If you are creating fabric for a wall hanging, there is technically no need to heat set the paint. Jut let the paint dry on it’s own time and it will be fine. Heat setting speeds up the end of the drying process and is recommended for anything that will be washed, but there is no compelling reason to heat set fabric that will be used in wall hangings.

Yes, there are several ways to clean stencils.

img src=”http://cedarcanyontextiles.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/brush_soap_small.jpg” alt=”" title=”brush_soap_small” width=”144″ height=”281″ class=”alignright size-full wp-image-4494″ />1. Wipe the stencils as you work. I keep a piece of scrap fabric or paper towels handy. After I stencils an image, I put the stencil on the scrap fabric and gently wipe the paint off with another piece of fabric or a paper towel. I wipe both sides as I often have just a little bit of paint that gets under the edges of the stencil openings.

2. Mist the stencil with a solvent and wipe with a paper towel. This is very useful if you have paint buildup on the stencil. I don’t care for most solvents, so I use something like Citra-Solv. Citra-Solv is a concentrated orange-based cleaner.

3. Clean with Cedar Canyon Brush Soap. Scoop some brush soap out of the jar and smear it on the stencil. Remove the soap with a damp cloth or paper towel. Works like a charm, and is totally non-toxic. (And don’t forget that the brush soap is a great hand cleaner!)

For more information on Paintstik Cleanup, visit this entry over at the Blog. If you need some of our wonderful brush soap, you can order from our Online Store.

Fiber content is not going to be an issue with paints. When you dye a fabric, a chemical bond forms between the dye molecules and the fibers. That’s why you need certain dyes for cellulose fibers (cotton, linen, rayon) and different dyes for protein fibers.

When you paint a fabric, the bond is strictly mechanical. The paint adheres to the surface of the fibers rather than forming a chemical bond. The only fabrics I know to watch out for are those that have been chemically treated to be stain resistant. If the fabric is stain-resistant, it may also be paint-resistant.

Keep in mind that almost all fabric coming into the stores is treated with finishes when it is manufactured. That is why we recommend pre-washing fabric before painting it. Use a plain detergent when pre-washing fabric and do not use fabric softener. With that single step, you should be ready to paint.

I am not an art conservator, but there are some common sense things you can do here. If you want to put the fabric under glass or acrylic, I would use a shadow-box approach or at least a spacer between the glass and the fabric. I don’t think you want the painted fabric touching the glass.

I would personally wait at least 6-8 weeks for the paint to dry before framing a piece. Paintstik oil colors are oil-based paints and they take longer to dry than water-based paints. Better safe than sorry.

For a definitive answer to this question, I would contact the art department at a local college or university or consult with someone at an art gallery that handles oil paintings.

Not according to my sensitive nose! (said with a big smile) The paint manufacturer calls the paintstiks “no odor” but I disagree. I call them “low odor.” They smell like a combination of wax and oil paint, but the smell is very light compared to a traditional oil paint. I notice more an odor as the paints are drying than when I am painting. It’s not obnoxious, but it’s there.

Some people notice a residual odor in scarves / garments. It depends on how sensitive your nose is. One of my best customers successfully removes the leftover smell by gently washing her fabric with Fabreeze for the Wash.

If you are particularly sensitive to chemical odors, I suggest purchasing one or two colors and experimenting with them to see if it’s a product you can work with. As with any product, there’s no sense making a big investment only to find out you are too sensitive to the smell to enjoy using it.

A: Yes, you can cut rubbing plates apart quite easily. A while back, I was doing some mono-printing with a gelatin plate and had trouble with the edges of a rubbing plate making marks where I didn’t want them. I simply trimmed the edges off and had much better results. Here’s a quick photo.

You can definitely cut a plate into multiple pieces with a standard pair of scissors. You can always lay the pieces on a sticky mat (Grip-n-Grip mat) next to each other if you want to make a rubbing from the entire image.

A: Are you making rubbings? Or adding the colors with a brush (stenciling)?

Q: Mostly rubbings with children…

A: Rubbings simply take longer to dry. I don’t know of any way to make them dry quickly.

If the rubbings are light (which I don’t expect if you are working with kids) AND made with iridescent colors, you can turn them paint side down on baking parchment and heat set with an iron right away. The paint won’t be totally dry, but a film will form over the top.

If the person making the rubbing has a heavy hand (most of us to begin with and most kids), there is simply too much paint to have much luck with quick heat setting.

If you are working with MATTE colors, be very cautious about trying to heat set the paint without at least 24 hours of dry time. Several of my experienced customers have had problems with the discoloration when they tried to push the heat setting too quickly with matte colors.

You might try a heat gun (not a hair dryer) on a few samples and see if you have any luck getting the paints to film over without discoloring. Definitely test before you plan on using this for your class.

If all else fails, lay a piece of muslin or paper towels over the painted fabric, gently roll or fold it up, and send it home with instructions to set it aside for at least a week. If these are not going to be washed, they don’t actually need to be heat set. The paint will dry on its own over time.

A: Oops! I’ve cleaned so many stencil brushes that I didn’t even think about instructions. We’ll have to see if we can come up with something short and sweet that will fit on the label. At any rate, here is my method for using the brush soap.

