Some popular decorative painting techniques are rag rolling, paneling, sponge painting, stippling, etc. Getting a grasp of these techniques is useful for creative people who desiderate to get the walls of their rooms custom painted. At least this way you are not left at the mercy of getting the work done by professional painters who charge a bomb for painting a few walls.
If you have never tried your hand at wall painting, but have the desire to do so, then sponge painting is just for you! Although sponge painting the walls may seem like a daunting task to you, this form of painting is quite simple and actually transforms a dull wall to an eye-catching one! In fact, once you get a hang of this art you can also paint furniture and accessories in the same manner.
Materials Required for Sponge Painting
- Tin of base coat paint
- Tin of paint for sponging
- Faux glaze
- Natural sea sponges
- Painting tray
- Rollers
- Brushes
- Small paint brushes
- Stirring sticks
- Masking tape
- Latex gloves
- Sandpaper
- Ladder
While choosing the paint, make sure you try out both the base paint and the paint for sponging on a piece of board before painting the entire wall with it. For best result get latex paints, as they are easier to work with as compared to oil paints. Next comes the faux glaze color. One important point to keep in mind while purchasing the glaze color is that the color tones of the base coat and glaze should not differ to a great extent. Mixing dark glaze with light base coats only makes the room look darker. Thus, unless one's goal is to darken the room, one should stick to base coat and faux glaze colors of more or less the same tone. Since it's not possible to paint the corners efficiently with the sea sponge, keep small paint brushes to paint the tiny specks missed at the corners by the sponge.
Sponge Painting Techniques
Although there are different techniques that are predominantly used these days, let's have a look at a simple way to get the walls painted via sponges.
Step 1: Using sandpaper, sand the walls and then use the roller to apply a coat of base paint onto the wall. Allow this base coat to dry thoroughly before heading into the next step.
Step2: In a large bucket take one part of sponging paint and mix into it 4 parts of faux glaze. Be careful about the faux glaze content, because the more you add, the more transparent the coat of paint after sponging will be. Thus, for darker shades less faux glaze is to be added.
Step 3: Dampen the sponge in water and squeeze out the excess water. Now dip this damp sea sponge into the bucket of paint and glaze mixture. Blot out the excess paint from the sponge and gently press the sponge onto the wall.
Step 4: Only practice will tell you how much pressure is to be exerted. It also depends on your tastes. Try out different pressures and see what suits the best. Remember to press the sponge in a random fashion on the wall. Rolling the sponge on the wall will help achieve this better. The sponging technique should be done such that only a thin coat of this paint is applied on the base coat.
Step 5: As and when the paint from the sponge gets used up on the wall, dip it into the bucket and refill the sponge. Continue this procedure from one area of the room to another until the entire room has been sponged. As long as you do not use paint with contrasting colors that can conduce to a blotchy look, you will have a gorgeous looking wall.
Sponge painting techniques are followed to increase the texture and depth of walls and its best effects are seen on irregular surfaced walls. As beginners, it's best to start off by using neutral tones of gray or beige, that will create depth and conduce to a fresh textured look!
