Lesson 4: Stenciling on Fabric - Supplies

Brushes and Other Applicators

One time when cheap brushes are actually superior to the good ones is when painting fabric. Cheap brushes tend to have stiffer bristles, which work best when painting on such a fluid surface. Ordinary stencil brushes are your best option, but you may want to keep a couple of smaller artists brushes on hand to paint in small details.

You can also use foam brushes, specifically the ones called "spouncers" which are shaped a bit like a traditional stencil brush with a round, dense foam piece with a flat end in place of the bristles.

Sponge rollers are especially useful if you need to cover a large area with paint.

Sponging is also effective, especially if you want a slightly mottled effect. Remember that you need an almost dry sponge or roller, just as you would with hard surface stenciling. Work from the edges toward the center to avoid blurring the edges. Fabrics, unlike hard surfaces, will not forgive your mistakes by allowing you to wipe them off. What's done is done.

You may want to get yourself a plastic squeeze bottle if you are uncertain about your ability to keep a crisp edge. You can disguise a ragged edge by outlining - squeezing the paint through a fine tipped nozzle around the edges of your stencil. This creates a slightly raised effect and can often enhance the design. While some paints come in tubes already, and have special tips to help you produce a fine, thin outline, you may need to buy a small plastic squeeze bottle and tip at the crafts store and fill it yourself. Tri-Chem's Softly Flo is fabric paint available in a ballpoint a tube.

Even easier is to use a permanent marking pen. Black or gold work best. When you heat set your paint the marker will also become permanent. A few companies, such as Pebeo, make marking pens specifically designed for fabric, in colors that match their bottled fabric paint line.

For creating interesting background effects you can mix fabric paint with distilled water (provided it's a water soluble acrylic) and spray it onto the fabric. This will give you a soft, diffused color. You can vary the effect by spraying on dry fabric, or fabric which has been moistened first. A few companies have paint that is already formulated for spraying and come in spray bottles. Tulip's "Cool Color Spray" is one sold in many crafts stores.

To speed things up working with dampened fabric, dry it with your hair blower. Then you can move quickly to the next step.

Finally, if you are skilled with an airbrush then you can apply your paint with that and achieve some wonderful shaded effects easily. Fabric paints can be diluted with a special airbrush medium for this purpose. If you want to airbrush, then invest in a brand of paints that has such a medium available, because thinning with water can cause the paint to run under the stencil and ruin your hard work. Liquitex is one paint that makes both fabric paint and an airbrush medium.

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