fun with fabric paint / by jen geigley


I used to do a lot of stamping (and stamping on fabric.) And while this is nothing new, sometimes it feels new to make some stamps, grab some paint and make a giant mess. Bowie recently grew out of a couple of shirts that I loved; they had lightning bolts on the front that looked hand-painted. So I raided the kids' closets for plain-colored basics and this is what happened.


Making stamps is easy. Remember that Vespa mobile I made awhile ago? I had saved some leftover scooter-shaped pieces of craft foam, so those became stamps. I cut out a few other shapes, too.


You can totally stamp craft foam as-is, but if the pieces are small you can use removable adhesive to stick them to an acrylic stamping block. Double-up on the shapes (i.e. glue them together) so they're not too floppy.



I always use Tulip fabric paint (the soft/matte finish kind) and a sponge brush to coat the stamps. You'll want to grab a piece of cardboard to put inside of your t-shirt so the paint doesn't bleed through.
 

And then ... stamp away. Don't worry about imperfect brush strokes or spots that don't get completely covered.. It looks better that way.


Or, if you don't feel like stamping, do a Jackson Pollock and just throw/scribble the paint right out of the bottle. Below are some pics of the kids wearing these crazy new prints that their crazy mom painted for them.





 

(These super rad plaid leggings, by the way, are from my friend Bergen's shop - Lilla Barn.)


For more awesome fabric printing ideas, check out some of my favorite bloggers' posts on stamping and painting and printing. A Beautiful Mess always does it best. Dana at Made is amazing. And these funky baby pants by Alisa Burke are completely cool.