For those who might like to try this I will explain the steps.
First you need Shaving cream, paints, inks or food colouring
a plastic tray to work in, spatulas, skewers or other tools, fabric/paper to dye and some clean bench space with a piece of plastic to protect the surface.
I found a shallow plastic tray was ideal for this. Shake the can of shaving foam and squirt as much as you want on the tray. It looks a bit like meringue. You need to smooth it out a bit. It should be about and inch thick.
Now the fun starts.
I used water colour paints I bought at the hardware store: the colours are bright and clear. As you can see in the top pic in the collage I dropped blobs of paint randomly on the shaving cream. In retrospect I could have used more.
Once you are happy with the position of the paint take a skewer or some other tool to move the paint around to create a pleasing design. Next select your piece of paper/fabric and lay it over the shaving cream/paint. Don't move it around but do press the fabric into the tray to ensure the paints adhere to the fabric. A lot depends on the kind of fabric you use. Some fabrics are more absorbent than others.
Carefully lift the fabric off the tray and lay it down on a clean flat surface with the paint upermost.
Taking a scraper or piece of hard plastic scrape the excess shaving cream and paint off the fabric. This is the scarey part but it is also the most exciting part. Once you have removed the excess your design is revealed.
Just leave it to dry and then iron to heat set the colour.
That's it.
You can add new colours and continue to use the same shaving foam as long as it is clean enough. Today I returned the excess back to the tray and as you can see by the last pics it was becoming quite muddy. I love muddy colours so I am happy with that.
You can use this technique on paper, evelon, fabric, vilene or anything else you can think of. I have used it to colour Tyvek but of course you cannot heat set the colour on Tyvek.
There are lots of links to this technique on the web. Just google "Shaving cream painting".
8 comments:
I did that a while ago - great fun! If it's done on paper, it's a form of 'marbling', is that correct? I did it on both paper and fabric (calico) and once the fabric had dried, I ironed it to set the colour, and used it in a small embroidery project. It looked great!
I love the shaving cream technique Dian.
I found that if I used a styrone foam meat tray to put the shaving cream in it kept the foam tidy and even.
And if the shaving cream is scented even better.
wow will be buying some shaving cream, shame no husband or I could pinch his!!
I have done this with wallpaper paste and marbling paint but think your way will work better, as you say you can use any paints, have plenty I never use in a drawer.Never had much success my way.
Am away thursday to sunday but next week will have a play, if successful will post it pn my blog.
Looks like messy fun, which we all need to play with now and again. Faux marbling in a way isn't it? xox
That really looks great Dian, and thanks for the collage photo grouping, really helps with the how-to process. I'm yet to try it, just need the shaving cream. There is just too much to do, and not enough time. Cheers.
what a fun idea! Why should kids have all the fun? Thanks for sharing this technique.
Looks like a fun idea to provide us with some very unique paper or fabric. Might have a go myself
Looks like a really neat and fun process. Thanks for posting pictures and for the clear explanation. I'd love to try this!
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