When we last left our intrepid explorer..............

I had made some paintbrushes and was continuing to figure out what was needed, what needed tweaking.  

It was one year ago Pennsic (August, 2013) that I visited with someone on artisans row who made her own paintbrushes.  The brushes she made were big, she said all sorts of unkind things about Cennini (which may or may have not been true) and I was able to try out making a brush.

I started looking for examples and pictures  so that I could see what the paintbrush would look like in period and help to make more brushes.

Sofonisba Anguissola                              Artemesia Gentileschi
Italian painter, 1532-1625                          Italian painter, 1593-1652

So the brushes needed to be more slender, smaller. 

And as you can see from my second tries Here, you can see the first two to the left were the Version 1, the rest were Version 2.  Thinner, but there was still some design flaws.

So I acquired some materials.  I actually bought a pelt of weasel (or ermine, or stoat).  This little guys tail would be sacrificed for a paint brush.

And I took some hair from my beloved. 

At Pennsic, I sent my minions out.  Mistress Caitrin's twin boys are 14 and carry my favor.  I dote on them, giving them shirts and other things, and they will do just about anything for me.  Including hunt around Pennsic for appropriate sticks of the right length and width. 

After several tries they were able to come up with what I needed.  It did feel like a medieval moment as it felt like this is what a craftsman of the time would do. He would send his very young apprentices out doing these things as part of their training.  Alas, neither boy was much interested in pursuing what I was doing with the sticks beyond the response of "Cool" when I told them what I would be doing.

I also purchased some fish glue from Guild Mirandola and some feathers. 

The materials all came back with me from Pennsic, waiting for the right synergy.

About a week ago, I wrapped the human hair with the waxed thread, perfecting my wrapping technique.  Today was cutting the ermine tail and wrapping it with the waxed thread.

I also figured out that I should probably put together a materials list if someone wanted to try this or check their results against mine.  At the end of this, I will provide the list.

Next step, cutting the tips of the feathers and cleaning them out.  I tried a couple of different methods.  One was cleaning it out with a large needle, another was washing the inside out and then pushing the remains out with a needle.  I could not find any mention of details so there was some experimentation.  Both ways still provided satisfactory results.

I pushed the wrapped hair into the ferrule (formerly tip of feather) with some fish glue delicately placed on the wrapped end.  I then tipped the wood handle with fish glue and pushed it into the other end of the ferrule.  I did this for the other wrapped hair and for the ermine.  Then there was waiting while it dried.  I could already see that these brushes were starting to look more like the paintings in the time period I was studying. 

Notes :  applying the fish glue was a pain.  It got everywhere.  I took one of the wooden sticks that had broken into a smaller piece and used it to apply the glue, but I still ended up with glue dripping quite a bit.  Fish glue had a more liquid state then other glues that I have used when first applying, but firmed up rather quickly. 

Results - I'm happy with the results.  Left is the closeup, right is the whole brush.  Bottom two are the human hair, and the ermine is the top.

So let's look at the paint brush made and then a zoom in of Sofonisba Anguissola and her paintbrush. 

So let's compare the paintbrushes from the beginning and see there progression.

In the beginning, I struggled with figuring out the things that I needed to be able to do artwork.  I went through many phases of buying materials that others suggested and sometimes it just came up short.  I muddled through using mostly student grade, because that is what I could afford at the time and recently began buying the professional grade, just less of it.   This has been a boon and if there is one suggestion I will make, always buy the best, even if it means buying fewer.  It will save you fighting with the tools.  

So since I have had this experience, I thought putting down the information for others might be helpful.  So here is my list.  There is the qualifier that everyone's list will be different and you really do have to figure out what works for YOU.  



Supplies:

1. Ames Lettering guide - this will help with the ruling for calligraphy
2. T square
3. Straight edge - two kinds, one should be a cork backed metal ruler, the other should be a plastic see through.
   
4. Pencils – some prefer mechanical pencils, some prefer #2 pencils, drawing pencils.  I like mechanical pencils and that is what I use, but again, use what works for you.
   
5. Black Ink – recommendation Higgins Eternal, although I am trying out a bunch of different ones
   
6. 3 good brushes in different sizes.  I prefer 00, 02, 03, natural hair preferred.
   
7. 3 older brushes for mixing (the best are often labeled "one stroke")
   
8. White plastic eraser
   
9. Crow quill pen
10. Dip Pen handles for variety of nibs and variety of nibs (2-3).  I have had very good luck with Mitchell nibs.
    
