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How to Use Your All-Purpose Inks:
Supplies
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Tsukineko All Purpose Inks, Fantastix coloring tools and caps, Tsukineko Fabrico Markers and/or Zig Textile Markers
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P&B dyer's muslin or Hoffman white "Neutral" 100% cotton fabric. Other fabrics can be used if washed and pre-tested first.
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Several sheets of inexpensive white paper
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Painter's or artist's masking tape for securing fabric
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Outline drawings and light table, children's drawings work great!
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Medium round watercolor brush
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Iron and pressing cloth or paper towel
Technique
1. A few hints: These pigments are meant to blend, and can be thinned with water. What this means, though, is that if you place one color of wet pigment against another, they will bleed. Always heat set between colors.
2. On a practice piece of fabric, play with the markers, Fantastix, and brushes. To use the Fantastix, dip very briefly into the ink, (it is unnecessary to use too much, a little lasts a long time) and begin coloring on the fabric. The broad tips are great to fill in large areas, and the fine (brush) tip is perfect for details. When you are done, apply the caps. They'll be useable for several weeks. The Fantastix are disposable, but can be used long term by reinking with the same color. They cannot be rinsed and reused for other colors.
3. Trace the outline of your drawing onto the fabric with a textile pen and light table (or tape to a window). Iron, then begin coloring. Keep the paper under the fabric, and switch it with a new piece if the pigment soaks through. You don't want to shift the fabric slightly and have the pigment color the wrong part of the fabric. Use the tape to stabilize the fabric, if necessary.
4. Between each color, and after your image is completed, heat set with a hot, dry iron. Use a scrap of muslin as a pressing cloth if you wish.
5. To obtain a lovely and subtle shading, brush the watercolor brush against the tip of the Fantastix and then apply it to the fabric.
6. These affordable tools are fabulous for use with kids. Create fundraising quilts for their classes, or just help your child make his or her own masterpiece. We've looked for such perfect products for along time, and are happy to help you if you have questions about their use or quilt making for yourself or children. |
