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Your cart is empty.4.6 out of 5 stars
- #39,566 in Arts, Crafts & Sewing (See Top 100 in Arts, Crafts & Sewing)
- #21 in Round Art Paintbrushes
Product Description
Finest Synthetic Kolinsky Sable!
Creating Brushes that Inspire
Princeton Artist Brush Co. is one of the largest brush-makers in North America. Since they started in 1992, artist brushes have been their sole focus. While other companies offer an assortment of art supplies, Princeton focuses on making one thing: the best quality, most fairly priced artist brushes available today.
About Our Brushes
Aqua Elite
"Aqua Elite brushes are designed to bring out the watercolorist in you. They allow you to create your most beautiful artwork through the easy, consistent and smooth flow of paint.
Our innovative synthetic Kolinsky brushes hold an abundance of water and release it evenly, delivering oceans of color with each stroke"
- Designed with innovative synthetic hair
- Animal-friendly
- Offered in a variety of shapes to foster infinite creativity
Why You'll Love Aqua Elite Brushes
Delivers Oceans of Color
Brushes are designed to hold an abundance of water and retain their shape, delivering oceans of color in your artwork.
Remarkable Synthetic Kolinsky Bristles
Aqua Elite's performance is comparable to that of natural Kolinsky hair, yet is significantly more affordable.
Designed for Precision Painting
Our brushes feature the finest points and tapered edges for precision color placement.
amma
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on August 16, 2024
Excellen brush tips and all fold into a holder and then into the magnetic case very pricey but well worth the money if you want good quality. Easy to use good grading of the brushes will highly recommend them. Very fast delivery thank you
amma
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on August 16, 2024
Excellen brush tips and all fold into a holder and then into the magnetic case very pricey but well worth the money if you want good quality. Easy to use good grading of the brushes will highly recommend them. Very fast delivery thank you
Customer
Reviewed in the United States on May 19, 2024
This travel watercolor has a more sturdy feel to the bristles. Holds plenty of water and is great for loose sketching marks. Works well if you’re looking for more controlled marks in watercolor. Comes to a nice point and also creates nice broad strokes. Great for painters wishing to learn watercolor who want more control in their brush with little effort. Travels nicely and is quite compact!
Customer
Reviewed in the United States on May 19, 2024
This travel watercolor has a more sturdy feel to the bristles. Holds plenty of water and is great for loose sketching marks. Works well if you’re looking for more controlled marks in watercolor. Comes to a nice point and also creates nice broad strokes. Great for painters wishing to learn watercolor who want more control in their brush with little effort. Travels nicely and is quite compact!
Arty in Twickenham
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on February 25, 2024
The brushes arrived earlier than expected, are beautiful from Hyatt's All Things Creative. It’s a quality set. I especially like that the brushes come in a handy and smart looking case. I also like that the brushes are round in shape and the sizes are the ones that I’ll use rather than more obscure ones that can come in these sets. So for me it’s a good investment.
Arty in Twickenham
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on February 25, 2024
The brushes arrived earlier than expected, are beautiful from Hyatt's All Things Creative. It’s a quality set. I especially like that the brushes come in a handy and smart looking case. I also like that the brushes are round in shape and the sizes are the ones that I’ll use rather than more obscure ones that can come in these sets. So for me it’s a good investment.
Kell bell
Reviewed in the United States on November 2, 2024
I bought two and they have replaced all of my other plein air brushes. I use them occasionally in studio. They feel sleek and well balanced. These are the first synthetic kolinsky I have used. I usually use sable and squirrel synthetic and natural. For the price, this brush is superior. It holds water and color and has plenty of bounce. I don’t review until I use it for some time so I can see how it holds up. It is holding up great! It is well worth it.
Kell bell
Reviewed in the United States on November 2, 2024
I bought two and they have replaced all of my other plein air brushes. I use them occasionally in studio. They feel sleek and well balanced. These are the first synthetic kolinsky I have used. I usually use sable and squirrel synthetic and natural. For the price, this brush is superior. It holds water and color and has plenty of bounce. I don’t review until I use it for some time so I can see how it holds up. It is holding up great! It is well worth it.
