Question for tulip fabric paint users

[Tarchinoko]

Im going to be working on the undersuit for commander shepard, his undersuit has a raised pattern on it and I was thinking that using a stamp and tulip paints would be cheaper than getting it custom printed for me.

the question is has anyone tried using the fabric paints with a stamp before? and if so how did it go? any tips?

thanks!

 

[Shylaah]

So, what is your planned procedure? Do you intend to apply the tulip paint to the stamp, and then stamp it on the undersuit??

I'm not familiar with what the pattern on the undersuit is, but here is my experience with tulip paints.

I've used them to embellish fabric upon fabric art, to outline, draw and draw over elements, embed jewels and findings. It works well for all those applications. It is strong and durable and will take a reasonable amount of abuse and is hand washable.

I've also used rubber stamps to apply designs, by applying acrylic paints to select areas of the design and stamping it on fabric. You can do two or three colors on one stamp at the same time if you work fast or use some extender in the acrylic paints.

Per the tulip paint--You have to push the rubber stamp down with enough pressure to cause the paint to turn loose of the stamp and stick to the fabric, so I think if you tried to use the tulip paints ON the rubber stamp that either you'd have to apply it so thin that it would not create a raised pattern or it would ooze out and just make a raised pattern around the edge of the design.

But if the design is such that you can draw or trace it onto the undersuit and then use the tulip paint to draw over it, that would give you the better raised design effect.

Shylaah

 

[Tarchinoko]

yes my plan was to use a rubber stamp to stamp the pattern onto the fabric. I havent had any experience with the paints as of yet, im guessing its very sticky then which would make me have to press down hard to make it separate from the stamp?

 

[Shylaah]

It's a little bit sticker than regular paint, but what I was saying is that with any ink or paint you have to press the stamp to transfer the paint to the fabric, and since the tulip paint is thicker than inks and acrylic paints, that pressing is going to cause it act a lot differently than inks or thinner paints and a lot differently than it would act being used alone without stamping.

The tulip paint isn't going to come off the rubber stamp thick enough to make a raised design OF the design, but will squeeze out around the design and either make a mess or make a raised outline of the design you were trying to stamp.

Shylaah

 

[Tarchinoko]

i see, would you suggest using acrylic paints then? I just wanted to use the stamp because I thought it would be a very quick way to get the pattern done, the problem is im using it with lycra and so i dont want the paint to crack or anything when worn which is why i went for fabric paints as I know they are rubbery when dry.

 

[Shylaah]

No, I wouldn't suggest using the acrylic paints especially on lycra......the tulip paint is very good about not cracking, but I've only used it on woven fabrics. It has some give to it, don't think it would hold up over elbows and knees and other stretchy places but certainly would do well on the chest, abdomen, back, shoulders and other no-bendy places.

I tried to find what the pattern looks like. Is it those little, looks kinda like fat check marks close together? You might be able to just lay out a grid with tailor's chalk and freehand the pattern on there using either the tip of the tulip paint bottle or for a lower profile you can bush the stuff on.

Guess it comes down to just doing some experimenting to see what will actually work for you within all your parameters.

Shylaah

 

[Tarchinoko]

thanks for the tips! actually my plan is to use a mannequin and put the undersuit onto it so that it is already stretched to my size, THEN paint onto the undersuit in the pattern. I thought it would work fairly well as I thought tulip paints were what people have been using all over the place for the TASM costumes

 

[Shylaah]

Well, I guess there has been a mix up on my part.......My experience has been with the Tulip Dimensional paints like Tulip Slick and Tulip Glitter.

My understanding of the Tulip Puffy is that it goes on flat and after it dries you hold a steam iron over it to heat it up and that puffs it up.

I've only partially kept up with some of the TASM build, but know that SpideySparrow refers to using Puff Paint, which may be a contamination of terms and what he actually was using was one of the Tulip dimensional paints, or another brand of Puff Paint or it may indeed be the Tulip Puffy.

I am under the impression that their characteristics would be the same with the Puffy being more dimensional than the others, but I'm not sure so consider all I've replied concerning Tulip paints to be moot for the purposes you intend as I've not used them for such and can only relate my experiences with the paints for the purposes for which I used them.

Shylaah

 

[Tarchinoko]

ah okay haha, im going to use tulip 3D paint i believe so perhaps you were correct from the beginning. but thanks for all the info just wanted a bit of knowledge before testing it out myself