The kids and I recently revisited one of our favorite fabric decorating techniques.
We used this fabric decorating technique to make some lavender eye pillows as Mother’s Day gifts for the grandmas as well as to sell as a preschool fundraiser. The glue batik seemed perfect for the small eye pillows (we’ve done it on curtains before and it was just too much).
MY LATEST VIDEOSI’ll share the instructions for the lavender eye pillows tomorrow or the next day, but today I wanted to show the step-by-step instructions for glue batik.
How to Do Glue Batik with Kids
MATERIALS
- Plain white or natural fabric
- Elmer’s Blue Gel Glue (you can buy this at a craft store)
- Wax paper
- Acrylic paint (from tubes or the liquid stuff)*
- Nail brush or scrub brush
*A note about the acrylic paint :: We’ve always used the thick stuff from a tube before and watered it down really well. This time, we used more of a liquid acrylic paint like this, and it was easier to work with. Go with what you have, but if you’re going to buy some paint specifically for this project, I’d go for the liquid acrylics.
INSTRUCTIONS
1. “Draw” your design on the fabric with the squeeze bottle of Elmer’s Blue Gel Glue.
And yes, it’s gotta be the blue gel. We tried doing this with the clear gel kind once and it didn’t work nearly as well.
2. Let dry completely. We let ours dry overnight.
3. Paint over the fabric and dried glue designs with watered-down acrylic paint.
If you’re interested in those little pots of acrylic paint, I bought them from Stubby Pencil Studio. We used those as well as some other liquid acrylics I bought at a local craft store.
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Here’s one of Daphne’s bigger glue batik pieces (for a neck pillow rather than an eye pillow).
And here are some of my smaller eye pillow fabric pieces.
4. Let the paint dry.
5. Soak the glue batik fabric pieces in warm/hot water for one hour to soften the glue.
(Yes, we have a peach-colored bathtub.)
6. Scrub the softened glue off with a nail brush or scrub brush.
7. Dry once again. You can let them air dry or pop them in the dryer with an old towel. Iron if desired.
As you can tell, there are a fair number of steps to decorating fabric this way but it’s all easy. And worth it!
Update :: Here’s my post on how to Make Lavender Eye Pillows with Glue Batik Art
Have you tried glue batik yet? If not, I highly recommend giving it a try!
Some ideas for what to make with this technique…
- Glue batik napkins (on Tiny Rotten Peanuts)
- Glue batik pillows (on That Artist Woman)
- Glue batik T-shirts (on Kid World Citizen)
- Canvas bags
- An apron
- Flags and pennants (in The Artful Year book)
- Kids’ cape (in The Artful Parent book)
- Curtains (note :: I don’t actually recommend using glue for a project of this size)
- A Christmas stocking
Pin It for Later ::
I LOVE the sound of this! It’s a very rainy day here in Perth, Australia and we’re without a car as we’re a one car house so I’m going to have to make do with the glue I’ve got. It’s the white kind (like Aquadhere) … Craft glue. I think I’ll try the marbling too … If I can find some marbles otherwise something else will have to suffice. Thank you! I love your blog!
Hi Brigitte,
How did the PVA glue (Aquadhere) go?
I’m in Australia too, so not sure if I can get a hold of the Elmer’s blue gel type glue.
Thanks,
Trish
How washable is the fabric? I was thinking it would be fun to make a quilt and have the children decorate larger squares for it using this technique.
Very cool! Is the fabric soft when you complete the process or is it a bit stiff from acrylic? These are very neat and looks very doable even with preschoolers… we’ll see ;)
It’s a bit stiffer than usual, Teresa.
Thank you! I was just trying to think of how we will best use the fabric we decorate :)
You’re welcome, Teresa!
Oops, I tried to do this from memory (I had checked out your book from our library) & put the pillowcases in the tub BEFORE we had tie-dyed them. So I’m assuming, probably correctly, that the kids’ original glue designs are gone & washed down the tub? Oh well, glad I found you online…batik project: take two!
Am so impress of the glue batik I will definitely use the glue when am having a project with my grand children. Thanks for the info .
Can I use fabric bye to colour my fabric when using the glue
Is it possible to use watercolor paints?
Hi MJ. This is Melissa, the Artful Parent Project Manager. Watercolor paints are great for a multitude of projects, but they wouldn’t work for the glue batik technique since it involves washing the fabric to remove the glue; watercolor would wash out. Jean has tried batik with acrylic paint and with fabric paint with lovely results. Hope that helps; happy artful parenting!
Hi
I was wondering if you can use this on 100% polyester fabric.
thanks
Susan
Does this technique work with tie dye?
Thank you for this idea. We’re going to use it in our beginner art class at a wellness clinic and I can’t wait to see what people come up with!