Fabric paint?

By Tails. 27/12/10, 07:30 am

Having already raided CNZ for topics on painting fabric, I've decided on trying fabric paint for the first time. I'm planning on cosplaying Sun Shang Xiang sometime next year, and I was wondering how well fabric paint 'sits'? Like, how well it moves with your body, does it crack/peel etc. And any good brands? Right now I'm looking at Fastex textile ink on artsupplies.co.nz, is $8 reasonable for 120ml? Haha, so many questions. But this is a new field for me so I want opinions from those with experience :)

Sun Shang Xiang~

Spoiler:

By azeria. 27/12/10, 08:50 am

It'll be a little bit stiffer than your fabric but it moves fine. I've never had any cracking or peeling.
I use SetaColour which is 45ml and costs about $8 - $10. I'd recommend getting it from Gordon Harris as they have Student Discount.

Also you'll be amazed at how far it goes, I used maybe one and half 45ml pots of the gold on my Sakura dress?
As for painting I don't use stencils, instead I just draw the pattern on with a fabric marker that comes off in air or water. I use a small stiff, square brush to do the lines then just fill in. Make sure you iron it and the marker should come off as well under warm water, but the paint will stay on. Though I'd probably test it out first =P But yea, that's how I did Sakura.
Also if there's any fine details I'd use a fine point linear brush to do it.

Also it dries quite quickly, and you may need to do a second layer depending on how opaque you want it.
Alsoooo be careful where you leave it drying, mine kept getting bits of cat hair stuck on it =___=

By Tails. 27/12/10, 09:10 am

Thanks! I'm checking out Gordon Harris tomorrow. I'll also look into fabric markers Very Happy

By Rolly. 27/12/10, 09:30 am

I actually bought fabric medium that turns acrylic paint into fabric paint. With this you could adjust the consistency of the paint so it's easier to do straight edges. But don't forget to lay some newspaper down underneath if your mixed consistency is thinner, because it'll soak through. ;D
I used this for my Yukari bib. I had to do several layers to make the black darker because when I first started painting, I made a consistency that was too weak. Razz

(Hence the soaking through).

I used this: http://www.Richard.com/products/golden-gac-900-fabric-medium/
It goes quite a long way! I thinking I bought 2 bottles of 16oz ones during a sale, but I've only managed to used a bit of one bottle! Very Happy

My thoughts are kinda jumbled this morning, please excuse if my post refuses to make much sense. D:

Otherwise, my bro has used fabric paint before. He needed a repetitive pattern so he made a stamp stencil, painted on that and stamped onto his yukata top. After a day of ACP it didn't crack or anything. Very Happy

By Pura. 27/12/10, 10:22 am

If you wash it and constantly use it, it will crack, but for a cosplay, it definitely won't crack. (Unless you wash and use it as much a general t-shirt : P).

I prefer SetaColour - I found my purple didn't go too far, but then I painted the 'sailor' collar like thing on my Maya cosplay with it and a few bows (my white fabric didn't dye OTL). But my white and black have lasted ages - if it's for just like a decorative pattern, it will last ages, but if it's a massive space, it won't : P.

By acidpinkbunny. 27/12/10, 10:35 am

Oh ho ho the excitement of this.
After we got off the phone I actually realised that we have some gold paint here that I used for Daniella but to be honest it's a bit inconsistant. It was the same Ben used for Ezio, and that worked quite well but only because it was quite a thick fabric.

I'll still have a look in Goldings tomorrow but there's a strong chance they only have fabric dye. (Which we also will be needing..) If you're in early enough tomorrow we can go look together! Otherwise I'll just drag Ben and Chris along.

By **seraphik**. 27/12/10, 10:40 am

setacolour is pretty good like azeria said, though with all the painting i've done i find it takes AGES AND AGES to paint with it, though i mostly do my stuff freehand without stencils. it dries quickly, it's just that the fabric seems to absorb a lot and while the pot does last forever, you're dipping your brush in it every 5 seconds... :9

ummm i've used acrylic paints for painting fabric recently, i did all the flower patterns on my himawari kimono in acrylic... doesn't sit as nice or meld with the fabric as well but it's relatively sturdy. you can't wash anything you've painted in acrylic though obviously because you can't fix it.

