How to Face Paint - Step 3: How to use a Face Painting Sponge?

Face Painting sponges are great tools for covering large areas of the face and or body in just a few seconds. Once you learn how to use them they will be your best friend.

The most basic face painting sponge is a half circle since that shape is really versatile. You will use the flat side of your sponge to activate the paint, and you can draw on the face with it to make the shape needed. The sharp end will help you make straight and curved lines. The rounded edges are great for blending in different colors and smoothing out your base coat.

There are many other face painting sponges shapes and each have a particular purpose, we will touch on that later on when we look at more advanced tools.

To use your sponge simply grab one end of the half circle and dip the other end in the water. It is important to keep in mind that face painting sponges are porous and they can absorb a lot of water, so it is always best to only dip the very edge of your sponge and squeeze out any excess water. Now gently by firmly rub the moisten tip of your sponge against the surface of your face paint back and forward until you obtain a creamy consistency. If your sponge is too wet the face paint will run on the skin and your design will look messy. If you indeed got your sponge too wet, squeeze the excess water inside your water cup and work the paint on the cake until it gets creamy again (more paint will need to be activated in order to absorb the excess water sitting on your cake).

It takes practice to get the water/paint ratio right so don’t get frustrated and keep trying. Once you get it, it will come out naturally and you won’t need to think about it anymore.

After using a face painting sponge we recommend to set it aside to be thoroughly washed and dried before re using it with a different person. This is why we suggest for face painters to have at least 20 sponges on their kit.

We would like to note that different painters have different rules as far as sanitation goes, but we will save that topic for a future post.

In order to wash your face painting sponges you can toss them in the laundry machine with soap. We recommend using a laundry mesh bag to keep them from getting destroyed by your laundry machine. You can also wash them manually using soap and water. Make sure to use a clean bucket or a sanitized sink to prevent contamination of your sponges. Once they have been washed make sure to let them air dry thoroughly so that they do not develop mold or must. We don’t recommend putting your sponges on a dryer because the high heat could affect the integrity of your sponges.