What's the best (round) brush for petals?

So I have the LC 7000 series round brushes and I do like them, however I'm finding it a little hard to make decent petals with them. It's almost like the bristles are too long. Does anyone else have this problem or do I just need more practice? Looking at some other brands of brush, I notice the bristles seem to be shorter and I'm thinking this could be better. I'd appreciate any tips and advice as I love doing flowers but they're just not good enough (for me) this way

Are you trying to do "simple" double-dip type flowers? If so Denise and Emma have a YouTube video here.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5wJ67uNK4Hc&feature=g-user-u

I personally like my LC rounds..have heard that the "petal" brush is pretty difficult to get anything but chunky looking petals but don't have any personal experience with it.

I have a round Snazaroo brush that is PERFECT... short bristles, great point and I think the thickness around is something like a 7? It's this one http://www.snazaroo.com/store/face-painting-brushes-and-sponges/medium-round-multi-purpose-brush.aspx

It is perfect for flower petals, thick tiger stripes and feathered wings.

I like Camouflage #6, it makes nice petals and leaves, but I can do petals with LC round too.

For small petals, I use a #4 round (I like LC's or also the royal yellow tipped comfort grips). For larger petals, I do like the LC "Flora" brush. I found mine at Michael's but I think SF and some of the other online FP shops sell them.

Let me clarify myself. When I mentioned the "petal" brush I was referring to the one that SF sells. "Flora" brushes do work great for flowers as well.

The Snaz bold round and the small point silly farm brush are the best (i dont like the large point silly farm one so much). I prefer the sf one over the snaz one
http://www.sillyfarm.com/store/index.php?p=product&id=5217&parent=895
http://www.sillyfarm.com/store/index.php?p=product&id=2386&parent=514

Lisa Joy Young in her review said that Snaz brush lost the point pretty quick.

yes Katerra77, that seems to be the case with most thick rounds, the trick is to make sure that you really do get all the paint out of the ferral, which can be hard to do. But they still work ok

I've been using the same snaz round for 4 years

Snaz large round is my go to brush for pressed flowers, its chunky enough to make round petals, perfect petals, use LC's yellow grip for line work and carry one snaz lrg round just for flower details, but i do want to try the silly farm ones.

I like the Snaz large round too. I went up to Gary Cole at the FPBA and I said "what is this brush that everyone is talking about" and he sold me one...I'm actually the one that showed it to LJY.

I still love mine, especially when I'm doing arm flower paintings and I want a larger petal flower but they also do the smaller ones too. Maybe it's because I use the scrubby in the bottom of my water tub that I'm able to keep the point on mine.

Have we not talked about the Target brush here? OMGoodness....I love those things. They are pretty pricey compared to some brushes but if you have a Target close by you don't have to ship...

It's the eye liner brush. I heard about it from Shawna D. and I swear Marcela but she's come out with her own...but this is the sweetest petal brush ever. It does small and medium petals and they are perfect for little faces, very soft. I don't know how long it will last because it is a little "consumer" quality (like the handle is a hollow acrylic tube...but, hey, at least it's waterproof!) but the outcome is great.

http://www.target.com/p/sonia-kashuk-core-tools-synthetic-pointed-eye-liner-brush/-/A-13340038

Denise how is the scrubbies going? I bought some because i read the other thread. Does it keep the brushes good and get the paint out without destroying the brush?

I don't condition my tips like I should so they don't LOOK great but using the scrubbies keeps the paint buildup out so they maintain a point when wet. I even "re-newed" someone's 7000C the other day when she said the brush was ruined.

But on the job I really like it. I use a lot of one-stroke so I need to be able to get all that paint out of the brush and load the next color with a clean brush. Of course, my water looks like coffee on one side but my other side usually stays really clean because my brush is very clean when it goes in there.

I'll take a quick picture to show you...sorry this is overkill but I get asked quite a few times about the scrubbies...so here goes:

These are photos of the brushes dirty (I boogied out of my gig last night!) and then I scrubbed them and took another picture and then I loaded them with black and dragged or pressed them. A couple of them are splayed (one of the American Painters & a an LC ultra round but you can see that the others of those brands look good so I'll just have to fix them with some hair gel and maybe some heat and they should be fine. Some of the softer rounds get a little Hersey kiss top on them but they don't bug me enough. I tested all of the brushes and none of the strokes really suffered for it.

I'm not going to tell you they don't "ruin" brushes because I don't know what ruined means to different people. I know I was losing more tips to paint compaction than I did to being scrubbed. These brushes have been on at least two dozen jobs, been scrubbed, cleaned and not conditioned but maybe once in that time. I usually just squeeze them with a towel and let them air dry.

Dirty brushes (a little hammered from drying with paint in them):


Here's newly scrubbed:


Here's the Hersey Kiss thing:


Here's the worst ones, not a big fan of these brushes for anything but pulled lines like tiger stripes anyway....


Here's some brushes of the same brand that look great:




You can see a little bit of the Hershey kiss effect on the petals but the outside still looks nice and rounded (those are pulled teardrops from the petal brush...I stink at those obviously.)

Here a comparison with the Sonja Target brush on the left and the Snaz Large Round (a little bigger than the one that Perry linked.) I pressed the biggest on the top flowers and then went down.

Aww thank you so much Denise and omg i love your petals! I think i love the one on the left more so off to Target I go pretty soon

LOL! I wonder if Target is wondering why they can never keep this brush in stock!

I know, right Dex? I think that about Fat Max tool boxes, bottle ice cube makers and colored duct tape sometimes.

Thank you everyone for your replies! I was indeed referring to the double-dip flower petals that one just presses on the skin. I have ordered the Snazaroo brush and the Small Point, so I'm really excited to give them a try

Denise Cold wrote:I know, right Dex? I think that about Fat Max tool boxes, bottle ice cube makers and colored duct tape sometimes.

Thats so true Denise! I wonder if we told the FatMax makers what we use them for, would they bring out a girlie version LOL?!

I also bought the lg & sm SF petal brushes. Seems like the Lg size needs much more paint loaded & STILL starts not filling out the petals too quickly for me. The sm one is great. Thanks for the info, Denise. That brush will round out my 'petal supply". I'm off to Target tomorrow!

Thanks for this info - looking at getting a good petal brush

Denise Cold wrote:

I'll take a quick picture to show you...sorry this is overkill but I get asked quite a few times about the scrubbies...so


][/url]

NEVER "overkill" Denise! Your information has helped me on roughly 3,000 different occasions! So thank you and carry on please

the target brush is awesome. im pretty new to face painting and still practicing the basics. this little brush gives perfect flowers every time.

I have been using the large snaz as well, it works great for petals, my problem is it has lost its bounce, its been only about 6-8 months, so Im looking for another