• 
  2009

  Nov 1
  6
   34
  
  Zizapermalink
  

  

  Kolinsky (Mustela sibirica)
  Watercolour on a “large” WC - need I say more. This one is for Niky…

  tags: brush | Kolinsky | sable | watercolour | weasel
   

Comments

• 

  Nikira 9:35 am on November 1, 2009 | #

  Ziza, Both looks neat! I hope they don’t kill em for brushes, just pulling hair from the tail? Wondering if Колонок is the same thing? Because they used to be cheap in Russia and I still use couple of flat ones on the wall.

• 

  trebor61 11:36 am on November 1, 2009 | #

  What a wee stoater! (A play on Scottish words - “She’s a wee stoater so she is”, would mean, “What an extremely nice looking/attractive person that is, don’t you agree?”

• 

  mono 12:05 pm on November 1, 2009 | #

  oh no, i thought the same nikira! they’re too cute to be killed for brushes…

• 

  Lia T 12:50 pm on November 1, 2009 | #

  Bravo! Very well said! (He’s too cute to use for a brush) Love the piece and the brush in it.

• 

  KirbysArt 12:04 pm on November 2, 2009 | #

  I hope no animals were hurt in the name of painting this:) Great job.

  Why kill them just shave there tails and let it grow back.

  ~Kirby

• 

  ziza 5:04 am on November 5, 2009 | #

  I do not know what they really do to them. I’m sure they don’t give up their hairs voluntarily. To pick the hairs out of a live animal is also hard to imagine. I do suspect they do kill them and use the rest of the fur for coats (which probably is why they kill them in the first place - otherwise animals would strongly object skinning). They do not use tails for coats and as leftovers they are used for brushes with price tag of 3 times that of gold (weight for weight).
  Now, I agree this doesn’t seem humane, and it would be our personal decision whether to switch to reasonably good synthetics.
  Колонок is I think a sable which makes the next best brush material. It is a bigger cousin. Both having excellent furs (like mink - another cousin). In Holland, already over 25 years ago fur is absolutely socially unacceptable and showing up in one on the Schiphol airport (or even having ivory bracelet) is legally punishable, and if smuggled - wearing it in the city, can trigger egg throwing attack.
  Unfortunately this is still not the case in my country and even in some Eu countries.
  What I do? I hate fur! I love kolinsky brushes, so I buy them. I play innocence: They are making millions of them anyway and I have only a couple of them. No excuse I agree, but…

Leave a Comment