By Trish Doornbosch
With all the choices at your local fabric store, why design your own? Because when you're the designer you can personalize your fabric just the way you want it.
Need a summer tote bag? White cotton fabric with a brushed blue wave design or a simple sun motif provides that touch of personalization. For inspiration take a look through your mail order catalogs or online at home store web sites.
To get color on the fabric you're either going to dye it or paint it. There are so many options for dyes and fabric paints and each one has its own methods, so you'll need to read the directions carefully. You'll also need to know what type of fabric you have. Not all dyes work on all fabrics and the dye packet will tell you which fabrics to use.
You can buy fabric "blanks," that is, scarves, bags, or clothing already made in a light fabric and that you can add your own designs to.
If you have a couple of yards of fabric and want to use just one or two colors, dyeing will work the best. If you want to put a more detailed design on a smaller piece of fabric, use fabric paints. With fabric paints you can paint a design on fabric with a brush just like you would paint a picture. But that's just the beginning. You can also spray paint, stamp, use stencils or a silk screen. You can wet the fabric and drip different colors onto the fabric where it will blossom and pool like a watercolor. You can make your own stamps by cutting "foamie" sheets and gluing them onto cardboard or foamcore blocks. There are an unlimited amount of stamps and stencils in your local hobby store that are not just for scrapbooking. Use them.
You may want to keep part of your design unpainted. This is when you use a resist. Depending on whether you are dyeing or painting, again, there are several choices to do this.
For dye baths, you will need a resist that will stand up to the immersion in water for long periods of time, as in a batik. You can buy special batik resists from the same suppliers who sell the dyes. If you are going to paint, you can use a liquid resist such as washable school glue or a flour paste (cornflour and water mixed to a thick liquid consistency). Once dry, these resists will keep paint from soaking into the fabric. Watery paints may bleed a little under a thin coat of resist. This isn't always bad-you may like the effect. Other ideas for resists include masking tape and cutting your own designs from wax paper or freezer paper. These are not usually re-usable.
By personalizing your own fabric, you get to use the colors and motifs you want. It isn't hard to do and you're also stretching your creative and artistic muscles. And you can bet that no-one else will ever be carrying the same bag as yours.
Trish Doornbosch is an artist living in Northern Illinois. Her web site is Designer Quilting Fabrics and http://www.trishadstudio.com/
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Trish_Doornbosch
Printies is Taking Arts and Crafts Digital
By John T. Marshall
The Printies™ line is a new line of products offered by Technosource® that is poised to challenge the old way of doing arts and crafts. This new style offers kids the chance to make their own stuffed toys with the use of their home computer. The toy making gets very sophisticated here as kids can come up with completely elaborate and personalized designs. However, the most impressive thing is how easy it is compared to the old style arts and crafts.
Instead of dealing with the past issues, of spilled glitter, lost stickers, finding popsicle sticks, or bad glue, kids can now discard all these things by opting for the new way of doing arts and crafts.
Crafts in the new era let kids push their creativity to the max while eliminating a ton of the negatives of craft making like the ones mentioned above. Imagine how much more enjoyable craft making will be for your kid with one of the Printies™ lines. Currently, they are promoting three different ones: Jungle Safari Design Studio, Ocean Adventure Design Studio, and the Pet Design Studio. All three offer different stuffed animal options that fit their category. For example, the Jungle Safari Design Studio will have lions and other similar Jungle ones and the Ocean Adventure Design Studio will have aquatic themed stuffed animals.
However, regardless of which one kids choose, the important thing is how a new product like this can change arts and crafts in a major way. Why deal with all these extra materials if you are a teacher, when you can choose another option that is cleaner and results in better quality end products. If the toy fairs around the country are any indication, kids love these things and is why these lines should do real well. The real challenge would seem more likely to be which ones the kids decide on whether they like the Ocean Adventure, Pet, or Jungle Safari Deisgn Studio. Odds are pretty good that this type of craft making will become addictive and we will see more and more products like these.
For more information on this fun new arts and crafts toy, check out Ocean Adventure Design Studio, or Jungle Safari Design Studio
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=John_T._Marshall
The Printies™ line is a new line of products offered by Technosource® that is poised to challenge the old way of doing arts and crafts. This new style offers kids the chance to make their own stuffed toys with the use of their home computer. The toy making gets very sophisticated here as kids can come up with completely elaborate and personalized designs. However, the most impressive thing is how easy it is compared to the old style arts and crafts.
Instead of dealing with the past issues, of spilled glitter, lost stickers, finding popsicle sticks, or bad glue, kids can now discard all these things by opting for the new way of doing arts and crafts.
Crafts in the new era let kids push their creativity to the max while eliminating a ton of the negatives of craft making like the ones mentioned above. Imagine how much more enjoyable craft making will be for your kid with one of the Printies™ lines. Currently, they are promoting three different ones: Jungle Safari Design Studio, Ocean Adventure Design Studio, and the Pet Design Studio. All three offer different stuffed animal options that fit their category. For example, the Jungle Safari Design Studio will have lions and other similar Jungle ones and the Ocean Adventure Design Studio will have aquatic themed stuffed animals.
However, regardless of which one kids choose, the important thing is how a new product like this can change arts and crafts in a major way. Why deal with all these extra materials if you are a teacher, when you can choose another option that is cleaner and results in better quality end products. If the toy fairs around the country are any indication, kids love these things and is why these lines should do real well. The real challenge would seem more likely to be which ones the kids decide on whether they like the Ocean Adventure, Pet, or Jungle Safari Deisgn Studio. Odds are pretty good that this type of craft making will become addictive and we will see more and more products like these.
For more information on this fun new arts and crafts toy, check out Ocean Adventure Design Studio, or Jungle Safari Design Studio
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=John_T._Marshall
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