Sponges- is it me?

I'm not working on other people yet, but I've tried several different types of sponge and I never get a good effect on myself. Brushes work fine. It's either too wet and never dries or runs, or it doesn't give me a decent color. I've dabbed. I've brushed/smeared. No good. What am I doing wrong?

Are you spritzing your sponge?

I've sprayed the sponge, and/or the paint, and/or dipped the sponge in water.

I would stop dunking it.

Is your spritzer misting, or spraying? If it's spraying--maybe adjust the output/try another one. Or you could dab it a bit on a towel before heading toward the paint?

One another note, what brand of paint are you having issues with? Therein might lie the problem?

I've used both mist and spray.
For paint, I've used Ruby Red and Global.

Also, how do you clean these things?? The last one I tried is still red after dishwashing soap, soaking, and bar soap.

Yes. It's all of us until we get used to water control. Like annie mentions, if your sprayer puts out too much water you will have a hard time working up the paint and will waste a lot of paint up in your sponge.

Find more of a mister type sprayer that puts out a fine spray. That way you won't drown your cakes or have uneven water distribution on your sponge.

Make sure you keep going back and forth until all of the bubbles are gone but before you start dragging tracks in the paint. Don't dig into your paints...they will last longer if you "skate" across the cake several times rather than scooping.

Sofie's Tips has some fantastic beginning tutorials if you haven't seen them. Here's one on sponging.

https://youtu.be/3ZPKmks4FSM