As you can see, we've been having fun so far. Miscellaneous materials you will find around your house make for great texture tools. I'll show you how. If you're not sure where to start experimenting with new materials, reach into your pantry or closet and just grab the first thing that comes out. For instance, this old dust mop, looks like something that should be thrown away, but in the hands of a painter it can become a very useful tool. Depending on the look you want that will dictate how much paint you actually put on this thing. Then you can either drop, slap, or drag to create all kinds of different effects. This one I use most often if I'm painting a scene that requires lots of fibrous materials like grass or wood. It's great for creating all those little strands. As you can see, it's also great for abstract designs, just pouncing up and down. Again, rotate it for different angles. Dust mop, who'd have thought. Sand paper sponge, great for woodworking projects also great for painting. You can usually get them that have a variety of different grits on the different sides, have an extra rough grit here, has finer grit on this side, and then even rougher on the edge here. You can either dip this directly into the paint. I prefer to brush the paint on because that gives you a little more control over how much paint is going to be used. You simply brush on the areas you think you're going to be using, and then just press and release. This is good if you have just a little bit of stippling to do or achieving the splatter effect in a cleaner way than we saw earlier with the toothbrush. Also, with the block like this you can create nice, clean lines. Nice thing about a sponge is that you can mash it into different shapes depending on your needs. It can be a little bit tough to work with especially with the hard edges, but in the right instance, for instance, wood graining, this can be invaluable. So, play around and see what you come up with.
