DB.com and Kolinski

[galladril]

**I am NOT posting this so that it can turn into a political discussion about import and export laws. Please, don't turn it into one.**

 

A few days ago, in a thread by Buglips, I said:

 

"I was given a Dickblick gift certificate. "Cool! New Brushes!"

 

I go to the site? Sold out.

 

They have BEEN sold out for a LONG time, and I check, a LOT.

 

My personal feeling is that because of all the miniature Kickstarters lately, a lot of new painters are looking for what brushes to buy, they come here, or to another site, see those 2 brands, see the reviews about WN S7 being hit or miss, and they go with the DM's.

 

Anyone else having this problem, or is it really just me?"

 

I wasn't following the topic, so I kinda just saw this, but MonkeySloth posted:

 

On the lack of brushes, I believe import laws on animal hair products have recently changed in the US.

 

Well, sadly, it looks like there is some truth to this:

 

Click me.

If I had to venture a guess, this isn't going to just affect DB.com.

 

Why do I feel like my Sables just became collectors items??

[Loim]

There are a few other threads with a bit of information in them about this. I'm not good at threadomancy, but I'm sure someone will be by in a bit and link the pertinent ones.

[Magnus Mercury]

It's nice to hear a confirmation specifically from the source.

 

If Kolinskis are out, what's considered the "next best" that's still available?

[MissMelons]

It's nice to hear a confirmation specifically from the source.

 

If Kolinskis are out, what's considered the "next best" that's still available?

 

Okay. You know what. This brush war has been going on for FOREVER and I still don't understand it. Let me start at the beginning. I was young, naive, it was two months ago and I knew nothing about quality brushes. When I started painting I used only white nylon brushes and thought I was doing great, this is mainly for me being a stickler for details and fine lines and frankly my nylons did that. Eventually I noticed my nylon brushes were taking a beating..I mean these were like 20 brushes for 5$ sort of cheapy brushes but they were fraying. SO I went and bought some cheap loew and cornell brushes for 7$ , these still did okay. Hobby Lobby had a 50% off brushes sale and I picked up 8 golden taklon brushes but was bummed that they weren't made of real hairs. (I'll return to these in a moment) People started telling me about life changing brushes. Great testimonials about how they'll never go back to cheap brushes. I looked around, couldn't find any of these amazing brushes. Took an experimental trip to Utrecht because of their dickblick supplies and bought a tub of brushcleaner and 2 specific brushes. ONE is a pure red sable and it was the last one they had. I swear its the same brush that Reaper sells because they look EXACTLY like my reaper brushes I got in a kit. Second brush is an unfortunately long stemmed kolinsky red sable. I hate both of these brushes. Yeah, I said it, I hate them. I use the pure red for shadowing and painting large areas because it never keeps a tip, ever. The Kolinsky does better but I need to snap it in half because of its length and its something about the hairs...they're so soft and don't absorb much? Basically I can't tell if its the medium i use in my paints or the brush itself. Its easier to fix what I'm doing than a 14$ brush.

 

Anyways, I use my golden taklons for fine detail stuff, my nylon ones, which were made like new with the masters brush cleaner for everything else.

 

Point is........I don't believe it entirely makes the painter to have an amazing brush. I'm still a novice, but as far as what's next best....I like my golden taklons. @[email protected] They're perfect where I need them to be.

[MissMelons]

I need these brushes....but Utrecht said they'll have W&N Series 7 Brushes in starting November 14....day after my birthday. @[email protected]

 

Problem is, it'll cut into reaper money.....

Edited November 5, 2013 by MissMelons

[ub3r_n3rd]

I used the synthetic brushes for a while when I first started out painting and was advised many times on these boards by many respected artists/painters that I should invest in the good brushes. I bought a bunch of the W&N S7 Kolinsky Sable brushes from DB.com and after timidly opening them up and putting paint to their tips I was forever a believer. They held more paint, they held their tips, they were easier to clean and more durable, in short they made me a better painter. Maybe some of that was a bit more experience and some of that was me believing in the brushes, but I have to think that if all the best artists and painters around all recommend the better brushes and my experience with them as a novice has made that much of a difference in my paint jobs that it's something that I should pass on to others who are new to painting.

 

There are numerous threads around here comparing the different brands of the good brushes and the merits of each, everyone has their own preferences.

[Slendertroll]

Sounds like this is going to get resolved relatively soon though, as soon as the art people and the FAWS get a deal hammered out. Just a temporary delay in brush imports; nothing to worry about long-term.

[MissMelons]

I used the synthetic brushes for a while when I first started out painting and was advised many times on these boards by many respected artists/painters that I should invest in the good brushes. I bought a bunch of the W&N S7 Kolinsky Sable brushes from DB.com and after timidly opening them up and putting paint to their tips I was forever a believer. They held more paint, they held their tips, they were easier to clean and more durable, in short they made me a better painter. Maybe some of that was a bit more experience and some of that was me believing in the brushes, but I have to think that if all the best artists and painters around all recommend the better brushes and my experience with them as a novice has made that much of a difference in my paint jobs that it's something that I should pass on to others who are new to painting.

 

There are numerous threads around here comparing the different brands of the good brushes and the merits of each, everyone has their own preferences.

 

Don't misunderstand, I like my kolinsky brush, its just insanely long and does this weird thing with acrylics. the pure red sable though........its evil.

