Are artistic makeup brushes suitable? Test Drive. What and how can you make a paintbrush? How to make a DIY brush

Even the smallest nail brushes I can find tend to be too big for me. I know that you can order quite small brushes online, but I don't like ordering online and waiting for everything to come, it literally pisses me off. Once I ordered a sable brush from the online store Sally Hansen, painted one strip with it and dipped it in acetone to clean, as I usually do with all brushes, and when I took out the brush from acetone, I found that all the nap was gone - I'm not kidding ... Needless to say, I was extremely disappointed. I think another reason why I don't like ordering online is that mail is not delivered directly to your home, but you have to pick up parcels from the office .. but that's a completely different story.

In any case, I'm more inclined to check out the art departments of large stores, or the art stores that I come across on the way for commercially available brushes. Usually there are brushes for one or two dollars. So, if you can't find a brush small enough for nail design, you can make your own pretty easily. All I need is a pair of nail scissors or, as I prefer, a cuticle nipper.

When I buy a cheap brush, I simply take my tongs and run them in a circle at the base of the handle, cutting off small sections of the nap, gradually working towards the middle. I try to keep the trimmed edge more or less the same width so that when I reach the desired fineness of the brush, the remaining bristle is in the middle of the brush and not pushed to the side.

Continue trimming small sections of bristle evenly around the circumference of the brush until you feel it is thin enough for you.

Below are some of my brushes, you can see how thin some of them are. You will also notice that among the five brushes photographed, I have two similar brushes with black handles. The only difference is that for one of the brushes, I trimmed the pile more thinly.

In general, when I find a good cheap brush, I usually buy a few pieces of it in order to make several brushes for nail design of different sizes and have spare brushes in case one gets very worn out, or I end up ruining it or losing it. ...

In modern conditions, making a brush with your own hands is usually carried out using bristles and animal hair. You can make such brushes with your own hands and get a quality tool for painting or painting. Depending on the area of use, brushes can be made round or flat. In addition, the pile can be shortened or elongated.

Making a brush with your own hands will not be difficult.

The most common and high-quality are the tail hair brushes of such animals:

badger;
speaker;
proteins;
gerbils.

Given the high cost of animal hair tools, which were listed above, in homemade brushes, this material can be replaced with wool and hair of other animals. In particular, in recent years, tools made of mink, arctic fox and fox wool have become increasingly common. In addition, waste from the activities of fur factories can be used as a material. Also, the pile can be made from camel, sheep or long-haired dog wool, as well as from human hair.

Manufacturing technology

The first step in manufacturing is the preparation of animal bristles or hair. In addition, a brush holder and grip material must be prepared. However, the first step is to start with the choice of material for the bristle tuft.

Material selection

When choosing a material, you need to focus on what kind of work you plan to use the brush for. So, for painting with watercolors or oils, some materials are suitable, and for delicate painting works - others. At the same time, there are areas of use that require the use of a certain material. For example, for ink painting, most craftsmen prefer to use camel wool products.

Trimming wool for future brush bristles

Consider the main characteristics of the most common homemade brushes, depending on the material used:

Gerbil brushes are usually made flat with a long or short hair surface. They have soft and elastic hair. Therefore, such tools are mainly used for fine painting or painting with oil paints or watercolors. In addition, brushes with a sandy pile can be used to glaze varnish.
Badger products are round or flat. They are somewhat tougher than the previous version, and therefore they are mainly used for working with oil paints.
Core-bristled brushes can be flat or round. They are highly elastic and resilient. They are mainly used for delicate work, as well as for wet glazing.
Squirrel tassels can only be round. They are extremely soft and elastic, therefore they are mainly used for painting on porcelain or paper.

Hair preparation

It is advisable to start harvesting at the beginning of autumn, when the animals molt. Individual unsuitable hairs are removed from the collected bundle and trimmed. Next, the trimmed part is placed in a glass for alignment. The resulting bundle of hair should be combed out with a sharp-toothed comb.

Carefully combed pile must be tied up and degreased in clean gasoline. To do this, the bunch is stored in a closed jar for several days, after which it is boiled in a tanning solution to make the hairs non-hygroscopic.

Carefully combed pile is tied up and degreased

The next step is hardening, the conditions of which depend on the type of hair. Typically, hair is kept at 150 degrees for about an hour. For hardening, the bundle is placed on a metal mesh or suspended so that the hairs are well warmed up with air of the required temperature.

Knitting brushes

A pile that has been hardened is suitable for knitting a brush. For this, a certain number of hairs are taken and lowered into a tin or plastic mold with a tapered bottom. This form must be prepared in advance. After you have put the required number of hairs into the mold, you can make a blank for the brush by tapping on this mold. Then the bunch of hair is removed and tied, after which the non-working surface is varnished. It is inserted into a metal capsule or clip.

The capsule can be made either from thin metal strips, joining their edges with an overlap with soldering. In addition, this can also be seamless, which is considered a more acceptable option.

It is recommended that the primer be made of brass or tinplate, as these materials are durable and resistant to corrosion. Its size will depend on the desired brush number. Also, at this stage, do not forget about such an important element as a brush stand.

The brush holder is equally important

Handle making

After you have managed to make a pile, you should start making a pen. It is best to carve it from the following types of wood:

Pine;
alder;
Birch.

After grinding, the handle is covered with a colorless varnish or painted with a single color paint. Next, the bundle inserted into the capsule is poured from the wide end with synthetic glue or other waterproof compound. This must be done so that the glue reaches the end of the pile in the capsule.

After everything is dry, the bristle tuft capsule should be connected to the wooden handle. For strength, it is recommended to additionally crimp the capsule with a wooden handle. The finished handle should be varnished.

