Many of our regular readers may already have discovered the joys of sponge painting, but we are trying it for the first time in this week’s column.
When painting with sponges, you have lots of choices. You can select plain old kitchen sponges (or pieces of same), loofas, sponge brushes (which come in many styles and sizes) or natural sponges.
For this week’s samples, we chose natural sponges with a variety of edges and tips per sponge (see our photo illustration for an example). These sponges are available in packages of three to five sponges for about $2 per package.
Since this is the Memorial Day weekend, colors of red, white and blue came to mind when planning this week’s craft, and we decided to make a collection of items that can add a touch of appropriate color to your Memorial Day or Fourth of July celebrations.
Let’s begin with a pair of glass vases – one short and round; the other tall and cylindrical – painted with red, white and blue paints in plain and metallic varieties.
To make our short, round vase, we cleaned the glass thoroughly, then used one side of a natural sponge (a side with several prominent spikes) to apply the paint.
When adding the color, we began with the blue. After a little bit of experimentation with this technique, we found that beginning with the darkest color worked best.
We dipped the sponge into a pool of paint, tested it a bit on the side of the plate to see the pattern of the paint, then applied the paint to the glass by dabbing it on with a gentle pressure.
Keep your dabbing quick and light; the amount of the paint on the sponge will give you the necessary depth and texture.
Be sure to add paint to the sponge whenever necessary to achieve the look you want, but keep the application varied so that you don’t end up with all big globs of paint. Allow for a few lighter and less defined areas as well.
After applying the blue paint, next apply the red, using the same guidelines for painting.
Add the white paint last and do so sparingly. The white, because of its brightness, will become predominant, so apply it a bit more gently, with sponge dabs spaced a bit farther apart.
When the paint has dried, apply a layer of decoupage medium to seal the paint.
For our round vase, we used regular acrylic paints and pearlized decoupage medium; for the tall cylinder, we used metallic acrylic paints and plain, high-gloss, decoupage medium.
Use the same technique to make the taller vase shown.
You can also make a candle holder or small vase from an old or mismatched wine glass.
If you use the wine glass for a candleholder, simply add some colored sand or small pebbles to the main part of the glass to secure the candle. A few pebbles wouldn’t hurt if using the glass for a small vase, as this will add some weight to the holder and help to stabilize it.
The painting technique for the wine glass is the same as for the larger vases.
Finally, to make our Fourth of July candle treasure chest, we used a red metal chest that we had purchased around Valentine’s Day, added dabs of blue and white paint, sealed it with plain, high-gloss decoupage medium and red, white and blue candles.
Before adding the candles to the box, be sure to apply a thin layer of pebbles or sand to the bottom of the chest, put the candles in, then fill in the areas between the candles and the side of the treasure chest with sand.
When adding flowers or plants to the Fourth of July vases, stick to white, red and bluish or purple flowers to keep the patriotic color scheme.
In next week’s column, we’ll have a second column on the same sponge painting technique, but we’ll be working with galvanized metal buckets, different color combinations, another red metal treasure chest (with a very different look) and a repeat of the instructions for those who missed them in this week’s column.
E-mail Jonetta Coffic at jrocoffin@aol.com.
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