I was drawing with some non-toxic fabric pens the other day just for fun. (See my favorite tools, if you want to know what kind of paint pens.) I’m not sure what I’ll do with all the drawings yet, but I made this bird into a little pillow toy. Kind of cute, and very fast and easy to make.

 

 

 

13 Responses
  1. Natalia

    Those are lovely!

    On a side note, since you mentioned your favorite tools, could you recommend any fabric paint?

    Thank you!

    1. That’s a good question. I have some fabric printing books, but they deal with printing inks, not paints. I’m not too sure what would work best, but there aren’t that many non-toxic paints out there that I’ve found. There are some non-toxic acrylic paints on my favorite tools page, but I’ve not tried them on fabric. I bet they would work pretty well though. Maybe I’ll have to try that out and report back to you.

    2. Hi Natalia, hi Joel,
      i actually have tried painting and printing on fabric with acrylics (Reeves, they are AP-non-toxic certifies) and I can report that I prefere it over fabric paint. Just add a tiny little bit of water to your paint (this improves fabric paints, too). Paint and fabric will compound better, that way. Paint, print and let dry and iron, as usual.
      I´ve shown a project here: http://goingweird.wordpress.com/2011/09/15/pimp-my-ride/
      Have fun painting!
      Nike

    3. Hey Nike. I just bought the paints online. Can you tell me a bit more about the ironing? After the paint dries, do you iron directly on the paint, or do you need to put scrap fabric over it? And the ironing is to make the paint last longer and withstand washing better, right?

      Thanks again!
      Joel

    4. Hey Joel,
      sorry, that it took me so long to answer, that little one needs a massive amount of attention ; )
      You should put something inbetween, like scrap fabric, a dishtowel or I usually use baking parchment (I like, tht it is transparent, so I can see, what I´m doing). You are right, you do the ironing to make the paint stay. I did a t-shirt that way when I was a teenager and I had been washing it a million times, in the end the shirt a rug and the picture was still there! Though I can´t remember, what paint I´ve been using then. I did another project with some cheap paint and painted stripes in a thick coat and the result was not that good (the colour was bleeding out in some places) With the Reeves I allready knwow that It stays on, and doesen´t bleed, but didn´t try thicker coats of paint (you may have recognized, that the fabric I printed is printed in light coats of paint). I recomend thinner coats anyways, because the fabric stays softer, then.
      I´m excited to see what you will be doing, when your paint is delivered, I´m sure it will be awesome!
      Nike

      1. Awesome! So nice of you to take the time to explain everything so well. And I just got my paints yesterday! I’ll let you know how it goes.

        Thanks again!

    1. Great ideas Michelle! And I think I actually have some of that Martha Stewart paint from a gift box they sent me. I’ll have to try it out!

  2. That pillow bird is fantastic. The camera is just amazing. I would probably add that to a shirt for my boys. They LOVE stealing my camera and taking pictures :o)