Wooden Paint Drag For Paint Layering/Distressing

Recently Carlene from Organized Clutter did a post about a product called a layering block. 

I had never seen or heard of such a thing before she introduced it.

I was intrigued.

I was also not near a craft store at the precise moment I wanted to try the product, so I made do instead.

Making do meant making one.

I'm calling mine a wooden paint drag because the wood block needs to be pulled across the item to give it a distressed look. 

It's done with paint and without sanding.

It's a pretty nifty little thing and works great.

The concept is simple; put a light coat of paint on the wood block and drag it across the item you want to have a distressed or layered paint look.

It works wonderful on a flat surface as well as the edges of a project.

The first time I tried out the idea I didn't have a wood block (which really means I didn't want to hunt one down in the garage) but I did have a wood slat, so I used that. 

I simply put a light coat of paint on the slat and pulled it around in the areas I wanted a bit of distressing.

The slat worked fine but the shape was a bit cumbersome, however it worked good enough to convince me of the potential, and it was a lot easier and less messy than sanding.

Earlier in the week I posted this old tool tote that I transformed into a pretty nice table centerpiece, and I used the wooden drag on it in a variety of Fusion Mineral Paint colors.

The drag was used before I lettered the tote, then I did take some sand paper and sand across the brown letters so the other colors of paint would show through. 

If you want distressing down to bare wood, of course you would still have to use sand paper.  The drag adds paint in whatever colors you choose, to give a layered look.

This nifty little homemade wooden paint drag took only a couple times to get the hang of it. 

I'm going to make more in different sizes, smaller for smaller projects, maybe larger for bigger ones.

Maybe I'll even get creative with different textures on the drag itself.

There will definitely still be times where nothing gives me the look I want other than using sand paper, but for smaller projects or ones where I just want a little paint layering or distressing on the edges, using the wooden paint drag will come in very handy.

Oh.... and if you don't already stop on a regular basis at Organized Clutter, do so - Carlene is always re-purposing something and she is full of interesting ideas.

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