Art Short handled brushes are usually used for flat or slightly tilted work surfaces such as watercolor painting and ink painting, while long handled brushes are held horizontally while working on a vertical canvas such as for oil paint or acrylic paint.[5]: 51  Art shapes The styles of brush tip seen most commonly are:[6][3][5]: 52–59  Round: pointed tip, long closely arranged bristles for detail. Flat: for spreading paint quickly and evenly over a surface. They will have longer hairs than their Bright counterpart. Bright: shorter than flats. Flat brushes with short stiff bristles, good for driving paint into the weave of a canvas in thinner paint applications, as well as thicker painting styles like impasto work. Filbert: flat brushes with domed ends. They allow good coverage and the ability to perform some detail work. Fan: for blending broad areas of paint. Angle: like the filbert, these are versatile and can be applied in both general painting application as well as some detail work. Mop: a larger format brush with a rounded edge for broad soft paint application as well as for getting thinner glazes over existing drying layers of paint without damaging lower layers to protect the paintbrush Rigger: round brushes with longish hairs, traditionally used for painting the rigging in pictures of ships. They are useful for fine lines and are versatile for both oils and watercolors. Stippler and deer-foot stippler: short, stubby rounds Liner: elongated rounds Dagger: looks like angle with longish hairs, used for one stroke painting like painting long leaves. Scripts: highly elongated rounds Egbert: a filbert with extra long hair, used for oil painting Types of brushes Brushes used in one stroke painting Some other styles of brush include: Sumi: Similar in style to certain watercolor brushes, also with a generally thick wooden or metal handle and a broad soft hair brush that when wetted should form a fine tip. Also spelled Sumi-e (墨絵, Ink wash painting). Hake (刷毛): An Asian style of brush with a large broad wooden handle and an extremely fine soft hair used in counterpoint to traditional Sumi brushes for covering large areas. Often made of goat hair. Spotter: Round brushes with just a few short bristles. These brushes are commonly used in spotting photographic prints. Stencil: A round brush with a flat top used on stencils to ensure the bristles don't get underneath. Also used to create texture. Art sizes Artists' brushes are usually given numbered sizes, although there is no exact standard for their physical dimensions. From smallest to largest, the sizes are: 20/0, 12/0, 10/0, 7/0, 6/0, 5/0, 4/0 (also written 0000), 000, 00, 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 16, 18, 20, 22, 24, 25, 26, 28, 30, 2 inch, 4 inch, 6 inch, and 8 inch. Brushes as fine as 30/0 are manufactured by major companies, but are not a common size. Sizes 000 to 20 are most common.[3][5]: 51  Art bristles Closeup of an oil paintbrush Bristles may be natural—either soft hair or hog bristle—or synthetic.[5]: 50  Types include: watercolor brushes which are usually made of sable, synthetic sable or nylon; oil painting brushes which are usually made of sable or bristle; acrylic brushes which are almost entirely nylon or synthetic. Turpentine or thinners used in oil painting can destroy some types of synthetic brushes. However, innovations in synthetic bristle technology have produced solvent resistant synthetic bristles suitable for use in all media. Natural hair, squirrel, badger or sable are used by watercolorists due to their superior ability to absorb and hold water. Soft hair brushes The best of these are made from kolinsky sable, other red sables, or miniver (Russian squirrel winter coat; tail) hair. Sabeline is ox hair dyed red to look like red sable and sometimes blended with it. Camel hair is a generic term for a cheaper and lower quality alternative, usually ox. It can be other species, or a blend of species, but never includes camel. Pony, goat, mongoose and badger hair are also used. Hog bristle Often called China bristle or Chungking bristle. This is stiffer and stronger than soft hair. It may be bleached or unbleached. Synthetic bristles These are made of special multi-diameter extruded nylon filament, Taklon or polyester. These are becoming ever more popular with the development of new water based paints. Art handles Artists' brush handles are commonly wooden but can also be made of molded plastic. Many mass-produced handles are made of unfinished raw wood; better quality handles are of seasoned hardwood. The wood is sealed and lacquered to give the handle a high-gloss, waterproof finish that reduces soiling and swelling. Many brush companies offer long or short brush handle sizes. Metal ferrules may be of aluminum, nickel, copper, or nickel-plated steel. Quill ferrules are also found: these give a different "feel" to the brush, and are staple of French-style aquarel wash brushes.