Sodium alginate, guar gum and antifuse on silk
Monday, March 03, 2008
Had lots of feedback on my recent project photos (Project 1 and Project 2), and my next step is to also check out Sodium alginate, guar gum and antifusant.
I've placed my order this afternoon, and if I'm lucky I'll receive a little parcel tomorrow - woohoo!
It's been years and years since I painted with antifuse, antifusant (the French name).
My recollection is that if silk habotai or jap silk is painted with antifuse and allowed to dry, it becomes slightly stiff and feels like parchment paper.
You are then able to paint straight onto the dried antifuse and have total control of your brushstrokes. The only drawback is the the silk dyes will NOT flow - the lay exactly where you painted them. This is perfect for precise paintings which do not need colours to merge and blend which will happen on untreated silk.
A good thing to try is a mixture of antifuse on the silk untreated areas on the same piece of silk, so total control as well as the merging of colours - best of both worlds.
You do not mix the dyes with antifuse.
For the sodium alginate/guar gum you can paint the silk, but it is more often used as an additive - mix it with dye to control the brush strokes. I've been told that I won't be able to get a sharp edge with this technique, so I'll certainly be checking that out soon enough.
Pop back in a few days to see the new experiment!
I just checked online again to read about Guar Gum as I am not sure this is the same as Sodium Alginate. Paula Birch's site clarified it for me:
"Guar gum is not ideal, because it reacts with fiber reactive dyes, reducing the amount of dye that actually reaches your fabric. Most people who thicken their Procion MX dyes use either sodium alginate or Superclear. There are two types of alginate, F and SH. Alginate F is used for silk, and alginate SH is used for cotton ....You can use guar gum for thickening acid dyes, when dyeing animal fibers (wool or silk) or nylon. Acid dyes cannot be used on cotton."
OK just rang my supplier and asked them to cancel the order for Guar Gum.
Now I'll order the Sodium Alginate (which I've been searching for) from a different supplier, as that is the product I wish to test.
The second supplier's website says:
It should arrive in a day or two.
Cheers
Teena
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4 comments:
Hi Teena,
How are the sodium alginate experiments going? I use Dupont Dyes and was wondering if you have tested the resist with them? I have some family coming out to visit soon and wondered whether to ask them to bring me some out.
Thanks Janet
Janet, hi!
Yes you can see all my experiments by going to the top of any page on my blog. In the top left corner is a search box - type - alginate - and click Search.
You get a list of all the blog posts, videos and photos on my blog where I show my experiments. Hope this helps!
Sorry though - I don't have any Dupont dyes but there's no reason why they won't work together well.
Yes! Get your family to bring some for you to play with!!!
Cheers
Teena
Hi Teena, Do you know if guar gum can substitute dr33 or manutex as a thickener combined for use with napthol dye system. I have had success previously with the two latter products but havent used gusr gum?
thanks johanna
Hi Johanna, thanks so much for dropping by!
Sorry but I didn't buy the Guar Gum, so I don't really know anything about it other than what I shared in the blog post.
If you find out any info, do feel free to write and share, it would be great to hear what you discover.
Happy painting and do keep in touch,
Ciao for now
Teena
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