Simple Resist Paste Technique with Indigo.

Create a unique hand-dyed textile using simple ingredients.

I have been playing around with resist paste in combination with natural dyes when I was after some specific visual.

There are many types of resists and they can be complicated or straightforward. I will show a few options, and then also show what I did (which was the most simple of simple), with kitchen ingredients.

To work with a resist, means we block off certain areas that will stay white, and dye the rest. Different cultures have always had different techniques to do this, and we can certainly learn a lot from that.

Creating batik by applying wax on white cloth and then dyeing it in indigo.

• In Japanese shibori, the white zones are created by tying, folding, and stitching.

• In Indonesian batik, it is done by applying wax in intricate patterns.

• In German Blaudruck it is done with a starch mixture called 'papp'.

• India has Bandhani.

• Even Ikat is in a way, a resist dye technique. Just that the resist takes place at the thread stage, and not on the woven fabric.

There is a wonderful article online regarding many resist-dye practices from around the world that is worth looking at for your enjoyment here.

Preparing your fabric.

• Your fabric should be clean and scoured (or just well-washed)

• Maybe this is redundant: but my expertise is only for natural dyes on natural fabrics, so will this work on anything else? I do not know and I have no interest in trying to be honest.

• Important: If you are working with indigo you will not need to mordant your fabric. For pretty much every other natural dye you will have to pre-mordant, rinse, and dry your fabric before applying the resist technique of your choice. I will address other natural dyes in a different post.

• If you are dyeing a garment, separate the layers using baking paper or recycled plastic bags (your resist will 'glue' the layers together and make it hard to handle).

How I make my resist paste is really quick and easy:

water and flour mix

• Mix 300 grams of plain white flour with 400 ml of water. no need for any specialty flour, just the plane Jane you have hanging around in your cupboard

• Stir vigorously until you have no lumps. This should be a pancake batter consistency on the heavy side.
  

• Now you have to work fast: use a brush to apply your paste on the fabric.
  

• You can also use your (gloved) hands and massage it in but that does make it thicker, which in turn takes much longer to dry.

Note in the following video I have put a barrier between the two layers of this silk and cotton shirt

• Do not apply the paste too thick.

• Let your fabric dry on a rack of sorts or hang it up in a dry and warm place and leave to dry until it is as stiff as a corpse. This will take at least 24 hours.

• Toss out any leftover resist because it becomes absolutely vile (stinky and too viscose)

Getting cracked.

Once your fabric is fully fully dry, and so stiff that it will no longer fold. You get to abuse it a bit. The more you crack it, the more dye you will have on your fabric. So choose up front how you want to break that resist and where.

• Fun tip: only crack the bottom or top part.

• Fun tip 2: play around with areas that are broken up more, and those that are broken less.

• Because this part is a bit rough, this technique is not so great for very delicate fabrics.

Blue 'marble' effect on a white background - making the indigo solution

You now have to make an indigo solution. You could just dump it in a vat, but a large piece makes it very hard. It will also require you to do front and back with paste or everything will just be blue. So I tried something else and this is what I did that worked very well:

• Mix 10 grams of indigo powder very very well with 100 ml of hot water and 20 grams of soda ash. Make sure there is no grit left, it should be completely smooth.

• Add 10 grams of sodium hydrosulfite. Wear a mask and gloves while doing this.

• Stir well and let this sit for 15 minutes, the mixture should turn green.

• Brush this mixture on your fabric. Be careful to not saturate the resist. It should stay rather dry. In the video you see how the solution seeps right into those cracks.
  

• Let this sit until the green has turned blue and your piece is dry again.

• Scrape or flick off most of the resist and rinse in plenty of cold water with a little vinegar, the vinegar is to neutralize the alkalinity of the soda ash.
  

If you have trouble removing all the starch, a bucket of cold water with half a cup of bran will solve your problem. Just let it soak for a few hours. Rinse once more.

I made a silk indigo marbled spectacle case, and a gorgeous flowing cotton skirt for myself. I will try to upload a blog asap on doing this technique with A; other resists, and B: other natural dyes.

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