A rag is simply a piece of cloth or fabric. An artist uses rags to clean up spills in their art studio, to remove paint and to wipe clean brushes. A rag can also be used to create a paint effect called ragging. Soft rags, made from flannel or cotton are often used for polishing metal surfaces.

The best way to obtain rags is to tear up and keep old clothing. For a good quality polishing rag which is often needed by a jeweler to polish small jewelry items you can reuse a pair of flannel pajamas and cut them up into small pieces, this is often far cheaper and just as effective as buying a polishing cloth.