[Death Wraith]

Does anybody have good tips for how to age/stain fabric? I'm thinking more like spotty stains and not a complete garment change. Is spraying strong tea/ coffee the best way to go? Will it run/drip or be absorbed? Does cotton/polyester/synthetics all stain differently? I need to do clothes, but also possibly a whole padded room/asylum scene. About a week till opening and no time to experiment.

On a related note, if I make some blood using school glue (stiltbeast style), and thin it down for spraying, how strong is the color?

All tips appreciated!

DW

 

[Trex]

Synthetic materials take colour or stain very differently than natural fibers like cotton and wool. You will have to play with your staining techniques on synthetics. I try to use on natural fabrics for this reason, I always tea/coffee stain the lighter colours and then I add stains. I use shoe polish, spray paint, acrylic paint, fabric paint, leather stain, RIT dye, depending on setting and if the costume is to be worn by an actor. Clothes painted with acrylic paint can be pretty stiff and crunchy, not very comfortable to wear. I have also used tie dye kits from Wal-Mart (or Michaels'), they are cheap and work well. I have found grey and brown dyes.

These dresses were both tea stained first, basically I used black and green spray paint, and RIT black dye. The bottom dress has leather stain around the neck area. For blood I use latex or acrylica paint, a paint brush and flick paint on to walls, etc. To get lighter splatter I cut the bristles off a cheap horse hair brush and scrape it like you would using a tooth brush. There are so many ways to do this, quickly and inexpensively; I also dragged both dresses across my garage floor lots of times!

 

[Death Wraith]

Great ideas! Thanks for taking the time to help out. This is going to be fun! And your west side gang sign really adds to your character

 

[Trex]

That's my crazy daughter, she is a goofball!!