Frothers Unite! UK

Any suggestions for decent sable brushes? Not interested in W&N as they're overpriced. Around £3 a piece is good for me.

I've used Creative Models brushes for quite a while but they've been out of stock of the ones I need for what seems like a couple of months, plus the last batch I ordered shockingly went to shit really quickly (a few were duds to begin with and a couple were fucked within a few hours of painting - not fucking impressed to see twenty odd quids worth of brushes pissed away in a couple of weeks!). Fell back on Em-4's brushes, not quite as good as the Creative ones (prior to the last lot!) and they're a little hit and miss at times. Burnt through those fucking quicker than expected too. Need something in stock and ready for despatch immediately, so Wayland can get fucked with their 3 to 9 day bollocks. I think Rosemary and Co. might have been mentioned in the past but I'm not sure which series of brushes.

Rosemary & Co's Series 33

I use (and would recommend) W&N artists watercolours sables, seem to be fairly long lasting, I think they cost about 3 quid in the range...

Keep meaning to try the 323s as well...

Rosemary & Co Series 33 if you want proper Kolinsky(?) Sables

Series 98 if you're always dropping your brush as they've got triangular 'no roll' handles (they are 'just' red sable though)

I've been using the Rosemary 33s recently and found them to be of a similar quality to the W&N Series 7s.

Factoid - rosemary & co are based in Keighley, as is Timothy tailors.. You'd think that was evidence of it being a great little town, but no it's still a bit of a shithole...

On a related note, how are your experiences with buying brushes online? I've always bought brushes in a brick and mortar shop as I tend want to at least see the brush before I buy, as I found with new brushes in stores there's always a few that don't look so good, split ends and stuff even if they're new. But the place I used to buy brushes is gone, and it's probably easier to get a decent brush online. So what do you guys do?

Dunno what line but another vote for Rosemary and Co. Superb quality and great service. They don't have as much spring as the w+n imo but for about half the price....

And another vote. Though if you're tempted to be a cheapskate and buy the 401 sable/synthetic blend, I found mine curled at the tip really quickly. The 33s are great though and no probs ordering online in terms of quality.