Finished Fabric
My last post featured the beginning process of using Instant Potato Flakes as a resist. It was messy but the results are beautiful!
Dried Potato Resist
Here you can see how the paste has dried. It took 3 days including putting outdoors in the sun on the last day. Notice now the fabric has curled. I had it pinned down but the tension from the drying pulled the pins out.
Notice how irregular the marks have become. As the paste dries it pulls away from the fabric around the edges and makes beautiful markings.
Once the potato paste was dry I applied the thickened dye. I used a Pro Chem Black 609 and a very thick print paste. Due to the extreme texture of the surface, I had to use a short bristle brush and dab the dye paste on.
You can see how the dye is seeping through the marks made when the paste was dry.
This picture is still the back of the unprocessed fabric but it looks the way I thought the piece would look when finished.....not so.
After 48 hours I folded the fabric up and baked in the oven set at 200 degrees for about 20 minutes. The entire house smelled like mashed potatoes.
Finally I just could not wait any longer and decided to wash things out. It was cold and windy outside but that's where I had to go for this job. I laid the fabric on the grass and soaked it good with running water. I used a plastic spatular to scrap off the paste and finally resorted to the bondo scraper as this paste really clings.
We have had very chilly weather and I don't think I had kept the fabric warm enough as there was lots of dye run off and it back dyed the fabric but the color is beautiful. Look at the exotic marks. I see all sorts of little people, animals, plants etc.
There are lovely violet markings as well. I have been working in such a loose way that I never know if I can repeat something but I'm planning to work with this more and see what happens.
So here we are back with the finished fabric. I'm not sure what is next but I do plan to make this into a finished piece. I'm thinking it needs friends.
Thank you for visiting and your comments are very welcome!