Dip your brush into the brush soap. Rub the brush soap into the bristles. I rub the bristles in a circular, scrubbing motion in the palm of my free hand. Once you have worked the brush soap thoroughly through the bristles, rinse the soap from the brush under warm, running water. It may take more than one application of soap if there is a lot of paint in the brush. Remove excess water with a towel and allow the brushes to dry before using them again.

Paintstik color will often stain the brushes, so the brush may not return to its original color after it is washed. The only product I have found that will completely remove the stains is homemade lye soap — a gift from one of my students. Your brush may be clean, but still discolored.

A: It’s hard to believe that it took us so long to find the answer to this very common question, but we finally found a good way to get nice clear images when making rubbings with paintstik colors on fabric. Here’s the secret…

Spray the top of your rubbing plate with a repositionable adhesive. Let the adhesive dry for a minute or two and then proceed to make the rubbings. The adhesive keeps your fabric from sliding around on the rubbing plate. It works! I have tested the 404 product from Spray and Fix with excellent results. Also try KK2000 from Sulky. Some of the basting spray products are too gummy, so make sure you test any adhesive before applying it to a bunch of rubbing plates.

Use a mild solvent (such as CitraSolv) if you want to clean the adhesive from your rubbing plates. The people at Spray and Fix also have a cleaning product called DK5 that is specifically designed to remove the spray adhesives from various surfaces.

A: I have heard from several people who had issues with the smell of painted fabric, even after it has been washed a number of times. As a matter of fact, I just had a discussion about this with Laura Murray, the author of the Paintstik Inspirations DVD.

Laura has made a whole lot of samples over the past few years. She commented that when she was using mystery fabric (usually inexpensive stuff she picked up for throw-away demos in the booth, she notices the smell, even after a long period of time. She did not find the same to be true with her silk garments. We are both wondering if the odor may “hang on” more to synthetic blends than it does with natural fibers. Just a thought on our part — we have nothing to back that up. It’s worth noting that Laura is not particularly sensitive to linseed oil and does not normally notice the smell of the paint unless she opens the storage cabinet that is full of paintstiks.

I have also heard from a small number of customers who are very sensitive to linseed oil and can’t tolerate working with these paints. You may be one of the people in this category.

I seriously doubt that there have been any changes to the paintstik chemistry in recent years. The product was developed as a solid oil paint for the fine art community back in the early 1960s. Compared to standard oil paints, there is very little odor in this product, but that doesn’t matter if you happen to be sensitive to the smell.

My sister brought me a pile of Indonesian batiks a number of years ago when she traveled through that country. These were fabrics made for local markets, not for export to the US. As much as I loved the fabric, I couldn’t deal with the smell of the wax that permeated the fabric. I washed them a number of times and never got rid of the smell, so they eventually went to someone who could use them. Since batiks are made with a wax resist rather than oil, it’s possible that the wax may be the offending ingredient.

Given your sensitivity to the smell of the paint, I would look for other paints for embellishing my garments. You could try putting paintstik color on the back of a garment, but I suspect you would still smell the odor that is bothering you.

Thanks to Nita Sims for submitting this question.

A: You can press your second freezer paper stencil on the fabric right away and continue to work. Just put a piece of plain paper over the stencil to keep any paint off your iron.

When you work “wet” (without waiting for the paint to dry) you may see some blending of colors as you apply paint with each subsequent stencil or image. If you do not want any blending, wait 24 hours between images. You can also use a heat gun or embossing tool to get a film to form on top of your paint quickly. (A hair dryer probably is not hot enough.) I would reserve the heat-gun method for cotton and natural fabrics as synthetics will probably melt.

Thanks to Julia Voake for submitting this question.

A: I spray the back of my stencils with a repositionable adhesive. My favorite brands are 404 Spray and Fix and KK2000 from Sulky. We don’t sell the sprays in our online store due to the shipping restrictions on aerosol cans, but you can find them at most sewing machine dealers and some big sewing stores. (The sewing people use the sprays with machine embroidery.)

I call these sprays “Post-it Notes in a Can” because that’s exactly how they work. The spray keeps the stencils from moving on the fabric. The spray stays on the stencils and does not leave a residue on your fabric. Pretty neat.

A: All the companies that make sticky spray also make sticky spray remover. They work very well, but I find the removal products have a very strong chemical odor and need to be used in a well-ventilated area so I don’t conk out from the fumes.

My favorite cleaner for stencils is Citra-Solv. It’s a very concentrated orange-based solvent that I find in the local natural foods store. You may be able to find it in the organic section of your grocery store. Citra-Solv works like a champ and simply smells like oranges.

A: Absolutely! If you place your fabric on a Grip-n-Grip mat, it will stay right where you put it. Grip-n-Grip mats are one of my secret weapons for getting great results when I’m working with paintstiks — and ANY time I need to have something stay in place while I’m working. (I find so many uses for these mats that I hardly leave home without one…)

You can find Grip-n-Grip mats in our Online Store. If you don’t already have one, you should definitely add one to your order. You’ll wonder what you ever did without it!