Female: In the world of decorative painting, sponge painting probably wins the popularity contest. It’s fast, easy and inexpensive and best of all it works perfectly in any wall surface. The effect is perfect to any casual room where you’ll want a soft pleasing backdraft for your furnishings and artwork.
Just like all other wall painting projects, sponge painting requires a few hours of focus prep work that always include masking of everything that you don’t want painted. Assuming that all your walls are already primed, your project will begin with the base coat. You want to build an enough time to apply a second coat if needed. If you’re trying to cover a pre existing color, come on that second coat. Give the first coat time to dry.
Male: If you’re only using two colors, your base coat should always be darkest of your color combination. The lighter color on top will create the illusion of a three dimensional surface. The eye will see highlights on top and shadows underneath. Even a monochromatic color scheme will give you a low contrast, yet highly sophisticated effect. Additional colors offers flexibility on how you layer colors. In this case, we are using a lighter base, then sponging on three additional colors beginning with the darkest and adding progressively lighter colors.
Female: Satin or eggshell interior latex paints offer a light shin that works great as your base. The top coat will be blended with the glaze to make sure that the paint is more translucent, for a soft new one result.
Male: Glazes also extends the drying time of the top coat, which gives you a chance to step back, check your work and make adjustments as needed.
Female: Glaze is nothing more than a neutral paint formula to which no pigment has been added. The basic mixing formula is 1 part paint to 4 part glaze, to create the transparency that is ideal for sponging. But that’s just a guide line, you can use your sample boards to experiment and try other variations, sponging is all about creativity.
When you paint the base color, also be sure to paint a few sample boards that can be use for sponge technique practice. Your base color will need at least one night to dry, weather can affect drying time. If it’s humid when you paint, you might want to add an additional drying day. Once the base is dry, the real fun begins.
Male: Be sure you have a brush, a large piece of cardboard, and two sea sponges, one large and one small. Let’s take a look at that sponge, there are plenty of sponge towels out there, but for this project, you might want to find a sea sponge. The irregular size of the pores results in interesting patterns. But you have to help it along by turning your wrist as you work, to avoid repetition of the pattern.
Female: Like a snowflake, every sea sponge is different. Those differences are on the pore side of your sponge, as that will determine the paint pattern. Smaller pores will produce a tight pattern. Larger pores will result in looser patterns. Whichever your preference, you should use a sponge that is easy to hold, and manipulate with one hand.
Prep your sponge by soaking it in water and wringing it out thoroughly. Brush the raise leave latex paint or the darkest color on to the flattest surface of the sponge. Blot the excess paint on your scrap cardboard, then take a couple of practice runs on those sample boards that you’ve created with the base paint. Dab the sponge on to the surface using a light pouncing motion. You want to tap the surface lightly, as less pressure create more detail. It is always better to go lightly than repeat if more paint is needed. Move the sponge a quarter turn every time and use different areas of the sponge or try sponging with alternating hands to avoid footprints or matching imprints. Overlap each impression just a bit to cover the surface of a 3 by 3 foot work area, but leave the area with jagged edges to help avoid lines as your work areas meet.
Another tip is to work on a spiral or on a diagonal to avoid creating recognizable rows or lines. This is a great time to remind you to step back occasionally and look at the big picture. You want to be sure that you are keeping the paint and the patterns balanced. Paint can clog up the pores in the sponge quickly, causing your finish to look blochy. Unblock the sponge on to your cardboard. A lint free rag or a coffee filter also works to keep your pattern crisp but eventually, it needs to be rinsed out to clear the pores. Don’t forget to wring out the excess water before adding glaze.
If you un intentionally drab too much paint, just rinse out your sponge and press your clean damp sponge to the still wet paint, and it will lift it straight off, fixed it right up. There are a couple schools of thought on sponging corners; the first school would have you use the smaller sponge as you approach trim and corners. A great trick is to create a little handle for your sponge with a large hair clip making it easier to sponge in the corners and hard to reach areas. The thought here is that you can use the smaller sponge to prevent over sponging on the adjoining wall.
The other approach is to use cardboard to completely block the adjoining wall while you sponge right into the corner. This requires drying time so you could each of the painted walls without smudging. Let this coat dry thoroughly before applying the next coat. Blend the dry sea grass latex paint or the medium color with glaze using the 1:4 per parts formula mentioned earlier. Apply using the same technique; sponge corners and around the trim last.
Now sponge the crembrulet latex paint for the lightest color in the same manner. Reapply any of the colors randomly for added dimension until reaching the desired effect. Continue this process until the entire wall is completed. Another approach is to use your sponge to remove paint rather than apply it, also known as the sponge off technique. This technique is often use when you want less of the base coat to go through. You’ll create the base coat as before but after it’s dry you’ll roll the second color on and then sponge it off. Cleaning the sponge as you go along, sponging off leaves a slightly crunchy haze of color without the dotted pattern typical of sponging on.
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