Chatter Of The Squirrel

雞狼毫

May 30, 2008 on 11:55 pm | In Me!, WARMACHINE |

While walking around Muar, killing time… I came across this big shop that specialises in Chinese calligraphy brushes. Hundreds upon hundreds of brushes, in many dozens of varieties. It was fun just looking and poking at everything. Except for the lady boss hovering behind me, making me feel like a tourist who’s aimlessly browsing and not really buying.

Which I was…

Rabbit hair brushes. Sheep hair. Goat hair. Pony hair. Etc.

Then I saw something called 雞狼毫. Literally, “chicken wolf hair”. That’s, interesting… Never heard of a .chicken wolf’. Asked the lady what animal hair is this? She says chicken wolf hair. I can read the words on the brush just fine, thank you very much. But there’s no such thing as a chicken wolf. Is there?

Could it be some kind of chinese fox? Or, dare I hope, a kind of sable ??

The most desired painting brushes are made from Siberian sable.

I have bought a pair of Winsor & Newton Series 7 brushes for my miniature painting. They were around RM50 each. For very very few hairs of Kolinsky sable hairs. Price of different size brushes increases rapidly proportionate to the amount of hairs used. For best quality, only the the hair from the winter coat of the tip of the tail of the male kolinsky sable is used. These are fantastic brushes, and well worth the price I think. The tip is sharp, and STAYS sharp for years. Nylon brushes will begin to hook within half a week of moderate painting. I’ve put these hairs under the microscope, and every hair is Sharp! It’s very springy and will snap back into shape every time. They’re wonderful.

And these 雞狼毫 were only about RM2 each? Might these be the same sable? Even found a series of smaller art series brushes that was pure 狼毫. So I bought like 3 of these brushes.

Did some Googling. Well no, for ‘Chinese’ knowledge, it’s better to use Baidu.com.

So it seems that there is no such thing as a ‘chicken wolf’. Those brushes are a combination of the neck hairs of a cock, and the 小黄鼠狼, ’small yellow mouse wolf’.

They’re quite adorable. And that reddish brown fur, is VERY familiar. More Googling. Found it’s genus name, Mustela sibtricus Palias. That’s the Siberian Weasel. Commonly known as the Kolinsky Sable, but the animal is not a sable.

This. Is. AWESOME!!

Sable brushes for PENNIES!! Relatively…

Then further research showed that there are TONS of fake 狼毫 on the market, which uses dyed pony hair instead of weasel hair. And the way to tell the fake, is that it’s many tens of times cheaper than the real thing.

D’oh!!

I tried out the brushes anyway, at the last Legio club meet. And the brush does not perform as well as a W&N. Softer, not as much snap. But the brush can hold a lot of paint and it’s pretty good for RM2. Until bits of hair starts frizzing, or breaking off and sticking to the model.

GAK!!

That’s chicken hair for you!

I wonder if I’m the first person to review using chicken hair brushes for miniature painting.