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"The Faux Meister"  |
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| Stay away from "Student" grade tools and material. They are usually cheap trash. Made, the manufacturers tell, so that the student may afford them. Unfortunate they are so inferior that they become useless, a likely guarantee for the student to fail. Notable in this negative light are Windsor/Newton's "Winton" line of oil paints ( which I would not wish upon an enemy ) as well as Whistle's Cadet Series and Symphony brand brushes. | |
| We do not need the best for simple pursuits. "Reasonable" is a wonderful concept for most work, "exquisite" for the best. | |
| Most flim-flam and fraud is committed in the manufacturing, advertising and peddling of brushes. Be a critical and educated consumer. If it looks and is surprisingly cheap, ask why. | |
| A quote from the 1895 book "The Art of Graining" by F.Paraun: "One word of warning: do not be tempted by a retailer ... of rubbish ... selling at half price. The hair in them, which is comparatively little, has scarcely any spring, is of varying length ... and practically useless. Whatever they are made for, there is one purpose they fill capitally - I personally recommend them to ... clients for dusting the brick-a-brack of their drawing rooms." | 
Fake Faux Brushes, often miss-lableled & Sold as Softeners |
| Brushes..... A big subject since there are over 600 types of brushes on the market; disregarding size and quality considerations -A very important subject the pinsel being so vitally important and instrumental in our work. | |
| Attitudes... The attitude in which a painter approaches, selects and maintains a brush may tell us much about his or her attitude
toward anything, including their work. Trashy, cheap (chip) brushes are not fit to wash the hub caps of your car nor to baste a turkey with. Why would anyone buy them to paint, even a garden fence. To save money? Say you buy a bunch of trashy $0.75 brushes, for base coating as a sample, because you prefer to toss them after use. First, a lousy brush will do an equally lousy job because, since crude, it streaks. Besides it likely smells like an old hog and certainly looses its hair. (Likely it also causes you to curse more than you should ). Purchase a "reasonable" quality brush, say for $5.00, it will reward you by helping you create finer bases and finish faster. Besides not cursing your lot in the process. Caring for such brushes properly will cost but a few pennies, a few moments of your time. Such brushes, and simple care, will outlast and certainly out-perform perhaps thirty of its cheap cousins. If nothing else you stand to save $10 - $15. Take the money and buy a good CD, save toward a book. | |
| Related, it needs mentioning be aware of the fact that when we speak of Chinese Bristle Brushes, this does not refer to brushes made in China. As Russia's Siberia produces the finest , hair, China's Chunking region does indeed produce the best WhiteBristle. Unfortunate, both countries have no history or experience in making good brushes. When we speak of White Bristle or Chinese Bristle Brushes, it describes the type and origin of the hair, not the place of the brushes manufacture. The best brushes are made, primarily from the raw product of these nations, most notably in Germany, France and Japan. | |
| After this long tirade it is best and time to close, before the infamous Decorative Painter Police come knocking on my door. | |
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But they do know where I live, and so do you! Remember this - I do have it from the highest authority. If you paint well in life, you will thereafter be invited to paint rainbows. Be sure to bring your own brushes.
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Karl-Heinz |
