Making brushes for painting (acrylic, water, oil, etc.) an overview from http://instructables.com.

Make brushes (such as for painting)

by balisticsquirel

Intro: Make brushes (such as for painting)

The fundamental concept for this instructable is to use heat shrink tubing to clamp the brush’s bristles in place, and also clamp this ‘casing’ or fer…

Step 1: Prepare your bristles

Bristle Source Do you have long hair you’re willing to sacrifice pieces of? No? Then do you have access to someone (sister, wife, etc.) who sleeps sou…

Step 2: Fixing the bristles in place

Select a bunch of hair to fit into the heat shrink ferrule. If you’re sliding the hair straight in, get as much in as possible without too much effort…

Step 3: Adding a handle

Slide the heat shrink ferrule over a suitable handle and heat to affix them together. A cigarette lighter works well as a small heat source. Pass the …

Step 4: Shaping the brush head

Using a pair of fine scissors, trim the head of bristles to the shape you require. If you don’t know what that is, a starting point is the ‘paintbrush…

Step 5: Concept tweaks, applications, and other uses

A brush applicator for very thin (non-viscous) cyanoacrylate glue can be made by following all the steps except for adding a handle, and then sliding …

The fundamental concept for this instructable is to use heat shrink tubing to clamp the brush’s bristles in place, and also clamp this ‘casing’ or ferrule to a handle. Essentially, replacing the crimped metal sheath of a store-bought brush with the plastic heat shrink sheath.

i’m sure that you will be able to take the simple concept and make it your own. Creating from your own materials and to your own required specifications. But i will show my specific Materials and Methods in a few steps that follow.

Before that though, here are the materials you will need (pictured also):

• hair of some sort for the bristles
• heat shrink tubing (a.k.a. “heat shrink”; or just “shrink”) used in electrics and electronics
• (possibly) glue
• wooden dowel or food skewers
• scissors
• point heat source such as a cigarette lighter
• sewing thread.