Jute bags are great and have many uses, which is why so many brands pick them as their go-to promo items. Most of the time, if we see a person walking with a jute bag, it will have the logo and the details of a particular brand or company. Other times, we may see artwork from local artists, promoting the town or the city where the bag was manufactured. All of those bright colours make us want a custom-printed bag of our own. And luckily, we can do just that, with the right tools.
If we want to have custom art on our jute bags, we can buy a few plain jutes and a whole lot of paint. The question is, which type of paint works best for this kind of material. In this article, we go over the best paint options for jute bags, ranked in no particular order.
Acrylic
Acrylic paints are a favourite with local artists who create custom souvenirs and other products. Most people opt for acrylics because they already combine a lot of complicated colours, enabling them to find the best shade for their piece. In addition, acrylics dry incredibly fast. Lots of other options will take time to dry, and that can hinder production.
Possibly the best part about acrylics is that they are durable and don’t fade easily. They will definitely fade in time, but we can always apply a few new coats and reinvent the jute bag all over again.
Oil
Unlike acrylic, oil paint takes a rather long time to dry. When we cover one side of the jute bag with oil paint, we will have to leave it out to dry for hours, sometimes even days, depending on the thickness of the coat. Furthermore, we can’t paint on both sides of the bag, since the paint will seep through and mix. Therefore, we need to be incredibly careful when handling oil painting of jutes.
Once it’s dry, oil paint will retain the absolute same shade that it had while it was wet. That is one of the primary advantages of this technique. Another advantage is waterproofness. Jutes with oil paints will not lose their lustre even after being soaked in water many times.
Watercolours
Watercolours are a temporary solution. In other words, if we want a permanent image on our jute bags, we should avoid using this technique. After all, it only takes a single wash and all of the colours will be gone, leaving us with a plain, colourless jute bag.
However, that doesn’t mean we should abstain from using watercolours entirely. As we said, they are a temporary solution, so they can work wonders if we want to make care packages for parties and need some innovative wrapping methods. Instead of using paper or foil, we can put our gifts in old, repurposed jutes with a watercolour image painted on them. On the other hand, if we feel artistic, we can repurpose old jutes as canvases and paint to our heart’s content. Of course, we won’t be getting any sharp lines, but that’s what one can expect from watercolours.
Spray Paint
If we aim for a more urban look and need to get things done quickly, then spray paint is the way to go. It has roughly the same staying power as oil or acrylic paints, plus it can be quite vivid and striking. Furthermore, buying the right shade of spray paint is incredibly simple, and we don’t really require a huge can of paint to do it.
Of course, there are some issues with this technique. First and foremost, even a light tap on the plunger cap can produce a thick layer of paint. That’s why it’s important to keep it at a solid distance from the jute bag. Some 12-18 inches will do. In addition, we will have to wear a mask when applying the coat, since a lot of spray paint products contain harmful fumes. Finally, we have to learn how to apply sharp lines with the spray can, which isn’t easy and takes practice.
Latex Paint
Latex is an option that a lot of modern artists choose because it combines the best of nearly all other methods above. First, it lasts for a long time and doesn’t get any damage when we fold the bag. Next, the shades are vivid and pop out in any light. Finally, it’s easy to apply. All we need to do is figure out how thick our jute bag is and acquire the right tools to apply the latex paint.
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There are a few other options we did not mention here, like chalk paint and textile paint. Nevertheless, as stated above, each method comes with its own advantages and disadvantages. The best choice of painting and personalising jute bags really depends on our intended purpose. But no matter what we end up choosing, we’ll have a lot of fun breathing new life into some plain, colourless shopping jute bags.
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