Choice of pile length

Select the length of the bristles coming out of the primer. The length of the released hair should depend on its elasticity. This is of fundamental importance, because if you release the bristles too long, the brush will look disheveled. Otherwise, insufficiently released pile will not collect enough paint.

After you have decided on the length, the finished brush must be moistened with water and combed until the bristles are as even as possible.

Conclusion

Thus, making a brush with your own hands is a completely affordable procedure. It consists of several stages, one of which is the choice of material. Hair and bristles are selected in this case, taking into account the purpose of the brush and financial capabilities.

Yana Karimova is figuring out whether it is possible to replace makeup brushes with brushes from an artist store within the economy.
It is widely believed among people who are fond of cosmetics that brushes should be more expensive than the contents of a cosmetic bag. There is, of course, a rational grain in this, but the crisis does not spare anyone, the ruble is falling again, and if only the lazy one has not written guides on mass-market cosmetics (we are among them -)), then budget brushes are not so easy to find.

I have read several times in interviews and blogs of makeup artists that for some makeup brushes there are analogues among artistic ones, and by the way, they cost an order of magnitude cheaper. After spending forty minutes at the brush stand, carefully examining and feeling the assortment, I left the artist store with five brushes - and the persistent feeling that I had discovered a new source of economy and a kind of shopaholicism at the same time.

Round brush No. 1 (synthetic), Roubloff

The first thought when looking at this brush: "Yes, it's an eyeliner brush!" But in comparison with the usual thin eyeliner brushes, you come to disappointing conclusions. The Roubloff brush is thinner and has a few millimeters longer bristles, which is why it is inelastic and bends when pressed. With this lack of control, arrows are completely impossible to draw. It's a pity, the price is already very nice-)) However, I managed to adapt it for eyebrows. You can draw very fine hairs, the effect is like using an eyebrow marker.

Price - 77 rubles.

Oblique brush No. 6 (synthetics), Roubloff

The pile of this brush is narrower and shorter than the beveled brushes I had. Because of this, the same arrows are a little more difficult to draw with it. But they can be made very thin-) And it, already without reservations, is very good for eyebrows, and with its help you can apply both shadows and cream products. If I suddenly find myself without a single eyebrow brush - I know which one I will buy first-) The price here is a nice bonus. Very nice, let's face it.

Price - 157 rubles.

Oval brush No. 7 (synthetic), Roubloff

If I chose the previous two brushes at my own peril and risk, this one was easier - synthetic oval brushes are definitely used by makeup artists to apply concealer. What can I say, these makeup artists are not stupid-)) The brush is great for spot camouflage when you need to apply a dense pigmented concealer (like my favorite Laura Mercier Secret Camouflage).

In the process of using for the brush, one more application was found. She can apply lipstick precisely and tightly. Just a few movements - and the lips are painted. It is clear that this can be done with almost any lip brush - but not any lip brush costs 176 rubles-)) I will definitely buy a take.

Price - 176 rubles.

Painting round brush No. 5 (squirrel)

At first glance, everything is clear with a brush. Soft, fluffy, squirrel - just right for shading shadows. In fact, not everything is so simple-)) The brush is so soft that it is completely impossible to blend relatively pigmented shadows. Which, however, does not make it completely useless-) With its help, you can apply a base light color to the entire eyelid or a highlighter shadow under the eyebrow.

Price - 142 rubles.

Painting round brush No. 10 (squirrel)

The most expensive and largest brush of the five. I love that it is softer and more skin-friendly than most regular face brushes. I apply a highlighter to her (wherever a highlighter is usually applied) and sometimes powder the T-zone and the area under the eyes. When the swatch was removed, there was no powdery highlighter at hand - but the creamy highlighter, as it turned out, works great-)

Price - 580 rubles.

As a result, out of five brushes, three have firmly settled in my cosmetic bag - and two of them are cheaper than two hundred rubles. It seems to me a good economy-)

How to make a paint brush in five minutes, let's try to figure it out with you.

Now the stores have everything! Buying any brush and pretty cheap is not a problem, but imagine this situation. You need to paint something. Literally two brush strokes. After such a short-term use, the brush will have to be thrown away. It’s a pity, but there’s nothing to be done; washing it somehow is not handy.

And in this situation, this article will come to your rescue.

How to do it yourself, it is very simple and cheap, to make a brush for painting, which does not need to be thrown away and does not need to be washed, with detailed photographs and will be described in it.

What can you make a brush from?

This does not require a lot of time and materials. An old dry brush or any other pen that is comfortable to hold in your hand while painting and a few more details will be enough.

We disassemble the old brush so that the handle remains intact, and discard the rest.

Next, select an ordinary stationery clip of the width you need the brush, and adjust the width of the handle to the width of the clip. It is better not to cut the handle with a knife, but to saw off, it will be more accurate, and there is no risk that the tree will break off in the wrong place.

To secure the clip to the handle, you need to pick up two small and not thick screws. Depending on the diameter of the screws, you need to take two drills. The larger one is for drilling the clamp, and the smaller one is for drilling the screw hole in the handle (so that it does not split when tightening the screws).

We drill holes.

We fasten the clamp to the handle.

Cut out the foam rubber of the desired size and insert it into the clip.

The brush is ready.

The brush for painting with your own hands is made, you can use it for an unlimited time and do not worry that the paint will dry out and the brush will have to be thrown away. After painting, you simply throw away the used foam rubber, and it is enough to lightly wipe the handle from traces of paint. You can not even throw away the foam, but leave the brush as it is.

In order for the brush to be ready for further use, it is enough to simply change the dried foam rubber for a piece of new one and the brush is again ready for use. You can take any foam rubber, such as you have.

If there is no foam rubber, then you can use a piece of old fabric folded in several layers, a piece of felt or something similar.

As you can see, there are no desperate situations.