Weathering black fabric?

I have a black fabric, and I need it to look like it's been lived-in, and used in battle. I don't want to add any severe rips or tears. I'm familiar with dry brushing techniques, and using tea bags to make look old, but those techniques don't seem like hey'd work for darker colored fabrics. How do you suggest I weather a black fabric?

-Charlie

Acrylic paints, white, brown grey, pretty much any colours, have a few blobs of each and some water, put on some rubber gloves and just randomly get bits of each and a splash of water into the gloves, rub your hands together then just rub on into the fabric, rub the fabric against itself, anywhere that looks a bit too much add more water to dilute the paint. Also you can get dirt from the garden and/or construction sites and rub that in too and fix by spraying a clear matt acrylic varnish onto it every now and again as you work. Perhaps particularly target areas that might get most wear in reality, eg. Knees, backside, around the pockets, and around the bottom of the leg (where maybe they've waded through dirty water or mud at some point). The thing is not to think about it too much.

cbollinger22 said:

I have a black fabric, and I need it to look like it's been lived-in, and used in battle. I don't want to add any severe rips or tears. I'm familiar with dry brushing techniques, and using tea bags to make look old, but those techniques don't seem like hey'd work for darker colored fabrics. How do you suggest I weather a black fabric?

-Charlie

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Steelgohst has it down. If I had to make an addition, I'd say that with dark colors and materials, my favorite way show wear by physical defects and deformities.

Light colors show age primarily through the surface finish, as that is what our eyes see first. Something we expect to be white or brightly colored, when tarnished, causes us to notice the differences between our mental expectation, and what we actually see.

So for dark colors, which mask surface discoloration effectively, I would suggest more of a physical approach. Take the fabric outside, rub it in some dry earth, wrap it around a tree and whack it with a mallet... so on and so forth. Tiny frayed ends and scuffs (no giant rips as you requested) go very far to suggest the age of a dark cloak or shirt.



Notice these dark jeans. The most dominant feature on them is the creasing where the fabric looks physically displaced. A plain black t-shirt can go from Johnny Bravo to Mad Max really quick if its beat to hell.

But above all, as was said, don't think about it too much. If your character has been in battle, take that shirt and battle it into submission.