Review on Silver Atelier Squirrel Blend Quill by Kelly Caballes

When first used with water and watercolor on medium cotton paper, a lot of hair falls out of the brush. The bristles are not as finely shaped as described or expected. The brush is described as producing "fine lines" but this is not possible as the bristles do not reach a fine point when wet as they are too soft, have a blunt tip and a short belly. The bristles are medium hard. You can get the center line by shaping a wet sock with your fingers or dragging it around the edge of the palette a few times after dipping it in the paint. It contains enough water and color for washes, broad strokes and wet-on-wet mixes. It has a moderately good balance for a very light, short plastic grip. The hilt should be completely black, but over most of the surface and at the tip of the hilt where the color is worn or missing, it will be mottled and brownish. There is no quality control here. The tip is roughly wrapped with a thin piece of sharp-edged black hard plastic and four copper wire ferrules. There is a sharp end of a black plastic tip pointing towards the tip of the handle that curves up from the handle under the last copper wire crimp. It would be extremely uncomfortable to hold if you held it near the tip of the brush and on the tip. The copper wire crimp wrapped around this plastic on the ferrule also has sharp and jagged spots where it is cut and knotted in four places. I'd say this brush might be good for teaching a kid but not with that rough and spiky tip. Perhaps the baby elephant would do well to paint with this brush, he must have felt it with his trunk! This brush is a crude and clumsy copy of the best goose brush. Don't waste your money on that plastic junk for the brush. This brand is overpriced and overpriced.