Day 18: Resist printing

Any kind of barrier that stops dye or paint from moving across the threads of the fabric can be thought of as resist - i.e.: the area underneath the barrier is resistant to the dye or paint. I have used different methods of resist printing in the past. One of the most recent examples is a sunflower I printed. There is resist or batiking solution available for purchase or you can try what I did (a method described in a recent issue of Quilting Arts Magazine) - I used Elmer's blue gel washable school glue. The glue provides the resist and the color blue is used because it's easier to see than the clear gel. For my sunflower project, I took a picture of a sunflower then traced the outline via a lightbox onto another piece of paper. I enlarged the outline via my printer's posterize option, placed the white fabric on top of the enlarged copy and traced the lines with the school glue. After it dried (it takes a while if you apply the gel too heavily), I painted the flower.

The method I tried today was described in the Quilting Arts book and uses freezer paper to provide the resistance. I cut out a Hawaiian quilting design and pressed the freezer paper pattern onto my fabric. Then I used paint to cover the fabric.

The problem was that the paint was too wet, allowing the paint to wick across the fibers underneath the freezer paper. If I try this again, I will be sure not to thin my paint and to use a standard stenciling method of applying the paint. I will also cover the surface underneath the fabric with paper towels - the lack of towelling helped the paint to migrate on the plastic protective surface.



The last two pictures I want to show you were taken in Malaysia nearly 20 years ago when I visited a batik factory.