Sassy Feet! blog

Doing a Paint-Stenciled Sweatshirt

 When I was a kid I used to love those photo puzzlers where you'd see a magnified closeup of a part of something -- like a curved piece of something white -- and have to guess what it was (the handle of a teacup).That's sort of what's happening with the photo at the top of this blog.

On Saturday night, Oct. 19, Destiny and I are hosting a painting party at the ETA-California conference in Irvine, and we'll be teaching folks how to sponge and stencil their tops. I decided to do a sample using an old black hoodie that had a VERY stubborn oil stain on it. (Lumiere paint works wonders to hide stubborn stains! And this is the same paint we use on shoes, so you probably have some of it around the house already.)

First I used masking tape to tape off some geometric shapes in the top center of the sweatshirt, where the oil stain was.

Then I used a cosmetic sponge to sponge on several different colors of Lumiere -- Metallic Russet, Metallic Olive Green (very lightly), Metallic Bronze and Pearlescent Violet (also very lightly). I didn't wait for each layer to dry as I was sponging them very lightly.

When I pulled up the tape it revealed a cluster of widely spaced geometric forms. Then, of course, it needed something more.

I dug out a wonderful stencil of a flock of birds and decided to have the birds flying through the design. I sprayed the back of the stencil with a stencil spray adhesive (any kind of temporary spray adhesive will work), and pressed it into place.

Then I used a cosmetic wedge to mop up a little of Lumiere's Pearlescent White from a paper plate, and dab it straight up and down onto the stencil. Next I did the same thing (though not as heavily) with Pearlescent Magenta.

Here's a peek at the just-stenciled part.

When the first part of the flock was dry, I repositioned the stencil and continued to work up toward the opposite shoulder. When it was dry, I sealed the paint by ironing it for 30 seconds.

This is not a perfect art -- a closeup reveals some smudgy edges, but I like to think that's part of the charm! The great thing is, you get really fast and really interesting results -- and it's super fun to do.

One caution -- unlike painting or stenciling on shoes, it's VERY hard to get the paint off when you make a mistake -- the fabric grabs the paint and absorbs it very quickly. If that happens and you don't like what you've done, just paint over it!

Wearable Art -- and the Reverse!

  What a busy week it has been! Margot and I are gearing up for our great trip north. We will be peddling our wonderful wares and watching amazing wearables stride down the runway at the Peninsula Wearable Art Guild (PenWAG)'s Fashion Show.

We will be bringing an array of items -- both the expected and the unexpected! Of course we'll have hand-painted, embellished shoes (like my Vintage Tattoo Shoes, above) and purses (like Margot's felted purse, formerly a Laura Ashley sweater, at left).

Margot will also bring shoe-embellishment kits, button-stacked embellishments, and some shoe-painting starter kits. I'll have hand-painted t-shirts for women and kids (at right), as well as the latest fruits of my oddball creative genius: Sock Creatures!

"Sock Creatures?!" you say. "What the heck are are Sock Creatures??" Well, I work at a library, and one day I discovered a book called Stray Sock Sewing that had loads of adorable pictures of plush critters made from socks. And I thought, "OMG! How cute are these? I can do this!" So, I checked out the book and tried one of the simple step-by-step projects.

The only hurdle was that I know next to nothing about sewing, but luckily, my tattooed and pierced significant other, Jim, is an excellent seamstress. After a few lessons from him, I got the hang of it. I started with a kitty, and the results were adorable!

It was sort like making reverse wearable art. (That is, take something wearable and make it... not wearable. Wait, did I just invent something here?!?)

Next I made a little dog, a pig, a zebra, and a Sock Ness Monster. Everytime I thought up a new critter, I made it. Pretty soon my house began to look like a zoo inhabited by very soft, very colorful and very cheerful little creatures.

I got so personally involved with my critters, I decided they each needed a name and -- if I were to part with any of them -- formal adoption papers. 

Yes, I admit I am powerless over Sock Creatures. They have taken over my life. Not to mention my living room, where I stitch them. Maybe if you're at the fashion show Saturday -- and you look like a very, very nice person -- I'll let you take one home.

Slightly Unconventional

Margot and I both like to test, adventure, and expand what we do artistically (especially with DIY artisan projects).  Margot was the one who realized one day that women's OTHER favorite accessory, the purse, is made from the exact same materials as shoes, thus opening up purses to the same sort of fabulous things we'd been doing to shoes! This was a most excellent revelation.

Not only do the Lumiere paints we use on shoes work wonderfully on leather and manmade leather, but fabric as well. To mean, this means T-shirts! I have taken it upon myself to explore this fully, and I want to share some of the results.

Here's is a cityscape relief using our Glitter It! paint in Shamrock. (I blocked out the buildings using masking tape.) I did the wording in Metallic Olive Green using a toothpick.

Here's a fun flourish I put on the front of a T using several different Lumiere colors with Glitter It! paint:

 This one is a mendhi-inspired design in Pewter (which was slightly affected by the camera flash so it looks almost glittery):

 A chubby swallow flies through cherry blossoms down the front of this V-necked T:

And finally, a splattered Pearlescent Turquoise and Super Copper design with Neopaque Black filigree flowers:

Painting T-shirts requires a little more paint than painting on leather as the cloth absorbs some of the paint, which real and faux leather do not. But there's no prep work needed and just a 2-3 minute ironing (with the shirt turned inside-out) will "seal the deal," so to speak.

SUPER-HELPFUL DIY HINT: Painting or stenciling on clothes is the perfect way to cover up stains that refuse to be washed out! DItto those annoying bleach marks that come from out of nowhere to land on your favorite clothes!

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