Textile Paints

 

Textile paints

Textile paints are two types when it comes to practical use - paints for full coloring of fabrics and paits for drawing on fabrics.

 

Paints for full coloring 

Hobby paints for full coloring of fabric are most often good for any fabric type and should there be any specifics about some types of fabric you will find an additional information in the description of the products. You can find Paints for full coloring here. 

Problematic fabrics

To color a fabric you need to know what it is made of because this influences a lot the outcome of the coloring -  are there synthetic materials in it, what is the percentage, what paints and chemicals have been used to color it before and so on. All these afect the coloring process. Most of this information is usualy not available to you so you must always have in mind that something might come up and spoil your coloring. If this is the case please call a professional who will know what to do.

If we leave these fabrics asside we can say that almost always the paints for full coloring give an exelent resault and the colors become true, freshen up the fabric and are very nice.

Initial color

It is of great importance what is the color of the fabric you would like to work with. It will be impossible to color a dark green into light yellow. To do that you need to fist bleech the fabric becuase on a dark fabric the new color will leave only a slight trace or a hint of the new color. Do not expect a dark blouse to turn pink because this will simply not do. So always have in mind the color you are buying and the initial color and try to imagin what will happen if they blended togeather.

Process of coloring

There are two most common ways to color a fabric. One is done on a hot-plate in the kitchen or on fire in the garden and the other uses a washing machine.

If you want to do it without a washing machine you need to boil the fabric and the paint togeather at a degree shown onthe package of the paint. You need to wet the fabric before you place it in the pot and then add water to cover it. You add the paint and you boil it for about 25 minutes. After that you can put it away and let it cool for half an hour. After the cooling is done you have to wash the fabric until all the exess paint is washed away.

Quantity of paint

On the package of the paint there is an instruction how much fabric it can color. Usually one package can color one sweather or  two blouses. In that sense if you are coloring one T-shirt you might put only half of the paint. If you feel any doubt about the quantity you can place the whole package and when the coloring is done all the exess paint will simply wash away.

Coloring fabric with a washing machine

Coloring fabric is somewhat a dirty process. When you wash off all the exess paint it goes on and on and your bathroom gets all dirty -  we have tried this it works but is really dirty and tiring - so a much cleaner way is the washing machine. The manufacturers of Lukas Batik tell us on the package of the paint that a washing machine works just fine. And we have tried this as well. You need to place the fabric and the paint in the washing machine, put it on a higher temperature and just let it roll - it will do both the coloring and the washing for you. When the machine stops you have your new colored fabric and you are ready to dry it and use it.

Aditions to the paint

When you color silk or wool you need to put vinegar. Diferent paints give specific information how much vinegar you should put. In the case of Lukas Batik for one package you must place 300 ml of vinegar. 

 

Paints for drawing on fabric

The paints for drawing on textile work all the same way but there are diferent brands that offer diferent colors. 

Preparation

To start drawing you need to prepare the fabric. Because the paints are liquid they will go trought the fabric and paint as well anything underneat but unfortunately not in the quality you are drawing on your fabric. So if you are drawing on a T-shirt you need to put a thick cardboard, or a plastic film inside so that it will stop all the exess paint that is trying to soak trough. If you are using water a lot you could use a hair-drier to loose quickly some of the water when you need to.

Drawing

The paints come usualy in jars and are easy to be placed with a brush. They can be applied with anything you find usefull like pencils, rubber and so on. They can be diluted with water for a less opaque drawing.

Fixating textile paints

The fixation od textile paints is the same for most of them. When the drawing is dry you need to iron the fabric on the back side for about 5 minutes with a temperature suitable for cotton fabrics. You can use as well a hair-drier to heat and fixate the paint on places that are hart to iron. If there are specifics usually they are written in the descriptions of the products and on the packages of the paints.

 

Types of paints

Universal textile paints

The univeral textile paints will draw on any fabric. Such paints are the russian Decola paints and the german Nerchau collection of paints. In Nerchau collection you can even choose between paints for dark fabrics and paints that work on lighter fabrics. This means that the paints for darker surfaces have more pigment and are even more opaque to cover the fabric in full when you draw. For light fabrics all the paints work perfectly. Here you can see all the universal textile paints for drawing.

Silk paints

The paints for silk are made especialy for silk fabrics. This collection has as well materials for placing an outline. These paints have a diferent chemical compounds and give best resault on silk. Here you can see our collection of silk paints.

 

Pens and markers for textile

The markers and pens for textile are perfect for outlining details and for drawing as well on fabrics. They work and are fixated on the same principal as the other textile paints with ironing on the back side of the fabric. Some are sold on separate colors others are sold in kits and there are many brands you can choose from. You can see all markers and pens for textile here.

 

Paints for decorations and special effects on textile

Liquid pearls

Liquid pearls give amasing efects on textile. They have a pearl looks, come in many colors and after drying stay embossed. The liquid pearls of Ranger that you can find here can be placed on fabric and will not wash away. The manufacturer gives us an instruction to wait for 72 hours before washing the fabric for this will make the perls really resistant to washing. These pearls are a perfect decoration for clothes and accessories. Sometimes people use for textile the glass outline paints of Maimeri.

 

Types of techniques for drawing on textile

Dry drawing technique

The paints are placed with a brush or with another tool but on a dry fabric surfce. The drawing becomes bright, opaque most often and very often is made on a preprepared pencil drawing on the fabric. Use of all kinds of decoration paints is common for this stile.

Dry technique - with tampon

In this technique the paint is placed with a very dry paint tool trough a stencil. The image becomes very precise and pretty. You must be careful not to put the paint too wet because it might slip under the stencil and damage the lines of the drawing.

Wet technique

Wet technique is a great fun. It is hard to keep the back of a T-shirt clean because usually there is paint and water all over the fabric. But you can always try. The idea of the wet technique is to  work on a wet fabric and when you place the paint it spreads freely and gives your drawing a vivid and transparent looks. It is perfect for drawing all kinds of flowers and magical fairytale images. It is almost impossible to repeat in ful and that makes each successful draving valuable. Very often after the paint is placed the drawing is outlined with other paints and the image is really beautiful. You can fixate after the drawing is dry by ironing it again on the back side for 5 minutes. 

Because of all the watter and soaking trought of the paint you can create yourself a special surface to work on - probably an old towel or a plastic surface to hold the exess paint while you are drawing.