Create Surface Design with White Flour Paste

Last week Jane LaFazio posted a mini tutorial on making a resist with white flour on her blog, JaneVille,  Even though I was getting ready to hit the road for points north when I read the post, the method seemed so simple that I had to try it before I jumped into the car.

Here are the steps I took and will definitely take again...

Step #1:  Lay out a plastic bag on the work surface.  This is to protect your table or work counter.  Then place fabric on the plastic bag.  Do not wet the fabric.

Step #2:  Mix 1 cup water with 1 cup white flour.  Stir well to make a fairly lump free mixture.  Use only COLD water.  To make a larger batch of resist, just keep the ratio 1:1 flour and water.

Step #3:  Apply the flour and water resist mixture to the fabric.

Step #4:  Spread the flour and water resist mixture evenly over the fabric with almost anything with a straight edge.

 Step #5:  Inscribe a design into the flour and water resist.  

At first the design didn't hold, but after letting it set up for just a few minutes, the design seemed to remain clear.

Closeup

Step #6:  Now, this is the difficult part.  LEAVE THIS ALONE AND LET IT COMPLETELY DRY.

Since I was out of town for 5 days, this first attempt had become bone dry.  It was so dry that it buckled, but that was more than okay.  

Dried and buckled fabric with flour and water resist.

Step #7:  Push down on the buckled areas.  The resist with crack and that is what it is supposed to do.  Next, gently rumple the entire piece to produce overall cracking in the resist.

Step #8:  Apply thinned fabric paint over the entire piece.  

I didn't thin down the paints enough for them to penetrate well, so I sprayed the entire piece with plain water.

 

Step #9:  Here is another difficult part.  LET THE FABRIC PAINT COMPLETELY DRY.

Step #10:  After the paint is COMPLETELY DRY the piece may be soaked in water to release the flour and water resist or....

I did a preliminary scraping with a spatula to remove the majority of the resist before soaking the piece in water.  I'm on a septic tank sewer system and I didn't want to risk clogging the drains with the dissolved flour that might act like a sticky paste and possibly clog the system.

Step #11:  Soak the entire piece is warm water to remove residual flour and water resist.  The piece may now be washed in the washing machine and heat set in the dryer.  Or if all of the resist is removed by soaking, let the piece dry completely and then heat set with an iron.

The initial inscribed handwriting and leaf forms were not completely clear and that may have been because I put the resist on too thickly.  However, I really like the way it turned out.

Some closeup views 

AND ALL OF THIS IS WITH A GREAT BIG THANK YOU TO JANE LAFAZIO FOR POSTING HER TUTORIAL ON HOW TO MAKE THE WHITE FLOUR AND WATER RESIST.