How to Faux Paint by Dragging
Dragging is a faux-painting technique that produces thin, vertical stripes on the wall. It works best on wood paneling or a smooth wall surface.
- Difficulty:
- Moderate
Instructions
Things You'll Need
- Acrylic Paints
- Clean Rag Or Cloth
- Glazes
- Masking Tape
- Plastic Drop Cloths
- Squeegees
- Steel Wool Pad
- Rubber Gloves
- Plastic Lids
- Scissors
- Ladders
- large, flat brushes
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Dragging with a Brush
-
1
Paint the wall a solid color. This will be your background color.
-
2
Select an acrylic paint color that contrasts nicely with the background color.
-
3
Prepare and tint glaze with the acrylic paint you have chosen to create your desired glaze color.
-
4
Tape a plastic drop cloth to the baseboard of the wall you are painting to protect the trim and the floor from drips.
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5
Brush the glaze onto the wall, covering a 2-foot-wide strip from top to bottom. Use a crisscross pattern, brushing top to bottom, then side to side, then top to bottom again over the same strip.
-
6
Stand directly in front of the wall area that you covered with glaze in step 5.
-
7
Pull or drag a wide brush downward through the wet glaze, pressing hard enough to slightly bend the bristles. Keep a steady hand so that the stripes made by the brush bristles stay parallel.
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8
Wipe the excess glaze off the brush with a rag.
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9
Use the brush to drag another vertical row without overlapping.
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10
Repeat steps 5 through 9 until you have covered the wall.
Dragging with a Comb
-
1
Prepare a comb by cutting a plastic lid in half.
-
2
Cut V-shaped notches about 1/4-inch long into the straight edge of the cut lid. Space notches evenly or unevenly, depending on the look you want to achieve. Make the teeth fairly narrow to avoid excess paint buildup between the notches.
-
3
Prepare the glaze and brush it onto the wall as described in steps 2 through 5 above.
-
4
Hold the comb so that your thumb is on top and your fingers are on the bottom.
-
5
Place the comb at an angle to the wall and drag the comb down in a vertical row.
-
6
Clean off the comb with a rag and begin on another vertical row without overlapping.
-
7
Continue to apply glaze in 2-foot strips and drag as described in steps 14 through 16 until the entire surface is covered.
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1
Tips & Warnings
Use acrylic or oil-based glaze for this technique. The oil glaze will dry more slowly, allowing more time for dragging.
Use a wide wallpaper-smoothing brush to cover a large area quickly before the glaze dries.
Dragging is a "subtractive" faux painting technique, because the dragging tool takes away the glaze that you've brushed onto the wall. Going over a section more than once will lighten the glaze.
This technique is not recommended for walls that have a heavy texture.
To make a moiré, or a rounded, wavy pattern, comb the glaze in wavy or S-shaped vertical rows. Try to keep gaps between rows small. Go over the vertical rows with horizontal waves or diagonal waves.
To make a basketweave pattern, comb down to make a 5-by-5-inch square, and then comb across to make a 5-by-5-inch square right next to the first square. Alternate combing down and across until the entire surface is covered with alternating horizontal and vertical square patches. Squares needn't be exactly the same size.
Do not use a latex wash for this technique. Washes dry too quickly to achieve the desired results.
Keep paint and paint products out of reach of children.
Have adequate ventilation when you are mixing and applying glazes and while they dry.
Use caution when working on a ladder. Make sure it is stable before climbing on.
Wear gloves to protect your hands from chemicals in paints and paint products, and to make cleanup easier.
