What are some good fabric paints?

[Betty J.]

Lol Yes, Margo, I do think that I see a pattern there! I'm sure that your other work is beautiful and will check out your profile later. I think that I'll probably try the artists brushes that I already have and purchase some of the fantastix and the wooden holder if I decide that I want to do more with them after my first project. Thanks for the info to you and Betty Jo. BTW, Betty, I love that verse in your signature!

[Betty J.]

BJ - are your quilts going to be used as quilts? i.e. - are you washing them? If not, you might consider using colored pencils. I like the control I get for the detail of hands and faces with Prismacolor and Graphitints. From time to time as I'm working, I will press the fabric on the wrong side to set the colors as much as possible. At the end, before any stitching, I spray several coats (lightly! and let dry in-between coats) of a fixative meant for colored pencil.

Depending on how I am working the overall project, I may do the face separately on fine muslin and lightly attach it with bits of fabric glue on the underside.

Am attaching a picture so that you can see how it looks on muslin - cotton and other fabrics would certainly be good, too. This one is in progress - no hair yet - just concentrating on face, hands and feet.

[Betty J.]

Wow, Cleta! Beautiful!

[Pamela O.]

[quote="cleta"]BJ - are your quilts going to be used as quilts? i.e. - are you washing them? If not, you might consider using colored pencils. I like the control I get for the detail of hands and faces with Prismacolor and Graphitints. quote]
According to Sandra Leichner (http://sandraleichner.com/wordpress/...ique-tutorial/) you can make them permanent with fabric medium. I'm no expert, just read a lot. I have used the Jacquard 100 Colorless Extender on my inkjet printed labels even though EQ Printables is supposed to be permanent.
Yes, it may be overkill, but I might be paranoid!

[Pamela O.]

Thanks, Ritzy! I so appreciate your compliment.

Pam - that is a great article by sandra leichner. How cool. I haven't given much thought to what would happen if something got spilled on my drawings...I don't know that the fixative would be any help. I do try to buy archival quality materials but that was as far as I got with the "permanent" thing. I definitely have to try the Jacquard extender. It looks like Sandra is enhancing fabrics that don't quite have the spark she wants them to in applique. I am doing the whole piece in colored pencils so I wonder if I would have any issue with color changes? The only way to know is to try. Thanks so much for the link. Now I'm off to buy some extender.

[Pamela O.]

I did a piece with water color pencils; instead of using water to blend the pencil marks, I used textile medium. I also heat set it because I used Inktense pencils. I haven't been brave enough to wash it yet. I will let you know when I do.

[Pamela O.]

I have so much textile medium laying around..all different brands - Jo Sonja, Liquitex and GAC 900 from Golden. So I just have to try this on my next project with colored pencil. I don't think any of my work will ever be washed or see a drop of water - but better to be safe than sorry. Thanks, Ritzy!

[Pamela O.]

Does anyone know about the toxicity of the fabric paints (I'm thinking Setacolor) as I was thinking about using them on a baby quilt I plan on making which would be used for baby, not as a wall quilt. Are they totally safe?

[Pamela O.]

I wish that I could answer, but I haven't tried fabric paints yet...only the Tsukineko all purpose inks. I just tried googling Pebeo Setacolor paint, hoping that the manufacturer's site would say, but the English version of their site isn't online yet and I can't read French.

[Norma H.]

I just received the Tsukineko inks with the fantastix painting tools. I can't find how to take care of them. Is it just washing them and then put them back in the stand or should they dry in free air first?
It's so nice that you can get advice from more experienced quilters.

[Margo C.]

I love the Tsukineko inks! I used them to make quilts for my grandchildren by tracing their own artwork onto fabric. Each child got one with their own artwork, and I made another one for me! The Fantastix do NOT need to be washed. Just put the cap on them for storage. You will probably want to use a different stix for each color so that the colors stay pure. When I needed to blend colors I mixed them in little plastic bottles with tight fitting cork tops (available at Hobby Lobby) and used a dedicated Fantastix for each color. These inks can be used to make very pure colors on fabric (like I did to mimic crayons) or can be blended on the fabric like watercolors and made very translucent! After heat setting, the colors are permanent. There is more information about using them at:

http://www.jukeboxquilts.com/hints/allPurposeInks.html

[Norma H.]

Thank you Margo. That was really good information. By the way, I really love your quilt. Children's drawings are wonderful and you just made the best use out of them.

[Betty J.]

I think I'll have to get some of those inks and give them a whirl. I mostly have been using Shiva Artists Paintstix which I bought at a quilt show and which Sharon Schamber demos how to use in several of her videos. They are great for shading places and adding touches here and there, but I think I also need something else. Margo, you are amazing..that quilt is wonderful!

Cheers,

BJ

[Betty J.]

I have 4 little bottles of the Tsukinko inks and bought 1 set of the Fantastix, which means that I still need to buy more brushes as there are two tip shapes of brushes. The brushes that I bought were three of each shaped tip. The info out there, even on Jukebox Quilts, is very lacking for those just starting out but playing with them is the best thing to learn from.

The white is more opaque than the colors, from my experience. The colors are wonderfully translucent and beautiful. You can mix them with clear aloe gel (I got the kind without color) and the recipe that I found to try was 3 TBSP of gel to 9 drops of ink. I only used 1 TBSP of gel to the 9 drops and it worked fine. Mixing with the gel lightens the colors, so you add more drops if you want it darker, fewer if you want it lighter. When you paint with it (I used burgundy) on a lighter color, it gave the appearance of watercolor, and you must be mindful of the gel sitting on the surface as well as brush strokes. When I put it on the dark, it just sort of soaked in and didn't show UNTIL I used a layer of the white first.

Though I tried it with the gel, I ended up doing my project by dipping my Fantastix directly in the ink and then painting on my fabrics without gel at all. I like both effects, but for the piece that I was working on, using the ink without gel worked the best for me.

I am currently considering getting the acrylic stand, some more brushes and a few more colors of the ink, as I know that I will use them in future projects. I mixed my gel and ink in one of those plastic tubs with lids that you get a brand of sandwich meat in and used another of those tubs to store my Fantastix, droppers, etc. Then I put both tubs in a gallon sized zipper bag to keep them from drying out too quickly. So far it's worked great for me.

On this block, the ink was the "mists" behind the mountaintops and a light bit of white on the "lake". The sky and water were the fabric with no enhancement. The color of the "mists" appear lighter than they really are, due to the flash of the camera.

[Norma H.]

Thanks for very good information. It's a nice block, you have made.