Winsor and Newton size one brush

[Rowland]

I’ve tried not to spend £20 on a brush before.  I do have a W&N series 7 No 2 and it’s fine but I wasn’t terribly accurate with it.  I’ve tried to buy cheaper recommended brushes.  I struggle getting edge highlights and fine detail.  Today, after receiving a new W&N series 7 No 1 I gave it a go painting the chest aquila and the flexi bits on a space marine black and wow what a difference.  I’m guessing the brush really does hold a nice amount of paint that it lets go of at such a fine point.

Don’t go buying one on my say so yet, I haven’t finished a figure but if you ever thought about it, it might be worth treating yourself.  I hope to post a finished figure soon and compare it to my recently finished intercessors.

[Firedrake Cordova]

Good to hear that you've had good results with it.  (I'm aware that there's been some discussion of W&N's quality control over the last ~10 years)

 

Out of curiosity, what were the others that you'd tried that you didn't get on with? (just wondering if it were Rosemary & Co S33, Da Vinci S10/35, or Raphael 8404)

[Rowland]

1 hour ago, Firedrake Cordova said:

Good to hear that you've had good results with it.  (I'm aware that there's been some discussion of W&N's quality control over the last ~10 years)

 

Out of curiosity, what were the others that you'd tried that you didn't get on with? (just wondering if it were Rosemary & Co S33, Da Vinci S10/35, or Raphael 8404)

I tried Rosemary & co s33 No3 (which seems to be the same size as a W&N 2) their tips seemed to go off quickly, Vallejo pro modellers, Army painter brushes and some Raphael Imitation kolinsky’s when I felt sorry for the wolves.

I’ve read comments about W&N q control but the 2 No2s I had previously have always been good.

I went for the “in for a penny, in for a pound” idea with W&N rather than trying other mid to premium brands and maybe hitting lucky.  So now I have a 0,1 and 2.  They really are stupidly pricey but I do feel like I could have the possibility of being an edge highlighting god now

 

I’ve spent a good deal of today using it and painting finely is effortless.  The bristles take up a surprising amount of paint and release it as you expect it to.  I began to wonder if it was my technique that improved so I tried my other brushes.  They just don’t let go of the paint as reliably as this new one does so I can have a tendency to push a little firmer which separates the tip a little and this causes all sorts of issues.  I don’t know if the other brushes dry quicker or it’s a bristle quality thing.

Edited June 25 by Rowland

[Firedrake Cordova]

Ah, that's unfortunate about the Rosemary & Co's.  (I've seen others say something similar, but not experienced it myself, but I mostly use cheaper brushes like the S99's and only use the "nicer" brushes for fiddly bits).

 

1 hour ago, Rowland said:

I’ve read comments about W&N q control but the 2 No2s I had previously have always been good.

It may well be over-reported - they're very popular, plus expensive, so if something goes wrong, you're probably more likely to hear about it. I've seen a couple of howlers on YouTube reviews, but never experienced anything like those myself - I had a couple of size 3's about 10 years ago which had an "odd" shape (the belly reached most of the way to the point before tapering in), and that's it.

 

If it's helpful, GW's artificer brushes are (or always were in case it's changed in the last couple of years) W&N Series 7s with different handles, and possibly stricter QC.

 

1 hour ago, Rowland said:

I went for the “in for a penny, in for a pound” idea with W&N rather than trying other mid to premium brands and maybe hitting lucky.  

I can certainly understand that - all sable brushes have, unfortunately, gotten a lot more expensive since 2020 (some of the 8404's are 3x what I paid for mine now).  

Edited June 25 by Firedrake Cordova

[Blissful Brushes]

I’m using W&N size 1 from Amazon, it might be watercolour but I cannae remember. I got 3 for £20, 1 is a bit crap and has been relegated to basecoats but the other one (#3 still unused) is what I’m using for my fine detail work - which includes free hand (don’t judge the teeth, she needs dental work, but that’s a tomorrow problem)

[Rowland]

11 hours ago, Blissful Brushes said:

I’m using W&N size 1 from Amazon, it might be watercolour but I cannae remember. I got 3 for £20, 1 is a bit crap and has been relegated to basecoats but the other one (#3 still unused) is what I’m using for my fine detail work - which includes free hand (don’t judge the teeth, she needs dental work, but that’s a tomorrow problem)

Blimey, if only I was as steady of hand 

Good English teeth as the Americans say.

