Textiles

Hi brainstrust! I'm wondering if anyone has any experience or tips for painting a flocked or velvet type surface. I have a vintage timber display cabinet that I'd like to utalise in an artwork but the inside of the cabinet has a flocked/velvet/felt type coating on the back in a daggy bottle green colour. I can't remove the flocking as it's been applied to the backing board and then the remainder of the cabinet has been built around that. I was thinking of painting the flocking but not sure how to approach that... maybe just paint some acrylic directly on the surface and hope for the best? Or maybe I should spray the whole thing black - but I do like the timber colour. Hmm it's a bit of a tricky one. Any suggestions? The best way to describe the surface I'm working with is the think of a billiard…

Hi all, I got one of my teabag designs printed onto tote bags for family members last Christmas, and have a few spare. I'd like to sell them in my Etsy store, but they have a tag that says "to best preserve your custom decoration, washing is not recommended". Not very practical! I'm wondering if using clear gesso with textile medium would work to protect and seal the design? Or any other thoughts?

This is a topic of discussion that many of us feel quite passionately about, but in the interests of pushing ourselves to learn and share collectively I thought I might ask where you place yourself in the Art vs Craft debate? Personally I see that both are intrinsically entwined. Art is created through the use and development of my skills as an artisan crafter & maker. What are your thoughts?