Connoisseur Hog Bristle Brushes

When it comes to artist paint brushes there is an abundance on the offer and it is very difficult finding the ones that will suit your technique the best and at the same time will be of good quality and long lasting. Over the years I have used many. Some of them were good, some not that good and some were completely terrible.

I have managed to find a few that I still go back to and amongst them are Connoisseur Hog Bristle brushes. At first, when I found them I was unsure but the moment I felt the bristles that are at the same time so soft and elastic and yet firm and able to carry a lot of paint I knew I have to try them and at my surprise they did very well.

At Connoisseur they understand what a brush means to an artist and they respect that and that’s what helped them make a good brand of professional artist grade brushes. That is something you can see when you use Connoisseur brushes, that they are made of top quality materials with utmost precision and care with your satisfaction in mind.

For oil painting, I recommend that you try Connoisseur Hog Bristle brushes. They are a bit pricey but once you try them you will see they are worth it.

Appearance

Brushes have nice anatomic long wooden perfectly balanced handles, in natural wood colour protected by a layer of lacquer. Along the handle, there is a number of the brush written in gold letters followed by the company name and the type of the brush.

Bristles are white hand chosen best quality Chunking hog bristles. Carefully interlocked to give the artist better control while painting. Bristles are able to carry a large amount of paint due to that and the natural curve of hog hairs.

They are placed by hand into seamless copper corrosion and tarnish resistant ferrules that are sealed on to the handles. Brushes are perfect to use with oil colours, alkyd and acrylics. They come in many sizes and bristle shape.

There are bright, fan, filbert, flat, hake, long filbert and round all in multiple sizes. As with all hand made artist grade brushes size may vary from brush to brush even in the same series.

Performance

Top quality Chungking hog bristles hand placed into the ferrules, carefully picked and interlocked together with the natural curve of the bristles can carry a large amount of paint allowing you to make more textured artwork.

Bristles are white and elastic and easily regain the previous shape after cleaning tho I do advise the same with all brushes after cleaning them with turpentine or odourless mineral spirits make sure you wash them with mild soap and lukewarm water until all the paint residue is removed from the brush.

Pay special attention to the part near the ferrule and get all of the paint out of there because it can destroy the shape of your brush once it is dry. If you do all of that your brushes will maintain their perfect shape for many years.

Besides best quality bristles brushes have seamless copper ferrules which are resistant to tarnish and corrosion and which hold the bristles tight so there are no hairs falling off while you are painting.

Ferrules are sealed to long perfectly balanced handles. Long handles allow the artist to be on a certain distance from the canvas and have a better perspective while painting. They also have a layer of protective lacquer so are as long-lasting as all the other parts of the brush.

The price of the brushes is somewhat high but like for any top quality tools the materials used in producing those are expensive and that is what determines the price of the finished product as well as its quality. These brushes are definitely worth the money you pay for them. They are made to last for many years so you can consider them an investment.

Once you try working with these top quality brushes you will understand what I mean. For those who are on a limited budget, there is always an alternative in synthetic bristle brushes which are much cheaper and almost as good as natural ones. 

Cons

• High price

Alternatives

There are a few alternatives you might consider when it comes to hog bristle brushes Da Vinci paint brushes, D’artisan shoppe and Winsor and Newtons Winton hog brushes.

Da Vincis hog bristle brushes are the top quality hog bristle brushes. Bristles made of  Chungking boar, white, double boiled for additional spring and resistance are deeply embedded into brass nickel plated seamless ferrules to prevent any hair or shape loss.

Brushes have long perfectly balanced handles which allow the artist to paint from the distance to the canvas. Price is a bit lower than the price of Connoisseur hog bristle brushes.

Winton hog brushes are made of Chungking boar bristles. White bristles are carefully picked and placed by hand into corrosion resistant ferrules. These also have nicely balanced long handles and lay perfectly in the hand it’s a real delight to use them. Price is approximately the same as one of Connoisseur hog brushes.

D’artisan Shoppe hog bristle brushes are also made of top quality Chungking hog bristles which are placed by hand into double crimped anodized aluminium ferrules. Handles are long and a bit lighter than those I am used to using so it takes some time getting used to them tho I still find that it’s very pleasant working with them.

Price is much lower than the price of Connoisseur hog brushes but the quality is not that bad.

Overall opinion

This is an excellent paint brush made with care out of top quality materials. From the appearance to the performance there are no flaws. Tho the price of the brushes is high I would recommend you trying to work with those.

Go small buy a few brushes you use the most I am sure you will be satisfied with their performance and will over time make yourself a nice set of top quality Connoisseur Hog bristle brushes designed with your satisfaction in mind to last you for many years.

If you have any questions regarding this subject feel free to leave them below and I will be happy to answer them and help in any way I can.