Dropped $80 on a custom spotting brush for retouching - worst decision I made this year
Bought this fancy brush set from a print shop in Denver, and the bristles shed like crazy on my first photo job. Has anyone else had luck with cheaper alternatives for detailed retouching work?
Jason's right about defective brushes. If they're shedding that bad on the first job, it's not a "custom" issue, it's just junk. I'd hit up the shop and push for a refund - you can buy three decent synthetic sets for that $80.
Wait, did you at least try to get your money back on those? A custom brush that sheds that bad is straight up defective, not just a bad design. I've been burned by fancy brushes before too, specifically a set of "premium" sables that left stray hairs on every single layer of a wedding album edit. Ended up just switching to some generic synthetics from an art supply store for like $15 total, and honestly they hold together better than half the expensive stuff I've tried. The trick is running them through a quick cleaning with dish soap before the first use, gets rid of any loose fibers that were gonna fall out anyway.