How Paintbrushes Are Made

An experienced head maker performs the initial steps of making the head of the paintbrush. She unrolls and straightens out a bundle of red sable, then separates enough hairs for one brush of this size. She inserts the hairs into a metal band called a ferrule made of nickel-plated brass. She feels how they fit in the ferrule. If the fit's too tight, she removes some hairs. If it's too loose, she adds some. Brushes of different shapes require different tensions. The head maker takes the correct brass mold for the brush shape she's making and inserts the hairs all the way down into the mold cavity. She ties the roots of the hairs together with the string, then removes them from the mold. She inserts the brush head back into the ferrule, then removes the string. She dips the hairs into a solution of starch and water, and works the solution into all the hairs by massaging the head on a towel. The starch allows the hairs to be trained to a permanent shape. She makes this particular pointed shape by spinning the head, then smoothing the hairs with her fingers. The starch dries overnight, locking in the shape. To make the paintbrush handle, a worker inserts birch dowels in a pegboard, then mounts the board upside down on a dipping machine. This machine submerges the dowels in black lacquer paint. After one day of drying time, there's a second dip, partway this time in silver paint. The machine has markings to indicate how deep to dip the dowels for each color. After another day of drying time, there's a third dip, this time partway in black paint. This creates a black handle with a silver stripe. Once the last coat of black paint dries, a worker uses a pad printer to stamp lettering on the handle with quick-dry silver ink. A worker glues the brush head onto the handle, then the worker sets the brush aside for a couple of hours, until the glue partially dries to a tacky state, because the next step, crimping, would crack the fully dried hardened glue. The worker inserts the ferrule into a crimping machine, which has been loaded with a die that's the correct diameter for this brush handle. The machine crimps the ferrule tightly to the handle, attaching it permanently. Once that glue hardens, the paintbrush is finally ready. From this point onward, it's in the artist's hands.