Our unique blend of natural squirrel hair and black synthetic filament creates ideal working tools for the watercolorist, silk painter, and artists working with inks, dyes, acrylics or gouache. Squirrel hair holds large amounts of color and releases it with perfect control. By itself, squirrel is delicate. So we blended it with a synthetic to resist wear and maintain a wonderful snap and spring. This soft blend allows multiple layer glazing without disturbing previous colors, yet its firm enough to lift color with a gentle scrub. Black Velvet features polished black ferrules, carefully fitted to gloss black handles, each with a distinctive silver neck band. Series 3008S has Beveled tip black plastic handles for scraping or burnishing. Series 3014S has ferrules of stainless steel. Flat hardwood handles, lacquered gloss black with silver tips.