Winsor & Newton Series 7 Kolinsky Sable Brush, Round SH #1,Black

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.

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

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.

Junk. Brush arrived without a point out of the packaging. Shaped it up with water and gave it a shot anyway. Used it once in acrylic thinned with water. Brush tip split within 30 minutes and even using brush soap I cannot get it to form a proper tip. Brush shape also leaves a lot to be desired. Stumpy and fat; hard to get clean lines even with a weak point. Will not be buying Windsor & Newton products again. I've heard some people say good things about this brush, so maybe I got a bad one. Even still bad brushes seem to be way to common for a 25 buck brush. Very disappointed.

I reviewed this brush for the Night Phoenix Press Youtube channel and love it. I do badgirl and urban fantasy comics and the Winsor & Newton Series 7 brushes, are a staple for inking in the comic book industry. I was using mainly an ink brush and liners and I can honestly say it's the best brush I use. My Silver Black Velvet is the runner up and of course my brush pens, but I love working with this brush. I'm using the 3 round mini now, but I do plan to get a standard 1 or 2 round. I use these with sumi ink, but they work best with Carbon Black, Karkos and Ultradraw. The Zig sumi is decent as it's a little thinner than Yasutomo in my experience. I haven't tried it with watercolor yet as I bought it for inking. -Nathyn Brendan Masters Night Phoenix Press Youtube Channel

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...))

Only gave it 5 stars so you would see this post. Brush was cracked and bent, even though packed in a tube. I was surprised when I opened the tube because it was so fancy. I am returning this item but also bought another one from same company. We will see how second one comes. I’m disappointed because I work 80 hrs a week and have little time to paint. Was planning on using it this weekend to paint with and now I can’t. See photos.

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.