Winsor & Newton Series 7 Kolinsky Sable Brush, Round SH #6

When I got back into painting miniatures several months ago, I did my best to make the financial leap with as much wisdom as possible. I am a master painter of 28mm historical minis. I did a not-so-wise thing by going to local craft hobby stores and purchasing synthetic brushes. Cheap, fast and good in the beginning, I found myself just waiting for these brushes to give out. I even washed them with a popular cleaner. Didn't make a difference. Around 5 or 6 uses, separation and curling inevitably occurred. While not useless, they were not enjoyable to use after a very short time. Despite spending $4 for a brush, I took a step up and invested in a well-known set of Kolinsky sables for around $22 ($3/brush). Much better but I noticed a paucity of actual hairs to their brushes and so, I found myself loading paint in the brush constantly. They did hold up well but, the paint did not go on smoothly. I finally stepped onto the luxury car lot of brushes and invested $12 in a Windsor Newton. There's no going back. They are perfectly shaped and thick. They seem to be impervious to loosing their original quality, especially since I take good care of them. A loaded brush holds so much paint, I find myself making smooth strokes with exceptional results, and reloading about 1/4th the time. I am slowly replacing my brushes with all Windsor Newtons. You will need less brushes overall since a #3 is more than sufficient to paint large areas AND all but the finest of details. An initial investment in 3 or 4 brushes is more than enough. By all means keep your old brushes for priming, washing, dry brushing, etc; but the real painting will be covered by your 3 Windsors. One thing to keep in mind is that you need to under estimate the size of the brushes you'll need. Explanation...while I used to be a big proponent of buying 5/0, 10/0 and even 20/0, all that is out-the-window now. You'll feel silly that you ever did that as a #2 (not 2/0) Windsor is a good place to start. This might seem large compared to what you're used to but, try it first and you'll see. I easily paint pupils with a #2. I purchased a 000 and found it to be minimally useful because the #1, 2 and 3's form a perfect point. This will SAVE you $$$. If you paint 10-15 hrs a week like many of us, you won't be looking for a new brush for at least a year, compared to buying new synthetics every month. Most importantly, painting will become more of a pleasure and your minis will look better. You'll paint faster and you'll dare to become better and try more feats of detail. So take a "$12 chance" on one brush. Start with a #2. You'll be able to do 98% of your painting with it. Then a 0, 1, and 3. I promise you'll wish you made the switch long ago.

Hands down the best miniature painting brush. With good cleaning and careful use not to get paint into the ferrule, these brushes will last several years. In fact, I've used my brushes for over 4 years. The cost is worth the quality - these are the #1 paint brushes for miniature painting. Just make sure you buy the correct length, the miniature series brushes have a very short length, so I tend to use the series 7 non-miniature size. This brushes hold their tip for many years as long as you clean them periodically.

Horrible brush, do not waste your money. This thing has never been able to hold a point from the first time I used it. Minimal paint, well hydrated, one touch and it splits in half. I bought this brush to paint details on faces and it has been the worst brush I've ever bought. Do not purchase.

these brushes are amazing. You don’t use them with contrast or speed paint just so you know, but the amount of control you have with it is amazing. How it held paint in the bristles and with the even flow with every brushstroke, it was just amazing to work with with them.The synthetic brushes are still good but everything I tried doing with the Windsor and Newton brushes was so much easier and came out way better

I usually do not write reviews, but had to share my experience. It was hard to pay so much for one paint brush, but due to the nature of my project, I was not able to easily accomplish what I wanted with what I had. I bought all the different types of brushes, some more expensive that others. They were not cutting it. They say buy a good brush, but they are $$$. Out of desperation, I shelled out for the Winsor & Newton Series 7 Kolinsky Sable Watercolor Brush - Round #1. And three others, the same, only other sizes. I just used it, and I had only one thing in my mind as I painted with this brush-it is a dream of a brush! I think I am in love with a paint brush at this point. No stray wayward bristles, and a ability to paint a sharper point than I thought possible with this size. It held paint good, layed down the paint good, had a good feel with the handle, and just the right flexibility to the bristles. It was sooooo nice to finally have such a good experience with a brush! It made things so much more easy than the other brushes I have used. I never thought that there would be such a difference, but there is. It was easily worth the money to me and I have no regrets. And it is nice to actually get what I paid for a a lot more. They are right, it is good to invest in a good brush.

These are by far the best brushes. These babies hold so much color/paint. I use these exclusively for watercolor and gouache. I would never imagine using these for anything else. I honestly don’t understand the bad reviews. They are meant to be completely loaded up with watercolor/paint and then you go at it. When you feel them run out of paint load back up. My series 7 number 3 is 3 years old and the number 4 I bought here on Amazon is just as great quality. You can compare them in the picture. I have many squirrel hair and sable hair brushes from other companies like escoda, silver, and da Vinci, that I’ve purchased over the years. WN series 7 has the best control of all of my brushes and holds so much more paint/water. I have never been a fan of pointy brushes so I love how perfectly round this brush is. I have an escoda size 10 and if I could afford a WN series 7 in a size 12 I would gladly switch over. WN does have a pointed version for inking but this is my favorite of all. When these brushes are completely dry the hairs do fray but when you load up with water they point back up. If you don’t want them to do that, then you can dip them in Gum Arabic when you are done using them.

I started painting miniatures five years ago. Like many people, I started by buying some miniatures that looked cool for my D&D campaign, some cheap paints, and a pack of generic paint brushes. After working on several miniatures, and having disappointing results (for a number of reasons), I decided to invest a little more into the hobby. It was around this point in my painting "career" that I bought my first few Winsor & Newton Sereies 7 brushes. My first size 0 and size 1 brushes leveled up my painting game. In combination with other critical aspects like properly thinning paints, letting coats dry, etc., I finally was able to achieve a quality that I was happy with. About a year ago, my first size 1 brush started to fray/fork. For me, the replacement choice felt obvious. I bought another size 1 Series 7 brush. Unlike the first brush, however, the tip almost immediately began to separate/fork. I know that my first Series 7 brush didn't last as long as it could have due to my lack of proper care techniques when I first got it. Now though, I'm pretty sure the replacement suffered from a poor quality control process. What I find unfortunate, is that now after only a few months of struggling with the brush, I can't get it to hold a tip for more than a few bush strokes. It is no longer viable to use. I'm now shopping for another size 1 brush. Coming back to consider buying another Series 7 size 1 brush, I am seeing quite a few other stories like mine. At a price point of $20-$30, with as much competition as exists for my money (especially in an economy with as rampant inflation as we've seen), I'm very hesitant to buy another one of these brushes for fear I get another poor-quality brush. TLDR: My first Series 7, size 1 brush was great and lasted for many projects. The latest purchase, in ~June of 2023, is already unusalbe due to poor quality control. For the price, I know I'll be exploring other options to see if there are other brush of similar potential quality but with better production quality control. ((The images are of the tip after only a few minutes of painting now and some of the projects I've used the brush on; the brush began to fray like this after only a few uses, despite me taking care of it. The output is great when the brush holds its tip...))

After 2–3 years, I can say these are the best brushes I have ever owned. I know they can be a bit expensive, but they are worth the price. I’ve used all kinds of paint with them, even metallics (not recommended), and they still perform great. I want to make sure I have a backup set.