In this webinar, know all about the Eco-sponges with Bianca Hannah. Bianca also shares a few of her quick designs using the sponges.

I actually had this idea many years ago and I had some high density foam and I thought I could make some sponges out of that and I didn't like how it turned out when we cut it and we cut it again and I still didn't like it at all so I kind of dropped this whole idea. Then Pam Kinneberg posted a video not too long ago about how she cuts her sponges and she uses kind of an electric knife to do it and I picked this idea back up. I did some research about good high density foam and it was important to me that it's made in America and that it's a good quality foam and so I ordered these and tried them out and I thought by now, especially during this time, it's not a big deal anymore to offer one sponge per face and one per kid, one per use. Like, it's affordable now. The package has 25 sponges, sometimes you even get 26 inside. If I cut them in smaller sizes, I put a little extra in. There are different sizes in there and this is only for around $11 so it's a really wonderful price.

Design #1

So the first is a tiger eye design. I'm gonna spray my sponge and load it. There are all Kraze colors; that's Maya Blue and this is a neon magenta and this is that yellow and I'm loading it. So this is an imaginary diagonal line 'cause this is the kind of flow; I wanna focus on this line. The dark goes on the middle and the yellow on the outside and I used these colors for a reason. These colors are dark in the middle and then a wonderful, colorful pink and then that yellow is a light color so when I do eye designs, I always try to fade out with the light colors toward the end so it's easier. You don't want to have a sharp end.

So if it's a 2-minute design, all I'm doing is I'm gonna just put the color here but I wanna do an extra step and blend it out [with a stencil] and I'm gonna use just that yellow here. That's gonna be a fade out of that tiger design. This is an optional step, you don't necessarily have to do it but I'm doing it because this is a good way to just blend the colors out.

Now I will color the lips. I take a round brush for that and I would probably go with a pink tone to put on the lips.

Use a brush that is pretty pointy or you can also use a dagger brush or a pointy brush. I'm using this Loew-Cornell #4 here. This is my favorite for tiger stripes and so I'm doing that thin-thick-thin, triple T lines, if you wanna call them. Then just work my way from there. I'm keeping the tiger stripes more in that temple area.

When you have time, you can go ahead and add more stuff or you can just leave it. What I would definitely add though would be a little glitter. So this is a VIVID Glitter and you can go on the paint without messing it up and it adds more color to it.

And then do some white dots just to break down these colors a little bit. I'm using Kraze White.

I always like to fill certain spots or fade out with dots or you can also do the touch of a cheetah here a little bit. It's kind of like a short line and then just a little flick. It's still like a tiger line but more like a cheetah look so you can mix that.

This color combination and this design I have been doing forever and it's always requested so this was really one I wanted to share and you can use other colors, of course, but make sure you fade out with a light color at the end or with a good stencil.

Design #2

I'm gonna do a blue mask. It can be a Frozen mermaid mask, whatever you want to call it. I'm using a homemade cake that has a shimmery blue, a teal, a different teal, and a dark blue and fades out with a darker purple. When I do masks, I always fade it out. We don't wanna have that super dark underneath the eyes so that light color goes underneath and the dark goes on the top. While it's still moist, I would usually put some glitter on there.

So I did that and then it looked smudgy on the edges so I'm painting my regular princess design over that. I load it with the blue and then I make my regular princess. As soon as I apply it, I blend it into that foundation and then you have a nice, clean edge.

Then I just do my princess outlining and I am using a round brush from Paint Pal. I'm doing the regular princess outlining, what I usually do. [A lot of flicks and swirls] working towards that center.

Then I work towards the corner of the eye. I always try to make lines of different lengths and then you can either work in more teardrops and make it round or you can just add a little gem and then work around that and you can frame it a little bit if you want.

So that would be a very easy way of doing a mask and it's a style of mask that has been around forever.

Design #3

I'm using a smaller sponge now and using this triangle side to put the white on and it's gonna be a super fast, simple fox. So imagine you have these lines here [towards the temples], adding that white.

Then I'm getting a second sponge and I'm gonna add an orange on there. I'm using a mix of neon orange and a tiger orange paint. I have those loaded and I'm gonna work my way up. I go to the nose and then around the white and then it has this wonderful pointy shape here so I can get the ears of this fox really nicely on there. Then add that head.

Now I need a round brush and I'm gonna load it with black and do a nice round fox nose. Then using a thinner brush or pointier brush, I'm gonna start on the ear and give it a touch of a stretched "S" [outlining the ears] then the hair, and then go down and very lightly imitate fur. I'm gonna add this line and doing thick-thin-thick again.

A little extra step you can do is take a sponge and dip the corner into StarBlendand then drag the dark a little bit on the corner of the ears. Foxes actually have these dark pointy ears. Another option is to use paint but StarBlend usually works very well.

So if you have a girl, add some glitter. I would probably use a golden glitter or something. You can also color the lips if you want. It's really up to you. This can be done under 2 minutes. It's a really super fast and nice design.

Design #4

I wanna do a dragon-tiger mix for a boy. I'm gonna use a flat brush and load it with a regular cake that you usually use for green leaves. It's dark green, light green, all the way up to yellow. I wanna have a little boat, like, a head of the dragon and I'm gonna wiggle it, and then I'm gonna do "u" shapes on both sides. This is where the horns go and then just drag it down with a little wiggle motion.

Then I take a sponge, load it with a light green and then I just blend that green in a little.

Using white, [I'm doing the horns by] just dragging it down and then flick it up again like a big teardrop.

So I'm outlining that with black here. You can end it here in tribal lines or something and I'm gonna just add little tiger stripes down here. That gives it a really cool, extra touch.

Once this green is dry, go ahead and put a dragon stencil on. A good way to do that--and I've been doing this for many years--is take the stencil and then just load it with a lollipop and rub that on. You can also use this to give these horns a little shadow.

So this would be a very nice way for a dragon. It is a very impressive design.

You can really do all that with the Eco-Sponges without any problems and they work really good and I hope you will like them. If you have any questions, feel free to contact me any time.

Products Mentioned in the Webinar:

Bianca Hannah Eco-sponges
Silly Farm Brush Bath
Superstar Brush Soap
Cameleon Soap
Kraze FX Maya Blue
Loew-Cornell #4 Round Brush
Blazin Brush #3 Round Brush
VIVID Glitter Chunky Glitter
Kraze FX White
Sweet Practice Boards
Paint Pal Round Brush
Pros-Aide
Mehron Adhesive
Kraze FX Brushes
Mehron StarBlend

If you missed the live webinar, you can watch it now in the video above or later at our YouTube channel. Thank you, Bianca, for sharing your talents with us! Thank you to everyone who tuned in to the webinar. Click here to know our upcoming webinars.