How can I mix paint medium with fabric paint?

Question

My mom works at a day-care and wants to put childrens' footprints onto pieces of carpet fabric as a christmas gift. What is a safe percentage of medium to fabric paint that will be safe for the kids' feet but be permanent on the fabric?

Answer 1

Ask at your craft store, there should be some medium that is non toxic and fabric paints that are non toxic. The best and safest way to go.

Answer 2

First, if you buy "fabric paint" it will already have the acrylic "textile medium" in it.
If you buy plain acrylic paint though, you can add "textile medium" to it yourself (so that the paint will be more flexible and not crack in the wash if it's thick) ...otherwise you don't need the textile medium mixed into the acrylic paint to print permanently on fabric.
(You can buy craft acrylic paint and textile medium at a crafts store.)

Acrylic paint, and acrylic mediums like textile medium, are "safe" so any amount should be okay from that angle. And they're both permanent once they're dry. (Be sure to wash off little feet with water or soap and water before it dries!)

I don't know how much textile medium you'd want to add to craft-type acrylic paint to get the amount of softness and flexibility *you* want, or how thick you plan on having the paint from the footprints (or what exactly "carpet fabric" is), but I'd guess there would be some suggestions for ratios on bottles of textile medium for printing on most fabrics... or try some of these sites for ideas:

http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&aq=t&ie=UTF-8&rls=GGLC,GGLC:1969-53,GGLC:en&q=%22textile+medium%22+mix+%22acrylic+paint%22+fabric

http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&ie=UTF-8&rls=GGLC,GGLC:1969-53,GGLC:en&q=%22textile+medium%22+%22acrylic+paint%22+footprint


HTH,

Diane B.