Sign Painting 101: Brushes

This week I’m sharing a few tips about sign making and decorative painting. Yesterday we talked a little about paint, and today I’m touching on brushes.

Chocolate, shoes, and tools all have one thing in common: you get what you pay for. Paint brushes are just like any other tool, the better the quality the higher the price tag. Good brushes are a good investment, whether it is a nice brush for cutting in walls, or a thin tipped detailed brush, in my experience quality cost more, but it also lasts longer.

 You can fight with a bad brush and use it 2 or 3 times before you give up and buy a better brush – or you can buy a good one to start with and save yourself the headache. I kinda prefer working headache free.I have dozens of paint brushes in every shape and size imaginable – and from every price range. The ones that are always in the bottom of the box (and never get used) are the cheapest ones. Occasionally I will buy a pack of them, but normally I buy individual brushes so that I can pick and choose the exact ones I need.

Since we’re specifically talking about sign painting, I thought I’d share my favorite go-to brushes. For lettering signs, I use two different ones. I tend to be drawn towards chunky, thick fonts, and filling those in is much, much easier if you have a wider brush. My choice is DecoArt Traditions Filbert brush in size 12. I love this brush because it has smooth bristles for good, even application. It doesn’t work well for precise angles, but fills in like a dream.

My favorite for detailing small angles and lines is a store brand brush from Plaza Arts (we have a store in Nashville), it is a Liner size 1. The smooth bristles (notice a theme?) makes getting into sharp corners a dream. It’s easy to handle and works incredibly well.The thing I love about both of these brushes is that they clean up very easily, maintain their shape for a long time (I’ve had my Plaza brush 2 years), and both react well to basically any kind of paint I use.

The Fairfax doesn’t do itty, bitty tiny lines, but Inever do painting that requires miniscule lines – I want to be able to see those lines on a sign across the room. If you need thinner, you can get brushes that are much thinner, though.

Brushes really do make a big difference when painting details (like fonts), so that the paint goes exactly where you want it to. Natural bristles make a lot of difference in the reaction between the brush and paint – so I always choose those over synthetic.

Tomorrow I’m going to dip into painting letters. It’s not complicated – so don’t be skeered :)