Painting fabric ~

Hi there ~

So.  I have been mixing up a few paints lately!  And dyes.  And fabrics. While summer is fading all too fast, it’s still time for me to play in the studio paint box, and then have the ability to hang the fabric on the line in pretty sunlight, where I can step back and evaluate the colors so much better than indoors.  I’m working on another piece of fabric that I will show in another day or two, as well as the quilt it became!

So ~ these are the simple ‘ingredients’ I’m using: 1. Silks acrylic mica paints, 2. Jacquard Lumiere metallics, 3. Jacquard Dye-na-flow dye/paint all in one product, 4. foam brush, 5. spray water bottle. I began with a piece of prepared for dye white fabric, and first applied the Dye-na-flow paint/dye. This is a dual product, half paint, and half dye. {or close to that!} It does leave the fabric with a stiffer hand than normal dying. But I happen to like that functionality for my purposes. I purchased it from Dharma Trading, as well as the Lumiere paints, too.  The Silks Acrylics were purchased from Colourarte’s website but they are easily purchased elsewhere too… just do a google search for more info.  I try to take advantage of the sales, for sure, when I need to purchase them.  Their mica paint pots are seen below on my painting table:
When I began the dyeing process, I added pink dye-na-flow, then a brown, and folded my fabric on the diagonal until it was nearly dry, leaving it flat on the table I use to dye fabrics on. Then, I added the mica paint, {wisteria} and {moonbeams} and also some gold, and even some copper, both which I used up completely and forgot to take a pic before I threw the jar away.  Below is the finished yard of fabric, and detailed up close pics follow:

I’m pretty ‘happenstance’ about my processes here!!  It’s a time to let go, and let the color flow… It’s not that I don’t ever try to control it… I do.  But I also want to see all the unexpected goodness of color layering in spots where I might not have expected it.

My tools are pretty simple.  A cheap foam brush, about 2″ wide, a spray bottle of water, and a mixing palette.  I add paint in wide brush strokes, spray, and fold fabric, and sometimes “mooosh it all up” too!  Then I hang it and let it run where it wants.

So what do you think?

It’s a fun, unpredictable, and even slight controllable process.  Let me say this important factor, too.  I did not like this fabric after I initially dyed it!  It’s been folded in the studio for over two years! I thought it was just okay–it seemed rather dull to me–it didn’t really spark my interest that much.  Well, I don’t think it is anymore!  I’m over the moon about it, and I can’t wait to use it in … something.  I don’t know what just yet… but something.  Something new.   And I hope very soon! Because I really L  O  V  E   it now!

And I hope you are working and playing on something you really love. right. now. too!

Blessings,