SLF
Reviewed in the United States on November 13, 2023
Until you've tried painting with this watercolor travel brush set, you won't know how different this set is. What I love about them is the versatility - the bristles hold just the right amount of water, have just the right amount of tension, and maintains a lovely point. So, when traveling, you don't need to bring a soft brush and a stiffer brush, or this and that brush - this set can pretty much do what you basically need to paint with watercolor. The metal case has a hole at the end so no worries about waiting for the brush to dry after rinsing. You need to wet the brush anyway before storing so you can keep the bristles together into a point to easily place inside the metal rod that serves as the handle while painting.For studio painting, I would have bought the studio version, however, they don't come in a round brush set, so I got this one instead. BE WARNED: Each of the brushes SHOULD have a good point at the end of the brush. Do NOT take anything less than the Princeton quality brush as they promise. My set came with one of the brushes without the expected brush point so I returned it for a replacement.
SLF
Reviewed in the United States on November 13, 2023
Until you've tried painting with this watercolor travel brush set, you won't know how different this set is. What I love about them is the versatility - the bristles hold just the right amount of water, have just the right amount of tension, and maintains a lovely point. So, when traveling, you don't need to bring a soft brush and a stiffer brush, or this and that brush - this set can pretty much do what you basically need to paint with watercolor. The metal case has a hole at the end so no worries about waiting for the brush to dry after rinsing. You need to wet the brush anyway before storing so you can keep the bristles together into a point to easily place inside the metal rod that serves as the handle while painting.For studio painting, I would have bought the studio version, however, they don't come in a round brush set, so I got this one instead. BE WARNED: Each of the brushes SHOULD have a good point at the end of the brush. Do NOT take anything less than the Princeton quality brush as they promise. My set came with one of the brushes without the expected brush point so I returned it for a replacement.
Karoline
Reviewed in Canada on October 28, 2023
These travel brushes get the job done. They are lovely but depending what brush feel you have gotten use to, this might not be the set for you. Restriction stroke is present the bristles are not super soft you have to do more work to gain certain effects.Overall, this set is not bad for the cost.
Karoline
Reviewed in Canada on October 28, 2023
These travel brushes get the job done. They are lovely but depending what brush feel you have gotten use to, this might not be the set for you. Restriction stroke is present the bristles are not super soft you have to do more work to gain certain effects.Overall, this set is not bad for the cost.
Customer
Reviewed in Canada on March 16, 2022
I used the brush set immediately for plein air painting and in my home studio. The brush design is elegant, the brush design appears well made, and the brushes hold a lay amount of water and pigment. After cleaning the bristles snapped back into shape. Great value!
Customer
Reviewed in Canada on March 16, 2022
I used the brush set immediately for plein air painting and in my home studio. The brush design is elegant, the brush design appears well made, and the brushes hold a lay amount of water and pigment. After cleaning the bristles snapped back into shape. Great value!
Jos
Reviewed in the United States on April 8, 2022
I bought this set because I am already familiar with the regular aqua elites, which I like because they hold a decent amount of water and are not too soft or too stiff. I also bought these brushes because of their price. These brushes are the same as the regular elites in terms of the hair quality and hair length but I think I got a defective set or a returned set that was sold as “new”. Size 4 brush felt used as it did not have the protective gum and plastic like the others and it is not as pointy even after shaping the point with the gum arabic. This is the reason of why I lowered the rating. Additionally, the same brush handle is really loose which causes it to fall off when handled vertically but it is easily fixed by taping it. The rest of the brushes feel brand new and they fit really tight, which may be an issue as well depending on the person.Build quality: The build quality of the handle is great, having used the neptunes travel brushes as well I like the metal on the neptunes a bit more. As I said before, only one brush is loose and flimpsy.Compared to the neptunes, the neptune handles are easier to open and close due to the texture. The elites are hard to open when you have a dry hand due to their matte texture which makes it hard to get a grip.Compared to other travel sets from other brands such as the escodas, the escoda travel brushes have a slightly better handle quality and are easier to open without being too loose. The escodas also offer bigger sizes, up to a size 16 with more variety of hair types. Unfortunately the Escodas are really expensive in America, while in European stores they sell for about the same price.In conclusion: great travel set for the price, $53 although I was a bit dissatisfied with the #4 brush. Buy the Neptune travel set if you want a glossy metal handle and softer synthetic squirrel brushes. The aqua elites are synthetic kolinsky and are more springy and easy to control. I’d also like to see a size 12 and 14.
