DIY idea: Painting fabric

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Painting fabric isn’t my idea. No. It’s definitely been done before. The idea came when I realized I was out of options for that moment and I had a crazy eureka moment that actually worked out for me!

Summer hasn’t been all ICAD  and Babies—though this little project is INDIRECTLY related to both my artistic abilities like Paint and to smudgy fingers!
You can see in this picture two chairs… one nice and buttery yellow, the other let’s just say DAMAGED.  Grimy hands and fumble-fingers  leave a thick layer of ugly on the chairs.

This set of chairs, I have  covered and recovered.  They’re good solid chairs – so no need to get new ones. This time I decided to paint them.
Just the seats.
Not the wood.
Here is where the DIY gets touch and go with this little project:
You see, I set out making a DIY chalk paint with some buttery yellow paint I had in my Ooops! Paint supply closet and this recipe from MRL—
I’ve used Gail’s recipe for years and it works for me!
The problem is I wanted to paint on fabric and have it stay somewhat soft—but be durable as well. I mean, as DIYers, we ALL GET CRAZY NOTIONS, right?

So I added SHAVING CREAM!   I did a little bit of research—and several people have said that glycerin was a key ingredient for fabric medium type paint. 
I did NOT have glycerine—but I had shaving cream.  Shaving cream that I THOUGHT had glycerin as an ingredient.  Now… mid-summer and I’m checking my ingredients. There appears to be no glycerin in the shaving cream that currently sits on the bathroom counter.
However, you can plainly see that I added shaving cream to my paint
OR…
My ice cream cone from the local Dairy Queen.
I assure you that’s NO CONE.  It’s shaving cream…sans glycerin.
YES! I ADDED SHAVING CREAM—with no real reasoning behind it. Don’t judge me, crazy DIYer.
I mixed it well and then, I painted my chairs with it. 
Stenciled them using an old doily and a dry brush—and various other jars of paint I had in the paint closet.
Waxed it with Minwax Finishing Wax—I rubbed it on there really good after letting the DIY shaving cream –chalk paint dry about 24 hours.
… And Ta-Dah!
Soft- fabric seats. They repel water, wash up after the kiddos have been in them …and they SMELL CLEAN SHAVEN TOO!
I’m only telling you this because once upon a time, a long time ago, I  painted some chairs for my porch (in a quick hurry)

While they have lasted… the paint has cracked and they are NOT soft and they could use a make over.
Just not THIS SUMMER.

I AM thinking I should paint the seat on this 3 chair-bench though…
‘Til next time, think outside the box!
Patricia

this post has also been linked here: Sunny Simple Life/Simple Saturdays