About Fabric Paint
Fabric painting is a unique way to decorate most fabrics. A fun craft, it is popular with those that prefer art projects over traditional fabric needlepoint or embroidery. Fabric paints come in an array of colors, from the more traditional ones to brilliant bold neon. Although some fabrics may need a specific type of fabric paint, in general anything made out of fabric can be painted.
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History
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Fabric painting has been around for thousands of years. Many cultures have been using methods of fabric painting, such as batik, for centuries to decorate clothing, wall hangings and pouches that held food. Natural dyes were used before the invention of synthetic paints. These natural dyes were found in barks, wildflowers and even vegetables. At first, dyes were only used for royalty or the rich, but eventually common people began to use dyes on wool and other fabrics. They also used lye, soot and other household components in addition to natural dyes. It was a tedious process, however, so the profession of fabric dyers was created to dye wools and other materials. Today, fabric paint is usually synthetic and has evolved along with the many techniques of fabric painting.
Methods
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The techniques in which fabric paints are used vary. Different cultures apply the fabric paint in ways that have become well known and treasured. For example, India and Africa make beautiful Batik creations. Batik is a fabric painting process using wax. The wax is applied to the fabric before the paint. Fabric paint will not penetrate the wax, so once the fabric has been painted the wax leaves behind the desired design in the painted fabrics. Another method is the process of applying fabric paint to large blocks with designs imprinted on the block. The fabric paint is applied to the block instead of the fabric. Then the block is used to print on the fabric. A simple example of this done by crafters is potato print fabric painting. Cut a potato in half and carve a design on the exposed potato. Use fabric paint in the chosen color on the design part only and then push the potato against the fabric to create your design. Fabric paints can also be used on fabric by airbrushing, freehand painting and screen printing.
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Types of Fabric Paint
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Fabric paint comes in many forms. All fabric paint manufactures offer tube paint. These are easy to work with, as the paint can be squeezed out easily. Paint also comes in bottles and paint pens. Spray fabric paint comes in a can and is used for stenciled designs. The consistency of fabric paint varies with what it will be used for in the project. There is a thinner lighter density paint that can be used to mimic watercolor painting. A thick dense paste-like fabric paint can be used for raised designs. Paint pens can be used to draw and color freehand design. Fabric paint comes in all colors and various shades of each color. There is also metallic fabric paint.
Considerations
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A couple of things to consider when using fabric paint are the type of material to use and how to store unused paint. 100 percent cotton is the best fabric to use. It holds the paint well without bleeding color. A close second is a mix of cotton/polyester fabric. This will still give you a good base to hold the paint. You can use other fabrics as long as you take into consideration the density and type of paint best with that fabric. Leftover paint should be stored closed and at room temperature to keep it from drying out.
Warning
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Material should be washed first and ironed before applying fabric paint to avoid shrinkage, causing damage to your design or wrinkles causing paint to go on unevenly. Read labels on fabric paint containers to confirm that it is safe for use on children's clothing.
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Resources
- Photo Credit http://www.flickr.com
