Painting brush - Types and values
Paint brushes are made with both stiff and soft hairs and these hairs are either natural hairs or synthetic fibers. Soft brushes are ideal for thin paints that have a tendency to spread quickly and easily. Strong and hard brushes are meant for pushing around thick paint and for creating brush marks in the paint.
Synthetic brushes are found to be very useful and they are cheaper than natural hair. Traditional painters still swear by Kolinsky sable considered the ultimate of soft hairs because of its flexibility and strength. But if you have progressive in outlook and nurture certain values that opposes the use of natural hair, then synthetic brushes are the right option.
Sable: This is a soft type brush is made from the naturally tapering hairs on the tail of a sable marten. Sable brushes, known for their softness, flexibility and fine point are quite costly. Kolinsky sable from Siberia has traditionally been considered the best hair for watercolor brushes.
Squirrel: Brushes with squirrel is soft with little spring and they are less costly. It is believed that larger squirrel brushes work better than smaller ones because the mass of hairs together gives them support.
Hog/bristle: This type of hard brush is made from the hairs found on the back of a pig which are naturally strong and yet springy. The bristles also have natural split-ends, which facilitates holding larger quantities of paint. These brushes are meant for oils and acrylics.
 Camel: The name 'camel' hair is somewhat misleading as these brushes are really made from other types of soft hair. Camel hair is not used for making brushes as they are far too woolly.
Pony: These are coarse hair that do not provide a good point but are lowly-priced.
Goat: This type of brush lacks spring, but has
good point and thus suitable for use in calligraphy and Chinese
painting.
Professional painters hold the view that the success of a good paint job critically depends on the brush. For most of the painting applications, there are basically only two types of bristles - natural and synthetic. Synthetic bristles, also known as filaments, are usually made from nylon or polyester and are actually designed for water-based paints, since the synthetic fibers are unaffected by the water and will hold their shape. Another synthetic fiber used in brushes is Chinex, which simulate the characteristics of natural bristles and therefore work very well with oil-base paints. As they are synthetic they will effectively measure up to water-base products as well. A good quality brush has a high percentage of bristles with split ends, which is helpful for holding as well as spreading paint. The better the flagging, the more paint a brush will hold and there will also be fewer brush marks seen on the painted surface.
A good quality brush also has filaments that vary in length to facilitate smooth flow and application of paint. For use with oil paints, China hog bristle is the best natural filament. China hog bristle has the limitation that they can be used only with oil-based paints, because it absorbs water unlike polyester and nylon brushes. Other natural hog-bristle brushes are recommended for use with varnish and lacquer apart from oil-based paints. Nylon bristles should be used with latex paints, and tapered polyester for all paints, including oil, latex, varnish, lacquers, shellac etc.
If you are unsure what type of paint you will be using or if you do not want to invest in more than one brush, then there are several synthetic brushes that use a combination of two or three different fibers considered suitable for all paints. The other things you will need to bear in mind when selecting a brush are its size, the brush width, the shape of the brush, and the type of its handle. The width of the brush should be suitable for the surface you are going to paint. Brushes also come with a square end, which hold more paint and better suited for larger, flatter surfaces. Brushes with angled ends provide the painter more control.
|
