Saka Light Cavalry

Saka Light Cavalry

Monday 10 September 2012

Rosemary & Co Brush Review

I have been using the Rosemary and Co. brushes for about a month now.  started off with the series 401 Sable Blend hoping for the best of both worlds. The extra quality and wear of Sable with the lower price points of, well anything else. Price point wise these are on the surface a great brush. They hold paint well and keep a point and when they do seem to splay just a quick dip in the water pot and a suck and twist of the brush and the hairs are back in place. Sounds a match made in heaven.
Kolinsky Sable top three. Bottom three are Sable Blend.
Well possibly, but as you will see from the photos the brush has a very annoying habit of curling at the tip. A closer view is below. The brush itself is lighter than the series 33 Kolinsky Sable as I suspect they use a different wood in the handle. It really is a shame the brush can't stop from curling, yes for me it's too light but that aside it would be a good brush except for this one fault. I am sure for other than miniature figure painting it does the job well. However I bought three of the Kolinsky Sable (originally one)  to see how much better the posh brush was. Well I have painted with the Ser. 33 brushes far more than the Blended Ser. 401 and have been far more impressed. Not only does the brush hold the paint well allowing less trips to the paint but it needs less tweaks to keep the point well dressed but no sign of curling of the point. The 10/0 has a habit of the whole bristle head being pushed to an angle from use but returns to a central position with a quick suck and twist (I say Vicar).  See below for a close up.
The sizes from top to bottom 10/0, 3/0, 2/0, 3/0, 2/0 and 1. As you can see I have zoomed in really close and no sign of curl on the Ser. 33 but a fairly pronounced curl on the less used and cheaper Ser. 401. I guess you simply get what you pay for in this case. Of course these need a lot more use than they have had to this point to prove that they are indeed the best brush for the money spent. I obviously have not compared them to Winsor & Newton top brushes but would only be too happy to do so if they want to send me a few to try ;-)
 
It's a shame about the Ser. 33 as that would have been a fantastic result but really I am happy with the results that seem to be coming from Ser. 33. Give me another month or two of hard working of the brushes and if they are still standing up to the work then  will be a very happy bunny. The Creative Models triangular brush always kept it's point for me but the bristles wore down at a fairly quick pace so I tended to carry on using them way past becoming the 10/0 size of brush!
 
Price wise Series 33 starts at £3.40 for size10/0 and goes up to £325 for the size 22! Relax though the largest most of us would want is the size 1 at £3.70 Due to my findings I will be offering the Series 33 brushes in the give away and not the 401's originally stated.

11 comments:

  1. It can be bothersome when a brush turns at the end like that, I have a few that have done that and I just keep using them as I won't retire one till it doesn't hold a tip. The angles I turn my hand at to dot eyes or write tiny letters though leaves me thinking I'm at least 1/16 pretzel.

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  2. I won't retire them but they have limited use for me. If they were big brushes they would just become dry drushes but most are just to small.

    Ian

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  3. Good review. If they´ve got limited use for you..bung em this way :-D
    No seriously...I hate it when the tips of brushes do that. No matter how gently I treat them (and I do the twist in the mouth trick as well), how well they are cleaned they eventually curl at the tip!!! Luckily, the scale I paint means they get a second life as dry brushes, I just cut the tip off flat.
    Cheers
    paul

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  4. Interesting, I was about to order some R&co, but will rethink now.

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  5. I bought some of these and I wasn't impressed at all!

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  6. Mine curl at the top too and because of my inexperience I assumed it was something that I was doing wrong in caring for the brushes. I'd buy better brushes, but can't afford them. Should have thought of that when building my mountain of lead.

    I finally ordered my first 54mm, a Highlander.
    here's the link

    http://www.thunderboltmountain.com

    He's got loads of character and this company is independently owned by a sculptor. I just started using them and the sculpts are top notch AND he sends me a free figure with every order. Not a company for purists, but if you ever want to do a little "whimsy" it's a great place to consider.

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  7. Will stick with what I have for the moment until I can hit a show or win some!

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  8. I use Rosemary & Co myself, but go for Series 92. Micro Red Sable. Size 4/0 & 10/0 . At £2 & £1.75 respectively you really can't beat them. I tend to use the 4 as a workhorse and will wear it into the ground before reaching for another one!

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  9. The Serries 33 are grat, just the 401's curl. I have at least 30+ hours with some of the 33's and they look like new. As I aim to average 4 hours a day for the next two months plus I will know quickly just how good.

    Ian

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  10. I am absolutely no brush snob. I have painted and painted well for over ten years with basic brushes from the local shop. However, for my birthday this year, I sprang for some Kolinsky sable and Winsor Newton Series 7 brushes. I was surprised to find a noticeable difference. I don't use them for everyday painting, though. And no drybrushing. I just use my old curled brushes for that!

    The progression of my paintbrushes is: 25mm art -> 15mm wargames standard -> drybrushing -> painting bases and terrain -> glue -> handle for sculpting tool!!

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  11. Must admit I love my W&N Kolinsky sable, but havent found a stockist here in NZ... so their price plus shipping costs too, has me grabbing cheap crap from the local artstore but at $2 a throw, even if they only last a month they're kinda worth it...

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