Choosing Kolinsky Hair for Miniature Painting: What Matters and Why

Choosing Kolinsky Hair for Miniature Painting: What Matters and Why

If you’ve ever painted a mini and needed your brush to hold up through every fine highlight, glaze, or line, you already know a good brush changes everything.

At FOXBITE, we work closely with painters and brush makers to make sure our tools meet that standard, starting with one of the most critical elements: the hair.

What Is Kolinsky Hair?

Kolinsky hair comes from the tail of Mustela sibirica, a wild animal found in the cold northern regions of Asia. The best quality comes from male tails during winter, when the hair is longer, stronger, and more consistent.

Because it’s naturally tapered, with a thick belly and fine tip, this hair offers the ideal balance of flexibility, control, and paint retention  all crucial for miniature painters working at a small scale.

The Grades: A, AA, AAA

Hair is typically sorted into three main grades:

• A: shorter or mixed-quality fibers

• AA: more consistent, good shape

• AAA: long, durable, with intact tips  the highest quality

We only use AAA-grade hair. This means more control, better spring, and a reliable point  even after long painting sessions.

Tested and Refined by Award-Winning Painters

Before we approve any batch of hair, we do more than just test it ourselves. We send samples to some of the most respected miniature painters around the world  artists who have won awards and set high standards in the hobby.

They give us detailed feedback on how the hair performs: how it handles thin glazes, tight lines, loaded brushes, edge highlights, and wet blending. Based on that, we adjust the shape, length of each brush until it feels right in their hands.

That’s also how we’ve started developing new shapes and ideas  brushes designed not to follow trends, but to push them. Many of the styles we’re working on come directly from conversations with these artist.

So when you pick up one of our brushes, you’re not just trying a nice tool. You’re holding something that’s been tested and shaped by some of the best painters in the world  and designed to perform under real pressure.

Why We Don’t Use Trimmed Hair

Some brush manufacturers cut the tips of the hair with machines to give it a sharp point. This works in industries like makeup or crafts, but in miniature painting, it affects how the brush performs.

Trimmed hairs lose their natural taper. They can feel stiff, lose their shape faster, and make it harder to get clean lines or curves. That’s why we only use uncut, naturally tapered hairs.

Why This Matters for Painters

When you're edge highlighting a cloak, glazing skin tones, or adding that final specular dot to an eye, the quality of your brush shows.

A well-made Kolinsky brush lets you move with more control, fewer corrections, and more enjoyment. It helps you focus on painting not on fighting your tools.

Picture: Don suratos.