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| Taking shape nicely. |
It took a day longer than I hoped, but I managed to hit my mark with Typhon. Mouths are painted, as are the under plates, and the rest of the plates have a base coat down. All that remains now is the long, slow slog through browns and oranges to get the rest of the plates done. Complicating this matter is a problem that isn't really a problem. Recently I got the holy grail: a Windsor & Newton Series 7 brush, size 1. This purchase was driven by the failing of my previous workhorse brush which left me with three brushes that had anything approaching a point: a pair of detail brushes and, oddly enough, an ancient GW brush that I use for washes and drybrushing. While I'm eager to put the W&N to use so I can see what all the fuss is about, I'm also hesitant to use it wrong and wreck a fine brush (by reputation) through not doing something vital. I put on my internet detective hat and dug around a bit after I first got the brush, looking for general brush care advice and thoughts on the W&N in particular. What I gathered was almost equal measures of:
- use a brush conditioner after each use
- twirl in a small amount of brush soap after each use
- both of the above, but once a week/month/X hours of use
- none of the above, meaning use it like any other brush
The usual caveats applied, mostly pertaining to not getting paint up into the ferrule (a phrase I'll assume makes sense to anyone reading this), but I did pick up a particular nugget that was interesting. Apparently metallics are made with ground up minerals, which gives them their glitter, which is murder on a brush with natural bristles (like the W&N 7s). While I don't have to worry about that with Typhon, it's something to keep in mind for when I finally take the brush out of its tube.
I own 3 W&N brushes (0, 1 and 2). I use some Masters brush cleaner after every use, but that is it. I don't use them for metalics all that often, but I have used them and they've done alright.
ReplyDeleteJust use them and love them. Don't go out of your way to abuse them (drybrushing), but I've been painting with them my #1 for almost a year now and it's shown very little wear, unlike the old synthetics I used to have that would be useless after a month of heavy use.
I bought my first W&N S7 #1 about a year and a half ago and finally had to toss it a month ago or so, after painting hundreds of models (Yay 40k Orks) including metallics. I would typically use my brush cleaner only after I painted with metallic paints. At the end, the brush still came to a nice point, but had lost all of it's springyness.
ReplyDeleteIf you're concerned about metallics damaging the brush, use a cheaper brush to do those. Or try some painting without them (nmm!)
The mineral is mica, btw.
Love the blog and keep it up!
Thanks in no small part to these two comments I put my new brush to work yesterday with great results. Of course the true test of the brush will come in the weeks and months ahead, but the first voyage was a pleasant one.
ReplyDelete