Using Household Items When Painting on Fabric

Tools

To begin, Heather shows what tools she will be using to create her fabric. Rather than buying specialty fabric painting or printing tools, Heather shows how items you probably already have in your kitchen can be used when painting on fabric. For her demonstration, Heather uses everything from spatulas to wine corks and potato mashers to sink stoppers. She shows what part of each tool will be used as the printing surface and explains why she chose each one. She also explains how you can add padding to your surface to create the feel of fabric painting with stamps and having either a soft surface or a soft tool.

Paint

Once you have all of your tools assembled, you will need to get some fabric paint. Heather explains what kind of paint she likes to use and why, but also explains that you can use other acrylic paint with a fabric medium added to it. She also shows how you should protect your work surface as well as your clothes, since you are working with fabric paint.

Play

Once you have everything laid out and ready, it’s time to start painting on fabric. Heather shows how she simply picks her first tool, applies paint and finds out what it looks like when you stamp it. Unless you have used the tool before you may not know what it is going to look like when you press it on the surface of your fabric, but as Heather points out, that is part of the fun. She demonstrates how to stamp several different tools on the same piece of fabric in different colors, explaining how all of the colors work together with each other.