Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

This is the first brush I have tried by Silver. I have heard good things about the Black Velvet series, so I decided to try it in a size 6, which is usually one of my favorite sizes for watercolors. I was really surprised when I opened the package and saw the size of this brush! It was considerably smaller than any size 6 I have ever seen. I have put a photo here of a Raphael 8404 and the Silver Black Velvet--both in size 6. The Silver is equivalent to about a size 4 in other brands--maybe even a bit smaller and narrower. To be fair, it is also about half the price of a size 4 in the Raphael, but then again, the Raphael is a Kolinsky sable. Well, once I got past the size surprise, I tried it out. It has a very sharp point, nice enough snap--not as stiff as synthetics, but not as soft as sable. Just about right for painting details. I couldn't really decide whether I really loved it, though, because it was too small to do very much with it. Most of my paintings are portraits and florals, so this will be very useful for details, but if I wanted a brush to do larger areas--for example, leaves, or blossoms, it's much too small. I would love to try it in maybe a size 10 or 12.