LEVEL: Primary to Artist.
There are two popular ways to paint fabrics. One is ready-made fabric printing ink, and the other is to use a medium with acrylic paint.  

Textile fabric painting ink.
This is a paint or ink that can be heat-set to a fabric to make it permanent, completely washable and dry cleanable. FAS Fastex is made exclusively for fabric material and offers real, lasting quality once heat-set correctly. See our video on heat setting. Other brands may differ.

Paints with a Textile Medium added.
You can mix a textile medium with acrylic paint to make it suitable for fabric. This can work reasonably well, but it is still a paint that has been redirected with medium to be applied to fabric. This method often does not layer well, so when it dries, you can feel rigid surface that will only get worse with more layers you paint. Often is not as durable as real fabric paints.

The Good from the Bad.
Once applied, a good fabric painting ink should not only look good with solid colours, but you should not be able to feel it on the fabric no matter how many layers you have printed. FAS Fastex Painting Ink layers well, and your artwork remains extremely durable when heat set correctly.

Application:
There are three main ways to use textile fabric ink. We are just looking at one today.
1. By brush
2. Simple stencil.
3. Screen print to a high definition.   
The golden rule is to paint thinly. Two thin coats are better than one thick coat. Heat-set by ironing the fabric once it is completely dry
 
Mesh Screen Printing 
Screen Printing with Textile Ink
Screen Printing gives strong, sharp and clean colours. It allows the artist to have complete control of the finished artwork.

1. Place the fabric under the screen. Making sure it is flat with no wrinkles.
2. Put a small amount of Fastex Textile Ink above the design inside the screen.
3. Use a squeegee to evenly drag the ink evenly across the design inside the screen.
4. Gently lift the screen off your fabric and allow the to dry.
Finished design in high definition. NB: note the TM 
5. Once dry, iron the fabric at a good hot setting. See our video below.

TIPS:  
- Less is more. Try not to paint too thick.
- You may need to clean between colours but more often than you can do a run of fabric prints this way.
- Make sure your artwork is completely dry before you iron.  

​Paper mache is a lot of creative fun.  These right pink pigs are easy to make and, once painted with bright colours, look fabulous in kids’ rooms or around the classroom.  It is so much fun and everyone seems creates something different and unique. 

​Colour Mixing Chart:
One of the most exciting things about kid’s paints is learning how to mix colours to make new colours.  You can use the primary colours (red, blue, and yellow) plus black and white to get all of the colours of the rainbow.  

Kid's love mixing colour to make new colours.

This colour mixing chart shows how the 3 primary colours can be mixed with each other to become secondary colours. How these secondary can become intermediate colours.   Download the PDF of the Colour Mixing Guide to have as a reference in the classroom. 

Colour Mixing Explained:
​There are 3 primary colours - red, blue and yellow. ​

Everyone has a favourite colour.  With your imagination, and use of the basic colour theory, colour can be lots of fun.

Learning how two colours make a third new colour is one of the most exciting discoverable things about being creative with paints.

We have made is easy for you with this free colour mixing PDF guide.
It is so easy to use. Just print it and add and mix the the colours.

Steps:

• Print the PDF in colour.
• Place a small amount of paint in the colour of each “+” squares and in the “=” squares place the two colours.
• Have plenty of clean brushes ready.
• Brush out each “+” square with a clean brush.
• Mix the square with the two colours to show the colours the two colours together made.

Tips:
This works well as a group project.  One colour guide per table. 
Use small amounts of paint per square work best.
If you laminate the sheets that can be used over and over again.

Share and Enjoy
Tony Parker