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If you’ve ever seen a strange shaped brush with long, asymmetric bristles, and wondered what it does, this week I’m giving you the answer.
Plus I’ll show you why it deserves a place in your painting kit.
So let’s hear it for the Sword-liner brush.
We’re taking a break from perspective this week (we’ll come back to it in future posts) to look at brushes I find both useful and immensely enjoyable to use. And I’m not the only one – I’ve yet to meet anyone who doesn’t enjoy using sword liners. Yet I believe they are under appreciated by many artists.
The more I paint, the more I believe that finding the right brush for the right job makes painting so much easier and more enjoyable. So the sword-liner is certainly one worth discovering.
Fundamentals of a sword liner brush
The sword liner was originally designed as a brush for the signwriting trade. The elongated bristles made it an ideal tool for creating long flowing lines that varied from thin to thick. Like any unusual shaped brush, sword liners allow the artist to make expressive marks that are harder to create in any other way.
Confusingly, some manufacturers refer to sword liners as daggers (and vice versa), as they are similar in shape. Usually the sword’s bristles form a shallower angle than the dagger, giving longer bristles and a finer point.
Sword-liners are available in three different types, natural hair such as sable, squirrel or hogs hair, synthetic (often referred to as “nylon”), or a blend of synthetic and sable. They are usually sized by fractions of an inch, i.e. ⅛, ¼, ⅜, ½, which refers to the width of the end of the ferrule.
Most sword liners retail in the £7-£15 range, though a few can be significantly more. Of the many brands available, my definite preference is for Rosemary and Co. Their brushes are superb quality but tend towards the lower end of the price spectrum. I particularly love their Golden Synthetic range, as they have plenty of spring and keep a sharp edge and a fine point. I haven’t found another sword-liner that comes close.
I’m also a big fan of the smallest Pro Arte swordliner, as it’s thinner than Rosemary and Co’s smallest sword liner. While it’s not as good at expressive mark-making, it’s excellent at making very long, thin lines. Both brushes hold an important place in my painting kit.
Paint holding capacity
The quantity of paint a brush holds depends on the quantity and length of its bristles. The more numerous the bristles, the longer the brushstroke will be before the brush runs out of paint. Long bristles perform the same role, allowing a longer brushstroke and expressive marks. Short-bristled brushes make a shorter stroke but give more control.
This is why a rigger’s long hairs permit it to make long, thin brushstrokes without running out of paint and a miniaturist’s brush has many short hairs that come to a fine point, giving control and paint holding capacity while allowing fine detail.
(That said, when making fine lines, I have much better results with a sword-liner than I ever have with a rigger.)
So a sword-liner combines the best of all these worlds. The numerous bristles give great paint holding capacity, while the angled shape and fine point create lines that range from thin to thick. The ultra long bristles are ideal for exciting mark-making.
Caring for your sword liner
If using acrylics or oils, mix colour with a knife and then apply the paint with the sword liner. The bristles are too supple for mixing colour and you’ll risk damaging the point if you mix with the brush.
To retain the sword liner’s ability to make long smooth lines, keep it in optimum condition by thorough cleaning right down to the ferrule.
NEVER leave it with bristles downward in a water pot. (What are you thinking?) You can see from this image how it damages the bristles.
If you’re in the habit of leaving brushes in water, please, please, PLEASE stop doing this. Your brushes deserve better.
(Note: these brushes were only left like while I took the photo. No brushes were harmed in the making of this post!)
Different materials, different uses
We’ve already seen that sword liners are available as natural, synthetic or a blend of the two. Let’s take a closer look at what that means for the artist.
Synthetics are suitable for use with all paint types. They have plenty of spring, making them a joy to use. The softer types work best with fluid paint; the stiffer ones being better for oils.
Synthetic sword-liners are useful with acrylics too; diluting heavy body with airbrush medium or flow enhancer gives the paint a more workable consistency. All my examples here use either acrylic ink or acrylic heavy body paint. They’re be good with soft body or acrylic gouache too.
As different types of acrylics are compatible with each other, it is quite acceptable to use heavy body for some parts of the painting, with the addition of a sword-liner/ acrylic ink combination when necessary, especially for thin lines e.g. the whiskers of a cat or a squirrel’s tail.
Pure natural hair gives the best liquid holding capacity, making it ideal for watercolour. Kolinsky sable is the luxury option; beautiful brushes but with a significantly higher price tag. Though I must admit that the Kolinsky sable swords aren’t as expensive as I’d expect, given the length and quantity of the hair.
A blend such as red sable/synthetic is a great alternative to both synthetic and natural, providing the best qualities of both. The synthetic gives spring and durability, the sable excellent paint holding capacity. The cheaper synthetic offsets the costly sable, reducing the price to a manageable level.
Sword liner mark-making
Do you have a sword-liner amongst your brushes? Dig it out, and we’ll make a test page to see what it will do. Remember to write down which brush you used and how you created each mark. Here are a few ideas:
- Practise making long, thin strokes.
- Pull the brush towards you, moving it in a smooth, sweeping arc. The brushstroke will widen from thin to thick.
- Drag the brush sideways to create a wide broken line.
- Start with the tip of the brush on the paper with the bristles pointing towards you. Pull it away from you and slightly to one side. The stroke will mimic the shape of reeds or grasses.
- Experiment with the marks you can make. Try mimicking different foliage or seaweed shapes.
- Print with the brush.
- Wiggle the brush from side to side as you pull it towards you.
- Use the tip to make thin and/or tiny strokes.
- Start with a long thin stroke, then pull the brush back on itself or add smaller marks to form foliage.
- Keeping experimenting to see what other marks you can create.
Once you know what marks the brush will make, you can repeat or combine them to build up depth and texture. Which of the marks you made could be repeated for foliage, seaweed, tree bark or water?
Sword-liners can also be used for fur techniques.
Build up layers of repeated lines, varying the length, direction and colour of stroke to achieve the tones and textures of different fur types.
Another enjoyable technique is to double load the brush by filling it with one colour and then dipping just the tip in a contrasting colour.
Try repeating some of the marks you made earlier with a double loaded brush. Or have fun making new ones.
As you can see, these brushes are great for making foliage shapes, either real or imaginary.
Finally, we’ll return to the original purpose of the sword-liner: to make long lines. Do you sometimes find your hand is too shaky to make a smooth line with a rigger? Many people find that yet another advantage of the sword-liner is that they can make thinner and less shaky lines than with a rigger. Problem solved!
I hope this post has shown you just how valuable a sword-liner can be. I’d certainly hate to be without mine, so I urge you to give them a try. Happy painting!
This article has been previously published by Leisure Painter magazine.
Related Posts
- Use your Sword-liners to paint wildlife: How to Paint Fur and Feather
- Like this post? Check out this post about another, often underutilised, brush: Are you making the most of your fan brush?
- And this one about how to paint long thin lines: Are You Using Your Ruling Pen to its Full Potential?
- Keep your brushes in tiptop condition with Paintbrush Care and How to Clean Paintbrushes.
Jackie Garner's Art Blog 
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