On Valentine's Day I did something I LOVE. I played in my friend
Louise Schotz's Outback Studio. We did two different dying techniques. Snow dyeing and Flour Paste Resist Dyeing. Here is a quick tutorial on the flour paste resist technique.
1st we prepared our fabrics for dyeing by soaking them in a water and soda ash mixture. Then drying and pressing the fabric.
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| We then mixed flour and water to a pancake batter consistency. |
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| The batter was poured onto the fabric. |
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| And then rolled with a brayer until it was thin and smooth. |
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| Louise had covered her tables in plastic and we laid out the wet fabric to dry. |
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| You can draw on the wet flour mixture to create a design. And as shown here you can do it on plain or previously dyed fabric. |
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| Here are two more examples the one on the right was made using a rubber stamp method. |
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| As the fabric dries it starts to distort and the edges curl up. |
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| Here Chris starts drying pieces with a hair dryer. |
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| Louise is extra excited about getting to the next step and is using the double fisted drying method. |
I forgot to get a photo of the most important NEXT step. And that is . . . when the fabric is nice and dry. Crispy actually, you crunch it up in a ball. This forces the flour paste to crack creating the design. Don't worry if you can't see the cracks, they are very fine.
Next, mix acrylic paint and water together for a somewhat watery consistency. The thinner it is the more it fills the cracks. You can experiment with this. We did!
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| Here the acrylic paint is being painted on top of the flour mixture. |
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| I couldn't wait . . . I had to peek! |
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| Chris holds up one of our first results! |
After the paint dries you soak the fabrics and remove the excess paint and the four paste. Then toss the fabrics in the washer and dryer (or hang to dry) and press. Below are more of the results of the day!
Are you ready?
Ta Da . . .
Today, I tried another variation. I used whole wheat flour with a handful of steel cut oatmeal into the mix. Stay tuned for the results.
I'll also be posting the snow dyeing photos shortly.
Be creative, play and have fun!
You can now purchase these hand dyes at the
Textile Alchemist.
