Water Marbling With Acrylic Paint On Fabric

Fabric marbling is the art of floating paints on top of a thick solution called size manipulating the paints into patterns then transferring the pattern to an object by gently placing the object on top of the solution.

Water marbling with acrylic paint on fabric.

Mix 3 tablespoons alum per 1 quart of hot water. To water down your paint a bit add equal parts water to your acrylic paint and mix with a wooden skewer. How to water marble with acrylic paint. After marbling very gently rinse the print to remove excess pigment and size.

Hang it out to dry well before you start the marbling process. It is that easy. Test on synthetic and blended fabrics before your main project. Marbling lets you make your one of a kind quilting or other fabric item.

Acrylic paints are the best choice currently available for water based washfast marbling on fabric. These are acrylic paints but made for fabric. The floating paints are swirled into patterns. If you add too much water and you will lose the vibrant colors.

To make your prints as durable as possible choose an absorbent fabric then scour mordant rinse dry and iron it prior to marbling. Deka marble is an intermixable water based paint giving brilliant intense colours and formulated specifically for the marbling process. To do this mix one quart of hot water with three tablespoons of alum and soak the cloth for twenty minutes. The paint is light fast and wash fast up 60 c and suitable for use on all natural fabrics especially cotton silk satin and paper.

You should be going for a milky look to your paint. Let the alum dissolve then soak the fabric for 20 minutes. Marbling is the process of floating fabric paints on the surface of a thick cellulose solution called size somewhat like oil on water. Slowly drip the paint into your liquid starch mixture.

Hang to dry thoroughly. Marbling can be achieved in many ways and by using water or other mediums even shaving foam as a base for transferring paints onto objects. The trick to adhering the paint to fabric is presoaking the fabric in alum. To marble fabric all you need is a fabric marbling kit and a few basic supplies which include items you probably already have at home.

In the large tray or tin create the marbling mix by mixing one tablespoon of ammonia with four tablespoons of methocel in tepid water. You can do this the night before.