When I opened my box of Martha Stewart decorative paints from Plaid, I was over the moon with the products they sent me. And one of them- the Tintable Fabric Medium– I knew I wanted to try out right away. Let me show you what my day’s worth of experimenting yielded.
It’s so new, it’s not even on the Plaid website yet- but I did find a brief description on the Michael’s site:
Martha Stewart Crafts™ Tintable Fabric Medium is designed to work with all Martha Stewart Crafts™ Multi-Surface Acrylic Craft paints. Mix paint and medium together for the perfect fabric paint.
The directions say to mix one part medium to two parts paint. Easy enough, right?
Mixing Glitter paint with Fabric Medium
And because I am nothing if not consistent, I made swatch test of each of the paints in the Martha Stewart Decorative Paint line- satin, glitter, metallic, pearl, and high gloss, each with 1, 2, and 3 coats.
White cotten tone-on-tone print.
Cotton mottle print.
I was charmed to find that one coat allowed the printing of the white fabric to show through, to a lovely effect. And should you really want to have opaque coverage and have the finish of the paint take the stage, then 3 coats is the winner.
I also played around with some stamping and stencilling:
Stamping with a foam stamp, one coat.
Stamps, above, and stencils, below.
I don’t know about you, but I was blown away by the Glitter paint on fabric! I decided just to paint both light and dark swatches and see how it came through the wash.
Light fabric- after washing! Look that that sparkle!
Top- dark fabric after washing.
Can you believe it? Sparkle, sparkle, sparkle. Now, these two examples were definitely more stiff than the unpainted sides- even with the fabric medium. So be aware that while the Fabric Medium helps the paint adhere to the fabric better, it will change the hand significantly.
Undaunted, I pulled out an old pair of shoes that I decided to “witchify” for Halloween. Take a look at the before and afters…
Before- kind of a dull eggplant color. (Suede)
After- two coats of each color.
Now, my buddy Vicki O’Dell (The Creative Goddess) was over while I was playing with the Fabric Medium- and she went crazy painting some fabric to use in mixed media art later. Take a peek at what she did:
Love those sizzling colors!
Lastly, I thought I’d try something a little more sedate- making some monogrammed linen napkins.
I’ll show you what I did with the sparkly fabrics and shoes in an upcoming post!
Now, I wish I had more information for you- but right now it’s available at Michael’s stores, and hopefully will be online soon. (I don’t even have a price for this item yet.) But I’m certainly loving the fact that it works with ALL the finishes of paint.
Make sure you read my other reviews of the Paints as well as the Tools and Accessories, and take a peek at my Upcycled Cabinet– all using Martha Stewart Paints products!
- Spooky Spider Halloween Bookmark Craft - October 24, 2018
- Review and Demo of LDRS Hybrid Ink Pads - October 15, 2018
- Review and Demo of Nuvo Hybrid Inks - October 1, 2018
- Craft Studio Tour and Organization Ideas - September 20, 2018
- Wax Paper Resist Background Technique - March 20, 2018
- Comparison of Liquid Watercolor Markers/Pens - March 16, 2018
- SAI Japanese Traditional Watercolor Brush Markers- Review & Demo - February 23, 2018
- Rinea Metallic Foil Paper & Ghost Ink Review - February 21, 2018
- Jane Davenport debuts at Creativation 2018 & Watercolor Card - February 13, 2018
- Creativation 2018: New Product Showcase - January 20, 2018
I look forward to all your little experiments. It’s like let me see what she has in store for me today 🙂 thanks so much
Everything this week has been absolutely fab!
Love those shoes! How clever.
Great, thorough information, written in a way thar means something to us crafters and artists, not filled with irritating, overly glowing descriptions scripted by a manufacturer.
I saw the presentation of the MS paints and tools on HSN, but found them shortly thereafter at Michaels. This particular week, they were all on sale for 50% off, so I bought 3 different 10 bottle collections. And filled in the gaps by buying a few individual colors.
I have been painting for any years and have never found as great a product as these. The high pigmentation level and beautiful palette, combined with the amazing coverage these paints provide, have renewed my crafting passion.
I found a lot ofgreat projects for Halloween, and am now eager to make some retro Christmas projects.
My question is, do you think the Tintable Fabric Medium is essential? I was tod that this product would result in a less stiff finish, and your experience didn’t seem to reflect that.
Please let me know, and thanks so much for your excellent information!
Brent
Brent- thank you so much for your comment and compliment! I’m glad you find my review helpful. As for the Tintable Fabric medium- It will yield a softer hand if you mix it and then use it for light applications and stenciling. If you brush it on thickly, as I did with some of my fabric, it will still feel quite stiff. Hope this helps, -Jenny
Thanks for this great tutorial! Super informative 🙂
Quick question, do you happen to know if the paint works on fabrics even without the fabric medium? or is that a must? I’m thinking of making tea towels.
Thanks!
Becca- if you are using the very thinnest coat of paint, it may work without the Fabric Medium. But the reason to use it is to keep the acrylic paint from becoming too stiff and ruin the hand of the fabric. I’d use it, especially on an item that you’ll be wearing/using/touching. Good luck!
I have used these for the first time, I’ve painted 5 pair of jeans. Loved this paint! The glitter is beautiful, I love the turquoise color. I didnt know about the “medium” paint TIL now. I will use it next time. Going to michaels to get more!!! Not sure if I needed to, but I heat set them with an iron and hanky after it was dry. Necessary?????