#craftster

Before I join them because no way can I beat them, here’s my mini rant on why acrylic paint is a terrible choice for this:

1) Acrylic paint is water soluble. Obvious big problem

2) Aside from some special mural techniques, costumes that will only be seen on stage and cheap t shirts, you *never* paint fabrics. You always dye them. 

3) Shouldn’t you treat faux fur fabric much more like hair than you would treat it like a shitty cotton t-shirt? For example, I try not to send my fur through the wash, and often use wig spray to detangle it

4) Paint will make the fur hard to some extent, and definitely won’t feel soft to the touch. I don’t care what people say, it’s just the truth. It also cracks and shrinks as it dries. 

5) Acrylic paint comes in a wiiiiiiiiide variety of qualities. Do I use my shitty wal mart acrylics on the fur or do I use my precious Dick Blicks? Lolol picturing myself using “burnt umber” on fur. (PS: Burnt umber is actually W’s favorite paint color. I read that in an interview xP)

6) THEY MAKE FABRIC PAINTS for all the exceptions I listed in 2. Why wouldn’t you at least use fabric paint and not acrylics? Just checked to make sure I’m not being stupid here, and even JOANNS sells spray fabric paint that does not appear to be acrylic in any way. I always assumed the top shops had re-engineered their airbrushers to take fabric paint, not that they’re spraying acrylic paint onto their ears. There are actually many kinds of specialized paint that exist for any number of applications, so using grade-school art class basic acrylic seems mindblowing to me.

7) Once again, acrylic paint is water soluble! I feel like I’m taking crazy pills here.

I’m really trying not to be a snob, and I get that paint can be expensive, dye can be expensive, and learning the proper techniques can be expensive. This just feels like when I found out most ears were made by gluing fur to cardboard without dealing with the raw edges. Please understand that these things go against everything I’ve been taught from childhood about crafts from both professionals and hobbyists who really loved and understood their craft. It’s a little mindblowing to find out a shop that sells out within minutes during their releases are using these techniques.

But anyways, like I said I can’t beat them, and luckily for me I have a million paint brushes, white faux fur, and a few dozen bottles of acrylic paints hanging around, so I’m going to be experimenting with this.