Emma Block and her story

Having gone to art school from the age of 16, Emma has combined formal training and informal day to day practice to create a totally unique style. This style of loose gouache painting from life has gone on to give Emma a career in art.

During this time, Emma had been drawn to Pro Arte as her Sable brushes had been too soft for the thicker consistency of gouache paints, but her synthetic alternative in the form of Prolene was able to move the paint around much easier. Emma described her new found synthetics as “really responsive, which means they are great for creating both delicate details and soft expressive brush strokes”.

Having found the perfect brushes alongside building a great reputation as an author and teacher that learning artists could look up to, Emma decided that it would be a great opportunity to provide students with the same materials that she used. In doing so, the Pro Arte x Emma block collection was developed to include a mix of shapes that are perfect for her gouache style, including a mixture of rounds alongside an angled shader and filbert.

Hair mixing and making bespoke heads

It all starts with the hair, and with Emma Block’s brush range, it is vital that the hair is soft enough to absorb washes of colour, but firm enough to handle the thicker consistencies of gouache paints. Because of this, we developed a custom mix of hair to cope with the paint’s different demands. To do this, we use a large hair mixing machine that is able to layer different hairs over and over until it’s fully mixed and consistent throughout.

Once the hair has been mixed, our team of brush head makers are then able to manufacture each size specific to Emma’s needs. Three sizes of round brushes can be picked using a small machine set to grab a selected amount of hair before being hand pulled through a ferrule to the correct length.

Emma’s angled shader and filbert brush, on the other hand, need to be hand selected and formed into the desired length and shape. For her filbert brush, the hair is pulled into the ferrule and tapped with a cannon to give the rounded edge. For the angled shader, the head maker needs to ensure that there’s the correct hair to pull to a flat shape before the brush can be hand pulled on either side to create the degree of ‘angle’ designed to Emma’s specifications.

Handle art and printing

With a new brush range comes a new handle design. Emma’s range showcases our collaboration, the brush shape, size and purpose- for use with Gouache paints. This new design is printed onto a photopositive film where our team use a strong UV light against a plate which softens the area below the artwork. This softened are can then be removed to create an etched plate with the text sitting below the surface and is used to pool the ink when printing.

To print, we use a pad printing machine that moves a rubber pad vertically. In doing so, the rubber collects the pool of ink on its first drop, and on the second drop, stamps the text onto a plain handle that has been placed by our brush maker.

Journal design and story

Our journal was first developed to highlight the people behind Pro Arte and delve into our complex and hands on manufacturing approach to making paint brushes. With each artist collaboration, we’ve taken the opportunity to feature an artist highlight, and for Emma, we’ve explored some really interesting and insightful stories. This includes her background as an artist, her progression into teaching/publishing and even some helpful tips and tricks for painting with Gouache. And of course, there’s a special highlight on the closing cover that showcases Emma’s bespoke range.