By Jim Hingst
I first heard of the new Kafka Kwills from members of the Chicago
Brushmasters, a group of old school paint and brush sign makers. If their
praise of the new quills wasn’t so glowing, I never would have bought them. Instead
I would have stuck with the brushes that I had.
As I learned, when you try something new and different, you
occasionally discover something better. After receiving my new quills and
script liners in the mail, I wasted no time breaking them in. Painting
with the brushes was pure pleasure. While I was not trained as a professional
sign painter, the results I achieved were gratifying. Below is a picture of a glue chipped panel
that I painted with the Kafka Kwills and the script liner brushes.
What makes these brushes so different is that the head of the brush is about ¼” longer
than a Mack, and about ¼” shorter than a Langnickel. The extra length gives the Kafka Kwills a significant advantage, because even a novice
can easily pull long straight lines. It also allows the user the flexibility to
effortlessly negotiate the curves, such as those in the “Hoffman Bros.” script.
Another advantage of the long head is that it holds more paint. So you spend less time recharging the brush with paint and more time painting. I feel that you can also lay down a heavier coating of paint with these brushes. That way, you spend much less time reworking the job where the paint is too thin. Because you can paint faster with these brushes, you easily reduce your painting time by at least 25%.
The head of the brush combines a mixture of natural and synthetic hairs, which contribute to the exceptional control that you experience in handling the quills. Another nice feature is the metal ferrule, which secures the hairs in place. That way you don’t have to deal with the annoyance of picking errant hairs from your paint job.
The ten new Kafka Kwills and ten new Signwriter Series Liners were developed by famed pinstripe artist, Steve Kafka. He worked with some of the industry’s most talented sign writers and devoted four years to develop the new series.
To see
Steve Kafka demonstrate the new brushes on YouTube open the following link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YLbAl2LMlgs&feature=relmfu. The new paint brushes are available from Earl
Mich Co. (www.earlmich.com) in Wood Dale, IL near Chicago.
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Kafka Design Pinstriping Brushes
Steve Kafka is best known for his pinstriping brushes, which allow the user to create amazing scrolling designs.
Kafka Design Script Liner Brushes
Composed of a combination of
synthetic and natural, the Kafka Script Liner brushes are ideal for painting
intricate details with either oil-based
enamels or urethane striping paint.
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About Jim Hingst: After fourteen years as Business Development Manager at RTape, Jim Hingst retired. He was involved in many facets of the company’s business, including marketing, sales, product development and technical service.
Hingst began his career 42 years ago in the graphic arts field creating and producing advertising and promotional materials for a large test equipment manufacturer. Working for offset printers, large format screen printers, vinyl film manufacturers, and application tape companies, his experience included estimating, production planning, purchasing and production art, as well as sales and marketing. In his capacity as a salesman, Hingst was recognized with numerous sales achievement awards.
Drawing on his experience in production and as graphics installation subcontractor, Hingst provided the industry with practical advice, publishing more than 150 articles for publications, such as Signs Canada, SignCraft, Signs of the Times, Screen Printing, Sign and Digital Graphics and Sign Builder Illustrated. He also posted more than 325 stories on his blog (hingstssignpost.blogspot.com). In 2007 Hingst’s book, Vinyl Sign Techniques, was published. Vinyl Sign Techniques is available at sign supply distributors and at Amazon.
© 2016 Jim Hingst
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