Want to add some colour to your fabrics but not sure where to start? Here is a starting guide for you to get an idea of what is possible with these markers!
Types of Nibs
The Fabrico Dual Markers come with a bullet nib and a brush nib.
The Bullet nib can be useful for filling in finer details or for more solid distribution of the colour.
The Brush nib can be useful for creating gradients on your fabrics.
Water
Water can be useful at helping colours blend easier but quantity is key. You may add enough water to the fabric to allow the colours to blend but find when you come back the colours have bled out.
Not all fabrics easily absorb water so it can be temping to add additional water to the piece. To avoid this, stop adding water once the colour is blended to near the intended edge to allow for any spread, if the colour doesn't reach more water can always be added again later.
Hard Colouring
Placing a colour heavily on the fabric can make it difficult to blend out, leaving dark lines. Strategically placing your colour in shadowed areas opposed to all over can mask this as when you blend out the ink with water, the darker areas will remain dark creating shadows.
Using Brush Nibs
The markers don't need to be used with water. In the photo on the right, a gradient was achieved with the yellow by swiping the brush nib across, lifting the marker toward the end of the stroke. This works easier with the lighter colours such as yellow, bubble gum, baby blue and kiwi.
Other Techniques
If you are having trouble blending you colours it is possible to transfer a small amount of a darker colour onto a lighter colour by touching the nibs together. For example this is shown on the left with yellow and orange. The orange was added onto the yellow. The yellow was then used in a shadow area where the orange is applied from the nib. Colouring out to the edge changes the colour back to yellow and allows for a more seamless blend. The colour removes easily from the nibs and doesn't leave a stain.
Next month we will go into how to use these fabric markers to enhance your stitcheries!