When Jack Wise taught at the Metchosin International Summer School of the Arts, he had his students create their own brushes, in this way:

*Find a piece of wood or bark.
Visit your firewood pile, a beach with driftwood or some other source of dead wood. Please do not remove bark from living trees.
*Select a piece that pleases you in some way, or perhaps feels good in your hand. Fir or cedar are good choices.
*Take a rock or hammer and pound one end of your wood piece, until it becomes macerated and fibrous, like a brush.
*Experiment with making marks with your brush, with paint, ink, or even water on rocks or pavement.

Once you try your brush, you may wish to create brushes from other materials. Try painting with a stick or twig, a feather or leaves. Take hair or fur (your own, or some shed by a pet), and tie it firmly to a stick, piece of bamboo or even a pencil. What are the differences between the brushes you have made, in the way they absorb the paint and ink, the way they move and the marks they make? These are all important qualities that make each brush unique.