Glue Batik Elephant

Remember how I said a couple of posts ago that I woke up full of energy and ready to create? Well, I wasn't kidding! This is yet another project I was able to complete that day.  I also said I get most of my ideas from Childhood Magic, and this is one more. I love the idea of making custom items for Ella, but the cost of buying fabric paints and all the extra supplies seemed so prohibitive. I had NO idea that you could use el-cheapo acrylic craft paint on fabrics! I went to the craft store and stocked up on primary colors, black, and white. Hey, I can make any color of the rainbow, right? Why spend more on the secondary and tertiary colors???

I didn't really do tutorial-type photos for this project, I just took a couple of pictures along the way. Check out the blog above for detailed instructions!

I bought a cute little canvas bag at the craft store for a buck or two and traced the outline of an elephant using chalk. I then covered those lines and added details using blue gel glue. I also filled in any other areas that I wanted to remain white (like the tusks).

I then painted the picture using acrylic paints (that's orange and purple you see there, folks; sorry for the lighting issues in my bathroom!). I think Ariella used watered down acrylics, but I wanted BOLD colors. I just used straight acrylics without diluting them at all.

 

The finished product after laundering and drying. I should probably mention that I never, ever iron. Don't be surprised by the wrinkly fabrics in all my future pictures ;-)  We took the bag on its inaugural library trip today. Ella won't carry it yet, but she insisted that I carry it everywhere for her. I think it's a success! I love, love, love the batik effect this creates, and I can imagine so many additional possibilities for this technique. Stay tuned for more!

Oh, and here's one more thing on did on this most productive day: dairy-free chocolate ice cream!

 

 

 ~Amanda