Q. What Type of Paintbrush & What Size Should I Use?
A. If you’re new to painting, just follow my guide on how to choose your paint brush and what size you should use!
Now there are two types of brushes that I recommend for Screen Painting:
- Bristle Brushes
- Sponge Brushes
Bristle Brushes, from horsehair to vinyl, are all acceptable for spreading your paint onto a screen regardless of screen material you are using. Paint has a tendency of bleeding through. No worries!
Sponge brushes, although not widely used by my fellow screen painters is my choice. I have worked with all types of brushes over the years and have gravitated to the sponge brushes because they drag the paint much more efficiently when using the predominant technique of “Dry Brush Dragging”.
Sizes vary with area space you are painting on. Start with a wide 3” to 4” wide brush for large area spaces and shrink your brush width’s accordingly when working into smaller areas. I finish my screens using small bristle brushes that I nip off with scissors on an angle about ¼ inch from the base. This will allow you to get into those small areas more easily.
Sponge brushes and Bristle brushes are my go-to painting tools when I paint on a screen! I will be suggesting other tools you can use to make your gem look amazing in upcoming articles!
If you’re just starting and don’t want to make a huge investment to start, you can get $1 bags of sponge brushes. Quality is not that great but will certainly get you on the right track with your techniques needed to successfully paint your gem! Dollar stores will provide economic savings bonanza! You can eventually go to better quality brushes or start off right from the get-go. Hardware stores have the better grade sponge brushes or go on line. Jamestown Distributors is my go to company for 1” 2” 4” & 6” widths, although you won’t need a ton of the wide ones.