What do you notice about the different brushes?

Family how-to: make your own paintbrush

By Cash Aspeek and Zoë Smith

Published on 16 April 2019

Venture outside to hunt for dry leaves, flowers and twigs so you can construct your own brushes and play with mark-making using natural, foraged materials.

What you need

• Foraged feathers / sticks / dried grass / seed heads

• Twigs / sticks / garden cane

• Tape

• Ink

• Plastic tray (re-use a container)

• Lining paper (can be bought in a big roll for under £3 from DIY shops) / sheets of paper

• Scissors

Family how-to: make your own paintbrush 2

1. Forage for a brush head

Go outside into your garden, or nearest park, as a family. Can you find any seed heads, feathers on the ground, or thick grasses?

Try and think about what mark each one could make if it were used as a paintbrush. When you get home, lay out your foraged finds!

Family how-to: make your own paintbrush 12

2. Choose your brush head

We're going to use a feather but you can try anything you like.

Family how-to: make your own paintbrush 3

3. Forage for a handle

As well as some garden cane or sticks that you can buy, if you look outside you might find a long, straight stick to use as the handle for your paintbrush. Choose one that you can imagine becoming your paintbrush.

Family how-to: make your own paintbrush 4

4. Attach your brush to your handle

Attach your chosen brush head to the handle (made out of your twig or cane) using your tape.

5. Add ink to your brush

Load some watery paint or some black ink into a tray made from an old food carton. Dip the tip of your paintbrush into your ink.

Family how-to: make your own paintbrush 5

6. Experiment with mark making

How does the ink move along the page? Is the brush smooth? How much ink can it hold?

Play around with your brush making short movements and bigger ones.

Try some other brush heads

Try twisting the brush head. — You don't have to add a handle, you can use the stem of the dried flower if that's easier.

Try varying the pressure — Press lightly and dab your paintbrush onto the paper and see how different amounts of pressure change the marks you make.

Families at the RA

Whether it's a free drop-in workshop or one of our fun and engaging Art Detective trails, the RA is brimming with colourful paintings and sculptures that are waiting to be explored. Everyone is welcome at the RA – and kids under 16 go free to all our exhibitions.

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Family how-to: make your own paintbrush

What you need

Try some other brush heads

You don't have to add a handle, you can use the stem of the dried flower if that's easier.

Press lightly and dab your paintbrush onto the paper and see how different amounts of pressure change the marks you make.

Which foraged paintbrush was your favourite?

Families at the RA

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Burlington House,

6 Burlington Gardens,

Family how-to: make your own paintbrush

What you need

Try some other brush heads

You don't have to add a handle, you can use the stem of the dried flower if that's easier.

Press lightly and dab your paintbrush onto the paper and see how different amounts of pressure change the marks you make.

Which foraged paintbrush was your favourite?

Show us your paintbrushes! Share a photo or video of your paintbrush or your finished work with @royalacademy on Twitter or @royalacademyarts on Instagram.

Families at the RA

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Family how-to: make a colour wheel

How to: make a character house

How to: paint with words like Patrick Moses