A Kolinsky is a member of the Siberian weasel family with tail hairs that are nice for brushes. The casual word used for Kolinsky is sable. There are actually several natural sources for “sable”, and Kolinsky is one of them. This is what a Kolinsky looks like. Isn’t he cute?
Sable brushes used to be the highest quality brushes for oil and watercolor. Old school painters swear by nothing else. Since 2013, Kolinsky brushes have been banned, but some tails got grandfathered in, harvested prior to 2013 so they are still available, especially from European brush makers. (I believe this to be true, but if you have different info please let me know.)
Over time these sable brushes have increased in price, decreased in quality (due to global warming), and have become largely unnecessary due to the innovations in synthetic fibers. While there is a very valid argument for choosing natural over synthetic (thereby avoiding plastics and keepin’ it real), I have some conflicts about enjoying a creative tool that someone died for. And if death doesn’t stop me, the price will. Quality sable brushes are outrageously expensive. Just yesterday I held a sable Escoda watercolor brush priced at $170.
The Escoda family makes some of the finest brushes in the world, and while they use some natural fibers, they also use some of the world’s finest synthetics. Their Versatil synthetic Kolinsky brush is the modern-day alternative to the natural Kolinsky. My personal favorite brush is the Escoda Modernista, an oil brush made with synthetic mongoose. The brushes are absolutely exquisite. They taught me a new level of painting, and a new appreciation for quality tools.
Posts have continued to pop up for our 30 Day January Creative Challenge. New people have joined in! Instagram continues to stand out as the social media of choice for most artists – we now have over 1000 posts! Some people are new to social media, some are new to drawing. Everyone is posting stuff …
[image_with_animation image_url=”10246″ alignment=”center” animation=”None” box_shadow=”none” max_width=”100%”] Water is notoriously difficult to draw or paint, but there are a few tricks. Instead of making the paint translucent or see-through, consider mixing the colors carefully, and applying the color just as opaquely as you would for a solid object. If you have reflections coming in over still …
When we first went online in February 2020, I thought it would just be for a few weeks. Now here we are 18 months later, still online. I thought online would be cold and distant. I thought there’d be no way to teach anything specific. Turns out there’s a lot we can do from our …
When I think of paintings by Carlos San Millan, I think of glowing light spilling into interiors, dark and moody, the scattered stuff of daily clutter expressed with cascading swaths of bold, intuitive, luscious vibrating color. When I think of Carlos San Millan, I think of the effects of light. Lucky us, Carlos San Millan …
The Making of an Escoda Brush
Sable brushes used to be the highest quality brushes for oil and watercolor. Old school painters swear by nothing else. Since 2013, Kolinsky brushes have been banned, but some tails got grandfathered in, harvested prior to 2013 so they are still available, especially from European brush makers. (I believe this to be true, but if you have different info please let me know.)
Over time these sable brushes have increased in price, decreased in quality (due to global warming), and have become largely unnecessary due to the innovations in synthetic fibers. While there is a very valid argument for choosing natural over synthetic (thereby avoiding plastics and keepin’ it real), I have some conflicts about enjoying a creative tool that someone died for. And if death doesn’t stop me, the price will. Quality sable brushes are outrageously expensive. Just yesterday I held a sable Escoda watercolor brush priced at $170.
The Escoda family makes some of the finest brushes in the world, and while they use some natural fibers, they also use some of the world’s finest synthetics. Their Versatil synthetic Kolinsky brush is the modern-day alternative to the natural Kolinsky. My personal favorite brush is the Escoda Modernista, an oil brush made with synthetic mongoose. The brushes are absolutely exquisite. They taught me a new level of painting, and a new appreciation for quality tools.
LINK TO VIDEO: The Making of an Escoda Brush (4 minutes)
Two reps from the Escoda family show how Escoda brushes are made. Each brush is hand crafted. Watch the video to see how it’s done.
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