My friend who reads tarot convinced me to make and sell tarot deck bags on Etsy. I don't know how people will ever find my bags among the hundreds already out there, but I'm going to give it a try. Mine will be set apart because I'm painting most of the fabric, including the pure silk ribbon drawstrings. (Plus I'll offer some affordable quilted items and maybe some beaded jewelry.)
So that motivated me to dig out my fabric paint and play with it for the first time in years. Here is some of what I did in the last two days.
I only painted the fabric for the bag on the right, but I painted all of the ribbons. I line the bags with silky soft garment lining fabric.
Here's my setup, on my cutting table right inside the front door. Not that anyone ever comes to the door.
I wet the white cotton fabric and white silk ribbons (I order them from www.dharmatrading.com) and paint them with cheapie foam brushes. I use Setacolor, Jaquard, and Lumiere fabric paints, also from Dharma.
After I paint the fabric, I scrunch it up while it is still wet so that it develops hills and valleys patterns. I crumple the silk ribbon in pie tins so that it dries in interesting patterns.
This shows the dried and ironed fabric and ribbons -- you can see from the patterning that it still looks three dimensional. The pink and orange-yellow piece above was overpainted with a wash of buttercup yellow to give it more depth. If you let the fabric dry and heat set it by ironing, you can then add more layers of Setacolor transparent paint on top.
Note: Setacolor by Pebeo recently started calling its transparent paint "paint for light colored fabrics." Also, if you use opaque paint it will cover up the first layer completely.
And, did anyone else notice the quilt behind Rep. Katie Porter on TV last night!? That was exciting! I love her chunky necklace, too.
Have a colorful day
7 comments:
yes i did notice the necklace and wall art behind Katie!
and i really like her knowledge, delivery and spunk!!
as i have been a dharma customer for many decades,
i love dharma trading co !!!
love watching paint dry and good speed on esty!!!!
Yes, I noticed it too!!! Somewhere in my stash of quilting books, I know I have directions for making something very much like that piece. H’mmm . . . may be I will add it to my long list of projects upon which to work.
It appears you have been having fun. :-()
My heart is happy, seeing you working with paints and fabrics! It's good to have alternatives to our regular projects, isn't it? And I'm sure you will do well selling them. One thing I have learned is that it's best to list one or two at a time, then wait a day or so before listing another couple... keeps you in the "most recent" sort order, then once people view one of your items, the hope is they will look at more while they are at your shop. Happy creating and selling!
So glad to see you're having fun and inspired to create! The fabric and ribbon are beautiful!!
Sherrie, These are lovely! Do you have a link for your shop yet? Are you going to market them as tarot bags? I missed Katie on tv. Love that quilt and her necklace. Looking forward to hearing about your etsy experience since I'm still thinking about it.
Oh, I haven't done this for such a very long time. I remember the first time not knowing about how the paint would travel into peaks and valleys, and thinking how magical that was. These look great. I hope you can sell these at a high enough price to offset the time and effort. Having made bags like these for gifts, I know they take more time than people realize.
The bags are wonderful!!! Colors are beautiful as is the ribbon(s). Where are you selling them? Online?
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