Back

How are paintbrushes made?

Here at Pro Arte, we take pride in the fact that every paintbrush is handcrafted in our factory in the UK. Based in Skipton, a small town bordering the beautiful Yorkshire dales, our dedicated team of skilled brush makers combine new and updated manufacturing techniques alongside other timeless methods. Everything is handmade, checked and controlled - allowing us to produce the highest standard of artist brushes.

We're taking you through our manufacturing and showing you how our brushes are produced to the highest standard. 

Mixing and bundling

The process starts with the brush hair. Each paintbrush is mixed to our individual specifications to combine different grades of fibre. This combination is what gives each brush their wide belly to allow for colour holding, as well as fine and precise points ideal for more detailed work. To do this, we use a machine that layers the hair over and over to ensure that the hair mix is even.

Once the hair is mixed to the required spec, they are grouped into bundles. This allows the hair to be safely stored and transported without any issues, but also makes it easier to cut the hair to the required length.

Head making

Following the hair mixing process, our skilled team of brush makers then fill each ferrule with the correct amount of hair, pulling the hair to a specified length dependent on the brush size and series.

More traditional paintbrushes that use sable and squirrel hair are made using a cannon to flatten the hair before using a strong thread to tie the fibres together. The hair is shaped by hand into each brush type, ensuring that they pull together to a fine point.

Synthetic brushes are made in a similar way but are not tied. Instead, a larger amount of hair is selected that helps to hold it in place within the ferrule.

Gluing

Once the paintbrush heads have been made, the fibres must then be set into place to prevent any hairs coming loose. This is crucial to ensure that the brush maintains its shape and works as intended, but it also stops hairs shedding onto artwork.

We use a two-part epoxy adhesive or a solvent based cement that binds the hairs together. Getting the right viscosity of the glue is important: too runny and the glue runs too far into the brush head, ruining the hair, and too firm doesn’t allow the glue to penetrate the hair.

Printing

Each paintbrush is then printed to give their identity. The print contains the brushes series number, name, size, and barcode number. The two printing methods we use are hot foil printing and ink pad printing.

Clenching

With wood and metal being two incompatible materials, it is key that they fit together perfectly before two different methods are used to fix them together. Our ferrules and handles have both been developed to fit together- using tapered ferrules means that the handles have been manufactured with a tapered top to account for this.

When combining the two, a cement is added to help fill any gaps and add strength to the joint. The brush is then clenched using two crimps to firmly fix the two together, as well as providing an aesthetic appearance.

Finishing

Following a batch of brushes being produced, the components are then finished to make them presentable and suitable for transport. Any marks are polished out of the brush before their hairs being coated in a gum and shaped. They are then given a plastic cap that prevents the hair from being damaged during shipping and packaged in a sleeve.

Packing

Finally, we store each brush in an allocated tub for its series and size, ready to be shipped out to customers.

Take a look at the people behind Pro Arte. They’re responsible for the manufacturing and quality control of our brushes to make sure that every paintbrush is up to standard

0
    0
    Your Cart
    Your cart is emptyReturn to Shop