Official Manufacturer Store and Learning Resource Site
About The
Sponge Painting Roller Paint Technique
How To Faux Paint 1-2-3 Steps
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This sponge painting roller is the quickest and easiest way to sponge paint your walls!
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Use with Faux Finish Glaze for a decorative sponge painted wall finish.
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You control the faux finish paint finish results! Sponge roll to your desired look.
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Fits standard USA 9" roller frame. Washable. Use for faux finishing for years to come!
1-2-3-Faux!
Instruction Steps
Using The Woolie Sponge Painting Roller
If you have never faux finished with The Woolie Faux Painting Tools and Techniques, view our detailed step-by-step instruction videos to ensure your delight and success.
Carefully review our instructions on
PREPARATION STEPS GUIDE
Before you begin painting.
Sponge Painting has never looked so good - REALLY! It's not the same old look that we used to get by applying glaze and paint with a hand-held sponge. It's a whole new realm that creates a soft, subtle and sophisticated look. You control the faux finish paint finish results! Sponge roll to your desired look.
Carefully review our instructions in
The Sponge Painting Roller Preparation Guide
before you begin.
You will find the link to this guide (PDF file) near the top of this page.
If you have never faux finished with The Woolie Faux Painting Tools and Techniques, view our detailed step-by-step instruction videos to ensure your delight and success.
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This Technique is easiest to do with two people.
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Person #1 will apply the faux finish glaze using a roller and a brush near edges.
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Person #2 will blend and manipulate the glaze using the Sponge Roller.
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Person #1 will continue to apply the faux glaze color uniformly. This person should be aware of the pace of the other person who is blending the final look and adjust accordingly. Moving ahead too fast may cause the faux glaze to dry before it is blended.
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Person #2 will roll through the glaze color to create the look of depth and texture. The more you roll, the softer and more muted the look.
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Person #2 should always leave a small strip of wet unblended glaze between your area and the area where the glaze is being applied. This will avoid overlap lines between sections.
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Make sure that you soften the edges by blending out so there are no harsh edges left to be seen.
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IMPORTANT NOTE: Do not reapply glaze once your blended area begins to dry. This will create an undesirable effect.
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When you approach an edge, corner or ceiling line. (That has been protected by masking tape prior to painting)
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Spread the glaze along the edges of the masking tape to ensure consistent results.
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Blend and soften the glaze color with a hand-held Natural Sea Sponge.
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Make sure that the glaze color and texture makes a soft and blended transition to previously blended sections.
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Repeat Steps #1 - #3
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If the Sponge Painting Roller is too saturated with glaze, it cannot perform properly.
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Download excess glaze from the Roller occasionally as needed.
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This is done by rolling on poster board, paper towels or lint-free rags.
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If you feel that the Sponge Roller is getting overly-saturated too frequently, this may indicate that too much glaze has been applied to the surface prior to blending. Person #1 should adjust accordingly.
The Next Section Contains
Additional Resources and
Helpful Information
For The Sponge Painting Roller
Faux Painting Technique
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When using faux glaze, use 1 light base coat color and 1 dark faux glaze color. These colors should be approximately 3 to 4 shades apart on a paint fan deck.
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If you wish to increase the illusion of texture, choose your colors 4 to 6 shades apart instead of the standard 3 to 4 shades. You can also decrease the illusion of texture by choosing colors 2 to 3 shades apart.
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These recommendations are general guidelines and should be used as such. You can become more creative with experimentation and sampling of colors.
If you have never faux finished with The Woolie,
view our detailed step-by-step instruction videos to
ensure your delight and success.
This faux painting technique requires the use of faux finish glaze.
What is a faux finish glaze?
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Glaze is simply a thin, translucent film of color that is applied over a base coat of a satin finish painted surface. Glaze creates a rich, dimension in many faux and decorative paint techniques.
What does faux finish glaze do?
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Paint normally dries very quickly. Faux glaze slows down the drying time of paint which gives you more time to manipulate your color to create the look you want. It also makes paint colors translucent to enable you to create the look of depth and texture illusion.
What Kind of Glaze?
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Water-based glazes and paints are the easiest to work with and to clean up.
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You can buy glazes that are already tinted, or you can mix up your own custom glaze color.
Mix Faux Glaze (clear untinted) with your chosen paint color.
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Combine clear (no color) faux glazing medium with your paint (either latex or acrylic). Generally the ratio is four parts glaze to one part paint, but you should follow the manufacturer's instructions.
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Test your glaze mixture on a scrap board or poster board to make sure it's the right consistency and translucency.
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Due to their nature, latex glazes can be customized to suit your needs.
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The amount of glazing medium you add to the paint can affect the color of the glaze. When you're using lighter paint colors, a 4-to-1 mixture will not affect the value of the color.
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But darker colors may be altered to a lighter color value when mixed with too much glaze. It's always best to experiment with the color on a piece of poster board.
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The translucency of the glaze is determined by how much paint you add: more paint than glaze results in less translucency; less paint than glaze results in more translucency.
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The more clear glaze that is added the longer that your glaze mixture will stay wet.
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The more paint that is added the sooner that your glaze mixture will dry.
Protect areas where you don't want paint
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Apply high quality 2” beige masking tape to protect areas such as woodwork, ceiling and any other areas that need to be protected from paint.
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We recommend using the FrogTape Brand in 2” inch width.
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Do not use low-adhesion or blue masking tape for this.
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Use a putty knife to seal the tape to the surface.
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Plastic or heavy plastic-faced drop cloths should be used to cover and protect the flooring completely.
This Technique Requires Application of a Base Coat
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The key to a beautiful glaze treatment is the surface you'll be painting on. A Satin Finish latex or acrylic base paint will seal the surface well and allow you to manipulate the glaze and keep a wet edge.
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Prior to painting your walls, make sure the area is clean of any contaminants such as grease, wax, dirt or any other material that would affect the adherence of paint to the surface.
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If peeling paint, holes or cracks exist, they should be repaired with spackle, sanded and then primed before you paint your base coat.
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If wall covering has been removed, make sure that any paste residue is cleaned from the surface and a primer coat is applied prior to painting your base coat color.