By azeria. 27/12/10, 12:14 pm

It does take a while. I think it took about four hours to do half of Sakura's overskirt? That was tracing/transfering the pattern as well though.
& I tend it shake the bottle then dip my paintbrush in the lid. When that's run out, close the pot and reshake 8D A lot easier and don't have to worry about getting paint all over the side of your brush =P

**Guest** Guest

my advice is to not use acrylic. I did for Rinoa's wings on the back of her duster, and the paint came through onto the front because I was stupid and didn't put anything down inbetween the layers. I went to wash off the stuff on the front and everything came off bar a really light layer of the wings. I have to re-do it at some point, this time I'll use fabric paint.

By slinky. 27/12/10, 12:24 pm

Setacolor definitely ^^ I used it to paint my tights for Shaymin a few days ago, and it worked like a charm :3 it doesn't seem to be cracking at all when I move about.

You can fix it in place with a hot iron, however I expect like most things, after the first wash the colour might fade- I haven't ironed mine seeing as their just tights, haha :3

By Tails. 27/12/10, 12:38 pm

@Rolly- I've never heard of that stuff before, but it sounds interesting. I'll investigate Very Happy

@acid- I could come in earlier? Spotlight mish?

@azeria- Thanks for the tip! I hate paint on the wooden bit and then onto everything else. Argh.

@skinky- I heard that you iron the paint overwards, how does that work without 'melting' it?

By slinky. 27/12/10, 12:52 pm

Yup ^^ it should say on the pottle what temperate you should iron it at- it does actually melt, but that means it bonds a little stronger onto the fabric ( it's a good type of melting, haha? )
Just separate the fabric when you iron it with newspaper of something thick so the paint doesn't do anything funny to the other side.

Hmmm. . it's a little similar to, you know those iron on images you can do? ( http://h71028.www7.hp.com/hho/cache/344461-0-0-225-121.html ) I think it works in that same way :3

By Father Nightroad. 27/12/10, 02:39 pm

Hmmmmmmmmmmmm... I has a shinsengumi haori to make. Might use fabric paint for the white bits.

By Pyro. 27/12/10, 02:50 pm

Am I the only one who dislikes SetaColour? I found that it cost far too much for a 45mL pot. It took me four of them to paint the inside of my Motochika jacket, which was only a medium-sized area, and on plain cotton, no less! The quality of the paint itself is decent, but at that price I just don't find it a good trade-off. :/ It cost me about $40 to paint the inside of that jacket and the drying + painting time added together to about 90 hours for just that pattern. Admittedly, I did it by hand, but still...?

I found a brand of acrylic paint that actually works very well. Reeves Acrylic is $5 for 90mL, and while it's not a specially-purposed fabric paint, it ABSOLUTELY WILL NOT COME OFF once you've used it-- I found this out the hard way. It's a lot cheaper than buying fabric paint, it's decent quality, and it goes a lot further than SetaColour. I used it for painting the entirety of my Caterina corset, which was made of angelskin satin, so it works on fabrics other than cotton or canvas, which is nice.

By **seraphik**. 30/12/10, 04:10 pm

kinda agreeing with maddi here... while acrylic is probably not my first choice if i have the money (hooray poor student), it does have benefits like a.) being cheaper and b.) better coverage. setacolour IS incredibly expensive and as i said before, i found that it not only took forever to paint but the coverage was pretty meek.

By Tails. 30/12/10, 04:42 pm

So acrylic doesn't crack...? That's pretty much my only fear with using paint, with Sun's top being so huggy, and the tights with me walking around and stuff. sweatdrop

By Mischa. 31/12/10, 12:05 am

If I was painting on something with a high stretch - like a lycra I would invest in fabric paint. If it's woven, or you need many colours I'd go with acrylic.

I used a craft acrylic from spotlight (it was really thick and luxurious gold) for stenciling and it was wonderful (it comes in a large tube for about $8 - it has a photo of a living room on the label...I wish I could remember the name) . If I messed a bit it came right off with soap and water Very Happy

- EDIT it's Renoir Heavy body acrylic paint

I brought a setacolour marker yesterday and I'm keen to experiment...

Edit: The marker gave me fantastic control - I would totally recommend it if you have a design with lots of delicate fine parts. The only thing was I found it a little pale.

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