Da Vinci Maestro Kolinsky Series 35 Sable Brush Set

Product Information

When buying this brush set, they come in a very attractive storage case which has a variety of wood finishes and a choice of engraved artworks. Most of the preferred options are sable hair brushes, sorry synthetic brush lovers. The general view here is that they last the longest due to their ability to be thoroughly washed and conditioned with brush soaps and conditioners. In all honesty, the optimist in me does realise that the brush names are much simpler for beginners to understand. Have a guess what a base brush is for? They are fair work-horse brushes for the price. You may be surprised to find that these are actually the cheapest brushes on the list. Approximately 50% cheaper than the average cost of brushes listed here (not including the artificer brushes) and they do the job. But many long-term painters will tell you that they just don’t last very long. and I can concur with that statement.

Find out what you do and don’t like about the performance of your current brushes and if you’re not happy, jump to a different brand when one starts to get stray hairs and needs to be replaced. With good care, all of your old brushes will remain loyal work-horses, as stipplers and smooshers at the very least. When they’ve totally had it, you can always use them as paint mixers. I still have my Games Workshop Citadel Starter brush that I got with my first paint kit over 23 years ago and yes, I still use it. Holding more paint, having a more reliable tip and lasting much longer than W&N makes these stand out. Made of Kolinsky Sable specifically for watercolour by Raphaël of France these are the true up-and-comer of the miniature painting range. They are also cheaper than the more Popular Winsor & Newton Series 7 brushes (only 10% more expensive than the average price of brushes on this list). The set main Series S set comes with 4 Brushes from Size 000 to Size 1. You can get a 5-brush case to store one of their additionally offered Size 2-6 brushes. It also comes with a little pot of brush soap. Unfortunately, there is no 9 x brush case to store the whole set. If you are just interested in the Top-10 list without all the fluff see below, But we recommend reading the summaries of all the brushes or at least the ones you are interested in to see if they would be the best miniature brushes for you. PopularityIf you are after standard brushes for the likes of basecoating, edge-highlighting and layering/glazing/shading. Don’t start here. FauxHammer.com is dedicated to finding the best tools for your hobby. Start with our list of Essential Hobby Tools which will lead you to find the Top-10 tools for each category.

Da Vinci Maestro Series 10 Watercolour Brushes are made from Siberian Kolinsky sable and meet the highest standards of brushmaking.The starting point for many miniature painters, if for nothing more than the only ones people are aware of due to Games Workshop’s popularity. The range strips away the typical naming convention used in every other art brush set. The skeptic in me believes this is to reduce people’s ability to directly compare them to other brand’s brushes, keeping users invested in Games Workshop. And finally, if you want the best brushes for very very little money (not listed below) I find these Generic Triangular handled Brushes are fairly decent. It’s what I buy for my kids to use. I call them “Generic” as they are given different brand names globally, In the UK, they are often under the moniker “ Golden Maple” but if they look like these, they are the same thing. They are also the only brand on this list where the brushes are made to a specific specification for miniature painters. (Dense with medium Hair length and a fine point). They are also the only brand that actually recognises that artists need different tool types for various jobs. The Series S (shown above) is your everyday workhorse (start here) and there are 2 more ranges to consider.

The brushes are designed to hold less paint so that acrylic and watercolor painters do not deploy too much onto to the canvas. The shorter bristles provide sharp precision as they are less floppy. For painting miniatures, you would actually want the brushes to hold more paint in the belly but still have a fine tip. Which is why the normal set of Series 7 took the number 1 spot on this list. Don’t fret if you have bought these they are still high-quality brushes and they do the job. But when I swapped a couple of my miniature ones out for the normal ones; I noticed a considerable improvement in my painting, especially glazing. If you have these, great. If you haven’t invested yet, these aren’t the droids you’re looking for. Finally, if you are buying Games Workshop or Army painter brushes, you are getting brushes which are worth the price you pay. Neither will make you the best painter you can be, but equally, neither are restrictive in getting you to that “excellent” quality level. Several people have asked what “Must Have” brush sizes are. Like the brushes themselves, this really depends on you but you also need to be aware that brush sizes are not at all consistent across brands. Synthetic brushes are generally more resistant to washing & conditioning. Imagine washing a doll’s hair with a normal hair conditioner? It’s not going to make much of an impact. Synthetic brushes do have their uses, however, especially when using Oil & Enamel paints as the cleaning and thinning products (most of which are alcohol-based) will destroy the hairs on a typical sable brush. And whilst the sips of these brushes often curl. they can usually be straightened out and retrained to a point using some hot water. I’ve had no issues with mine, but I’m an infrequent user and I keep them washed and clean with masters brush soap. They are an excellent choice of brush, but you are paying nearly half again on top of the Raphael 8404 Series and they are almost/over triple the cost of Rosemary & Co’s Series 22/33 respectively.Rosemary & Co, Da Vinci Maestro and Artis Opus are equally good options if you are looking for the best quality and reliability. and Rosemary & Co brushes are especially popular among the more Budget Concious Painter. Best value for money here, with no doubt. For those of you who just want the TLDR: the most “popular” choice of miniatures paint brushes, (by a very ‘clear’ margin) is the Winsor & Newton – Series 7 Kolinsky Sable Brush set. Not to be easily confused with the Winsor & Newton – Series 7 Kolinsky Sable ‘Miniature’ Painting Brush set – more on this later). Fully endorsed by several signature (god-tier) miniature artists, I personally use these brushes exclusively now and have done since 2019. Whilst not the most popular, these are the often amongst the most critically acclaimed brushes in the list. Almost every commenter talking about these had tried and compared them to the normal Winsor & Newton Series 7 brushes and said that these were hands down the better quality of the two brands. I’ve kind of turned to Artis Opus’s base set to answer this question. In their set, you get #000, #00, #0 & #1 and that seems like a fair starter range. However, I use their #3 brush primarily. Like with the Raphael 8404, the point is so fine you can use these brushes for pretty much any job.