Fabric painting with toddlers

Fabric painting with a three year old is both fun and messy.Since my son expressed interest in fabric painting,I decided to use only minimum colours,but finally had to use many:).He was clear he wanted sun and umbrellas.Finally we came out with this kid painting with inputs from him.It may not be the most artistic,but definitely the most fun painting.:)

Colours in batik

I was just reading about batik.The traditional colours used in batik are brown,indigo and white representing the three hindu gods,brahma,vishnu and siva.brown and indigo is because they are the natural colours available.

Hibiscus flowers

I learnt  a lot of brush strokes from a very good teacher.The hibiscus painting is an adaptation of one such brush stroke using a round brush  where the brush is held vertically after dipping in paint and pressed on to the cloth to spread it hairs around and then pulled back gently and slowly.

Rose petals

Painting rosepetals is lot of fun .Trace the shape of rosepetals and at first paint them white.Now start colouring from bigger end slowly towards middle making shading uniform.

Painting on a bedspread

I wanted to do something different with fabric painting.So I got this picture from the web.It is a very nice picture with clean strokes.

Initially I just drew it to a small white cloth and did my own version with fabric paint.

Then the idea of an enlarged version on a bedsheet.Instead of doing a line by line version as in the first place,I did a freehand enlarged version to make this handpainted bed spread.

Painting on kurtis

Painting on real nice kurti was scary initially.So I tried painting on an old kurti of mine and wore it.Then started painting on newer ones and on ones which my friends and family were generous to let me try on.Things  which I found out while painting:

• Keep it simple.People don't enjoy too much of any design on their kurtis..
• Make sure you don't let the paint spread.If at all it spreads think innovatively,don't panic .Follow the principle,design follows the paint.:)
• You can divide the spaces on Kurti to mainly neck,sleeves,a small design on upper back,borders for slits or the end of the kurti,while doing the whole front make sure you do small repeated designs or stop by making a medium sized design on one corner or centre.
• Kurti may not fit to an embroidery ring.You have to get used to painting on a neatly spread out Kurti.
• Make sure to insert lots of newspaper in between two layers of kurti to avoid spread of paint from front to back.

 

Paints for painting

  A lot of things are available in stores for fabric painting.

 Different types of paint which I have tried are

·         Ordinary acrylic paint in different colours.

·         Pearl/metallic shades: these are paint which have a shiny effect. These are used directly without water. I have found that with the use of water the gloss  and colour separate out.Mettalic shades include gold silver copper ,bronze. They are available as powder form and liquid form. The powder form has to be mixed with water. But nowadays since the liquid form is available it is always better to use it.

·         Fabric pens: these can be used for quick painting. easy to handle especially for kids. Useful for writing text on T-shirts.

·         Fluorescent shades: Bright shades in different colours useful for bright T-shirts ,banners,

·         Spray paint: Useful for colouring a large area where manual painting is hectic. Also for quick spray painted effect on T-shirts.

·         3D-outliners: available in ordinary, pearl, metallic and glitter shades. These are great for borders and to give that final finished look.

Please respond if you know of any other form of fabric paint. Personally I prefer to use the ordinary paint as they last much longer after frequent washes than pearl shades.

Fabric painting :single colour

 Fabric painting is one of my favourite hobbies.Whether a student,a homemaker or a working professional we can experiment it with tiny projects at home.You can do it as a holiday project with your children or do it doing your leisure time.Painting on fabric is easy and interesting.Start doing  it and see how fast it inspires your friends to follow.. 

To start  all you need is : 

• One brush  and one colour of acrylic paint(preferably fevicryl fabric paint.)
•  Piece of cloth for trial and for cleaning.
• Two small bowls of water(for cleaning and painting)
• Embroidery ring or board with clips.

• First  destarch the cloth thoroughly before beginning by washing it in cold water and then dry it.Cotton clothes are preferred.

• Stretch the cloth thoroughly by putting it in an embroidery ring or you can clip it to board to get the full stretch.
• Take any simple design of your choice.If required trace it to the cloth before starting or you can experiment freehand.
• Make a neat outline with dry paint.while filling the shapes you can dip the brush in the bowl of water,remove the excess water by wiping and then place the brush in the centre of the shape so that it gets wet there.
• Now dip it in paint .Remove excess paint on sides of brush,and fill the shape starting from the centre carefully so that it does not spread beyond the border.
• Leave the paint to dry.Reverse iron after complete drying.