 Wayne Redden |
Homemade Muslins Several responses to my last question, places to buy muslins cheap, stated that I could make my own. How do create muslins by dying or painting? What is the process?
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Denise Miotke |
Hi Wayne, If you do not want the natural look of the muslin for your backdrop (you've probably been told they come in white or off-white) you can dye them with a fabric dye. I like to use Rit Liquid Dye. There are a variety of colors and all you have to do is add the dye to a big tub of hot water. Use a big plastic or metal tub and rubber gloves and simply dunk your muslin into the dye and water solution. Make sure that you do this outside or in an area where you won't mind if you get some dye here and there - dunking such a big piece of fabric usually produces some splashes. If you would like the backdrop to be one even solid color, make sure you swish the fabric around a lot so that every part of it gets well soaked by the dye. If you would like it to have a more mottled or tie-dye effect, scrunch the fabric into a tight ball and, with your rubber glove covered hands, dunk it into the dye solution. Either hold it there or gently let go without moving the fabric around much. If you pull out the fabric and don't like the mottled effect, simply put it back in the dye and swish it around until all the fabric is infused with the dye. When you are all done, rinse the fabric in cool water. Some tips: After you've dyed and rinsed the fabric, you can send it through the washing machine one more time to get any last residue from the dye out. Let the fabric dry on a line, rather than the dryer, for the least amount of shrinkage. Viola! Your fabric is dyed! As far as painting a backdrop goes, I personally wouldn't paint muslin. Instead, I've painted canvas with acrylic paints that I've watered down. It's a completely different look than the muslin. The muslin is a good simple background that looks great wrinkled up. The canvas needs more precise treatment. Hope this helps!
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Wayne Redden |
Denise, thanks for your help. Wayne R
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Jeff S. Kennedy |
Good advice from Denise. I will add that in my experience you have to be careful when wadding up the muslin before placing it in the dye. If you wad it too tightly or uniformly you end up with a tie dyed look which usually isn't desireable. For mine I mixed up the dye in a large Rubbermaid tub and then put the fabric in. I weighted it down with rocks to keep all of it submerged. Let it sit in the dye for anywhere from 1 hour to overnight (depending upon how dark you want it. After I took it out I laid it on my lawn and sponged on concentrated dye to give it a more mottled appearance. Ceck out Chicago Canvas & Supply (they have a website) for large pieces of muslin as well as dyes and fabric paint.
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Robert M. Dutton |
Great Advice. It doesnt take much time. Its the frugal (not cheap) way to go in aquiring backrounds.
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