If you are into crafts, you must have different types of paints lying around. The good thing about paints is that you don’t just have to settle for what you have lying around – you can actually use them to make new paints. This way, you don’t have to spend extra if you require new paint for a project. If you have acrylic paint, you can make fabric paint by mixing it with a fabric medium. In this article, we will discuss the easiest way of making fabric paint without spending extra money.
How to Make Fabric Paint Using Fabric Medium
The easiest way to make fabric paint is by mixing the fabric medium with acrylic paint. To get that “fabric paint look,” you will have to do some test runs to mix the two properly. While it sounds easy, and it is, you will have to try it yourself to know the exact measurement of the two ingredients.
Why Should You Use Fabric Medium?
The following are the qualities of fabric medium that make it a perfect fit for making fabric paint.
- It is a thick liquid.
- The medium does not change the color of the acrylic paint.
- It achieves the perfect texture of fabric paint.
- It has an opaque white look, easily addable to any paint.
- The fabric dries quickly.
- The fabric medium gives an authentic look to the fabric, without which acrylic paint will crack.
- It prolongs the dry time of acrylic paint, making it flexible and easier to grab on.
How to Make Fabric Paint
The following are some easy steps to make fabric paint:
- Prepare the bucket of acrylic paint by thoroughly mixing it with a paintbrush.
- Take the fabric medium of your choice.
- Mix two parts of acrylic paint and one part of fabric medium in a bowl.
- Stir quickly to form the mixture using a paintbrush.
- You will see that the color of acrylic paint has not changed even a bit. However, the texture has somewhat become thin. The thin texture of the paint makes it easier to paint a piece of fabric.
- Finally, your fabric paint is ready.
How to Paint Fabric Using Fabric Paint
If you have a project where you have to paint a piece of fabric, homemade fabric paint will work wonders. Wash the fabric you want to paint on and let it dry completely before working on it. Paint it using the fabric paint you have made using fabric medium and let it sit for at least 24 hours. The paint will eventually dry out, giving a thick, textured look to the fabric at hand.
After that, you have to heat set the fabric so that the paint can leave its stain permanently. Otherwise, the paint will start to come off, especially if the fabric will move around a lot. You can heat set the fabric by ironing it for three to five minutes. Make sure to turn the fabric upside down to save your ironing machine from contracting the paint.
You can also put a scrap piece of paper between the ironing machine and the painted fabric to create a wall between the two to ensure that the heat doesn’t melt the paint, causing it to come off the fabric. When you use this method, even when you wash the fabric, the paint won’t come off.
Final Word
Using fabric medium is the easiest way to make fabric paint. It allows you to develop a whole new kind of paint for different projects without having to make a trip to the crafts store to buy more paint – thus saving your time and money.
Leave a Reply