The Anatomy of an Artist Brush

Brush making is a very old art that in central European traditions was combined with the making of brooms. England, France and Germany have the longest traditions in brush making.

The modern artist brush consists of three parts. The tuft (T) is the bundle of hair, bristle or fiber that holds and releases the painting liquid. The visible portion of the tuft, about half its total length, is the length out, which consists of the belly or widest middle part and the tapering point or tip (in a round) or edge (in a flat).

The ferrule (F) is the metal collar that connects the tuft to the handle, supports the tuft during painting, protects the end of the wood handle from moisture, and determines the size and shape of the brush.

The handle (H) is made of a dense hardwood selected for straightness. Plastic handles have been tried but customer's associate plastic with low quality and lack of durability.

The Tuft is made from pelts or ears of an animal. They are first shampooed and then hung to dry. Sable and squirrel pelts are sometimes oven cured at low temperatures to increase the hair elasticity or "spring."

Brush hairdressers scissor the prepared hairs or bristles from the pelt, hold large tufts between thumb and fingers and use a fine comb to separate the hairs and remove hair fragments, fine hairs and stubborn debris. Hairs are meticulously sorted, separated by length and cleaned of any broken pieces. Hairs of the same length are bundled for sale to brush makers; because there are fewer of the longest hairs on an animal, these are more expensive.  Brush makers who do not do the hairdressing themselves carefully unbundle and inspect a shipment when it is received.

To make a tuft by hand, the brush maker pinches out or counts the exact number of hairs required for the brush size, then places these hairs (pointed end down) inside the brush maker's mold; a hollow brass cylinder with thick sides and base, somewhat resembling an oversized thimble, whose inner contour defines the shape of the finished brush (rounded at the bottom for rounds, and flat for flats). The cup is tapped repeatedly on a stone slab, which drives the tip of every hair to the bottom of the cup.

A different procedure, called stacking, is used for liners or other tapering brushes that do not have a pronounced belly. As many as five lengths of hair are used, carefully arranged with the longest hairs at the center of the tuft and inserted into the cup butt end down, with the points exposed.

Once the hairs have been cupped to the appropriate shape, the exposed ends are wrapped tightly at the base with string and the tuft is removed from the cup. If the brush is a round, the string is tied off with a knot and trimmed. The brush maker then manipulates the tuft with the fingers to perfect the shape of the belly and point. The inner end of the tuft is then sheared off flat to the desired length, and the tuft is inserted into the metal ferrule from the wide (handle) end, pulled through to expose the desired length out, then secured with a penetrating, waterproof adhesive and hung, tuft down, to dry. (Synthetic tufts are made of extruded fine filaments of plastic cut into desired lengths and sorted by machine.) Tufts are sometimes purchased cupped and tied for assembly by brush makers, but they more often use a set that consists of the tuft already glued into the metal ferrule.

 

The Ferrule (metal ferrules) were first commercially used in brush making around 1890. The highest quality ferrules are seamless; not made of a flat piece of metal rolled into a cylinder. Fine quality brushes are mounted into ferrules made of a hard but malleable, corrosion resistant metal such as brass or copper; these are typically plated with nickel, silver or (rarely) gold. (Ferrules on cheaper brushes are made of softer aluminum or tin, which bends too easily.) They represent almost a third of the total cost to manufacture a brush.

In nearly all fine commercial brushes the ferrule is double or triple crimped at the handle end (as in the drawing at left) to fasten the handle securely and keep water from seeping inside. Ferrules for flat brushes may be cylindrical in their original shape and flattened to achieve a particular brush style. Natural quills from the feathers of ducks, geese, and other fowl are sometimes still used.

The Handle, made of wood is chemically sealed, then finished by dipping in lacquer or polyurethane. The end inside the ferrule is flat and the butt end of the tuft is glued directly to it. This is the weakest part of the brush, because the end is not lacquered or varnished so that the adhesive can bond tightly with the wood. Prolonged soaking will expand the wood and loosen the adhesive holding the tuft in place. Acrylic handles are also used, particularly for synthetic brushes. Handles vary widely in diameter and length, but generally are shorter for watercolor brushes than for oil/acrylic brushes.

Brush Sizes. Round brushes are sized using a standard numbering system that ranges from #00000 or #000 for the smallest brushes, then typically runs #00, #0, #1 to #12 in single number intervals, then #14 to #20 in even number intervals, and sometimes #24 or higher for the largest brushes.

It is unclear as to how these numbers are defined or assigned to a brush size. The best analogy is that they are like shoe sizes, fairly standard but somewhat different across manufacturers and styles. The numbers usually identify the relative sizes of brushes within the same type of brush by the same manufacturer. But across manufacturers, brushes of the same numerical size and type will typically not be exactly the same actual size or shape.

Because English brushes are typically made with wider bellies, there are effectively two numbering systems, English and continental (or European). The English numbers refer to a larger brush: an English size 8 brush is equivalent to a German size 9, an English 12 to a German 14, and so on. Flats are usually sized by the measured width of the edge of the ferrule, although some companies size their flats with a numbering system similar to rounds.

