Country: Singapore

Message: Hi. Can you recommend me the best type of fabric paint that I can use in my Air Brush so I can spray my design onto the fabric? My only concern is that the paint would actually clog up my gun and thus spoil the gun. Hope you can advise me on this issue. Thank you.

I don't know what brands of paint are available to you in Singapore, but there are several brands that should work well. Any paint that combines the words "airbrush" and either "fabric" or "textile" in the name should be a good bet. 

For example, there's a product called Medea Textile Colors that says, on the label, "For Airbrush & Paintbrush". That combination assures you that the paint is suitable for airbrushing fabric.

Jacquard Products, a reliable manufacturer of fabric paints and dyes, sells a product called Jacquard Airbrush Color, which works on fabric and leather as well on non-textile materials such as metal. They also recommend using their other paints, including the thin Dye-Na-Flow, for airbrushing; it can be used straight from the bottle, or after diluting it with 25% as much water. Their Lumiere fabric paint can be used for airbrushing after dilution by the same amount, yielding wonderful metallics and pearlescent colors.

Dr. Ph. Martin's Spectralite is a very thin paint for airbrushing fabric, recommended by Dharma Trading Company for air-brushing even very lightweight and thin materials, like silk. Unlike the others I've mentioned, it requires that you add a heat-set catalyst or room-temperature catalyst just before use. This line of airbrushing fabric paints includes some opaque colors that will show up even if applied to dark-colored fabric; most airbrush fabric paints are transparent, so they work well only on white or very pale fabric background colors.

Another brand that is supposed to be a good fabric paint for airbrushing is Air Tex Textile Airbrush Paint, from Badger.

It also works well to airbrush with a suitable fiber reactive dye, such as Procion MX dye or Remazol dye. These dyes can be dissolved in water, filtered to remove any undissolved particles, then airbrushed onto 100% cotton, rayon, or silk fabric that has been pre-treated with soda ash, and then, after airbrushing, kept moist overnight in a warm place to allow the dyes to react with the fabric, or, alternatively, fixed without soda ash, after the dye is dry, by painting on a sodium silicate solution. These dyes work extremely well on untreated cotton, silk, rayon, or other natural fibers. (See "About Fiber Reactive Dyes", and use the recipe for direct application of Procion MX dye.)

I hope that you are taking precautions to avoid the possibility of breathing the spray from your airbrushing paint. Both dyes and paints can have harmful long-term effects on the lungs if they are inhaled, even if the paint is labeled 'non-toxic'. I recommend a combination of a spraying booth, to keep mist from escaping into the room, with a suitable dust mask or respirator.

If you have difficulty finding a local source in Singapore for any of these options, you may consider ordering them from a supplier in the US, such as Dharma Trading Company. If you try this, you can expect the shipping to cost as much again as the product itself. I don't know if there will be any import fees, in addition, as this varies by the country.

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