Fabric Painting - Creativity Rocks!

I really love painting and stenciling on fabric with acrylic paints, inks and mediums. The Joy embroidered iron-on letters are perfect for adding a sentiment - they keep with the fabric feel of the piece. I worked on a 12" x 20" sheet of natural muslin; first I stenciled the arches with a peachy cream paint. This acts as a resist later when I start adding more ink and water.

The letters were white - I painted them with acrylic inks which color the threads with nice, deep tones. I saturated the muslin with ink - some at full strength, some watered back. It's so fun to be loose with the smudging and splattering with my abstract mountain landscape design.

When that was dry, I added another layer of stenciling with paint - you'll see a chicken wire pattern at the top and a pebble pattern at the bottom. When those patterns were dry, I dripped and smudged in more ink to deepen the colors. It's important to let each layer dry before working more on top of it. I added some circles and stripes for the final layer, then when that was dry, I ironed on my letters, using a sheet of parchment paper to protect them.

The inks stiffen the muslin just enough so it hangs nice and straight, plus it helps prevent the edges from fraying. I intentionally frayed the left side before painting. A piece like this can be hung like a banner with mini curtain ring clips, or it can be framed or mounted to a canvas, or even sewn into a larger art quilt.