Brushes are handmade from raw materials that vary widely in quality and availability. For that reason, brushes are always subtly different from each other, even when they come from the same manufacturer, in the same size and in the same series number. Even synthetic brushes show this variation; a pleasant reminder that these are among the oldest tools made for the human hand.

More About Our USA Made Artist & Detail Brushes

Different Brush Hair for Different Purposes

There are two types of brush hairs used in oil painting: bristle hairs from pigs and sable hair from the weasel like-sable. Bristle brushes are used to begin a painting because large areas are tackled first. An entire painting can be painted using only bristle brushes but if you want finer detail in smaller areas, you should switch to sable brushes. Sable brushes are used for detail work. (Sable brushes made for watercolors usually lack the spring needed for painting with oils.)

Long Handles Balance the Brushes

Oil painting brushes are made with longer handles than watercolor brushes or house painting brushes. These other brushes are ideally used in a vertical position with the painting surface horizontal. Liquid goes downhill, so the short handles shift the balance toward the front of the brush so the paint will flow better. Oil painting brushes are used in a horizontal position with the painting surface vertical. The oil paint doesn’t flow. When you hold your oil painting brush horizontally the long handle serves to balance the brush in your hand.

Other Fill Materials Brushes Can Be Good

Other brushes can be made to imitate the qualities of bristles and sables at a lower cost. They include nylon, horsehair and mongoose hair. None are as good as sables and bristles but occasionally they come close.

Brushes Come in Different Shapes

Artist and detail brushes come in a variety of shapes and affect the stroke of the brush: Flats, Filberts, Brights and Rounds.

Flats

A FLAT brush has hairs arranged in a rectangular shape that is longer than it is wide. From the side it is narrow. The Flat is the most versatile of brushes. You can make a broad stroke, a narrow stroke and, with a little twist, a triangular stroke. This is also your primary blending brush.

Filberts

A FILBERT looks like a Flat with the corners rounded. The stroke is oval shaped or half circular. They are used when you want a softer edge or for smaller blends than you get with a Flat.

Brights

A BRIGHT (named after a fellow named Bright) is like a Flat, except that the hairs are shorter and the side view is narrower. A Bright is used when you want your brush strokes to show. They tend to put the paint on thickly and when worked too hard will remove as paint much as they apply. The bright, being short and therefore stiffer than a Flat, can also give you a little more control of your stroke.

Rounds

Although some people successfully use ROUNDS for their entire painting, they are less versatile than other brush shapes because little variation in the size and shape of the stroke is possible. Rounds are most often sable hair and are used for small details and line work.

Varnish Brushes

These soft sable-like brushes are used for varnish and retouching varnish. The brushes should be cleaned with turpentine, and then washed in soap and water.

If a brush exists, we have it…If it doesn't, we'll make it!

Introduction to Our USA Made Artist & Detail Brushes

Gordon Brush® offers a wide assortment of Artist and Detail brushes. Artist and Detail brushes come in a wide variety of shapes, styles, and sizes. These brushes also have many varied uses. A detail brush's purpose is to clean and to reach areas difficult to access with a cloth or towel. Car aficionados use detail brushes to clean or accentuate every component on their prized possession, from large to small, from inside to outside.

Hobbyists and car aficionados use artist and detail paintbrushes for creating fine lines and tiny brushstrokes. They can be used to paint miniatures, models, figurines, nail art, or any other painting project where precision is key. Most of these brushes are suitable for use with acrylics, watercolors, gouache, enamel, and oil paints. For the enthusiast, the right can depend on a variety of factors such as brush shape, durability, the type of brush stroke desired, and how the brush feels in your hand.

Brushes are the painter's most prized tool.  A good painter will have difficulty painting with bad brushes. A good brush for oils will retain its shape when loaded with paint and will bounce back to its original shape after each stroke. A bad brush will not return to its original shape when loaded with paint or after each stroke; or worse will not bend at all.

From putting the finishing touches on model airplanes to getting the clouds just right on a large canvas, fine detail brushes are every artist’s secret weapon for creating realistic and intricate details. Fine detail paint brushes are most commonly used for painting figurines, models, miniatures, and action figures. Fine detail paint brushes are small enough that they can paint eyes onto tiny toy soldiers who guard the train station that now features impressive lettering thanks, once again, to detail brushes.

Fine detail paint brushes are also perfect for jobs around the home and office: chipped paint on furniture, walls, railings, cupboards and more can be easily filled in by using a fine detail brush, with a larger brush creating a bigger brush stroke and oftentimes a bigger mess. Fine detail paint brushes can be used for a dollhouse, painting the walls of a nursery with a nature landscape, updating a family heirloom with new detail work, or fixing a beloved trinket that has seen better days.

Small paint brushes are also great for nail art and face painting; perfect for a child’s birthday party or doing weekend crafts with the kiddos. If you like using adult coloring books as a stress reliever take a break from markers and pencil crayons and try painting with fine detail brushes.

Regardless of the project, Gordon Brush® has the perfect fine detail paint brush for you. All our brushes have durable handles, high-quality bristles and come in a variety of shapes, styles and sizes. They are the best way to put the finishing touches on your masterpiece.

(to be continued.....)