thanks, that's the kind of link i was referring to.

just curious, he mentions using a 3-n-1 oil on brushes to preserve them and keep any bits of paint left on the brush from hardening, but what kind of oil is he meaning?

Disregard.. when i clicked back on Amazon's homepage, it had 3-In-One oil listed as the "Things you might also be interested in"

Though the other question still stands.. aside from panes of glass, what other good materials are there to practice on?

 

I always wanted to learn how to pin stripe

 

At Lowes Hardware you can get pre-cut sign stock sheet metal that works pretty good, I also picked up a couple old bike tanks from the local salvage. They're all rusted on the inside, but are great on the outside. They're great for practicing on curved surfaces. Oh, I also used the phone book too. I went through my first can of one shot just practicing basic strokes on the yellow pages. Get one covered, tear it out and keep on practicing.

 

honestly Jim, for practice, glass is about the best thing going, when you are done, you let it dry and just use a razor blade to scrape it off. For brush oil, I am using Xcaliber brush preservative. I am up to about 17 brushes now and I keep going back and forth from a good old mack 10 series sword, to a few different scrolling type brushes, such as the Kafka #3. Yes, the numbers refer to the thickness. Another good brush like the kafka is the new Mack Long Bob. I picked up a set of all four sizes on ebay for like $40.