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The historical development of brushes and brush production
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Parts of an artist brush and quality relevant attributes
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The brush head
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The handle
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Presentation of different applications and brush shapes
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Choosing the right brush with the brush symbols
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The right brush care
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The desire to create a nice home inspired mankind to search for suitable colours and tools
Oldest documents of art was discovered in South-West-France and
North Spain: cave-paintings of Altamira dated 18000 – 13000 B.C.
First these paitings were considered to be counterfeits.
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During excavations a „painter's studio“ was discovered
Brushes made of bones and animal hair
Different sizes and lengths
Paints made of animal fat and blood.
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Brushes counted as on of the oldest tools of mankind
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Brushmaking is over all one of the oldest trades
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In the past times brushes were made by artists themselves and by their assistants
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About 250 years ago brushmaking became a separate trade
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The German centres of brush production are in Bechhofen and
Nuremberg
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The only vocational school for the training to become a brushmaker
(3 years) is in Bechhofen
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adhesive
Ferrule
Crimping / glueing stamp / imprint
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Significant for the quality of a brush
Basics:
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Natural hair
Synthetic hair
Natural bristle
Synthetic bristle hair tip root root shaft flag
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For natural hair and bristle the climate is very significant:
The colder the area and weather, the better the quality bristle
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The hair has one individual tip. The surface of the hair is rough.
tip shaft root
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Before the hair can be used by the brushmaker, it has to be washed and thoroughly cleaned. The different hair lengths are separated and sold in bundles.
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Kolinsky
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Hair of highest quality and price
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Taken from the tail of the red sable Kolinsky
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Lives in Siberia and North China
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Purchasing price for 1 kg: up to 12.000 €
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Tips of the hair very long and thin
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High paint holding capacity
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High flexibility
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Perfect hair for liquid media
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Red sable
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Very valuable hair, similar to Kolinsky
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Single hair tips not as long as of
Kolinsky
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Suitable especially for water colour brushes, liners,
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Suitable for application of acrylics in nail design
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not relevant for nail brushes
• Squirrel hair
– Hair taken from the tail of squirrels, very soft
• Ox hair
– Hair taken from the ox ear, medium stiffness
• Fitchew hair
– Hair taken from the tail of the animal
» Badger
» Used for shaving brushes
» Pony hair (also know as camel hair)
» Taken from the fur of ponys
» Goat
» Taken from the back of goats
» Used for powder and rouge brushes
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The hair has one individual tip. The surface of the hair is even and smooth.
root shaft
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Synthetic hair imitates the attributes of natural hair
Available in different diameters and colours
Substituting more and more simple natural hair qualities
The best quality of a synthetic brush is achieved by a perfect mixture of different diameters and qualities tip
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Originally used for “punched” brushes and simple school paint brushes (without tip!)
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Higher qualities meeting higher requirements were developed in Japan by Toray.
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Almost at the same time competitor Teijin
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In the meantime various copies from Far East
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Most used diameters: 0,07, 0,10 und 0,15mm
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Tip treated chemically and /or mechanically
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Toray
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Synthetic hair of very good quality
High elasticity
High shape retention
Mostly used in golden colour, also white, black and wine read and various mixtures
Very suitable for gel application
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„Toray“ selection gold
- Mixture of different diameters, for every brush size an individual mixture
- Best results in elasticity, shape retention and paint holding capacity
- Used for high quality nail design brushes, mainly gel application
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• Toray selection „Tiger Toray“
– Toray hair imitating natural colours
– The single fibre is extremely conical shaped
– High shape retention, great snap
– Highest liquid holding capacity for synthetic filaments
Common Toray Tiger Toray
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• Wine red Toray
– Toray hair with different diameters
– Wine red colour
– Excellent stability
– High shape retention and low abrasion
– Perfect for gel application and One-
Stroke-technique
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• Konex
– Toray imitation
– Made in Korea
– Often in golden or white colour
– Only used in 0,10mm
– For economic brushes and basic equipment
• Other brands for synthetic fibres
– Orolux, Sintelux, Jax, Artisan ...
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The bristle has multiple tips = flag. The surface of a natural bristle is rough. root shaft
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Before bristle can be used by the brushmaker, it has to be cleaned thoroughly and bleached.
The naturally twisted bristle are bound, cooked and dried
After this process they are separated in the same length flag
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Natural hog bristle mostly from China
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Especially strong, because pics are grown in free-range husbandry
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Mostly taken from the back of the pics, because there it is the longest and strongest
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Colours: white bleached, grey, black
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For brushes mainly white bleached
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Chungking bristle is especially strong
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Synthetic bristle for artist brushes can have one or multiple tip. The surface is rather smooth.
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The synthetic bristle used for brushes is mainly prepared in
Germany
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Basic material is Nylon 612
The synthetic bristle is produced through different mechanical processes
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®
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BRISLON
Perfect imitation of natural bristle with artificial flag
Suitable for pastose media
Light colour like natural bristle
Great capillary effect
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Seamless ferrules
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Made of metal tubes
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Silver ferrule:nickel-plated brass tube
Golden ferrule: nickel-plated & gold-plated brass tube
Aluminium ferrule: made of 99%
pure aluminium
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Ferrules with seam
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Cut out of metal plates
Wraped over a mandrel and soldered
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Nickel ferrule: made of nickel plated tin or copper
Metal ferrule: made of tin
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• Raw material
– Mainly beech and poplar wood from native and renewable forrests in
Europe
– Acrylic handle, plastic handle, aluminium handle
• Varnish
– Different colours,
– different surface effects
• Shapes
– Round “English shape”
– Round short
– cylinder shape
– 3-edged-shape
– Straight shape: acrylic handle or aluminium ZIGMA-Line
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– media gel or acrylics
– technique e.g. one-stroke
– effects e.g. nail art
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• acrylics
• Requires highest quality of red sable and Kolinsky brushes
• Optimized liquid holding capacity is essential
• Fine but stable tip with good snap is required
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• Gel application :
• Mainly brushes with synthetic fibres:
– Golden Toray
– Wine red Toray
– Tiger Toray
– Synthetic fibre imitating sable
– The different fibres should be tested with the chosen gel
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Red sable:
– Used for gel in flat shape
– Special shapes for NailArt and 3D
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Brushes should be valuable tools and not through-away products
For a long duration here some advice:
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Never let the brush stand too long in water or cleaning detergent. The brush head can become loose or the ferrule can become rusty.
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Always clean the brush thoroughly after every use.
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Remove colour from brush head and ferrule
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Dry moisture with clean tissue or cloth
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Hand the brush upside down to dry
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Dry the brush with room temperature
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