Flour Paste Resist - Day Three

Today we will see the final results of the flour resist painting technique . . . it is an exciting time as you remove the resist and see what changes have been made to the fabric.

First, soak your resist painted fabric in a bowl of warm water for about fifteen minutes. Next place a piece of the fabric on a plastic-covered surface and use an old credit card or plastic scraper to gently scrape the gooey gunk off the fabric.  Work slowly and enjoy revealing the new design on your fabric.

NOTE: Do not put the flour goo and water down your drains ... place it in the compost or garbage and throw the water onto the garden.

Once you have scraped off all of the flour paste resist, rinse the fabric lightly in warm water (remember the paint has not yet been heat set) and leave it to dry. Heat set the paint according to the instructions on the paint (for this paint I pressed the fabric between layers of parchment paper for the required time). The fabric can now be laundered to remove any residual flour and then it will be ready for you to use in your chosen project.
 
I love the veins of the black paint on the hand dyed fabric and the commercial batik.

The metallic yellow made gorgeous veins on the dark cobalt commercial fabric but I can see from the sample done on the purple dotted fabric that I would have liked more crackling on that piece ... that means I should have crumpled it a bit more or applied more paint to the surface. This technique is a bit more predictable than some, but there is always room for surprises along the way.

I hope you will try this out and add it to your fabric tool box!