Colouring brushes
Colourists Doris Crook and Fiona Macpherson describe the high-quality brushes they used in their work at Bartholomew's.
Transcription
Question: 'You’ll have had your own brushes?'
Doris Crook: 'They were really fussy about them because they were from Russia. They were sable and they were terribly expensive because obviously, you had to get them into the most delicate point, so a cheap brush would never have worked. And gradually they got that you had to show your old brush to your boss before you qualified for a new one.'
Fiona Macpherson: 'Oh, yes. And then we eventually got these big brushes, whereas before, we were filling in large areas with, what was it, a number six?'
Doris: 'Aye, a wee tiny narrow brush.'
Fiona: 'And then eventually we got these bigger brushes.'
Doris: 'Half inch or an inch.'
Fiona: 'But I mean, they were guarded.'
Doris: 'Yeah, they were looked after by the boss and you had to ask to borrow them.'
Fiona: 'These weren’t our own.'
