181 : No Going Back

For anyone serious about painting miniatures, there’s nothing like having the best paint brush that the coffers can afford. After years of frustration with paint brushes losing their point – and almost as soon as I had started painting! – I bought a batch of Winsor and Newton Series 7 brushes.

The brushes were originally designed on command of Queen Victoria to be the very finest water colour brushes and first produced in the Queen’s favourite brush size: the No. 7. Today, they’re still made from pure Siberian Kolinsky tail hair prepared entirely by hand in Lowestoft, England. Even better for the figure painter, Series 7 included a Miniatures range of brushes – from size 000 up to number 6 (teasingly not size 7!). The length of the hair was designed to be much shorter than the standard Series 7 brush to allow the point only to meet the paint surface when working on very small areas – making these brushes perfect for painting detail on wargames figures. And for 10mm, it had to be admitted that most painting was detailing small areas rather than brushing with grand strokes.

As I began my 10mm 1809 project, it became clear soon enough that the size of Series 7 brush I was going to make most use of was a 00. I still needed a wide variety of brushes – even brushes with a broken point were useful for… painting round corners? But my Series 7 00 was certainly worked the hardest. So much so that it was necessary to replace it every year with a brand spanking new one. But not because of a loss of point. No, because of a loss of hair strength – due to a great deal of use!

Click here to read Winsor and Newton’s Series 7 information booklet.