"Dry Brushing – a cheap, effective tip" Topic

All of us know the principle of dry brushing: remove the bulk of the paint from the brush so that only a trace catches raised detail.

People often use paper towels or even purpose-made textured palettes for this stage. A simple alternative I've found works just as well—if not better—is ordinary corrugated cardboard.

Peel away the top paper layer and you're left with the exposed ridges underneath. These act as a ready-made textured surface, helping strip paint from the brush evenly while also breaking it up across the bristles. The result is more control and a finer, more consistent dry brush.

Advantages:
Costs nothing (recycled packing material)
Reusable for multiple sessions & easily replaced
Textured surface improves paint distribution
More control than paper towels

I bring this up because an old friend walked into my painting room & noticed my paint-smeared cardboard and asked what it was for? It's an old trick but perhaps some of you don't know it either?

It is worth trying if you want a bit more control over your dry brushing without buying extra kit.

I use an enamel plate – dip the brush in the paint, then brush it over the plate until little remains. Once the brush has run out of paint brush it across the area previously used to remove surplus paint.

Great tips – I have struggled with dry brushing and will give these a try (I do like the cost nothing part)

Frederick, one secret not mentioned is a stiff brush (Humbrol goat mop's are sadly no longer available, I treasure the two I have).

I save and don't throw out #2 brushes that I've abused and destroyed the point on. Perfect.
Why waste money on special drybrush brushes?

I've been using the edge of my painting palette (i.e., the plastic lid from a food container), but I'm going to try the cardboard technique. Thanks.

Discount houses offer makeup brushes for a buck or two.
They are short bristled and offer a broad surface. Think of
a bristled Q-tip. Wipe the excess on a paper towel and you
end up with a wide area of coverage with great consistency.
After you burn through them, you can replace them for less than the cost of one sleazy discount brush. The results are
the best I've had in many a decade.

I'll try that today. Thanks!

No matter how hard I work to get everything to line up in my posts, it always looks like I fell asleep at the keyboard.
Note the above post with the box expanding sentence.

I use old brushes and paper towels.

OFM +1

Old brushes have plenty of life in them, once they've passed their prime!!

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My latest bit of cardboard.

I saw that people were making their own textured palettes (rather than buy one!!) by gluing old bits of sprue, spare part, etc onto a plastic base- a container lid.

Does anyone use such? It's obviously do-able but I think you would get a random removal of excess paint from the brush?

I use old brushes and cut them short to be really stiff. Ochoin's idea s a good one and I have lots of old cardboard.

I have been using a tip I learned recently. Take a spong and wet it- then wring it out so it is barely moist. You then have a reusable dry brush surface. The key is to make sure you really wring out the sponge. Cheap kitchen sponges work well.

Like John, I have some specific dry brushing brushes. They work much better in terms of even paint distribution than old recycled brushes.

I just brush them agaibst a bit of rough cardboard to get the excess paint off.

Thank you for the cardboard tip. I will try that soon