Color me bad

September 26, 2018 6:16 PM

Just saw this video (Instagram) of someone handpainting a tile. I want to do this or some close approximation of this for funs and zens.

I like how the activity involved is more about the flow and being fluid (vs scrupulously filling in every bit of coloring books), and yet the lines provide such a satisfying geometric neatness to the end result (vs bleeding edges of watercolor painting).

How could I do this, with what materials?

What similar hobby / craft would be good for achieving this feeling?

posted by sestaaak to Sports, Hobbies, & Recreation (10 answers total)

Maybe cookie decorating? I watch lots of cookie instas for the same zen reason. Would be cheap and delicious, too!
posted by itsamermaid at 6:57 PM on September 26, 2018 [3 favorites]

You can use masking fluid in water colour (which now also comes in little tubes) t o create your geometric boundaries.
posted by b33j at 7:12 PM on September 26, 2018

If you live near any of those paint-your-own-ceramics places, there's one in my neighborhood and I definitely see people in there painting tiles and plates and coffee mugs and all kinds of things. The actual process isn't exactly like that video, but a lot of times they'll have other materials you can use to help you decorate, and you could do up a really nice geometric pattern with just masking tape.
posted by jameaterblues at 7:13 PM on September 26, 2018

Cookies, like this.
posted by theora55 at 8:43 PM on September 26, 2018

Ceramics generally... many places have a community studio where you can work with clay, hand building is on the wheel. Also the Instagram scene is infinitely educational yet also relaxing.
posted by wowenthusiast at 9:28 PM on September 26, 2018

Window art is a craft where you draw thick black lines and then color between them. You could make geometric patterns if you wanted to.
posted by tinymegalo at 10:44 PM on September 26, 2018

Baking pies. These are the most visually pleasing pies I have ever seen. The baker shows before and after on her Instagram and I always stop and take a satisfying breath when looking at them. Every one she does is different.
posted by headnsouth at 4:58 AM on September 27, 2018

Best answer: I used to paint silk scarfs way back when, and I'd draw out lines using resist and then after they dried I'd use dyes to fill in the areas. I remember it being super satisfying to watch the dye flow out from my brush and then stop at the resist line, in a way that seems very reminiscent of the tile video (also, I too now really want to paint tiles like this).
posted by pie_seven at 7:10 AM on September 27, 2018

Best answer: Came in to say the same thing as pie_seven, hand-painted silk or rayon. It's a bit more work, the fabric should be stretched and thumbtacked to a frame. The gutta (resist) outline is applied with a squeeze bottle, then a brush is dipped into a cup of dye and touched to the cloth, the dye will spread out to the resist lines. (For large areas, use a disposable foam paintbrush). IIRC, this particular process needs to be steam-set and then dry-cleaned but there are many, many types of resist and fabric dyes and some are less complicated. The Dharma Trading catalog is a good resource.
posted by TWinbrook8 at 7:33 AM on September 27, 2018 [1 favorite]

Another vote for cookie decorating! I like this cookie decorator on YouTube. Her newer videos are more complex, but her earlier videos show intro techniques, like flooding and piping.
posted by girasoli at 7:51 PM on September 27, 2018