Fabric Painting With Markers

A couple of nights ago, I played with an interesting combination: markers, rubbing alcohol and a paint brush. I had so much fun! Maybe I was inspired by the 3 year olds I taught at church on Sunday... or I could have just needed a little stress relieving activity after one of them threw a tantrum when I told him he couldn't do something...doesn't matter because it got me thinking about trying this fabric art technique.

I chose to create seahorse images on my fabric.  I love the ocean, plus our family has an obsession with seahorse things.  This obsession stems from my husband's sea captain father. The company he worked for used a red seahorse as their logo. 

Supplies Needed:

• Regular Waterproof Sharpie markers
• Rubbing alcohol
• Clip board or a heavy piece of cardboard
• A paint brush 

Step 1 - Draw your image with Sharpies

Step 2 - Dip your brush into the rubbing alcohol and paint it onto the places you added markers to. The colors will bleed and the marker dye will spread.  I think it looks really fun when this happens. What do you think?

Step 3 - After the fabric is completely dry, add the details using an extra fine black Sharpie marker.

 

NOTE: (If you think that you can't draw, try searching on the internet for an image you want to create, copy that image and them paste it into a word document.  Then stretch the image to the size you want and print off your image.  Slide the image under your fabric and with your marker, trace the image onto your fabric.  As long as the fabric is white, you should be able to see the copied image.)  

I've got plans for these seahorses.  Stay tuned to see how I'm using these fabric painted images.  I also found this youtube on doing this on scarfs. xoxo Grandma