Sgt Slag | 18 Dec 2014 10:48 a.m. PST |
I have a couple of hundred pieces of terrain I need to dry-brush. I'm curious whether anyone has ever successfully used a flat-/wedge-shaped sponge to dry brush terrain pieces? A bit more info: I cut up a 4' x 8' piece of extruded foam insulation into oddly shaped ovals. These pieces will be textured, and then painted, and dry-brushed, to finish them. They will then be placed, end-to-end, on a mottled sheet of dark gray/brown fabric, used as a ground cloth. The foam pieces will form modular walls, to form caverns of various designs. The foam pieces were cut up on a band saw, so they need to have a more rock-like surface prior to painting. This is being accomplished by hot gluing strips of crumpled brown paper grocery bags to the sides, wrapping them across the tops and bottoms. The crumpled paper bags yield a decent rock-like texture. I am painting these a charcoal-gray, using latex house paint (it's a standard color chip, so no worries about mixing dye lots between cans of paint). I dry-brushed a test piece last night. It came out looking very acceptable for my needs, but I am concerned about brushes: I will have 180-200 pieces to dry-brush, and that will go through quite a lot of brushes before I am finished! Cheers! |
Xintao | 18 Dec 2014 11:07 a.m. PST |
Dry Brushing does shred brushes. But that's ok. You don't need a good brush for dry brushing. I did about 150 Dwarven forge game tiles, multiple coats of grey dry brush. Used 2 brushes. The were barely Identifiable as brushes in the end. But they worked. I've tried using those foam brushes for both House Painting and hobby painting, I hate them. Xin |
Sgt Slag | 18 Dec 2014 11:14 a.m. PST |
Xin, I used a foam brush to apply the first couple of coats of charcoal gray paint. It didn't really get into the recesses, and I wound up using a traditional brush to go back over them to fill in the missed spots. If I could get by dry-brusing with a sponge brush, that would be ideal. My pieces are mostly long, I-shapes, with mild raised surfaces to catch during the dry-brushing. It might work by using a foam brush, with a flat, level surface with some paint on it… I will give that a try. If it fails miserably, it will mean that I put another coat of charcoal gray on, is all. Thank you! Cheers! |
Great War Ace | 18 Dec 2014 11:15 a.m. PST |
Yes. A sponge is the only way to get large buildings dry-brushed swiftly…. |
ordinarybass | 18 Dec 2014 11:18 a.m. PST |
A sponge could be ok, but I'd prefer just using a bigger cheap brush. A couple bucks at Menards will get you some medium sized brushes that will work fine and probably faster and with better results than a sponge. |
Ran The Cid | 18 Dec 2014 11:26 a.m. PST |
Kitchen sponges work fine for this sort of painting. They also work well for wet blending if you want to throw in random color variations. Notes from a pair of projects painted with a sponge: link |
Cyrus the Great | 18 Dec 2014 11:43 a.m. PST |
You can take the foam backing from any pack of miniatures and cut it into strips for dry brushing. For fine work a pack of eye makeup sponges fits the bill. |
ChargeSir | 18 Dec 2014 6:08 p.m. PST |
Cosmetic blusher brushes are great for dry brushing terrain, however don't use your other half's current brushes, ask her to get you your own :-) |
JezEger | 18 Dec 2014 11:10 p.m. PST |
I do a lot of Hirst Arts type stuff. I'd say 90% of the painting is done with a 3 inch household paintbrush. Works great for dry brushing. You want it to to look a bit rougher than regular dry brushing to get the effect anyway. Don't get the absolute cheapest as they don't have enough bristles, but a regular one is still inexpensive and survives a lot of punishment. I also find a spray or airbrush is perfect for the initial basecoat. You don't miss much, and what you do can easily be spot painted. |
Doctor X | 19 Dec 2014 12:18 a.m. PST |
Just use a basic large paintbrush you can get at the hardware store. I've found sponge to be a bit messy. |
Xintao | 19 Dec 2014 9:35 a.m. PST |
I buy old brushes from Garage Sales. Any size. Can never have enough. Xin |
Sgt Slag | 19 Dec 2014 10:12 a.m. PST |
Thanks, All! I started working on adhering paper strips to more foam pieces last night (discovered Low Temp setting works better, rarely melts the foam material, produces less toxic fumes…). I will process them assembly line style to increase efficiency, and save as much time as possible. It will take me a while to get a quantity of them ready for dry-brushing, but I believe the larger house paint brush is the way to go. I can see where a sponge will be too full of paint to dry-brush, as well as how it could get torn apart in the process. I will likely experiment on a few pieces to see what happens, but now I know, going in, what others have learned. Cheers! |
tkdguy | 20 Dec 2014 1:05 a.m. PST |
I've used a sponge, but only to try and get marble-like effects. I have used cotton swabs for dry brushing, which can work okay for smaller figures. The house paint brush works well for large terrain. |
Oberlindes Sol LIC | 23 Dec 2014 12:06 a.m. PST |
I use the cheapest paintbrush from the hardware store (USD 0.69 at Home Depot). I haven't needed anything wider than 1 inch for drybrushing terrain. |