Jos
Reviewed in the United States on April 8, 2022
I bought this set because I am already familiar with the regular aqua elites, which I like because they hold a decent amount of water and are not too soft or too stiff. I also bought these brushes because of their price. These brushes are the same as the regular elites in terms of the hair quality and hair length but I think I got a defective set or a returned set that was sold as “new”. Size 4 brush felt used as it did not have the protective gum and plastic like the others and it is not as pointy even after shaping the point with the gum arabic. This is the reason of why I lowered the rating. Additionally, the same brush handle is really loose which causes it to fall off when handled vertically but it is easily fixed by taping it. The rest of the brushes feel brand new and they fit really tight, which may be an issue as well depending on the person.Build quality: The build quality of the handle is great, having used the neptunes travel brushes as well I like the metal on the neptunes a bit more. As I said before, only one brush is loose and flimpsy.Compared to the neptunes, the neptune handles are easier to open and close due to the texture. The elites are hard to open when you have a dry hand due to their matte texture which makes it hard to get a grip.Compared to other travel sets from other brands such as the escodas, the escoda travel brushes have a slightly better handle quality and are easier to open without being too loose. The escodas also offer bigger sizes, up to a size 16 with more variety of hair types. Unfortunately the Escodas are really expensive in America, while in European stores they sell for about the same price.In conclusion: great travel set for the price, $53 although I was a bit dissatisfied with the #4 brush. Buy the Neptune travel set if you want a glossy metal handle and softer synthetic squirrel brushes. The aqua elites are synthetic kolinsky and are more springy and easy to control. I’d also like to see a size 12 and 14.
Natura
Reviewed in the United States on September 10, 2021
Took this Princeton Elite Travel Brush brush set to a plein air watercolor landscape week long workshop in Colorado. Had previously bought and was greatly disappointed in a Richeson brush set with very short handled but poor quality thin and spindly brushes. The Princeton synthetic sable Brushes were as good as my real Kolinsky sables, liked them very much, hold a good amount of water and bend and flex as I like. The #4,6,8 and #10 rounds are more than adequate as I rarely took more than a couple of brushes with me. With the larger selection, I did use 3 of them at a go. Used a thick rubber band to hold the case flat/together in my mini back pack. Magnets hold the case flap down, but did not want to take a chance on other items jostling it open. The case size is small enough for a pocket, handbag etc.The protective caps turn into handles for the brushes. The case folds open to hold the brushes in a upward sloping fashion or a flat on a level and they are easy to use in either position. After returning from the field, it is important to uncap and clean brushes and let dry in the opened case at days' end.Back home, used these for zoom class yesterday= convenient but also great quality. I know I will keep using the set for field work (next week!) and classes. Much better than the travel set up I rigged previously with existing brushes and a clear plastic sleeve meant for something else. I also tend to take too much to class so nice to have a 'grab and go" choice I can feel great about.
Natura
Reviewed in the United States on September 10, 2021
Took this Princeton Elite Travel Brush brush set to a plein air watercolor landscape week long workshop in Colorado. Had previously bought and was greatly disappointed in a Richeson brush set with very short handled but poor quality thin and spindly brushes. The Princeton synthetic sable Brushes were as good as my real Kolinsky sables, liked them very much, hold a good amount of water and bend and flex as I like. The #4,6,8 and #10 rounds are more than adequate as I rarely took more than a couple of brushes with me. With the larger selection, I did use 3 of them at a go. Used a thick rubber band to hold the case flat/together in my mini back pack. Magnets hold the case flap down, but did not want to take a chance on other items jostling it open. The case size is small enough for a pocket, handbag etc.The protective caps turn into handles for the brushes. The case folds open to hold the brushes in a upward sloping fashion or a flat on a level and they are easy to use in either position. After returning from the field, it is important to uncap and clean brushes and let dry in the opened case at days' end.Back home, used these for zoom class yesterday= convenient but also great quality. I know I will keep using the set for field work (next week!) and classes. Much better than the travel set up I rigged previously with existing brushes and a clear plastic sleeve meant for something else. I also tend to take too much to class so nice to have a 'grab and go" choice I can feel great about.
Customer
Reviewed in Australia on July 3, 2021
Great set of paintbrushes for travelling. Look great too.
Customer
Reviewed in Australia on July 3, 2021
Great set of paintbrushes for travelling. Look great too.
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