Technique Tutorial-Colouring Fabric With Distress Ink

PLEASE NOTE: Distress Inks are not permanent on fabric and are only suitable for art projects that will not be laundered.

In my previous post I talked about the instability of Distress Ink on seam binding. The same can be said when working with fabric.

In my first sample I used Stormy Sky Distress Ink through a stencil, spritzed it with water and let it dry naturally.

You can see how the colour separated into grey and blue. I found it interesting that the grey stayed put while the blue travelled. I liked this interesting shadow effect.

In my second sample I again used Stormy Sky Distress Ink through a stencil and spritzed it with water, however this time I dried it straight away.

The way I dried it was with an iron on a cotton setting and no steam. Place your inked, damp fabric right side up on a scrap of fabric to protect your ironing board. Press it on the right side. If you press it on the wrong side, some of the colour will transfer to your scrap fabric leaving you with a washed out image.

By comparison,

depending on the effect you want, leave it to dry naturally for a multi coloured shadow effect, or dry it immediately with an iron for a sharper, brighter colour.

These techniques are beneficial when creating backgrounds on fabrics with Distress Inks which we will explore in a later post.