[Ansteorra] painting fabric (was: Making a wall hanging . . .)

[Kaitlan Roisendubh]

Actually, there is a fabric medium that can be added to acrylic paint that will work really well.  It does get hard but is flexible but will not break and fleck as well as can be washed then ironed.  I have used it a lot and it works great.

Lady Kaitlan Roisendubh

As history is being made we must always remember to look at the past for the past one day will return to be our future.  Learn from the past and embrace it for everything old returns to be new again.

--- On Thu, 1/8/09, Coblaith Muimnech <Coblaith at sbcglobal.net> wrote:

From: Coblaith Muimnech <Coblaith at sbcglobal.net>
Subject: [Ansteorra] painting fabric (was: Making a wall hanging . . .)
To: "Kingdom of Ansteorra - SCA, Inc." <ansteorra at lists.ansteorra.org>
Date: Thursday, January 8, 2009, 1:49 PM

willow wrote:
> Some of the Web sites tell you to prepare the Fabric with Gesso or to prepaint it.. . .The more paint you put on the wall hangings the stiffer they become. If they are kept on a wall they will stiffen up and the paint will even break if you try to move it. If they are kept in storage for long periods they sometime glue themselves together.. . .Mistress Branywn had use scrub the first layer of paint into the fabric to make sure it linked with the fabric. I find this better.

> I use water base Latex house paint.mixed with any kind of acyclic paints hobby paints.

Your choice of paints may have something to do with the problems you've observed.  A good fabric paint should give you better adhesion and more flexibility.

I make t-shirts for my lord using fabric paints.  They get sweat, food, and miscellaneous dirt all over them, are wadded up and shoved in a hamper, then rub against other clothes in the washer and tumble around in high temperatures in the dryer and come out ready to wear again.  They last for years under those conditions, being worn once or twice a week on average.

Fabric paint does cost more, ounce for ounce, than house paint.  But I think the difference in the finished product is well worth the difference in price.  And it's not exactly expensive, in any event.  The 18-by-14-inch section I painted on the most recent t-shirt I made required about a dollar and a half's worth of paint, and that's for solid coverage.  If the fabric had provided one of the colors (as it usually does on a banner), it would've been less.

You could also buy fabric medium to add to your artists' acrylics, if you prefer.  I've never tried that approach.  I doubt it gives the same results as fabric paint, but it would likely be an improvement over unaltered paints intended for rigid, impermeable surfaces.  There are many brands on the market.  A search for "fabric medium" will net information on them.


Coblaith Muimneach
<mailto:Coblaith at sbcglobal.net>

 
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