[Magos Takatus]

I have been having real issues with brushes recently. The Army Painter brushes tips hooking or failing to keep points and most of the alternatives fare little better. I recently tried a fine detailed brush from Artis Opus that had a tip so fine I couldn't get paint off the brush so I has to carefully cut the tip off to make it usable (I think after looking at it with my magnifier glasses there might have been hairs that were not cut to the same length so it looked like I'd got one "guide" bristle protruding from the point of the brush).

 

I also find bushes don't keep their points for very long anymore. I'm still trying to be careful with my brushes but I'm wondering if my brushes are wicking up too much water from the wet palette? I try very hard not to allow the paint to flow up into the ferrule but perhaps it's getting sucked up there through capillary action? Unless I just need to be OCD changing my water and using brush soap constantly I'm not sure what the issue is. I'm sure it never used to be this bad when I was painting.

 

I think I'm just going to bite the bullet and go back to Windsor and Newton brushes. I used to find my own skill and paint flow were the problems when painting but nowadays I feel my hands are steady enough but it's my brushes giving me grief. (Add to that my eyes aren't as sharp as they were and having magnifiers that keep trying to slip off my face when I'm trying to paint is also souring my mood)

[Rowland]

I probably have all the brushes I will ever need.  But I have learnt that I could have saved a load of cash if I just went W&N s7 No’s 2, 1 and 0.  They are serving me very well.  I found using two water buckets has helped me, initial clean and then clear rinse.  Also, washing your brush off whilst painting the one colour on 5 figures for example.  If you don’t wash your brush whilst painting the paint up toward the ferrule dries and starts wrecking your brush.  I learnt a lot watching a Duncan Rhodes video on edge highlighting regarding brush care.  I have soap but I use it after painting those five figures or I’ve really abused the fairly unabused brush with a dark colour but not too often (I’m fairly firm with pushing the brush into my palm to get to the ferrule and worry about damaging the hairs).

I use the rosemary and co brushes for oil washing and other abusive stuff ,like mashing paint into bases!

[Magos Takatus]

18 hours ago, Rowland said:

I probably have all the brushes I will ever need.  But I have learnt that I could have saved a load of cash if I just went W&N s7 No’s 2, 1 and 0.  They are serving me very well.  I found using two water buckets has helped me, initial clean and then clear rinse.  Also, washing your brush off whilst painting the one colour on 5 figures for example.  If you don’t wash your brush whilst painting the paint up toward the ferrule dries and starts wrecking your brush.  I learnt a lot watching a Duncan Rhodes video on edge highlighting regarding brush care.  I have soap but I use it after painting those five figures or I’ve really abused the fairly unabused brush with a dark colour but not too often (I’m fairly firm with pushing the brush into my palm to get to the ferrule and worry about damaging the hairs).

I use the rosemary and co brushes for oil washing and other abusive stuff ,like mashing paint into bases!

I might need to give this another look. I think I could have picked up bad habits while painting and I could be ravaging brushes. 

[WBRBloom]

I have recently purchased two of the Tesseract miniature brushes, the workhorse and the lil' guy, which are basically a fine detail/liner brush and an all around brush.

 

Both are made from high quality kolinsky sable hair and, although the lil' guy is a bit too lil' for my liking, the workhorse is amazing: perfect return bounce, great  retainment of paint and you can tell that the quality of the hair is exceptional. Fun fact, it actually retains a tip when cleaned and dried, where W&N and Rosemary & Co. I found that they don't, if you don't dip them in gum arabic before storing them.

 

I now clean and condition my brushes after every. Single. Session. And I keep that routine religiously.

 

Not sure if Tesseract games ship outside of the UK, or if you're located in the UK @Magos Takatus, but if you are I'd suggest you give them a try. 

 

https://www.tesseractministudios.com/shop/p/the-workhorse

 

Edited August 31 by WBRBloom