The right brush hair makes all the difference to your brushes
In addition to retouching and re-painting violins, very fine brushes are particularly suitable for aquarell watercolor. The filbert and filbert point brushes are also suitable as watercolor flat brushes for watercolor drawings. The question of which brushes are suitable for watercolor does not arise, as one is always on the safe side with the high-quality Kollinsky brushes.
Synthetic fibre
The best fibre for brushes for fine overcoats in instrument retouching is probably the Toray synthetic fibre. The soft tip keeps the surface smooth and even. In addition, Toray fibres have a high paint absorption capacity and perfect elasticity.
Red marten
The red marten family comprises a large number of martens, including the Kolinsky red marten. However, due to their specificity, they are valued differently. Red marten hair is slightly darker and shorter than Kolinsky hair. It is very elastic with fine tips and is characterised by very good colour absorption and colour release. However, due to the many red sable varieties, there is a wide range of qualities. Thus, both very simple and very high-quality versions run under the designation red sable brush.
Kolinsky
The Kolinsky red marten species is found in the area from the Urals to Amur, Korea, Manchuria, and partly in northern China. There are also great differences in the already high quality of the Kolinsky red marten hair. Both in the positioning on the body and the respective region in which it occurs. The species of Kuznetsk, Tobolsk, Barabinsk and Tomsk, all of which are native to Siberia, are considered the highest quality and most valuable. The hair of these Kolinsky species is particularly fine with long, finely formed tips and a bulbous curl above the hair root. This makes them particularly strong and elastic. The hair of this special selection is characterised by a high capacity to absorb and store colour. These outstanding properties, which cannot be achieved by any other fibre, enable a very well controlled colour release. Brushes with Kolinsky hair are always used when particularly precise work is required, such as in the retouching of instruments, paintings or professional watercolour painting.
Bristles / Natural bristles
The natural bristles are suitable for thinner paints, varnishes oils or as high quality glue brushes. With water-based paints, the bristles become softer and lose elasticity. For our use as glue brushes, this is also desirable, as it ensures a soft glue application. Basically, the darker the bristles, the more elastic they are.
