Posted by sykora 35 weeks ago ( 12-Sep-2007 06:30:22 )

Nice! What sort of paint do you paint upholstery with? O_o

Posted by glenn 25 weeks ago ( 24-Nov-2007 16:14:42 )

For fabric paint I recommend Deka, either their fabric paint or their silkscreening ink. The silkscreening ink is thicker, and you get a bit more for your money because it can be thinned with water.

(and you can get cool watercolor effects by painting on slightly moist shirts or misting them lightly after painting)

It sets permanently with heat... you can set it in the sun for a few hours, or use a hairdryer for a few minutes.

(once it's set, it is a permanent part of the fabric and nothing I know of will ever remove it from cotton - best results on cotton hemp or wool -- natural fibers.)

Or if it's a t-shirt, you can set it by tossing it in a hot dryer.

You wait until it's totally dry before you set it, and once it's set it's permanent. I made most of my money painting t-shirts in the 80's, and I have old shirts that have lasted since then... the paint actually seems to make the shirts more durable.

It's really soft and nice to the touch too, if you don't build up big 'clots' of it -- EXCEPT -- the metallic paint is kinda clotty if you use enough to show a metallic effect. (I did splatter art, and big blobs I would blot once with another shirt... which I would add paint to for new effects. Lot's of people eagerly bought my paint rags, and wore them for years.)

I've tried a lot of stuff for painting on fabric and this is totally my number one absolute recommendation.

RECAP: the silkscreen ink goes farther if you are thinning it
permanent
water soluble for clean-up or as an art effect
nice feel to it, not scratchy
lasts forever... my mom has a coat I painted in 1980 and the color is still very vibrant.

DRAWBACK: expensive if you don't get it from a good source, or in large quantities.

And it will 'rot' and produce a nasty smell if you drip sweat into it or otherwise contaminate your paint, and then leave the paint in a warmish environment. Just keep your unused paint clean, this is not a major problem. I went through hundreds of pint jars of this stuff and only had maybe 10 rotten-paint incidents. (and even the rotten paint works fine, and the smell washes out with one washing. I usually washed my shirts before selling them anyway, one washing really makes the paint soft and nice and luscious to touch.)

Sorry to go on so long, but I really love this product. When I was buying it it usually got a good price from a company with Dharma in their name, you could search for it and find it but I hate advertising, even for good products.

Some other acrylic silkscreen inks are nearly as satisfactory for painting fabric. I do like the color palette of the product I mentioned best though, and am a good bit happier with the results of using it.

This comment was edited at 2007-11-24 16:19:06