Wearable Art Study Group (Evening)
Credit Card Painting with Larkin Van Horn
October 22, 1999
Past President of PNNAG and a previous President of WASG Larkin Van Horn shared with us a multitude of fabric painting techniques she recently picked up in a class with Sherrill Kahn.Using an old defunct credit card and other improvised art tools, Larkin showed us how to work with inexpensive materials to produce wonderful layered pieces suitable for applique or jewelry.
Supply List› Inexpensive acrylic paint (like Ceramcoat)**
› Applicator tip paint (like Tulip, Jones Tones, Scribbles)**
› An old worn out credit card (or library card, or phone card)
› A box of crayons - the juicier the better (Crayola makes a new style called Color Slicks that work great. Regular Crayolas are fine, but some of the generic brands are too dry.)
› A rubber stamp or two or three (yes, they have to be rubber - the foam ones won't work for this process. Stamps with lots of fine lines or shady backgrounds are not as effective as those that are simpler. You can purchase clear stamps from Purrfection Artistic Wearables, run by PNNAG WASG member Dana Bontrager.
› Paper towels
› Freezer Paper
› Sponges for applying paint to the stamps
› An old toothbrush (for cleaning the stamps)
› Something like a CoolWhip container for water
› Masking Tape
› Fabric: this needs to be washed and ironed, and cut or torn into smallish pieces. You can get 12 pieces about the right size from a yard of fabric. It is very important that the fabric be ironed well so you have a smooth surface to work with. Larkin has been most happy with white or "natural" muslin or other cotton (such as Kona), and recommends these for test samples. After learning the technique, you can decide whether to try it on other fabrics.
Notes on TechniquesLarkin turned us loose on the world with a grab bag of open-ended techniques. She encouraged us to regress to an eight-year-old mentality, before we knew "the rules". Here are some examples:
