Tulip Dimensional Fabric Paint

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Please welcome Jess to our Craft Critique family... this is her first article for us, and we hope it inspires you to rock your old-school supplies just as hard as they were designed to rock!

Reported by Jessica Ripley

Flash back to some of your very first craft projects. Did you use felt? Glitter? A hot glue gun? Of course we all still use those now. What about when you began making your own super-styling t-shirts to wear, complete with your own design, name, and maybe even graduating year? What was the one product that you couldn't do that without?

That's right! Puff paint!

Puff paint is a product that has been around for (without dating myself here) decades, and it is one that I have re-discovered as one of my favorites when it comes to crafting, scrapbooking, or altered art. It is both versatile in color choices and applications, not to mention extremely affordable.

In particular, Tulip offers a pack of ten 5/8 oz bottles called the "10 Piece Value Pack".

It is available in craft stores (I got mine at Joann Fabrics) for about $10.00. Complete with basic colors such as red, blue, green, and yellow; this set also includes two pastels in pink and purple. My favorite feature of this particular pack from Tulip, is that it includes two bottles each of both black and white, the colors I tend to go through more quickly.

I've used this same set on many projects to add dimension to my designs. On layouts and altered items, it is an excellent choice to add texture. For example, on the layout below, I used it to add pop to a few paper flowers:

And on this altered birdhouse, I used it to actually draw the stems of the flowers to add a quick and easy touch.

It can also be used for its intended purpose of course, to draw designs on fabric (which remains washable once it dries). One of my favorite craft projects when I was younger, was to use puff paint in dots around a cut out pattern (like a kind of backwards stencil) as shown in these holiday gloves below:

(Instructions for these gloves can be found here).

It can also easily be used on acrylic, which was such a fun discovery. I tried it out on a few acrylic album pages in the attempt to make a "no-bake" sun-catcher, and was very pleased with the results.

(Instructions for this project can be found here)

What made the above projects so much easier? Not only do the bottles fit easily in your grip (meaning not too big, not too small). The nozzles on these bottles by Tulip provide for easy flow of paint, yet are small enough to allow for detail work. When you are a bit of a "two-thumbs" like me, ease of use is a big bonus.

There are a few minor drawbacks to consider. On occasion, it is necessary to trim the nozzle down slightly with a pair of scissors in order to increase the flow of paint, however this is easily remedied by storing the bottles upside down when not in use. Also, while fabric projects are machine washable after the paint dries, you must wait at least 72 hours according to the packaging prior to washing, and then should only use the gentle cycle. Still, for the ability to wash your fabric projects at all, this is a very minor inconvenience. Finally, when using the paint on a layout, I found that after storing the layout in an album, the paint does smash a bit. It does not stick to the page protector however, but does lose some of the height of the original application after being flattened between other pages.

In summary...

Pros:

• The 10-Piece Value Pack is an excellent bargain considering how many colors are included.


• Nozzle provides easy flow of paint, and yet is small enough for details.


• Uses are endless, and can be applied to crafting and altered art, scrapbooking, or fabric projects.


• Paint dries quickly, and is completely dry within a few hours


• Fabric items made with this set will be machine washable about 3 days after paint is applied.


• Paint is non-toxic, according to the package.
  

Cons:

• Flow of paint sometimes slows (though storing upside down and trimming the nozzle helps.


• Washing must be done on gentle cycle only for fabric projects.


• If used on a layout and stored in an album, the height of the paint will smash down a bit when flattened between two pages. Keep this in mind when decided exactly how much paint will be applied to your design.

You can find Tulip Puff Paint online at Joann's, A.C. Moore, and Amazon, and at any local craft store.

All in all, I am sure you will find this product a versatile addition to your crafting supply stash, and I do highly recommend it. We'd love to see what other fun uses you can come up with for this "oldie but goody" as well!