Chart 9161 Filbert Size Chart Assortment shown on page 52. 40 1 2 3 4 6 1 2 3 4 6 2 4 6 8 Number 995043 2 3. 3 2 0. 8 10 12 14 8 10 12 10 12 0 8 1. Unique Fan Brushes A big fallacy that has developed is that you cannot use sable brushes with acrylics. Sable brushes work marvelously with acrylics. The key when using sable brushes with acrylics is to clean your brushes often and well! Acrylics are notoriously hard on brushes, but with proper care, it can be done. Don’t let paint build up around the ferrule. The paint that gets underneath hardens and causes splitting. During testing we have used sable brushes in oils, cleaned the brushes well, dried them Painting by Daniel Greene S and then used them in acrylics www.danielgreene.com E with no ill effects. We have H reversed the procedure using S U acrylics first then oils and again Why Fans? R there was no ill effect. B Shaped like a fan, these brushes are used to pull grass, fur or other strokes as well as to soften edges. They are the perfect blending tool. Natural hair is especially ideal for soft blending. 39 Pure Sable Fan - 2047 Series Long Handle The finest quality pure Sable fan available. This handmade brush works beautifully to blend the edges or create special effects. Give Your Brushes a Rest After using sable brushes for NUMBER SIZE 20470 2 months, give them a rest. Wrap 20475 6 them in an old rag after first put- m o ting a few drops of “lard oil” on c t. the tips. It returns the natural r a oils to the brushes much as hair *No assortment available. n o conditioner does for human hair. es h c i Proper care and cleaning w.r will allow you to purchase w w the very finest of brushes and use them for many 2047 Fan Series Size Chart A variety of other fan brushes 4 years to come! 2 found on pages 29, 31 and in 40 an assortment on page 52. 2 3. 3 2 6 0. 0 8 1. Orange Synthetic Oil & Acrylic Brushes S E H Assortment shown on page 51. S Number 995034 U R B The fiber feels and responds like sable and it’s full-bodied and carries oil or acrylic just like sable. Even loaded with paint it will come to a razor edge in the brights. The rounds are stout and come to a strong firm point. Because of their softness, they are ideal for glazing. 40 Orange Synthetic Rounds - Orange Synthetic Brights - Orange Synthetic Filberts - 9118 Long Handle 9164 Long Handle 9165 Long Handle NUMBER SIZE NUMBER SIZE NUMBER SIZE 911801 1 916401 1 916501 1 911802 2 916402 2 916502 2 m 911803 3 916403 3 916503 3 o c 911804 4 916404 4 916504 4 t. r 911806 6 916406 6 916506 6 a n 911808 8 916408 8 916508 8 o s e 911810 10 916410 10 916510 10 h c 911812 12 916412 12 916512 12 i w.r 911816 16 916416 16 916516 16 w 911820 20 916420 20 916520 20 w 4 0 9118 Round Size Chart 9164 Bright Size Chart 9165 Filbert Size Chart 4 2 1 2 3 4 6 8 1 2 3 4 6 8 1 2 3 4 6 8 3. 3 2 0. 10 12 16 20 10 12 16 20 10 12 16 20 0 8 1.