How to Make Oxides Paint for Fabric

Fabric painting allows you the opportunity to accent your home decor scheme with creatively designed upholstery and tapestries. Making fabric paint with oxide inks is an achievable endeavor for even a beginner craft hobbyist. Making oxide paint for fabric requires very little time and few materials. The result is stunning colors for painting fabric crafts, furniture and home embellishments. Oxide paints, as opposed to vinyls and acrylics, are made of naturally occurring compounds, making them safe and non-toxic.

Things You'll Need

• Metal mixing bowl
• Titanium dioxide powder (1 oz.)
• Rubbing alcohol (4 oz.)
• Oxide red powder (1 oz.)
• Oxide sepia powder (1 oz.)
• Polysorbate 80 (3 drops)
• Coconut oil (4 drops)
• Disposable mixing stick
• Glass jar (10 oz.)

Instructions

1. Pour the rubbing alcohol into the metal bowl.

2. Mix in the titanium dioxide. The rubbing alcohol will instantly thicken and turn a foamy white tone. Titanium dioxide, or oxide, is a naturally occurring material that is used to create paint and dye pigments. It's easily obtained at craft and hobby stores.

3. Mix in the oxide pigment powders. Stir in the colored powders thoroughly so they evenly disperse. Red and sepia oxide pigments create a deep blood red tone. Mixing other oxide powder colors in the mixture creates different colors. For example, titanium oxide and carnelian oxide create a light pink color. Purchase a variety of pigments to create different paint colors.

4. Pour the coconut oil and polysorbate 80 into the bowl and mix it vigorously. The mixture will thicken slightly. Polysorbate 80, an emulsifying agent, can be bought at craft supply stores and online cosmetic crafting suppliers.

5. Pour the oxide ink paint into the jar and cap it. Shake it for about 30 seconds until it is thoroughly mixed. The completed product is a slightly thickened oil-based oxide fabric paint that is ready for fabric painting projects.

Tips & Warnings

• Experiment with different pigment textures, such as flecked mica pigment. Flecked mica pigment gives a marbled and sort of glittery appearance to oxide paints.

• Oxide paint provides you with an easy medium to use on fabrics such as silk, cotton, velvet, velour and any other porous material.

• Use stencils and oxide paints to create attractive designs on upholstery, fabric tapestries and more.

• Wear gloves and protective eyewear when working with powdered oxides, as they are very fine and easy to inhale. They also stain skin easily.

• Make the fabric paint in a stainless steel sink or over a well- protected surface to avoid staining furniture, clothes and flooring.

References

• Your Decorative Painting Resource: Fabric Paint Techniques