Brush recommendations please!

[Flyfisher]

The misleadingly named "daVinci" brush in question is a scabby pig's ****hole of a thing . . .

. . . which only makes the Mona Lisa even more impressive.

 

[JoceAndChris]

. . . which only makes the Mona Lisa even more impressive.

Maybe we've unlocked the mystery of her smile: she is trying not to laugh as Leo battles with scabby pigs to make his brushes from their bristles!

 

[Ushy M]

For intricate work, I've found (following the advice of a painter/decorator pal who does fantastic paint effects such as tortoiseshell and malachite) that if you secure an elastic band part way up the bristles of your brush it makes the end stiff enough so it doesn't bend over and smudge your mouldings (fnaar fnaar!). You could always cut the bristles if you need an angled brush.

 

[JoceAndChris]

Thanks Ushy! I'd love to see those paint effects, how skillful. I think it's a pity that we don't do all the fakery the Victorians loved; it's something else I really want to learn. I'll try the hairband trick, thanks!

The brush is merely the tool for applying it, it will only do what you to tell it,... dont press down too hard.

This tendency towards pressing is at the heart of many of my difficulties.

Did I ever tell you all about the movement theories of Rudolph Laban, initially an architect, but more importantly the famous inventor of dance notation? I find his work fascinating, and very relevant for developing artistic, restoration, or any kind of skills where you have to move.

He divided people into 8 broad kinds:

1. Flickers
2. Dabbers
3. Gliders
4. Floaters
5. Pressers
6. Wringers
7. Slashers
8. Thrusters

These definitions are arrived at by seeing our movements occuring across 3 continuums: time, direction, and weight. Time means are you quick or slow? He called it sudden or sustained. Direction means are you focussed or drifting? He called it direct to indirect. Weight has nothing to do with body fat but means are you light or heavy in your movements? He called it light to heavy. The combinations of these qualities merge to make up the types listed above. All right, we might not always clearly fit one category but you have a look at yourself, the people around you, or even the work that has been done on your property and you can analyse which type you see. Once you see movement in this way nothing is ever the same again.

So a flicker is sudden, indirect, and light.
A dabbber is sudden, direct, and light.
A glider is sustained, direct, and light.
A floater is sustained, indirect, and light.
A presser is sustained, direct, and heavy.
A wringer is sustained, indirect, and heavy.
A slasher is sudden, indirect, and heavy.
A thruster is sudden, direct, and heavy.

I am a thruster, unfortunately, though can see that gliding is far better and would improve the quality of my work. Hot countries seem to produce gliders, I see a lot of slashing, wringing and thrusting going on around me in the UK.

So what d'you reckon to Laban then? He did also say "With unswerving clarity the Fuhrer points the way", so maybe this wringing/slashing malarkey is a load of ********. But if you're thinking of sending your child to drama school I've saved you 30k, coz this analysis is all that happens really.

Sorry to drift off brushes, that was all a bit floating really wasn't it?

xx

 

[Cloudscape]

Interesting, and ties in a lot with the way I see people (I describe people at each extreme as 'wafty' and 'gorillas' :shock: ). I find myself wondering if, whatever your basic type, you can (armed with the knowledge that your touch might generally be too light or too heavy) emulate other types, depending on the task at hand.

Being light and floaty isn't appropriate when chopping logs, but being heavy and thrusty would make a real mess of icing a cake. So you switch (if you can).

 

[Nigel Watts]

However, just as you don't want green on your cream panel neither do you want cream on your green moulding.

True enough, but I find it easier to paint cleanly up to a single edge than to two simultaneously. When doing the moulding if you only have to worry about getting, say, the outer edge clean, then you can relax a bit about getting some on the panel. When you do the panel you only have to worry about getting the edge with the moulding right etc.

Being able to paint up to a reasonably straight edge is especially valuable for doing sash bars, which would otherwise be a complete pain.

 

[JoceAndChris]

emulate other types... So you switch (if you can).

I think you're right, you try to switch and adjust your speed/ weight/ direction. But your preference or skill with regard to icing cakes or chopping logs reveals your natural type. I like your wafty/gorilla differentiation, it's more economical than Laban's hair-splitting.

I find it very interesting. If you never think about these things, you will float or barge through life getting frustrated, without any self-awareness. If you think about these things too much, though, you drive yourself crazy with too much self-awareness- that's what happens to actors.

There was one other dimension/continuum I didn't mention, but in many ways it's the most important and helpful. It is that we all lie somewhere on a line of flow, with tight, bound flow at one extreme and luxurious free flow at the other. Some people remain in a locked position regarding their flow, others swing emotionally from bound to free flow, they can be unstable, unpredictable people.

Imagine a slashing plasterer swinging from bound to free flow- disaster!

True enough, but I find it easier to paint cleanly up to a single edge than to two simultaneously.

Being able to paint up to a reasonably straight edge is especially valuable for doing sash bars, which would otherwise be a complete pain.

That makes sense to me, and is going to help with a bit of door moulding I have in mind where I want to go blue cream blue. With the sash bars, don't you use one of those razor scraper tools? I aim to get a 4mm bead of paint on the glass, and then scrape it off with that thing.

 

[Lime]

Where a brush needs to be controlled it used to be common practice to bind the brush bristles with twine or string.
Approximately half the bristles were bound tightly back to the handle.
You can do it to any brush, the better quality ones giving a better result.
I can't readily find a picture on the net.
These glue brushes are bound but not completely as older paint brushes used to be.
http://store.falkiners.com/store/product/1850/Standard-Glue-Brush---16-Med/
However it does show how the bristles are condensed and controlled.

