October has become synonymous with the colour pink, thanks to the inspirational and successful campaign run by Breast Cancer Awareness who have urged us to Wear It Pink on October 23rd. We wanted to show our support here at HQ, and I realised that this would be a great opportunity to ‘dye’ our own t-shirts with my paint, Chalk Paint®. I’ve used Scandinavian Pink (predominantly) to customise a wonderful old piano stool and a chair and these will be on sale in my shop on Cowley Road, Oxford (from Monday) with all proceeds going to Breast Cancer Care.
If you haven’t yet tried using Chalk Paint® to colour fabric, do. It’s simple and really straightforward – you just need cold water and Paint – no fixatives or salt, no faffing around.
Pour your Paint into an old tub – I use metal, but you can use plastic although you’ll need to take care to clean it out afterwards. When I’m in my house in Normandy, I do this outside so that any spills won’t matter, but do be careful otherwise.
Add the water, and mix gently but thoroughly. You’re looking for a ratio of around one part paint, to 20 parts water but, of course, you can play around with this for more or less intense gradations of colour!
Now, add your fabric and make sure it is fully immersed.
Leave it to soak for around half an hour.
The fabric will need to be fully dry before you use it but once dry, you can machine wash as normal.
Natural fabrics (linen, cotton, silk) always work best when you are dyeing material, no matter what you use to colour them. Polyester mixes, and other synthetics may not take the ‘dye’ so well. In my book, Colour Recipes, I describe dying old linen sheets in Aubusson Blue and found that the rustic effect of colouring them by using Chalk Paint® enhanced the natural texture of the fabric in a rather fabulous way. Here in Oxford, where I’m based, we’ve experimented with many different types of fabric, including some rather traditional lace panels which were given a contemporary twist by transforming them with colour.
And here they are, the team (with a few missing) in their pink t-shirts!
Yours, Annie
I absolutely adore your beautiful paint and the colours are stunning and it does not have the horrid smell that "normal" paint does. I do have a problem though, I have a place in the South of France and would like to ask why is the paint nearly twice the price I pay in England, as l am doing a lot of painting in my house in France, the cost of it there is becoming prohibitive, l have to fly when l go, so it is out of the question me taking it with me.You may be thinking, what does this mad woman want me to do about it, well,I would really like to know about the price differential, I will still use the paint in England I can afford it there!!?? I hope you can answer this mad woman's question, until then, I remain an avid fan.
ReplyDeleteYours,
Victoria E. O'Hare (Dr).
Victoria, the paint is made in England and imported so there is shipping costs etc to be covered. Where are you buying it from and what are you paying for it?
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ReplyDeleteGreat idea, love chalk paint!
ReplyDeleteCan I over dye an area carpet?
ReplyDeleteI have never done it. You could try dingo a watery mix and don't apply too much so it's like a dye rather than a pInt! But try on a spare but first! It might be difficult to dry. Also as its a dye, you have to think if the colour it us now.
DeleteI am dying my silk curtains this weekend with Annie Sloan chalk paint, but I'm not sure which color to use. See, they are already sage green to begin with, so I thought of using the color charcoal for a better chance at covering up the entire green color. But then I thought a blue might make be pretty because it could give the curtains an aqua color. Have you ever dyed silk that already had an existing color?
ReplyDeleteHi,I am quite new to using your fabulous paint,I have a little table to decoupage and would it be possible to use varnish over the Annie Sloan paint?Kind Regards Pam.
ReplyDelete(I meant the color graphite)
ReplyDeleteThis seems like an awesome idea, and the entire team looks great. Just a quick question, how did some of you manage to get patterns, like those strips or circles, on your shirt? I’ve done tie dye before, but usually just mash a bunch of colours together and hope the abstract design turns out looking good.
ReplyDeleteSherita @ Astute Promotions
Looks great. Have you ever tried to chalk paint a polyester and/or nylon fabric?
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