Good Morning Jungle Painters,
today there is another Material Unpacked dropping in the jungle.
A little while ago we had a look on BrokenToad's Pigments and this time we have tested their brushes. Still don't know about Broken Toad? Well, here are some words about that young company, taken from their homepage:
"BrokenToad grew from the belief that it is possible to have high
quality hobby products at affordable prices. To achieve this we try to
go the extra mile to discover what hobbyists actually want rather than
to dictate what we think they need and with over 20 years’ experience in
the miniature hobby world we feel we have the first-hand experience to
know what a hobbyist expects and deserves from a product. We love our
little niche community of hobbyists and hope we that we can help to make
it a slightly more pleasant place to spend time doing what we all love."
BrokenToad Model Hobby Brushes
Massive Voodoo has been asked to have a look on their range of brushes and so we did. There was not much unpacking needed, rather some proper time of testing, using them during some serious miniature painting work.
The brushes which arrived at the MV-HQ all have been secured with a plastic tip, like every serious brush should. The bright wood feels unusual first, but honestly who cares about the wood colour of a brush if it is doing his job good?
Let's see what BrokenToad says about their brushes via their homepage:
"BrokenToad Miniature Series brushes are available in sizes 2, 1, 0 &
3/0 currently, each one is individually handmade from pure 100% male
Kolinsky sable (Mustela Sibirica) hair by brush makers with 30 years’
experience in the artist brush making industry. All the hair for our
brushes is ethically sourced, fitted into cupronickel ferrules and
presented on varnished Birch wood handles which come from a sustainable
forest in Germany. The brush head features an ample belly, capable of
holding a decent amount of paint, which tapers to a very fine point
allowing the paint to flow precisely and accurately onto the model. With
its natural conical shape and excellent snap we feel that handmade
Kolinsky sable hair brushes are the best choice for model painters."
Ready to be painted with ...
Hair Quality
Now for the hair quality and the tip during painting with them. Out of 10 points of quality they do recive 7 points from MV. Straight out of production the hair has been pretty stiff but with some paint and water on it the hair quickly felt soft and painting worked fine.
Tip Quality
While putting them to serious tests some minor problems occoured. The tip did split. Questioning BrokenToad about that issue we found a major solution for all future brush problems and it helped:
Baby Shampoo!
We should have done this earlier, right from the beginning, giving the brush hair a good wash with warm water and baby shampoo and leave them soaked with baby shampoo for about twenty minutes. Clean them afterwards with warm water again. The stiffness of the hair dissapeared even more and the tips got stronger and sharper. Thanks for the hint.
What BrokenToad says:
"... more of a quality step i now take, because of issues such as the one you found with the tip i now personally inspect and hand condition each and every brush tip before it is sent to a customer or supplier to hopefully remove this problem before it even occurs!"
Handling
The handling of the brushes is good. I mean there is no complex new inovation in the their form and no extravaganza in their shape of the grip area. We are happy with that.
Roman says:
"I am using mostly Windsor&Newton Series 7 brushes. The quality of the BrokenToad brushes is pretty close to the quality of a W&N. A big plus for the Broken Toad Brush Series is its price/quality-ratio. They cost about half of a W&N and do their job pretty well."
After some treatment of Roman the brushes still look fine ...
Summary
The brushes from BrokenToad are exactly what they are saying via their homepage:
Affordable quality which keeps you a happy painter. A recommendation for everyone who is searching for quality brushes for a good price.
Where to get 'em?
BrokenToad has no shop on their own, they work with retailers. Find the list of their retailers via their homepage. If you want to be a retailer of Broken Toad Products use the contact form via their homepage:
www.brokentoad.co.uk
Keep on happy painting!
Posts
Great review. It's getting harder and harder to get sable brushes in the USA and Canada. As a result I am exploring synthetic alternatives, which are currently more expensive and not as durable as real sable. Damn hippies are ruining this hobby :P
check out the website link, Zab, there is a Canadian stockist
Is Baby Shampoo the only product to use or can any conditioner be used? I have purchased these as my first sables having previously using synthetics due to ignorance and don't want to ruin them by using something too strong, if there is such a thing.
Thank you
Baby shampoo is indeed not too strong, it is even softer than conditioner I'd say, but both works I'd say. If it's something to care for hair it will do with natural hair brushes.
Thanks for speedy reply Roman. I bought one each of the brushes and a paint set of the new Scale 75 paints. Tonight is a painting night ;))
Happy Painting to you, Jack!
So I made a little conditioner with some lukewarm water, and as soon as I dipped the brush tip in the water it looked very puffy, in a bad way. the look is what my old brushes that I use for basing look like. I was worried but as I have never used a sable before I thought maybe this is normal? I removed it from the solution and left it to marinade for 20mins, then washed it in clean water and repointed it as you describe.It now looks ok, with a nice point on it but am nervous to continue as I'm worried the puffy look described earlier is a mistake on my part.
So basically, my question is, is this normal?
Jack, you don't have to work hard with the brush hair while cleaning it with shampoo, always try to pull the brush through your shampoo in the direction of the hair, that means pull it through it and pull to your body, don't make a big hair wash out of it as this might destroy your brush if you do it too often. I'd recommend cleaning your brush with shampoo every two weeks or when you see the tip losing quality. I think the puffy look comes from how you moved the brush through the shampoo, do it easy and gentle and all should be fine.
Thanks Roman, you guys rock. Now to stop being a chicken and start painting RAAAR :))