Anything Goes - Neil Walker

Hi everyone, 

As I said before, I have given the DT

a bit of a break so that they can recharge their

batteries!

I thought this was an amazing project

and one that could easily be changed

to make a lovely reusable

Christmas prezzie.

A bottle bag, beautifully decorated with So Soft paints

This is the front

A closeup of the front detail

Here is the back

This is what Neil said.....

"Begin by ironing any kinks out of the bag

Start to add your images to the bag using Archival
 ink pressing down a bit longer than you would
 if stamping on card

 to allow the ink to penetrate the fibres

Build up your design, masking where required till
 you are happy. 

(Repeat on the back of the bag too)

Now, remember the saying, mix too many colours

 together and you'll end up with mud? 

Well, this is where you find out it's true.

 Mix DecoArt So Soft Fabric paint, Christmas

 Primary Red, Ocean Blue, Cadmium Orange,

 Cadmium Yellow into a pot and you will

 end up with a funny brown/grey colour

(of course, I could have used brown but

 where's the fun in that?)

Keeping a pot of water handy, begin to

 apply the paint to the bag, avoiding the main

 stamped areas and using plenty of

 water to lighten and spread the colour.

 Every now and again

 you can work in a bit of blue,to add 

interest and depth. Use a large brush for the

 main areas and switch to a smaller

 brush around the images.

Once you have done both sides of the bag; either

 leave to dry or iron just to dry it out a bit 

(Using a craft iron rather than

 the iron you use to iron your Sunday best!)

 Now it's time to add some colour to your

 main images. Using the same colours as before,

 and water, add colour to your

 images. (I also used Yellow Green) I used 

tiny amounts of the "mud" colour to kind

 of dull down the colours where needed.

 It's also a good idea to iron the section you

 have done prior

 to adding a different colour adjacent to 

prevent bleeding.

When you have done both sides and are happy, 

leave to dry. Then turn the bag inside out 

and paint the top section with 

the remainder of your "mud" colour

 mix (assuming of course 

that like me, you ended up with far too much.)

Allow to dry, turn right side out again, and

 give it a last press with a hot iron.

The bag comes with a loose string tie cord which

 I attached to the side of the bag by 

sewing it on with string.

Once I had knotted the string around the cord I 

added a tag to the string and knotted it on.

 The tag had been stamped with

 a tag image from the stamps and I coloured

 it with some of the

 left over paint so the colours matched.

Now all that was left was to find a bottle worthy to be

 carried in such a stylish bag..."

So, what do you think...

What a brilliant project and really nice and unusual gift.

Do you want to have a go?

This is what you will need -

Canvas Bottle Bag

Viva Decor Stamp - Adventure

Viva Decor Stamp - Paris - Rome - Berlin

Viva Decor Stamp - Tags - Love

DecoArt So Soft Paints -

I used Christmas Primary Red, Cadmium Yellow,
 Cadmium Orange, 

Ocean Blue and Yellow Green

Archival Ink - Jet Black

Are you going to try this....let us know
if you do....with pictures!!

See you tomorrow,

Jane x

......