11. In place of dip pen, the best calligraphy pen you can buy.  I suggest Rotring Art Pen.
    
12. Color wheel
13. Eye droppers (2)
14. Windsor Newton or Holbein gouache watercolors – at least the primary and secondary colors.  If you are just starting out buy Ultramarine, Cadmium red purple, ivory black, permanent white, burnt umber, permanent green.
    
15. Paint tray
16. Small glass jars for water for adding to paint and for rinsing brushes
17. Papertowels, or rags
    
18. Toothbrush to clean paint trays
19. Blue painters tape
20. Sandpaper
21. Scissors
22. Chinese fan brush to use in brushing off eraser leavings
23. X-acto knife
24. Drawing pads
25. Scrap paper

If you want to do some gold leaf, you will want the following:

1. Gold leaf (once you begin gold leaf)
2. dog tooth burnisher
3. glassine
4. tweezers
5. miniatum or miniatum ink
   

Paper – the best that you can afford – sheets of Hot press are smoother, sheets of cold press are rougher surface.   At least 140 lb (such as Strathmore 400 series – which is student grade).   Your best bet is Pergamenta.   You should try out different papers to see which one you like best.

For drawing – conte crayons, pencils, chalk, charcoal

And where do you get all these things?

Online:  Paper Ink and Arts  http://www.paperinkarts.com

Scribblers  www.scribblers.co.uk

John Neal Books   http://www.johnnealbooks.com

Jerry’s Artarama     http://www.jerrysartarama.com

Dick Blick    http://www.dickblick.com

 I also shop at Utrecht art stores in person because sometimes you want to touch and see what you are buying.



Ask questions if something isn't clear and I can help direct you to the right place.  Happy arting.

So I did some experimentation while I was at the recent Southern Region Scribal. I had some blue paint and used period brush next to a modern brush of approximately the same size to see how they react.

Two observations:

1.  The opacity and complete coverage was higher for the period brushes.  Looking at the paint done by a modern brush there is a fading on the edges.  Not so with the period brush.

2.  When you made a brush stroke, there was some blobbing (technical term) and uneven lines or breaks.  I am not sure if this is the fault of the brush or the artist, because this is the first time that I am taking these out for a spin. 

I did feel that the ability to have such a large amount of paint and a very long tip made for some interesting flow as seen by the Z and A at the bottom.

Action plan: period pigments with period brush vs period pigments with modern brush on velum and paper. A much larger image is below so hopefully you can see some of the details.

I made some period paint brushes, shown below.

Instructions : Sources used: "The Craftman's Handbook, Il Libro dell' Arte", Cennino d'Andrea Cennini, and picture of artist done by Pieter Bruegel the Elder, The Painter and the Connoisseur. c. 1565. Drawing, 25.5 × 21.5 cm. Graphische Sammlung Albertina, Vienna.  Portraits of artists from Workshop of the Bedford Master, French about 1440-1450, and portrait of painter Thamar in miniatures of the Boccaccio manuscript.

Tools and materials: Wood and bamboo, waxed cotton thread, fox pelt, feather quills from variety of birds. Cennini on Page 40 of "The Craftman's Handbook, Il Libro dell' Arte" mentions using minever (short tailed weasel) or  hog bristles, using the tails of the minever.  I used available pelts of fox.  Cennini mentions use vulture quills, goose quill, hen or dove's feather.  I used available variety of quills. Cennini mentions using thread or waxed silk, I used available waxed cotton thread. Cennini mentions maple or chestnut or other good wood, I used maple wood, and dropped small branches available in my native area of New England because they were available and bamboo.

Procedure:  Using Cennini as a guide, I wet the pelt, tied the waxed thread in a bow around it, wrapped it four times.  I then cut the hair from pelt and continued to wrap it with the waxed thread.  I cut a quill and formed it around the hair and continued to wrap it with the waxed threads. I put a hole in the wood and placed the bristles there, continuing to wrap the hair and the wood until it was affixed.  I then mixed up a batch of rabbit skin glue (I'll explain in a different post) and adhered the hair, thread, and quill onto the whittled stick.
 
Things I might do differently in the future - I'm working on getting hog's hair, as well as a substitute for the tail of a stoat or minerver.  Someone suggested buying a hog's hair brush from a commercial outlet and then just taking the paint brush apart.  I'm concerned that there may be some things done to the hairs in the manufacturing process that will effect the outcome, but I'm going to think about it.  I'm also going to see about getting some fish glue, because that might hold up better than the rabbit skin glue.