Parrot Feather Paint Brush with Vintage Wood Bobbin Spool Handle

This brush was made by Elizabeth. The brush bristle is made with beautiful blue and yellow domestic parrot feathers which can make a wide variety of marks, and texture. The handle was made from a vintage quill bobbin. The finished brush is surprisingly light (1.7oz). The brush end has a leather hanging strap. The ferrule also has metal rings, 3 in total. The handle has a metal wrap and I added a nice copper wrap as well.

• Handle: 7" in length
• Bristle: 2.5" in length

This is a unique and beautiful brush is made to make art :) - it is a terrific mark maker, offering the artist a ton of mark-making options. Feather brushes, in particular, can create a lot of movement with their brush strokes.

Wood Bobbin Spool History

"The Industrial Revolution (1790's - 1860's) was an important time in America's history. The Revolution brought about many changes in the labor and textile industries. On average women worked a 72-hour week with few breaks. The mill itself was a dangerous place to work with shuttles flying off looms, and a constant humid, 100-degree climate. In response to the poor working conditions, the women of the mills organized America's first labor strikes and formed the first labor unions. 

Bobbins and the machinery they ran on were some of the greatest inventions of the Victorian Era. Developed as a way to manage heaps of thread, bobbins revolutionized textile manufacturing during the Industrial Revolution. Many textile mills had their own machine shops and their own favorite shape of bobbin which accounts for their varied designs. Traditional wooden bobbins have been retired from most current day manufacturing. Modern economics does not favor the use of wooden bobbins since a large degree of handwork is involved in making them and they are not well suited to synthetic fibers and high-speed machinery". (source Bemidji Woolen Mills)