Summer privacy screen

Hands-on time: Less than two hours.
Total time: Add drying time. (Tagger paints dry quickly. Touch paints dry in six to 12 hours.)
Skill: Moderate.
Project cost: About $50 for the supplies, depending on how many colours you want to use. (Excludes the cost of the curtain, hooks and rod.)

Materials and Tools

• Fabric shower curtain (standard size), white or light colour
• A large tarp or plastic sheets
• Tape
• Fresh ferns (about a dozen) and assorted foliage
• Spray adhesive
• Newspapers
• Tagger Setacolor transparent spray-on fabric paint by Pébéo (bright orange 21, parma violet 29, light green 27 and fuchsia 49)
• Touch multisurface 3D paint by Pébéo in assorted colours and effects (gloss: absinthe green and orange; volume: fuchsia and white; pearl: pearl and parma; glitter: greengold and antique pink)
• An iron and ironing board
• A bamboo rod (1.85 metres long)
• 2 metal shepherd's hooks
• Rope or ribbon (about 0.6 centimetres wide)

Need a little privacy in your backyard, perhaps to hide clutter? Here's a stylish solution. This exotic scene screen is painted on a fabric curtain and hung on a bamboo rod supported by two shepherd's hooks to offer a little backyard privacy. The bottom half of the scene screen is created with bright Tagger fabric paints sprayed over ferns and assorted foliage. Outlandish flowers are painted and decorated with Touch multisurface paints to enchant the top part of the curtain.

Tagger spray-on fabric paints are perfect for decorating light-coloured fabrics. They provide a uniform background and can be used with stencils. They can even be used for curves or funky graffiti-style artwork.

Touch paints come in a variety of effects like pearl, metallic, gloss, crystal, volume and glitter. Tagger and Touch paints are machine-washable after they are set with an iron.

Prewash, dry and iron the fabric curtain. For optimum paint adhesion, do not use bleach or softeners. Cover your work area with a tarp or large plastic sheets, holding them in place with rocks or bricks. Lay the curtain over the plastic or tarp and tape the underside of the fabric to them. (Because of the curtain's size, I did this project in my driveway.)

Arrange ferns and assorted leaves on the bottom half of the fabric curtain. Once you are satisfied with the composition, remove one leaf, placing it face-down onto some newspaper and applying spray adhesive to its back. Then, stick the leaf back onto the curtain, patting it down to secure it in place. Repeat for the remaining leaves.

Lightly shake the Tagger fabric paint can before spraying the curtain in a back and forth motion, starting at the bottom. Apply as many differently coloured bands as you wish, until the entire curtain is painted. I used fuchsia, orange, green and violet. Let the paints dry.

Next, spray-paint flower shapes on the top half of the curtain using the same colours. Let dry.

To add dimension to the flowers, outline them with several colours each of Touch 3D paint. The nozzle tip makes this easy to do. Press the tube lightly and glide it evenly to create loops and swirls.

Remove the ferns and other leaves. Let the paint dry and cure completely at room temperature for 48 hours.

Heat set the fabric paints by ironing the reverse side of the curtain for fives minutes (on the iron's cotton or high setting). Though machine-washable after the paint has been heat set, wait at least 48 hours before washing. The colours will not fade, crack or peel off, and remain flexible once dry.

Set two shepherd's hooks into the ground about five feet apart. Insert a bamboo rod through the shower curtain's loops, then place the bamboo rod over the two hooks to hang the curtain. Secure the ends of the rod to the hooks with a ribbon or rope (so the rod does not to blow off in the wind).

Tips

• When using the Touch nozzle-tipped paints, don't squeeze too hard. The slower your strokes, the thicker the lines you'll get.

Variations

• Use the Tagger spray paints and Touch paints to make a tablecloth and matching napkins. Add a splash of colour to pillows and other outdoor accessories.