Texture Paint Demo 14 Oct 2017

Today's demonstration was a distinctly different one from past ones as the medium used for drawing and painting was not applied with a brush but directly from the bottle, using the built-in squeeze-tube nozzle. It's not for the faint of heart as there is almost no room for error. The texture paint will bond with the fabric almost immediately and any attempt to rub or brush it off will only smear the thick paste all over your white T-shirt. Have a look at the step by step photos here.

The Cosmos or Red Tower Ginger was the subject and the demonstration began with drawing in the outlines of the flower with black paste. It's much easier if yo stretch the T-shirt properly on a hard piece of cardboard before you begin drawing.

And you must have a clear idea of what you want to draw before you apply the paste because you can't make a correction easily. An easier way to do it is to sketch your subject on to the T-shirt with a pencil first.

You can also use coloured texture paste or glittery texture paste to draw but on a white T-shirt, black provides a more effective contrast. When the paste is dry, it will stand out against the fabric. It won't be flat like paint. You can even paint inside the outlines with ordinary fabric paint.

Once the outline is finished, you should wait for the texture paste to dry completely first before applying any other coloured paste within it. That normally takes at least two days in rainy weather but you can apply other colours on other parts of the T-shirt before that. If you have a steady hand, you can also write with the fabric paste.

For the purposes of the demonstration, the glittery gold was added as a highlight and to balance the design. Just one word of caution, try to draw or paint where you won't be distracted. Especially by monkeys. Since this morning's demonstration was done in the Botanic Gardens, I ended up with glittery gold dust all over my own clothes when a monkey jumped out of the tree behind me and landed on the ground right next to my chair!

You can add more glittery colours. I've added red glitter to complement the gold and black here, but it's best to limit yourself to just one or two. Too many glittery colours will make your T-shirt look like a Chinese opera costume! And on top of that, you'll have little space to paint in the ordinary fabric paint because the texture paste will flatten out and spread slightly as it dries.

We have lessons on Texture Paste T-shirt Painting, as well as other forms of fabric decoration on T-shirts and bags at the Friends of the Penang Botanic Gardens Society Outreach office so don't hesitate to drop by and have a look!

Delicate Flowers Demo 7 Oct 2017

The demonstration for the Garden Shop this morning was a more delicate combination of line work and single-stroke painting done on a ladies' black T-shirt. 

The weather was good but for some odd reason, there was hardly a single furry friend around. There were lots of people, however. It was really nice to see young parents taking their toddlers out for a morning walk at the Gardens. There were lots of senior citizens, too. Although the audience this morning was mostly local people, there were also some Middle Eastern and Indian tourists who stopped by to watch. 

The T-shirt chosen for the demonstration was not a 100% cotton one but a lighter, looser and thinner mixture of polyester and cotton. This combination works best with the special paints we use for coloured or black fabrics since it isn't easily absorbed into the material. The colours wouldn't be visible if that happened.

The photograph on the right shows the close-up of the T-shirt painted this morning. The combination of slightly more watery paint and thicker, bolder colour gives a more delicate look to the final painting, almost like lace from a distance. It will probably be touched up with a bit of glitter paste, to bring out more details and to highlight various parts of the design.

We have classes for children and for adults at Outreach, so don't hesitate to call or drop by to learn more about our various art and handicraft classes!

Glitter Paste Demo 30 Sept 2017

The weekend's weather was rather unpredictable. It started off bright and sunny, perfect for a special kind of T-shirt painting demonstration using glittery texture paste as a touch up and highlight media. There were lots of families, very fit senior citizens and schoolchildren and many came to watch and ask questions during the demonstration.

The first was touching up a painted panel of Costus ginger flower that had been painted o to a black T-shirt. The impressionistic painting technique used to produce the flowers was perfect for touching up with glittery texture lines in gold while glitter pink was used on the flowers. It was a very eye-catching effect. 

The second piece involved a T-shirt that had been printed with Porterweed leaves to produce a flowing diagonal design not unlike a wisteria in effect. A more subtle effect was achieved by avoiding strong lines and using smudged opalescent pink glitter to highlight just the insides of the pink leaves and some of the green leaves.

All our painted or printed T-shirts and bags can be washed without the paint or glitter coming off once they are completely dry, as we use good quality dyes and glitter texture paste.

