1. Round Paint Brush Sizes
2. Big Round Acrylic Paint Brush
3. Long Paint Brush

As we all know, brushes come in a variety of materials, shapes, and sizes.Most brushes have a handle, a ferrule (the object holding the bristles), andbristles made of synthetic or natural materials.The bristles have a length (measured from the ferrule to the tip) and a width(measured where the bristles exit the ferrule),but what's the brush number?This article describes the brush size numbering system that oftenappears on the handle of paint brushes.

A brush from Winsor & Newton’s Sceptre Gold range is ideal – a Series 101 round in size 12 or 14 would be the best choice. These brushes have excellent spring and good carrying capacity. They are a mixture of sable and synthetic hair, will hold up to a lot of use, and are suitable for acrylic, oil or watercolour. Royal Brush Big Kid's Choice Round Size 8 Paint Brush is sold as 12 per pack. Sold as a Pack of 12; Features a comfortable grip and plastic handle; Fine point brush tip creates thin lines and sharp edges; Perfect addition to you art classroom or studio; Ideal for students and beginner painters.

Basically, the numbering system is meant to order the sizes of brushes.The system begins at 0. Larger brushes are signified by increasing wholenumber values. Smaller brushes are signified by increasing the number ofzeros. The smaller sizes are often abbreviated with a slash notationending in '/0' and having a whole number for the number of zeros.Hence, the following two ordered ranges are equivalent:

Winsor & Newton brushes. From left to right: 000, 0, 2, mini 2, mini 0, mini 00.

This photo shows a series of brushes from manufacturer Winsor & Newton(warning, this site requires the Flash 5 plugin).To the left of the U.S. penny are round sizes 000, 0, and 2.To the right is their 'round miniature' brush sizes 2, 0, and 00.As you can see, similarly numbered brushes are about the same size atthe ferrule, but even two round shapes can have different bristle sizes.There is no standard measurement system that the industry must follow.The comparison of round brushes to other shapes,and the introduction of metric and imperial measurementsmakes these numbers inconsistent between manufacturers.One site states that these measurements are roughly 1/32 of aninch, another site states 1/6 of an inch, and another states 1 mm.This table gives a common summary

Size	Round Size	Flat/Other Size
5/0	<<1/64'	<<1/64'
4/0	<1/64'	<1/64'
3/0	1/64'	1/64'
2/0	<1/32'	<1/32'
0	1/32'	1/32'
1	3/64' 2.7mm	2/32' 5.3mm
2	2/32' 3.1mm	3/32' 6mm
3	5/64' 4.2mm	4/32' 6.5mm
4	3/32' 5.5mm	5/32' 9.2mm
5	7/64' 6.3mm	11/64' 10.1mm
6	4/32' 7mm	6/32' 11mm

Some better suppliers perform their own brush size measurements.Blick Art Materials has somegreat reading material on brush sizes, shapes, and materials at:

Most miniature painters use a variety of brushes.The size of the brush generally determines how much paint you can loadand carry to your miniature, and how much paint is applied tothe miniature - the width and rate of paint application.For 15 and 28 mm miniatures, the brush sizes 000 through 2 are mostlikely the sizes you will use, with perhaps one or two other sizes forpriming and dry brushing and top coating.Be aware that the brush size notation is arcane and inconsistentfrom manufacturer to manufacturer.

Round Paint Brush Sizes

More miniatures-related articles are atDan Becker's Miniatures and Models site.Thanks for stopping by and reading about my miniatures.

Big Round Acrylic Paint Brush

Excellent service, great prices and exceptional delivery time. I'll certainly be back again. Thanks. LindaBoston, MA As you may have noticed by now, there are a great many different kinds of paint brushes available from MisterArt.com! If you aren't quite sure what kind of paint brush that you need, it can be a frustrating experience purchasing the perfect brush for you latest project without trying it out first. With a little knowledge, however, finding the right paint brush at MisterArt.com can be as easy as ordering any of the other discount art supplies we carry! Size is an important consideration when shopping for the perfect paint brush. Nearly all paint brushes are classified by their manufacturers using a standard numbering system. The size of a paint brush is indicated by a number printed on the handle. The smallest brushes start at 0, then proceed to 1, 2, and on up to 24 or even larger. The higher the number, the bigger or wider the brush; the more zeros, the smaller the brush! MisterArt.com has devised a chart to help give you an idea of how large each number in the system is. The numbering system can be very helpful in giving artists a good idea of how large a paint brush is, especially if he or she is already familiar with a particular manufacturer's product line. Maddeningly, however, there's not much consistency between brush manufacturers as to which measurements correspond to each number, so a number 14 paint brush from one manufacturer might be significantly larger or smaller than a number 14 from a different brand. Use our size chart as a general guide only! When you're ordering a new paint brush, it's important to remember that a brush's width doesn't directly correspond to the width of the paint stroke that the brush makes. The width of that stroke varies according to the amount of pressure you use, the angle at which you hold your brush, the medium you use, and the spring of the brush's bristles. Brush Size Chart

Long Paint Brush