How to Drybrush and Wetbrush Ceramics

These techniques add color to and bring out the texture of your projects.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Things You’ll Need:

• Acrylic Paints
• Paper Towels
• stiff, round brushes

Drybrushing

1. Dip the tip of a dry, stiff, round-bristled brush into a dab of acrylic paint.
2. Zigzag the brush on a paper towel or paper grocery bag until you've removed most of the color.
3. Brush the end of the bristles briskly back and forth across, not with, the texture of the piece.

Wetbrushing

4. Dip the tip of a moist, stiff, round-bristled brush into a dab of acrylic paint.
5. Zigzag the brush on a paper towel or paper grocery bag until you've removed most of the color. Because the brush is wet to begin with, more paint stays on the bristles.
6. Brush the end of the bristles briskly back and forth across the texture of the piece as when drybrushing.

Tips & Warnings

• Drybrushing works best over a base coat - a solid-colored coat of paint applied to the whole piece of bisque. Dark colors work better than light colors.
• The drybrushing technique puts highlights of color on ridges and details, leaving the darker base coat color in the grooves and furrows.
• Use wetbrushing as an alternative to drybrushing for more vivid and smoother colors. Pearls and metallic colors are particularly good paints to try this with.
• Refrain from rubbing or wiping a smudged area that has received too much paint. Wait for it to dry and go over it with a darker color. Then, rebrush it.