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Painting with acrylic on fabric can give you some fabulous effects. Many fabric paints are pale and uninteresting, but acrylic paints give you a depth and vibrancy that cannot be matched.

You might want to paint onto fabric for a craft project, such as a cushion (pillow) cover, or you might be creating a stunning costume for a theatre production. You might want to add a personal touch to your home dcor, or to make a wall hanging. In all of these projects, you want to choose the most suitable materials, and choosing the right paint is key to the success of the project.

Most manufacturers of acrylic paint produce a fabric paint version. If not, they will produce a fabric medium' which you can mix with your normal acrylic paint to make it suitable for use on fabric. You can, in fact, use ordinary acrylic paint on fabric, but it won't be so easy to work with or have the same durability.

Acrylic fabric paints come in a wide range of colors, and can be mixed the same as ordinary paint. They usually wash out in water, but do check this on the bottle before buying it. This makes them very easy to work with, as you can use water to thin them as you work as well as to clean up with afterwards.

Check out the manufacturers website or catalog and you will find that they produce a similar range of additive for the paints as you get for ordinary acrylics. You can get thickener and gel retarder etc, which are all useful.

When painting on fabric, protect the surface you are working on with a sheet of plastic, as the paint will come through the fabric, especially if you have chosen a loose weave.

The type of fabric you choose is up to you. A very textured fabric will give you a textured surface to work upon, a satinized cotton will be very shiny, and linen is ,of course, what a normal canvas is made of. Buy off-cuts of fabric and try them all out before making your final choice.

You can use acrylic fabric paint in the same way that you use other paint, and can stencil, stipple, comb, flick, stamp etc depending on the effect you are hoping to achieve. Acrylic paint has great covering qualities, and you can cover previous layers with other colors once it has dried. If you want your paint to be transparent, choose the appropriate medium to mix with it. You can also get pearlising pigment to add for extra zing!

Acrylic paints have revolutionized the Fine Art business, and can do the same for you. Check out your local craft shops as well as online suppliers , as the proprietor will be able to give you face-to-face advice.

Good luck with your projects!

Learn more about this author, Susan Hibberd.
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