About Golden Maple

Golden Maple makes brushes and tools for miniature painting — the Warhammer, Dungeons and Dragons and scale-model hobby — along with paints, palettes and holders, and a discount code is worth having on kit bought a few pieces at a time.

What they sell

The core is brushes: Kolinsky sable in beech handles, synthetic ranges, and specialist shapes such as the arrow-point brushes made for fine detail on a small figure. Around them sit the tools that make painting a miniature bearable — ergonomic painting handles that hold a figure without your fingers touching wet paint, wet palettes that stop acrylics drying between strokes, brush soap, and storage. There is a paint range, plus general art brushes for people who came from another kind of painting. Prices and shipping thresholds are quoted in dollars.

What actually matters in a miniature brush

Two things, and neither is the price. The point: a good brush holds a sharp tip when loaded, and a brush that splays at the tip cannot paint an eye no matter how steady you are. Test it by loading with water and looking at the point. And the belly: the wider part above the tip holds paint, which is why a size one or two is more useful for most work than the tiny sizes beginners buy — a size zero runs dry after two strokes. Kolinsky sable holds a point and springs back better than synthetic, at a price and with more care needed; good synthetics have closed much of the gap and shrug off harsher treatment.

Making brushes last

Most brushes are killed by their owner rather than by use. Never let paint dry in the ferrule — the metal collar — because paint that hardens there splays the hairs permanently; rinse as you go and clean properly at the end with brush soap, reshaping the point before it dries. Do not stand a brush bristles-down in water, do not scrub with the tip, and keep one cheap brush for dry-brushing and metallics, which destroy a good one. Wet palettes need the sponge and paper changing regularly, or they grow mould.

Brushes bought from Britain

Despatch is international, so a UK order can attract import VAT and duty billed by customs on arrival, separate from the checkout price — and with small light parcels that charge plus the handling fee is sometimes a large share of the total, so buy a batch rather than a single brush. Note that promotional games and blind boxes offered at checkout are a marketing device rather than a saving; judge the order on the price of the things you actually wanted. Put the code in the basket before paying and read the new total.