Dry Brushing

From Principles of Applied Arts

Drybrushing

Drybrushing means using a DRY brush, or one that has almost no paint on it. It enables you to highlight the highest relief parts of something - such as crown moulding, furniture or cabinetry.

The end effect is to have just the tips or highest relief or most extruded parts of a component touched with your accent paint or glaze. This is used to create a country French look, add a subtle sheen to a piece of furniture, or create an aged look to almost anything. The process is as follows:

1. Load a brush with any paint and unload your brush on a rag or another surface until it is almost dry.

2. With a that dry brush flap or smack the surface of your desire, by rapidly whacking your dry brush across (as in across the width of a piece of crown moulding) several times (10-20 times or more) until the look you desire emerges. You will see the most extruded or highest relief tips of the surface begin to show the color.