Cupcake painted embroidery hoop

I love an excuse to add to my embroidery hoop wall, so when I was chosen to receive the new range of DecoArt Ink Effects I was really excited to give them a try. The DecoArt ink effects allow you to paint and then transfer your design onto material. I love all things cupcakes - both eating and making them so I knew I wanted them to feature, but before we get to the project, lets see what's available and what the product is all about.

The DecoArt Ink Effects is a range of 12 colours formulated to be painted onto paper then transferred using an iron onto material. In addition the basecoat allows you to work with cotton materials [any material with more than a 30% blend of cotton the basecoat is required] enhancing the colouring and quality of the transfer. More so even after transferring, the material remains soft and flexible, they even survive a cold wash making them perfect for adding details to white and/or light coloured clothing or home decor.

So onto the project - redrawing a design from ones found in the internet I took to painting. Because your transferring your painting you need to paint everything you want to transfer - be it the tiniest detail to outlining. After you've painted your design you need to wait at least 45 minutes for it to dry.

As my material was 100% cotton I had to use the basecoat - it took a while to get the hang of how to apply this product and you need to give it a good shake prior to application and spray liberally. When you're ready to transfer make sure to place something under your material so it doesn't additionally copy onto your ironing board. Place your painting face down over the material, cover with another piece of paper and you're ready for ironing! Set it to the cotton setting and keep a constant firm moving motion over the design for a good minute to make sure the full colour is being absorb into your material.

As you can see from the image this product is one that you learn by trail and error [and that's what you come to learn through using this product - it something you teach yourself how to do which is part of the fun of using it]. The image on the left was my first attempt and my cupcake on the right is the final image. You can see the difference in colour quality and the original basecoat problems and comes to show why you should test your images on scrap material beforehand. Once you get it right - it's really worth all the hard work getting there!

I did find outlining with the paint difficult so I wanted to add embroidery detailing. With the transfer leaving a lot of life in the fabric - it's still soft and flexible enough to embroider straight onto the transfer.

Overall I'm pretty impressed with this DecoArt Ink Effect paints -  although you really do need to have the patience to practical and make sure you're getting it right. Once you do - the results are mighty impressive and there's tonnes of projects you could make with this product.  For me they worked really well as a basis to then go on an add extra detail.

You can find out more about DecoArt Inks via; Facebook  // Pinterest // YouTube // Twitter

Would this be a product you'd be wanting to try out? What projects would create with the ink effects?

These items were provided for my consideration and I have been compensated for this review. Nevertheless all thoughts are my own.