Decorative Painting Ragging

Female: If you prefer a soft almost romantic texture like that of soft swayed or cross velvet then you want to try your hand that a technique called Ragging Off. You probably already have a supply the essential tools for this project, old cotton t-shirts or any lent free cotton cloths. Male: There are other commercial options for ragging tools, Chamois cloth, cotton painter’s rags, paper bags and cheesecloth but most experience painters will tell you that your old t-shirts will get the job done just as well. Other supplies for this project included base coat of a shimmer satin finish latex paint, sudden breeze and cotton seed set in finish latex paints, draft cloths, paint trays, standard roller frame with 9 inch roller cover, a two inch tapered trim brush, plastic container with printed measurements from mixing your paint and glaze, mini roller frame with the six inch roller cover, two inch low tech painters tape, stir sticks, glaze medium, a spray bottle fill with water, a four inch cheap brush, latex paint conditioner and rubber gloves. Female: As with many techniques that use glazes there are both positive and negative application methods for ragging. Ragging on is a positive method which will apply a glaze paint mixture to the wall or other surface with the rag. Male: For ragging off, apply the glaze in paint mixture to the wall with the brush or roller and impartially remove it with the wrap. We are going to walk through ragging off which is the most saddle effect. Female: The ragging technique most often uses a lightered color base coat followed by a color or colors that are close together on the wheel. Male: We are going with the shimmer base coat, and will rag off the sudden breeze then cotton see. Female: before you tackle your entire room, try a few sample boards, the boards will dry faster than the wall so you can test and practice while the wall dries. The standard glaze the paint formula is four to one but if you find you like your glaze colors a little lighter or darker just adjust the formula to your preference and mix a small amount for your first ragging color just enough to cover the sample boards. Roll the glaze over the base coat then wrap up your t-shirt and begin removing the newly applied paint with the pumping method that set the cloth on the paint then lifts it off to wall. Reshape and rotate the cloth to avoid exact repetition of the impression and repeat until you rag off the entire sample board. If you forgot your rubber gloves your beginning to regret that now, allow to dry then repeat with the second color. The sample board practice will help you find you’re best ragging paste and style which you give you more consistent look when you start on the wall. Consider thinning your glaze with water or latex paint conditioner to keep the glaze work of all for a longer period of time. If your aiming for super soft effect, this is even more applicable as will be adding your brush in step to achieve that look after the ragging. Using a six inch mini roller frame with a short nap roller cover that has been damping in water, apply your first glaze over the base coat in a 3x3 foot area leaving the area irregular shape with uneven edges for future blending. Immediately soften the edges to the working area with the clean damp cloth. Again, this helps blend your work areas using a dry cloth begin your pouncing motion to allow some of the basecoat color to show through. Reshape and rotate the rag after each pounds to avoid any recognizable pattern within the working area. Move to a new section and repeat the same process, blend each completed area into the new sections to avoid hard lines. This is a great time to step back and look at your work as a whole, it’s so much easier to attach at the spot while the glaze is still wet. If you need to touch of the spot after the glaze is dried, simply mist the spot with the spray bottle of water, the water will reactivate the glaze and allow you to do it quick touch up. When the entire surface of your cloth is covered with paint, turn it inside out and reuse it one of the saturated through it’s time to replace the cloth for an even softer ragging effect, use a four inch cheap brush with the lights stapling motion as we blend across the entire wall. Let the first glaze dry before applying the final glaze, drying times array by climates and season. Be sure to add more drying time when it’s humid a little less if it’s dry. The second glaze application is a repeat of the first, using your blending and pouncing techniques to achieve that tended texture that are so attractive about the ragging off finish.