Handmade Brushes

On our last day at Jingdezhen Ceramic Institute we had a brush maker come and do a demo. Once again this was a wonderful display of hand skills. He combed the hair with a lovely bone comb and then after he shaped the brush he rubbed the back of the hairs in ash. I’m not sure of the reason but I think to give it a hard surface kind of like a thin coating of cement. He made a huge assortment of brushes for different ceramic applications, water mops, slip decoration, over and under glaze painting. I think like potters though he has found there is more a market for his decorative brushes than his brushes that are intended for use. This is kind of like my “there is more money to be made in the living room than in the kitchen” theory.