To understand the differences between these two widely used brushes you must first give a definition:
Bombasino brush - extremely soft, with a particular and recognizable shape, with a rounded short handle and natural fibres tied by hand and held back by a rubber tubular with brass or copper wire ligature that acts as a ferrule. The round tip, with a wide and full base, retains large amounts of water for the fullness of the tank and its softness allows you to give precise brushstrokes without stripes.
The absence of the metal of the ferrule and its lightness, combined with the peculiarity of water- retaining, make it almost indispensable for all "light" techniques: the decoration on ceramics, the watercolour and the “guazzetto” on the bolus in the gilding. A precious brush, it is generally in pure Vaio tail hair, a particular Siberian squirrel: very soft and elastic. Increasingly rare due to the high cost of hair and cruelty free choices, it is more and more often replaced by mixed or synthetic-like brushes.
Mop brush - indicates a very soft brush, generally used for makeup. It retains large amounts of water, and the rounded onion-shape of the tip allows you to blend the colour without leaving traces. It can be made of different fibres, natural or synthetic, full and thick, but always featured by of the absence of a tip that leaves the trace.
The handle is long and thin, precisely to avoid pressure on the tip. Generally used with circular movements for techniques such as decorative painting and the fantastic nuances of Country painting, it is also used for its softness for the application of metallic leaves in gilding.
The definition is therefore very different, but the common misconception that they are the same type of brush arises from the absence of a translation for Bombasino in other languages besides Italian: it is not uncommon to use the name Mop for the Bombasino brush, during export or import activities from foreign companies, with the characteristic rubber ferrule tied with metal wire.
For the artist, the name is not important, but its usage is fundamental: Bombasino is the ideal brush for watercolour, third-fire painting on ceramics, and Japanese calligraphy.
It is usually manufactured with natural fibre, with a large tank with slow water release and with a thin tip that also allows you to paint delicate lines.
The Mop brush can be of various fibres, and without tip but with a wide colour retention capacity, ideal for very light shades without trace.
Borciani and Bonazzi presents a wide range of this brush: starting from the bombasino series 168, the 69/C series, the 69/M series, the 69/L series, the Silvia Molinari 700 series mis 4 and mis 6 and finally the series 251 in black ox.
English
Italiano
