Today I want to share with you some of my experiences with IZink Textile Dye and Paint from the French manufacturer Aladine.
I have been working a lot with the IZink acrylic inks from Aladine over the last year and a half and I loved them, but I never used their textile paints before. I had them sitting on my table for quite some while and now it was time to sit down and experiment!
First thing I noticed about these paints was that they have the same bright, vibrant colors as the acrylic inks, which I love!
I got to play with a large range of colors, both the Teinture (dye) and Peinture (paint).
I also got some sets of foam brayers and accessories (a kit containing 3 different bottle tops to use for stenciling, stamping and drawing/writing and a spare bottle.)
Also available are specialty fabric stamping inks which I didn’t have available.
The only fabric I had on hand to work with was off white canvas. I love the texture of that but I was a little bit concerned that it would make the colors look dirty. That wasn’t the case; the colors are opaque enough to still be bright and vibrant on the gray fabric.
I first dyed the canvas with the foam brayer. This makes the dye soak into the fabric and create a nice cover. I was amazed that I didn’t need more paint but it seems like one bottle goes a long way. The dye smells a little but it is not a bad smell and certainly not irritating.
And then I had to wait. It takes 3 to 6 hours for the fabric to dry. That was hard on me as I am not the most patient person :) But I found out that I could speed that up a little by hanging the fabric in front or even over the central heating. I also found out that after stenciling and stamping, where the fabric doesn’t get as soaked, there is nothing wrong with using a heat tool.
When the background was dry I started stamping and stenciling and here is where the accessories kit comes in. You can change out the lids on the paint bottles.
Put the desired lid on the bottle and keep the bottle up side down, squeeze the bottle a little until you see the paint floating into the sponge, then dap until the whole sponge it filled with paint. There is one with a flat, circle shaped sponge that can be used for stenciling.
The second is a triangle shaped sponge that can be used either to paint directly on the fabric or to apply the paint to stamps, it works just like a stamp pad and make it easy to apply the paint evenly to the stamp. It worked great with rubber, foam and clear stamps.
The 3rd lid is a small tip that allows you to paint, draw and add little dots.
I worked in layers and made sure to dry the different layers in between because I didn’t want my paints to mix. This keeps the colors bright and crisp.
Although the sponges were quite wet, I was amazed that the paint didn’t run under the stencils more, even though I didn’t work very precise and the fabric was not completely flat.
To clean the brayers and sponges I just held them under hand warm running water and squeezed the sponges until the water stayed clear. This worked really well, the sponges were clean in no time and after drying could be used over and over again.
On the packaging of the accessories kit it says that the spare bottle is meant to clean the sponge lids. You have to add water and then dap until the water stays clear but I preferred holding them under running water, which was way faster.
In my opinion it would have been great if there had been an extra closing lid in the kit. I would have loved to mix my own colors in the bottles and being able to close the bottles and store them.
After some little experiments I worked on a larger piece of fabric and I really love the result!
When the fabric is completely dry you can iron it to fixate. After ironing, the fabric can be washed at 40*C.
NB: If you want to fixate the paint you NEED to iron it, heating it with the heat gun does NOT fixate the paint!! I used the fabric to cover a mini album:
Conclusions:
* Wonderful, bright colors that keep their vibrancy even on not completely white fabric.
1 bottle goes a long way, so good value for your money.
* Easy to work with, the accessory kit is a great addition!
* The drying time is quite long but can be speeded up by hanging the fabric in front of a heater or using
a heat tool. This does not affect the colors.
* The tools are quick and easy to clean with hand warm water and can be used numerous times.
* I missed an extra lid in the kit, which would have made it possible to mix my own colors.
* It would also be great if there would be a lid that closes the sponge lids. Not so much to store the
bottles like this but if you have to leave your project for a short time it would be nice if you don’t
have to clean the sponges all the time.
All together this is a product that I really loved working with and that I definitely want to explore more. I absolutely recommend these textile dyes and paints for any project you have in mind using fabric!
Where to buy:
IZink: Aladine
Stamps and stencils: Carabelle Studio
Thank you for stopping by today!
Happy crafting!
Products used:
