Winsor brushes

[72moonglum]

quickly and poorly typed, should say anticipation of receiving..... for some reason my editing function wasn't working properly

[72moonglum]

So the brushes have arrived! I got a one and a two and I used the one tonight to do some boots. I think they turned out pretty well using the brush. It holds a lot more paint/liquid than the zero does. It's interesting how much bigger the one is than the zero, but the one has a pretty good point. One thing that was kind of odd was that it seemed when I was painting with the boots with the one I was getting really small metal flakes/points/dots in the paint. I've got to figure out where that came from because it was getting one my nerves a tad. I don't use metallic paint, so who knows?

 

So I can see using the two for my main layers, and then working into my shading and highlighting with the one, and then getting into the nitty gritty detail with the zero still. I'm going to try to see if I can keep using the one though for smaller detail see how it works out.

[Midnight Lurker]

The trick with getting the most out of your larger brushes is to train yourself to watch closely and use only the tippy tip. Anymore I can do the crazy white highlight on my eyeballs with my size 1.

 

jen

[72moonglum]

I can't quite imagine me doing that quite yet. The brush still looks pretty huge even though it's got a pretty good point. It is always something to aspire to though!

[Zinzig]

On the subject of size 1's...do you use a W&N size 1 or a W&N Miniature size 1. I'm not sure there is a difference other than handle length? I haven't bought a brush in years (keep putting them on the christmas lists and people keep buying me the miniature size 0 and 00 cause I paint miniatures...go figure). Since my current brushes are getting towards the ends of their useful lives I may try the larger brush, since they seem to be getting lots of praise, just want to get the right larger brush.

 

-Z

[72moonglum]

So I was taking a picture of my most recent miniature and took a picture of the brushes too. Here I have in order from left to right, 00, 0, 1, 2, and then my 0 that I've been working with since I got it months ago and its current shape.

 

In reference to your question, Zinzig, mine are I think just the normal brushes, not the miniature ones, and honestly don't know what the difference between the two actually are. I don't know if its the length of the brush hairs or the handle?

[Doug Sundseth]

Take a look at the pictures here:

 

http://www.dickblick.com/products/winsor-and-newton-series-7-kolinsky-sable-pointed-round/

 

and here:

 

http://www.dickblick.com/products/winsor-and-newton-series-7-kolinsky-sable-miniature-brushes/

 

The miniatures have shorter hairs, which means they have less belly and thus less paint carrying capacity.

[72moonglum]

That's a huge difference, truth be told. Is there a lot of people out there that actually use the miniature brushes? All of mine are just the normal ones.

[Kang]

So the brushes have arrived! I got a one and a two and I used the one tonight to do some boots. I think they turned out pretty well using the brush. It holds a lot more paint/liquid than the zero does. It's interesting how much bigger the one is than the zero, but the one has a pretty good point. One thing that was kind of odd was that it seemed when I was painting with the boots with the one I was getting really small metal flakes/points/dots in the paint. I've got to figure out where that came from because it was getting one my nerves a tad. I don't use metallic paint, so who knows?

Did you clean the brush before you used it? Often there's some kind of mystery substance on the bristles when you first get them that keeps the hairs rigidly held in a fine point; I wonder if some of that stuff was still in there and was coming out on your mini maybe? That stuff isn't metallic that I know of, but it could possibly look a bit shiny if flakes of it got into your paint.

 

Far as hair conditioner goes, I keep a little hotel room bottle of the stuff with my brushes for this. It's small, highly portable, should last for years, etc. I dip the brush in it when I'm done painting, work it into the hairs a bit, then form it into a point with my fingers before putting it the little tube back over the hairs/ferrule and putting it away. Just have to remember to rinse it out well when I pick it back up again! Note, I wouldn't do this with a 2-in-1 shampoo/conditioner combo, though that might be OK for regular cleaning (just a guess, don't quote me on that); I'd be a little worried that the shampoo half would be doing more harm than good to my brush hairs if it was left in for an extended period.

 

PS. After reading above about primer, I'm going to have to make extra sure to only use my old brushes for priming - if just painting over primer can do that, imagine what using a brush-on primer must do! Pretty sure I was using an old brush for that mostly anyhow, but from now on that will be more intentional and for different reasons.

 

Kang

[awong]

My set (1 and a 0) have started to get ragged lately (about 2 years of sporadic use). I've noticed that I'm getting a lot of breakage but I think it's happening during my cleaning process. My cleaning water bowl is pretty rough with all the buildup of paint over the years. I have a bad habit of rolling my brushes against the sides while trying to clean them. I'm guessing that's what is wearing down the hairs and causing the fraying and breakage. Also, I don't condition as often as I should. I'm going to have to just rely on swishing the brush around in the water from now on.

 

A note about conditioning...I recently cleaned my brush with Pink Soap and then went right back to painting. I noticed a big difference in the performance of the brush. I couldn't get a thin layer of paint to lay down. I would pick up a little thinned paint, dab the brush on a towel, but when I reached my mini, nothing. It was driving me crazy. Then I remembered that I hadn't dabbed any conditioner onto the bristles after washing. After conditioning, everything went back to normal.

 

-AW

[MamaGeek]

I learned a very valuable lesson about good brushes, and it is this:

 

Do not use good brushes to apply brush-on primer. It will ruin them!

Whatever material is contained in the primer that causes is to "grip" the metal will also "grip" your brush hairs and rip them up as you paint the primer on the mini.

 

I am going to have to replace my best brushes now, because I didn't know this.

[Ddot]

@awong, if you have a buildup in your rinsing bowl, it might be a good idea to clean it out. Maybe overnight with a stripping solution, some agitation or toothbrush action, then rinse it out very well to make sure there's no stripper residue.

 

I use the cups from fountain drinks for rinsing pots, so I have a constant collection in the rotation. Also, I tend to rinse&refill fairly often, so buildup isn't as big an issue with me. Oh, and I keep one cup for "initial rinse" and a second cup for "final rinse".