Brush Fibers

I know that natural hair brushes are a hot topic because of the cruelty of the fur industry. I don’t condone killing an animal for the sake of making brushes. I do however, support hunting for food and I support farming. I have no problem with keeping animals as pets so long as they’re treated humanely. There is no harm in harvesting parts from an animal that is found dead. Squirrels get run over all the time. I don’t like it and have personally never hit one, but if it’s already dead, you might as well cut the fur off of its tail. The same can be done with deer. If you know someone who hunts, ask them for their squirrel or deer tails. You’re only making use of part of an animal that is typically thrown away. Feral hogs are killed routinely where I live and left to rot in the field. For anyone interested in making oil brushes, that’s a ready supply of hog hair for very little effort. Wild hogs also shed their hair seasonally if they don’t have enough water available to make a mud wallow. You can pluck hair from a live farm boar, if he’ll let you. Otherwise, ask a butcher if he’ll save you some hog hair before his next slaughter. Animals farmed by the fur industry can be kept as pets. All you have to do is brush them and collect the hair. Textile fiber can be purchased from artists who raise and shear their own animals. Alpaca, angora goat and angora rabbit fibers are too fine and delicate to use for brushes. Llama hair is coarse. It is used for polishing metal. To my knowledge, it does not have an artistic application. You might use it to make scrubber brushes.

The one exception to all of the above is the badger. It’s too mean to be kept as a pet. If you think you can tame this badass and give him a haircut, you go right ahead. You can forego badger entirely or buy a craft quality pelt from Crazy Crow Trading Post. Crazy Crow is a dance regalia and rendezvous re-enactment supplier in North Texas owned by Native Americans. All of their animal products are responsibly and sustainably harvested. 

The majority of the hair for art and makeup brushes is harvested in China and may or may not be shipped to Europe for making brushes. The Asian badger is killed in China as a nuisance animal. We all know how they treat animals. That alone might be a good enough reason to learn how to make your own brushes. We can use what nature provides us without inflicting unnecessary cruelty or harm.

Cashmere Goat = Watercolor wash or pottery glaze

 

 

 

Lacks spring, but forms a good point. Used in calligraphy and Chinese brush painting. Hake brushes, makeup brushes and neck brushes are made of goat hair.

Russian Black “Blue” Squirrel = sumi ink and silk painting

 

Black squirrel is a soft hair with little spring. The tail hair holds a lot of ink. Larger squirrel brushes work better than smaller ones because the mass of hairs together gives them support. Also used for makeup eyeliner brushes.

Sable marten (weasle) = Round watercolor

The ultimate soft brush is made from the tail hairs of a sable marten; these taper naturally, so when they're put into a brush they form a point. 

 

The brown sable is coveted by the fur industry, so the red sable is most often used for brushes. An alternative to the sable in the United States is the ferret which can be kept as a pet and brushed.

 

 

Sable brushes are expensive, but are renowned for their softness, flexibility, and fine point. Kolinsky sable from Siberia has traditionally been considered the best hair for watercolor brushes. They are good for fine details and very thin paint. Sable is also used for eyeshadow and nail art brushes. Gold Taklon is a synthetic fiber dyed to resemble red sable.

Grey Squirrel = Watercolor and Acrylic

   

The Grey squirrel was introduced into England from America and has become a scourge competing with the red for resources and habitat. The Grey squirrel is reddish orange with grey ticking in the summer and fine hair. This hair is used for watercolor and makeup brushes. In the winter, it changes color to mostly grey and its hair thickens. This hair is used for acrylic brushes. 

 

Deer = Multi Purpose

 

Brushes that combine deer and hog hair are used for print making in Japan. They are otherwise only used by hobbyists to make primitive brushes. Deer body hairs are used to wrap flys for fly fishing because they are hollow. Tail hairs are solid. Deer hair is coarse towards the base of the tail and softens progressively to a fine tip. This range of texture in a single strand of hair is probably the reason it isn’t used for fine art brushes. However, this can be an economical advantage because three types of brushes can be produced from a single tail.

Badger = Fine Oil

 

Badger hair brushes are used for fine oil painting, details, and for softening edges. Badger hair brushes tend to be the thickest at the tip of the brush and thinner around the belly, making them perfect for general and broad brushwork. Badger hair is also used to make men’s shaving brushes.

Mangalista hog = Oil, encaustic, stencil

  

These brushes are the workhorse of the oil painter. The ultimate hard brush is made from the hairs on the back of a hog, which are strong yet springy. The bristles have natural split-ends, which increases the amount of paint they hold. They are good for loading with a lot of paint and painting impasto style. They age well, becoming softer and more responsive with use. Hog brushes are also used for coating furniture with wax.

Ox or Scottish Highland Cattle = Fresco, signs and varnish

 

Ox hair is long, strong and springy. It is most often used in flat shaped brushes for painting bold objects and lettering. It is specially suited for thick paint and outdoor applications such as fresco and sign painting with latex. Also used for varnishing wood.

Camel = Pin striping, mopping, forensics dusting 

The camel hair brush was invented by Chinese General Ming Tian in 250 BC for calligraphy, but it doesn’t have the springiness or the snap required to make good letters. The pin striping brush, invented by Andrew Mack in 1891, is designed to paint a very long line in a single stroke.

Other brushes have been designed for automotive painting. Hand painting on cars is becoming a lost art.

 

Camel hair is very soft. It does not have the strength to produce a point. It is often used in children’s watercolor brushes, mop brushes and forensics dusting brushes.

Horse = Children’s tempera paint

Hair taken from the mane doesn't form a good point. It is often used in children’s tempera brushes. Coarse tail hair is often used for cheap oil brushes.

Vegetable Fibers

Tampico fiber is made from the Agave Lechuguilla that grows in northern Mexico. It has been exported for centuries all over the world to manufacture cords and ropes or to be used as brushes, scrubbers and brooms.

The natural color of the fiber is creamy white, but it may be dyed other colors. Tampico fiber has great liquid holding and release properties - it will absorb 65% more water than plastic fillings. It has a unique roughness due to crystals of calcium oxalate embedded in the surface. There is no plastic substitute for Tampico fiber. The fiber is unsurpassed in most general sweeping applications, and in all applications requiring liquid retention, scrubbing and surface finishing. Tampico is used for shop brooms, utility brushes, masonry brushes, wallpaper brushes, hand/nail brushes, you name it. Utility brushes are good for brushing on liquin and varnish.

Palmyra fiber (called bassine when dyed black) is a natural fiber made of the leaves of the Palmyra Palm, Borassus Flabelliformis, that grows in southern and eastern India. The leaves are converted into brush material by soaking, beating, and drying. 

Bassine is inexpensive and durable, and its sweeping qualities are fair, but it is not resilient and may distort when wet. It resists heat and chemicals making it good for grill and machine scrubbing brushes. It is often mixed with other fibers such as tampico (called Union), horse hair, nylon and plastic bristles. There really isn’t much that can be done with this fiber where art is concerned. Use it to create scrubber or fabric brushes.