 

[JoceAndChris]

Thanks Lime- that's both interesting and helpful. I didn't know about all this binding of brushes

Now there's a thrusting brush in bound flow if ever I saw one! Irritatingly, I can't experiment with brushes this afternoon- I have to go to my mock driving test.

 

[JoceAndChris]

Crashed into a kerb whilst looking at a (very pretty) cat. Failed.

 

[Flyfisher]

Better than running into the cat while looking at the kerb though.

 

[Moo]

Those Sashibike brushes on the Shepherds site look as though they might be useful. They, too, seem to be bound.


re your driving test, Joce - have you done much cycling? A few laps of the driving test course might help a lot with your concentration.
xx

 

[JoceAndChris]

They are lovely brushes, and made of deer!

Yes, cycling, a good plan as can explore pavements and kerbs and suss out where all the pretty cats live so not too distracted on the day. I cycled into Bloomsbury from Highgate every day at one point, so have some road awareness but find myself distracted by period properties, plants, interesting people, nice shoes, shops, cats, bad grammar, wrong spellings, and unusual cloud formations. So driving is very very hard because all these things happen all the time and I can't help but notice them and think about them.

If anyone has any suggestions for driving success please tell me, I'm especially interested to learn why you/ friends/children failed, if you failed.

If it is too OT then PM me, if you're bored and want to.

 

[Penners]

Sashibike

Bet you can't say that with a mouthful of crisps.

 

[Penners]

If anyone has any suggestions for driving success please tell me, I'm especially interested to learn why you/ friends/children failed, if you failed.

My sage advice would be: don't get distracted by (very pretty) cats.

I failed the driving test twice (yes, they did have cars back then). I was at boarding school and so could only have lessons during school holidays. Never enough time to become familiar with the car again before the test was upon me.

Well, that's my excuse, anyway.

My driving lessons used to cost 7s 6d per two hours.

 

[Flyfisher]

I passed my driving test first time after just two lessons . . . . oh yes, and about three years motorcycle driving experience.

Seriously, there's no real substitute for practice and experience. By the time I got around to taking my car test I'd been driving a motorbike for so long that I was totally at ease in all traffic conditions and was able to fully concentrate on the test. I assume there was also an element of natural selection, given that I was still alive after 3 years as a teenage biker.

The driving lessons cost £20; £14 for the two lessons and £6 for the parking ticket I received for parking on a yellow line outside the BSM shop!

 

[Cloudscape]

I think you're right, you try to switch and adjust your speed/ weight/ direction. But your preference or skill with regard to icing cakes or chopping logs reveals your natural type.

But maybe that's part of learning skills - adjusting yourself to suit a task? Gradually you learn how to arrange stones to make a wall, and develop the understanding and control (and presumably the muscles!) to do that work. Or someone 'thrusty' learns to do something delicate, such as tying fishing flies, or jewellery making.

OK... some try and fail. But most of us must have the potential to be more than one type, even if a task seems daunting or impossible at first.

Some of what's needed for some jobs - your painting task, for example - is confidence and concentration. That and cutting yourself some slack. No decorating was really intended to be viewed with your nose on it. It's 'for effect'. Your paintwork probably looks every bit the part... it's just that you, like most people, tend to see the flaws in their work, rather than see the work in its entirety.

 

[michael]

Looking at your photo, I think it will be near impossible to achieve a dead strait line between the two paints what ever brush you use. To get the perfect straight line finish without bleeding you would probably need masking tape (well sealed at the edge) and a paint spray gun. Not very authentic though.

 

[JoceAndChris]

To get the perfect straight line finish without bleeding you would probably need masking tape (well sealed at the edge) and a paint spray gun.

I know what you mean, I had a few years of paint-sprayed tiger-striped plastic nails before it finally dawned on me they weren't that nice. But how accurate the sprays were!

But the best nail job I ever had happened in Camden Town, you won't believe this but it's true.

A lovely Vietnamese girl rapidly pulled out one of her long, thick dark hairs, folded it in half and twisted it to make a rope-type shape. At the point of the fold, if you can imagine it, a loop of around 3 mm was created. So then this hair, a tiny racket-shaped thing, was dipped, loop-end first, into the paint. With great speed and dexterity she proceeded to put the imprint of the loop onto each nail, four times, creating four perfect butterfly's wings. Then she discarded this hair, and pulled out another. This was dipped, unlooped, untwisted, into a contrasting colour and within about 3 mins she flicked it across my nails creating absolutely perfect antennae, thorax, abdomen, and wing spots on each of the ten butterflies. The whole thing took ten mintutes of her day, and she was utterly nonchalent throughout.

It was a humbling experience, as it always is when you see the craftsmanship of the Far East.

But maybe that's part of learning skills - adjusting yourself to suit a task? Gradually you learn how to arrange stones to make a wall, and develop the understanding and control (and presumably the muscles!) to do that work. Or someone 'thrusty' learns to do something delicate, such as tying fishing flies, or jewellery making.

OK... some try and fail. But most of us must have the potential to be more than one type, even if a task seems daunting or impossible at first.

As well put as ever, Cloudscape. Some people don't care and don't ever think about the quality of their craftsmanship or home "improvement" though. But I think that on this forum we do, in the main, which is one of the reasons it is such a pleasurable place to be.

Your paintwork probably looks every bit the part... it's just that you, like most people, tend to see the flaws in their work, rather than see the work in its entirety.

 

[Cloudscape]

We'd all be able to recognize your nail artist - we would just need to look for a bald Vietnamese girl. :?