Making a Medieval Brush

In addition to pondering out what Cenni was trying to convay in his description on how to make a brush, I asked Randy Asplund, aka Master Sir RanthulR of the Middle Kingdom, if he had any suggestions on other sources or tips for making brushes.  He was kind enough to supply a book suggestions as well as some tips. As, well as making the comment to practice.

The book was Brushes, A Handbook for Artists and Artisans, By Jacques Turner.  I managed to find a used copy in really good condition for not to much, so I picked it up.  The pictures and descriptions even tho they are of modern brushes really did help understand what Cenni was talking about.

With this new understanding I put together the following steps for making a brush.  It's still a bit of a mishmash as I've now made two badger hair brushes by these steps and those brushes need to be tested for results.

The steps are as follows:

1. Cut and clean quills. These barrels need to be a good length as they will be the ferrules that hold the tuft and handle together.
    
2. Carve your stick down to a tight fit into the quill barrels. The softened quill barrel will stretch some and shrink when dry and that will help lock the ferrule to the handle.  Be sure to carve a small ring notch near where the end of the quill barrel will be. If you plan to seal and finish your handle, you should do this before assembly. Sealing will help prolong the life of the brush by protecting the wood from liquids.
    
3. Soak the quill barrels until soft. You want the water to be a little warm.
    
4. Take your animal hair and wash and dry it to clean it. Combing or brushing it will help to clean it also.
   Cut the hair off the tail/pelt. Keep the tips of the hair all going the same way.  Comb out the hairs to help remove any small particles or short hairs.  Sort brushed hair into lengths.
    
5. Take hairs and make a bundle, be sure to line up the tips. Natural hair has three parts to it, the points or tips, the body, and the root.
    
6. Wet down the bundle and then press and squeeze the hairs to help in shaping.
    
7. Use thread or waxed silk to tie the bundles. Tie the bundles in two spots near the end. If you are making a bigger brush you can use many smaller bundles to make up a larger one.
    
8. You can manipulate the tuft shape a bit after it’s been tied off. And, trim the root end, if some of the hairs were longer than others.
    
9. Take the softened quill from the water and insert the tuft end first.  Adjust the length to desired size of brush. Modernly for quill ferrules, a small brass wire is used to compress the quill around the tuft, usually between the two ties. For metal ferrules, glue is used to secure the tuft.
    
10. Insert the prepared handle into the softened quill.  Be sure to tightly tie thread or silk about the quill where the ring notch is carved.  This will help the quill grip the handle once the quill dries. Modernly, brass wire is used to secure the quill to the notch.
     
11. Put aside and allow the quill to dry.

The badger hair I used didn't want to form a nice point after I got the brush assembled, so I took a diluted gum arabic solution and dipped the hairs into it, and then shaped the hairs. Over all, the making of the brushes went really smoothly besides lining up all the hairs for the tuft. I see where practice and experience plays a large roll here.

Isaac

Medieval Brushes

To go along with hand but quill pens, I've started to do research and practical application into making brushes.  It's been something I've wanted to do for a few years now, but thanks to a couple friends, it became a priority because we were going to be meeting again to try out hands at making a few brushes.

Many of the period treatises I have translated copies of, talk about using brushes for various activities.  These activities are such as writing, laying down gypsum, pigments, or paints.  So far only two of these treatises talk about what materials to use or even how to make a brush.  Theophilus in his book On Divers Arts points out several different animal hairs to use for the bristles, and Cennini in his Il Libro dell' Arte covers how to make a brush.

“Make yourself two or three brushes out of hair from the tail of a marten, badger, squirrel, or cat or from the mane of a donkey.” – Theophilus ‘On Divers Arts’ p. 62

“You should also have [brushes of] hog-bristles, three or four fingers thick, bound in the middle with iron…” – Theophilus ‘On Divers Arts’ p. 113

“In our profession we have to use two kinds of brushes: minever brushes, and hog’s-bristle brushes.” – Cennini ‘Il libro dell’ arte’

Cennino Cennini's description on how to make a minever hair brush:

    In our profession we have to use two kinds of brushes: minever brushes, and hog’s-bristle brushes. The minever ones are made as follows. Take minever tails, for no others are suitable; and these tails should be cooked, and not raw: the furriers will tell you that. Take one of these tails: first pull the tip out of it, for those are the long hairs; and put the tips of several tails together, for out of six or eight tips you will get a soft brush good for gilding on panel, that is, wetting down with it, as I will show you later on. Then go back to the tail, and take it in your hand; and take the straightest and firmest hairs out of the middle of the tail; and gradually make up little bunches of them; and wet them in a goblet of clear water, and press them and squeeze them out, bunch by bunch, with your fingers. Then trim them with a little pair of scissors; and when you have made up quite a number of bunches, put enough of them together to make up the size you want your brushes: some to fit in a vulture’s quill; some to fit in a goose’s quill; some to fit in a quill of a hen’s or doves feather. When you have made these types, putting them together very evenly, with each tip on a line with the other, take thread or waxed silk, and tie them up will with two bights or knots, each type by itself, according to the size you want the brushes. Then take your feather quill which corresponds to the amount of hairs tied up, and have the quill open, or cut off, at the end; and put these tied-up hairs into this tube or quill. Continue to do this, so that some of the tips stick out, as long as you can press them in from outside, so that the brush will come out fairly stiff; for the stiffer and shorter it is the better and more delicate it will be. Then take a little stick of maple or chestnut, or the other good wood; and make it smooth and neat, tapered like a spindle, and large enough to fit tightly in this tube; and have it nine inches long. And there you have an account of how a minever brush ought to be made. It is true that minever brushes of several type are needed: some for gilding; some for working with the flat of the brush, and these should be trimmed off a bit with the scissors, and stropped a little on the porphyry slab to limber them up a little; one brush ought to be pointed, with a perfect tip for outlining; and another ought to be very, very tiny, for special uses and very small figures.

Busy, Busy

I finished up my penner late last month.  I did indeed make a longer cord for it to get the hang to look better. The following picture has the shorter test cord that I tied at the bottom to test hanging.

Also, on May 31st my lovely wife gave birth to our son.  He’s a great little thing and we’re just now getting back to working our crafts during his time asleep.

I’ve been able to get a few really good quills cut to use for calligraphy. It’s gotten a lot easier to cut the quills with some practice.  I've also been doing research into making brushes lately.

Isaac