Unfortunately, before a third demonstration could be done, the rain came and there was a frantic rush to get everything back into the shop before the T-shirts got wet. The usual troop of macaque monkeys was missing though, and a small family of langurs took the stage (or the top of the big dustbin) and happily posed for all the tourists taking their pictures.

Don't forget we have classes for T-shirt painting and printing, glass painting and other art and craft projects for children and adults at Outreach. You'll be surprised what your child can produce! So drop by our office to find out more!

   

Coffee Talk 23 Sept 2017

This morning's Members' Activity was all about coffee and it was a gathering of coffee connoisseurs for an informative talk all about coffee came to be a popular drink, how coffee came to Malaya via the Italians and then later, the British, and the trials and tribulations of the early coffee planters.

As always, it was less of a formal talk than a social gathering of members and a few non-members with coffee being served (what else would have been more appropriate?) to go with red velvet cake and biscuits. 

The turn out was quite good in spite of the threat of more rain and everyone had a good time discovering that our local coffee is 'robusta' rather than 'arabica' as well as comparing the individual merits of the two main types of coffee beans. 

Malaysia Day Demonstration

Doing this morning's t-shirt painting and printing demonstration was an interesting experience as the heavy rains yesterday had caused the river behind our Outreach office to swell and flood to an unprecedented height (see picture).  The herons and monitor lizards were nowhere to be seen yesterday but they had a grand feast this morning when the receding waters left many fish stranded in shallow little pools of water near the banks. The trees, the Botanika Shop veranda and the Gardens were all wet and even though it wasn't raining at 9.30am, the trees were still dripping water droplets. The Garden staff members were also busily scrubbing the veranda of washed-in mud and leaves.

On top of that, there was also a new audience to watch the demonstration. These watchers did not, however, come round the table to watch. There were five of them up on the shop's porch rood, another perched on the shop sign (a BIG one! between us) and three more in the trees behind the desk.

In the past, some of these macaques had stolen not only our t-shirt paints but also our brushes right in the middle of a demonstration so it was a bit nerve-wracking knowing that one of them might decide to find out whether the new paint tubes would make a nice snack.

Thankfully, the furry friends decided to stay where they were and except for once, when they got irritated by the lack of attention. The monkeys put on their own demonstration in the branches right above our painting station and sent a drizzle of water droplets right down on to the t-shirt being printed. 

It was a good thing the colouring material was waterproof! But the monkey show did allow the demonstration of our use of quality permanent dyes and paints for our Society's various t-shirts so it was a good morning's fun for everyone who came to watch.

  

Black T-shirt Printing & Painting

This morning's demonstration at the Botanika gift shop in the Penang Botanic Gardens was all about painting and printing on black t-shirts, a difficult proposition for most people. There was a shifting crowd of seniors, young parents, families and lots of children coming and going as they watched the demonstration. It was interesting that most of the questions came from children who were fascinated by the printing process.

At Outreach, the Friends of the Penang Botanic Gardens Society office, we conduct art and craft classes for children and adults every Saturday from 1.30pm to 4.30pm. Interested parents can book a family session for -

* T-shirt printing (black/coloured or white) 

* T-shirt painting (white T-shirts only)

* Glass painting

* Chinese-style impressionistic watercolour painting

* Macrame

*Simple beading to make bracelets and necklaces

For more information regarding bookings and charges, please call or email our Outreach office on Wednesday, Thursday, Friday or Saturday.

Art & Craft Demonstrations At Garden Shop

With the school holidays at the end of August and three consecutive long weekends this September, we've been doing bag and T-shirt painting demonstrations at the Botanika Garden Shop on weekends and public holidays. 

Simple printing techniques on black T-shirts is scheduled for this coming Saturday, the 2nd of September 2017, so don't hesitate to drop by and discover how you can also print your own. 

Next weekend, the 16th of September 2017, we will be demonstrating glass painting.

For those children and adults interested in personal lessons at our office at Outreach office opposite the Moon Gate at the Botanical Gardens, lessons can be arranged every Saturday between 1pm to 4pm. Each lesson last 1 hour and participants will be taught on how to print or paint on their own T-shirts, jeans or canvas bags. Check out the links below to find out more!

Saturday Art Classes

Printing WIth Leaves

We also have nature walks available for group bookings, so don't forget to check out this link below, too.

Children's group Activities

For more information, don't hesitate to call our Outreach office.