How to weatherproof fabric?

Aloha fellow TCer's,
Anyone have any ideas on how to weatherproof fabrics for an outdoor sunshade? Could I use marine varnish on the fabric to make panels? Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!
Mahalo

On 2004-02-05 09:10, diesel tiki wrote:
Aloha fellow TCer's,
Anyone have any ideas on how to weatherproof fabrics for an outdoor sunshade?

You should make it out of Sunbrella, a heavyweight canvas that doesn't fade. More info:

http://www.sunbrella.com/usa/

Ditto on the Sunbrella. they even have some cool tropical prints. check your local Calico Corners... they sell Sunbrella by the yard.

your other options would include lamination of your existing fabric or having it treated by a company such as Magi-Seal, but thats mostly for stains (though water will bead up on it)
Hope that helps

-Z

Thank God The Tiki Bar Is Open
Thank God The Tiki Torch Still Shines...

[ Edited by: Feelin' Zombified on 2004-02-05 11:42 ]

Wow, that's a good one - how to weatherproof fabric. For a sunshade, I've used a cream colored shade cloth available at Home Depot it is pretty cheap. I folded the edges and put in big brass grommets also from Home Depot - it works really well - then you tie it to your support with twine, wire or rope. It comes out looking like a sail kind of.
I've never weatherproofed big pieces of fabric, normally I think you get a fabric that's already weatherproof.
When I was at Imagineering some years ago and we had to made small fabric props from time to time for outdoors, like the Jungle Cruise or the Indian Village, we would dip the cloth in resin, let it dry to shape, and then paint it afterwards - lasts for years outside, but needs repainting from time to time.
Good luck!

One more thought - I remember when we worked on EuroDisneyland and we had these Indian tents to make - we used a heavy outdoor canvas like what they make old fashioned canvas tents out of - and we simply painted the designs on with acrylic and then sprayed a light sealer right over it. They last for years outside. I suppose you could do the same kind of thing, but paint on maybe some tapa designs. That would be cool.

yes, marine varnish would work fine. It might alter the colors of the fabric, but go for it, and let us know how it worked.

Do you want to fabric to be pliable? Then I would suggest the Umbrella (an acrylic fabric) or another fabric called Sunforger(cotton) used to make canvas tents and boat covers. You could also dip another fabric in Thompson's water seal but this can be difficult to do.

There are also silicon-based products called 303 Fabric Guard® or Aqua-Tite® (and others) for boat covers but I can't recommend them as I have no experience with them.