Product Review: Paintables Dye System

Paintables Dye System is a new product for painting, designs onto nylon spandex, silk, and wool. 

The set I bought includes all three primary colors: red, yellow, blue, as well as black and containers of what’s called gel extender which thins the paint for pastel shades. All of these are sold separately if you need more of one particular product, but the set is a great way to get started.

These paints will work on silk, wool, and any protein fiber, and where they’re really invaluable in a costume context is painting on nylon spandex. 

(Nylon functions like a protein fiber in dye processes, but this post is not about the particulars of which classes of dye function on various fibers. Just trust me that this product also works on nylon spandex.)

Technically speaking, these paints are acid dyes mixed into solution and thickened with a gel medium to be applied like paint, which is “dye paste,” something any artist can mix up for themselves; but it takes time to get the color and consistency right, and this expedites that process by selling the products as premixed paint. 

So, you can jump right in to creating your surface design without much time expended on the front end creating the medium you’re going to use.

If you are familiar with working with acrylics, gouache, or oils, these function similarly in their application and color mixing.

Once you have painted with them, they need to be steam-set and the thickener washed out. After laundering, the fabric returns to its original stretch and hand.

Imagine being able to paint a Spidey suit, or a scaly mermaid tail, or really anything that needs stretch and complexity of pattern. 

If you’ve tried this on stretch fabric with traditional textile paints, you may have observed that those tend to affect the hand/feel, and the painted design sometimes doesn’t last well when stretched, worn, and laundered.

Test samples on silk-blend georgette, left, and nylon spandex, right, 

after steam setting and laundering.

I used brushes, sponges, and stencils to create these samples above. I think you could also use them with stamps, silk screens, and whatever else you can think of that would work with paint!

Highly recommend this product. Get it at: https://paintablesdye.com/