Stamp it all on fabric!

What shall I write about this? It is really an easy project! I just used my beloved handcarved stamps to print patterns on fabric. Most of the time I just used fabric ink pads for stamps. I love them because you can use them with really fine structures without losing any of them! Normal fabric paint is way too thick to use it with fine structures. 

There are just a few things to consider: 

First of all you should use natural fibers with most of the fabric ink pads (I don't know whether there is one you could use for non organic fibers) like cotton, linen or also fabrics which are natural based like viscose. 

Second: Prewash your fabric without any conditioner. Most fabrics are treated, no matter if you buy clothes or fabric. Just washing it removes the stuff. But if you use some kind of conditioner, you'll bring some stuff back again on the fibers of your fabric and you don't want that! The fibers should be ready to react with the ink / colour!

Last but not least: The fabric ink pads are not too strong colours and they don't go over dark fabric. So try your colour with a little piece of fabric if you like the result! Have a look at the two pegasus prints. One on natural / creme fabric, the other one on red fabric (both cotton). I used the same blue ink pad for both prints! 

Okay... not just three things... I am thinking of some other stuff which is maybe useful for you to know if you want to print on fabric: If you print on rough fibers / textured fabric, your picture will have some "broken" lines. You could call the effect kind of vintage image but if you want perfect prints you need very smooth and tight woven fabric! 

This blue, white and black pattern on a blue fabric was a mixture of fabric paint leftovers and a fabric ink pad. The black and white is fabric paint and the blue is a fabric ink pad. I diluted the fabric paint a little bit with water therefor all used colours are a little bit translucent. I love the effect where you can see the overlapping pattern!

The rain drops are from a foam rubber stamp I made. I just used a scissor to cut out a drop silhouette and then  I cut the "light reflections" with a sharp exactor knife into it. I just made some cuts in the foam rubber, I didn't cut anything out! On the cuts there always will be a little bit more paint so you can see it in the print!

Have a closer look to see the effect! :)

Of course, I also tried my cell stamps...

...and two stamps I didn't show you before. Some steampunk inspired pattern...

...and a mermaid... sort of ^^

Just circles with foamed rubber!

Octopus, tentacles and lobsters!

I could image to stitch a spider web around the print...

...and of course some kind of ornaments!

Any ideas what I should do with fabrics like this?