Triming brushes ?

[RobF]

I bought a pair of Winsor Newton series 7 brushes and I hate them. I bought size 1 as that's what I usually use but on both the tips seem to have a single hair or two that is maybe too long ? and I get paint drying overly quickly right on the very point (acrylics) - this doesn't happen with my other brands

can you / should you trim them ? if so ... How ?

TIA

 

[Jehan17]

Please don't trim them, Series 7 hair are specifically selected to form a good point.

If your acrylic paint is drying out the problem may be elsewhere, maybe dilution, high temperature or low humidity.

I personally use Raphael 8408 series brushes for acrylics as I didn't get good results with the series 7 in acrylics. Mind you other use them to great effect. The Raphael has a bigger reservoir that holds more paint so you don't have to reload as often.

Series 7, for me are best used for oils, especially the miniature series.

 

[Einion]

Hi Rob, yeah, if you get a single hair that's a little longer than the main body of bristles it's a right pain, especially when working with acrylic/vinyl paint.

You can remove it; best method I know of is to get a good pair of tweezers (wife's eyebrow tweezers?), grip the offending hair and pull downwards, so it snaps off at the edge of the ferrule.

Einion

 

[RobF]

Thanks for the replies.

I bought a 2 each of the Series 7 in the normal style and the miniature style too and HATE them both (Never tried with oils) - that was a VERY expensive mistake that I deeply regret as I can't afford to waste that kind of money.

As you can see I live in the back of beyond and getting stuff like quality brushes is impossible here so I have to mail order. Not yet found the Raphael brushes anywhere that takes paypal and will post out here for less than a king's ransom

 

[brian]

I always hold the series 7 brushes up to a light in the shop and you'll spot the ones with the stray hair.Never had a bad one yet.
Brian

 

[Einion]

Rob, this thread's a bit long in the tooth now but it may be worth a look:
http://www.planetfigure.com/forums/showthread.php?t=16734

I always hold the series 7 brushes up to a light in the shop and you'll spot the ones with the stray hair.Never had a bad one yet.

Maybe 30, 40 of them 'preselected' themselves out of my brush jar, before I stopped shopping for them entirely

It's gotten to the stage that if I see a Series 7 display and check them out of curiosity there's always at least one dud if they have a decent number of them!

Einion

 

[Jeff]

Double Post

 

[Jeff]

I do not buy any brush unless I have held it up to the light to check it. No matter who the manufacture is. You can trim and odd hair I have done this before. You need very sharp fine
scissors. I use the ones on my good Swiss army knife. Pulling a stray hair down can take many hairs with it and really ruin a good brush so I would not try and pull a hair out unless it is on the out side of the brush.

The main reason I have had to trim them is I have had some get ever so slightly bent usually because I have not been carful in storing them. I put on my opti-visor and get out the fine sharp scissors. You might be surprised at how nice a point can be put back on a brush. The trim usually takes it down a point size. A 000 will become a 00 but it saves the brush.

 

[Einion]

I do not buy any brush unless I have held it up to the light to check it.

Ideally I would advise this too (as in the above link) but with Internet orders being so much cheaper I think it's best to just aim for a brushes that provide as much consistency as poss.

Pulling a stray hair down can take many hairs with it and really ruin a good brush so I would not try and pull a hair out unless it is on the out side of the brush.

That's why you grip just the offending hair; it's certainly a lot less damaging than a trim.

One of the reasons not to trim a brush of this kind is that these hairs have a natural taper; snipping off the ends leaves them with no sharp tips, quite apart from the hand-formed shape being gone, so the brush doesn't perform as it could.

Incidentally for anyone that uses them a lot, with many/most synthetics this is not an issue as the 'hairs' have no taper.

Einion

 

[socko47]

Here is more discussion about brushes, FYI

Read about craftmanship at:
http://mito0.20megsfree.com/brushes.html

A 2003 report on different manufacturers
http://www.handprint.com/HP/WCL/brush3.html

Joe

 

[Jamie Stokes]

Joe,
good links.
More info to keep in mind

Cheers