Sometimes I feel the urge to paint, the idea of making brushstrokes seems soothing, however, I'm not actually very good at painting, but it did occur to me that I could create varigated fabric or some other fabric effects that would be fun to use in quilting.
The only fabric paints I've used make the fabric slightly stiff, does anyone know of any brands that would add colour to white (or maybe an other light colour) fabric and that once set wouldn't leave too much residual stiffness.
You can paint on fabric with fabric dyes- or fabric dye pens for small areas. You won't get a sharp image like with 'paints'. There is a thickening agent available that you add to the dye. But leaving the dye in it's normal liquid form and even diluted will give you some lovely mottled effects. Try it!
Check this link. Halfway down the right hand column is "Fabric Painting". It will get you off to a great start! They also have all the supplies you'll need from PDF (Prepared For Dying) fabrics in many weights right thru to the dyes and all the accessories. They have great service and reasonable prices. I've bought from them many times.
http://www.dharmatrad>> You can paint on fabric with fabric dyes- or fabric dye pens for small
I've got so I use a combination of dyes and paints a LOT, even on T-shirts. The dyes give the best color and hand, the paints are what I use for detail. Lately I've been in a sort of mood where I do a combination of watercolor and serti technique (as for silk painting) using opaque fabric paints in place of gutta. Lumiere in little squeeter bottles is seeing a lot of use like that presently.
When I paint paint I am very exacting about it. I use a highly detailed monotone and a lot of glazes. When I am messing about with T-shirts and fabrics, I just sort of go and see what I end up with. Oh sure, sometimes something catches my brain and I think it would make a great T-shirt for somebody. DH has his "sleep is for the weak" T, DD2 has her T with the little demon baby nestled in the cleavage and "shoulder's are for angels" on it, and DD has worn her sonno joi T to rags and wants me to make her a new one (Imperial dragon battling black ships with the appropriate phrase in kanji underneath, long explanation). When you make somebody a shirt and they wear it to bits it is a grand thing, but it is just so relaxing to gather your stuff up and just paint without having to focus on it coming out a particular way. The nifty thing about painting with dyes is you have such a huge palette to work with, and so long as you remember your basic color wheel it is almost impossible to turn out something truly ugly. If you do get an ugly patch, there are always opaque fabric paints, or tying up the pretty bits and overdying the ugly bits in black.
By the by, my thickening agent of choice is gum arabic. It is available powdered pretty cheaply if you know where to look. Methocel comes in second, also cheap if you shop. Both wash out no problem, and don't seam to interfere much with the dye.
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