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How to make your own fabric paint

container to keep the spatters in. There's no sense wasting this paint..

Once the paint is mixed, you need to strain it through about 4 layers of cheesecloth to get rid of any lumps that formed while you made the paint, and then you can begin applying it.

When you wash your fabric before you paint, be sure NOT to use fabric softener of any kind. Fabric softener, whether sheet or liquid, will interfere with the paint and keep it from bonding with the fabric so the piece is water-resistant or waterproof when dry. Depending on the fabric, milk paints, being water-based, will either soak in and spread out - spread more if they are too thin - or they will not soak in but will just sit on the fabric. If your paint is too thin, either add more pigment or let it sit awhile in shade with the cover off so some of the water can evaporate.

Experiment with different methods of applying the paint - brushes, sponges, rags, twigs, bones, for example.

Here's a tip you can use with dark colors which will make your milk paint more water-resistant.. talk to a butcher or a slaughter house and get some blood to put in it. Dried blood is the very dickens to get out of fabric..

If you don't like the above method of making homemade fabric paint, you can always collect liquids that stain, such as wine or fruit juice.. Kool-Aid powder can be pretty tough to get out of fabrics, so it can be used to make a fabric painting, too.

This is about creativity, not meeting some preset 'standard' for what is right or wrong like when you were in kindergarten, so experiment. You will never know what you can do if you don't putter with it. Experiments make fine fire-starters and pet bedding, by the way. If the piece you don't like is big enough, you can cover your plants when frost threatens.. Nothing that doesn't turn out so you like it isn't necessarily garbage.. And most of all, have fun!

Learn more about this author, Carel Two-Eagle.
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