[ub3r_n3rd]

Oh I understand, not arguing with you in the least bit. Just sharing with you (and the others) my personal experiences. Everyone will have different results from their brushes and paint, we all just need to experiment (FOR SCIENCE) to figure out what we like best and gives us the best results. Ultimately in this hobby, the only judge of our work is ourselves. As long as you are happy with what you put out, that's all that matters. Painting figures makes me happy and I enjoy doing the hobby, I don't know if I'll ever be able to reach the heights of these pro painters around here, but I do like to try to challenge myself to some day do it.

[galladril]

 

People started telling me about life changing brushes. I looked around, couldn't find any of these amazing brushes. Took an experimental trip to Utrecht because of their dickblick supplies and bought a tub of brushcleaner and 2 specific brushes. ONE is a pure red sable and it was the last one they had. I swear its the same brush that Reaper sells because they look EXACTLY like my reaper brushes I got in a kit. Second brush is an unfortunately long stemmed kolinsky red sable. I hate both of these brushes. Yeah, I said it, I hate them.

 

Anyways, I use my golden taklons for fine detail stuff, my nylon ones, which were made like new with the masters brush cleaner for everything else.

 

Point is........I don't believe it entirely makes the painter to have an amazing brush. I'm still a novice, but as far as what's next best....I like my golden taklons. @[email protected] They're perfect where I need them to be.

 

Just a few comments:

 

There are tons of brushes, manufacturers, distributors, materials, etc. I'm sorry you hate the 2 Red Sables you bought. Were they W/N or Davinci?

 

I will not stand here and say that "My brush is better than yours!" That wasn't the point of this original posting.

 

I am a guitar player. I am not Eddie Van Halen. EVH can pick up ANY guitar in the world and play amazingly well - he has he skill to do so, and practiced his entire life to get that skill.

 

However, he DOES play with a specific guitar line, with specific pickups, specific woods, cut in a specific way.

 

Why?

 

Because that is what HE prefers.

 

A person who has never played a guitar before is NOT going to be able to pick up EVH's rig, and sound like him, nor is a particular brush going to turn you into a Silver Sword winner.

 

/ prefer DM brushes. I have used cheap brushes in the past, and when I returned to painting. I noticed problems almost immediately, ones that do not occur with my Sables (the end getting the pointed hook, specifically.)

 

In the same article I linked above, I actually spoke about why I preferred DaVinci to Winsor Newton S 7's.

 

If you use Golden Taklon, and they work for you? Great! Your search for a great brush is over.

 

I know what works for ME, and the reason I posted this was to share the information I had with other painters regarding specific brushes - NOT to try and get people to "try these, cause they are just better."

[galladril]

Everyone will have different results from their brushes and paint, we all just need to experiment (FOR SCIENCE) to figure out what we like best and gives us the best results.

 

As long as you are happy with what you put out, that's all that matters.

 

Bingo.

[Laoke]

If they work for you, then use them. That's really the bottom line for me.

 

From my perspective - I grabbed some generic Red Sables from my FLHS and they... well, they weren't great but they were OK. I think the synthetics from Reaper are better though. Then I got a W&N Series 7.

 

My god. It's full of stars.

[Willen]

Because of this issue we have been having a number of threads lately.

 

Like this: http://www.reapermini.com/forum/index.php?/topic/52172-reaper-brushes/?hl=brushes

Or this: http://www.reapermini.com/forum/index.php?/topic/51524-brands/?hl=kolinsky#entry766857

Or this: http://www.reapermini.com/forum/index.php?/topic/51445-pricey-quality-brushes/?hl=kolinsky#entry764832

 

Even buglips complaining about the Escoda he got: http://www.reapermini.com/forum/index.php?/topic/51972-escoda-reserva-kolinskys/?hl=kolinsky

 

Really, you can do a lot of reading by using the search feature of the forum. There is a lot of knowledge here.

 

PS: And this: http://www.reapermini.com/forum/index.php?/topic/50704-brushes-brands/?hl=kolinsky

Edited November 5, 2013 by Willen

[galladril]

Searching: Kolinsky Sable, or brushes on this site is almost pointless - it just returns way too many results.

 

The thread I linked above happens to be that Buglips post.

 

Thanks for putting everything in one place. Looks like I have some reading to do.

[Doug Sundseth]

@ MissMelons:

 

Nearly everyone here that recommends premium Kolinsky sable brushes has used synthetics extensively. Most of us were told to buy good brushes for years before we believed the people who told us enough to try a good brush. (For example, it took me a particularly long time to buy a good brush. I started painting in the late '70s and didn't buy a Kolinsky sable until about 10 years ago.) Very, very few people who try a premium Kolinsky sable are interested in buying any other sort of brush other than for specific special purposes afterward.

 

Does this mean that you'll automagically like Kolinskys? Of course not. The 40:1 longshot sometimes wins the race, but the 2:3 favorite is rather more likely to win.

 

Now, all that said, there are Kolinsky sable brushes that aren't particularly good. And there are brushes from good lines that do not match the average quality of those lines. Perhaps you bought a bad brand or a poor example of a good brand. Or perhaps Kolinskys are just not for you.

 

Finally, a good quality tool, whether a brush, or a saw, or a camera, or a sewing machine does not guarantee a better result. It's the workman that knows how to use the tool that matters most. But a poor tool can make many things more difficult and difficult things impossible.

 

PS. This response isn't entirely directed at you. It's also directed at anyone lurking and contemplating brush purchases. Even if what I've said above doesn't help you, perhaps it will help others. (I'm really not trying to hammer you into submission. )