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So I just bought Winsor & Newton Series 7 Kolinsky Sable Water Colour Brush size 1, and it was a complete dud. After a single use, despite a thorough cleaning with Masters brush cleaner (and I probably only painted in total for ten minutes), it is already flaring out. It arrived with a very good point, but it didn't last even through the first use.

I'd heard such good things about this brand, so I'm wondering if buying what it calls a "water colour brush" was a mistake? It looks like a perfectly normal brush. Hell my old craft store brushes seem to hold up better.

Any reccomendations for alternate brushes? I'll probably go back to vallejo after this.

A seven series shouldn't do that - mine never have.
If you contact Windsor and Newton they may send you a replacement.

Yeah that aint right, take it back and get a new one - I abuse my brushes pretty badly and they still hold a brilliant tip

What they said. It sounds like you were unlucky and got a bad brush. The store or W&N should replace that for you.

I will email W&N then and see what they say. I got this one off amazon, and I'm currently working at a base in Japan, so not exactly able to return it the normal way.

Just a couple of things for brush maintenance of w&n s7 --

- It's much easier to use the W&N brush cleaner & restorer than the Master's soap, if you aren't used to it. The W&N product is a liquid instead of a bar soap, and it quickly dissolves paint.

- If you let your kolinsky sable brush (ANY one) dry pointing up without having rolled its tip to a point, it will dry sort of like what you have pictured. Once you're finished cleaning it (and there should be no paint in the bristles (yours looks good), hold it by the end of the handle, and flick the brush away from you. It should form a point. Now, roll it either in your lips or in the crease of your palm. When it dries, it will keep that shape.

- In a perfect world, dry the brush with the bristles facing down. But to do this, you need some kind of drying rack, bucket, or tray.

If you look at pictures of my W&N brushes after a half year+ of use, this is what the bristles look like, after they've been rolled to a point (and dried):



Those brushes probably got a lot more action than most in that period, and they still look pretty darn usable. Look at the wear on the handle, and I treat my brushes like highly valued tools.

Thanks Talys, I will give that a try as well. I never got around to emailing W&N yet, too busy with our new baby and work. I also didn't ever give any thought to the direction my brushes were drying in, I'll try and work out some sort of rack to see if that helps as well.

I did find one website that suggested W&N had gone through a transition to lower quality materials in the last couple years, but it was only one reviewer.

I tape a magnet to the non-bristly end of mine and keep them on a magnetic whiteboard. So they are pointing down.

Never had a natural hair brush bush out like that, just from drying. Synthetics that have 'broomed' from abuse, yes, but not a sable. I store mine on their side and gravity seems to have no appreciable effect. I do, however, reform the point (no saliva, only occasionally leave in a brush soap lather - mostly just re-point the damp bristles), so I'd wager that's the primary factor.

Try reforming the tip before leaving it to dry, whether you make a rack or not, and see if it returns to proper shape.