Acrylic Paint for Dye

[Frances]

feltingandfiberstudio.files.wordpress.com/2016/10/vgrunvzwtgd3nemaxbwe.jpg

Today I was putting together some roving to use in a project and thought I would really like to add some gauze. Not having any green gauze and not wanting to go shopping I started looking around for something green I could use to make dye with.

I found a bottle of acrylic paint and squirted a little into a small glass dish(1/2 cup maybe) and then added a little water stirred it until it was well mixed. Then I  put the gauze in the bowl and let it sit for 10 minutes. There was just enough water/paint to soak the gauze. I removed the gauze from the solution and rinsed with room temperature water. Then soaked it in white wine vinegar (the only kind I had that was clear) for about 20 minutes then rinsed. The water was clear when I rinsed it.

I was just about to push the button to post but then thought I should check washing the gauze with soap - I did and it held the color. 

Not sure I would try this on something expensive but it you need a small amount of dye give it a try. 

You all are going to think I am nuts yesterday it was Kudzu and today it is dyeing with paint. 

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[Shepherdess]

Interesting, when it dryed was it stiff like it had been painted? Why did you soak it in vinegar after you had rinsed it?

[Pandagirl]

Very interesting Frances. I wouldn't have thought to use paint.

[zed]

It turned out a nice colour

[luvswool and dyestuff]

Experimenting is fun and delightful when things turn out well. Can’t wait to see what you make with the kudzu! ;-)

[MTRuth]

You can definitely use paints to "dye" fabric. One of the paints that works very well is Dye-na-Flow. It is thin like dye and only needs to be heat set. You don't need to use the vinegar with acrylic paints as they don't have any chemical reaction like the dye does. It will just "sit" on the outside of the fabric.

[Teri Berry]

Experimenting is always good I would be tempted to heat set it before you try to felt with it, i did some experiments with acrylic paint on prefelt and found most of the paint washes out when I tried to felt it if I didn't iron it between baking paper for 5 min first. I'll see if I can find my blog posts about it

[Teri Berry]

Here are the links to my posts about using acrylic on felt:

teriberrycreations.blogspot.co.uk/2014/02/using-acrylic-paint-on-prefelt-results.html 


teriberrycreations.blogspot.co.uk/2014/01/numpty.html

[Frances]

I used the vinegar thinking it might help set the color - with Rit dyes vinegar is used. Also I found the piece I washed with soapy water was much softer than the piece I just rinsed. So I would say to wash with soapy water to get the stiffness out. Also color held when felting. Now I want to dye some cheese cloth pink - do I buy a $1.00 bottle of acrylic paint or $2.59 package of powdered Rit Dye which I will probably make a mess with or a $5.50 bottle of Rit Liquid of which I only need a teaspoon of - think I will buy the paint and try it again.

Maybe the wool needs heat setting - one reason I tried it is if I get it on my clothes & it dries it does not wash out - hmm how many T-Shirts have paint spots..

Another comment when I was felting the merino faded - I had dark blue water coming out of it onto my work surface.

[Frances]

You can see how the light green cheesecloth felted in my post under Nuno Felting - Felting on a Ball

[lyn]

Wonderful experiment!

[koffipot]

I'm going to try this. One thing is for sure, if you accidentally get acrylic paint on a garment, it's guaranteed not to wash out!

[zed]

You're meant to use salt with RIT on cotton/plant based fabrics, Frances. It works really well.