Using wallpaper paste as antifusant for silk painting

After my less-than successful wallpaper paste experiment the other day, I decided to give it another try.

Read about Project 2 - wallpaper paste experiment >>
Read about Project 1 - silk dyes, cold wax, wallpaper paste >>

Let's call this PROJECT 3.

My plan the other day was to mix it with fiber-reactive dyes and paint direct, like a dye-thickener.

This time I had the bright idea to use a lot LESS wallpaper paste powder, and simply paint that onto the silk.

This is known as 'antifusant' - a French word - and basically means that when the silk has been painted with a solution like this, and allowed to dry, it becomes crisp like paper so you can paint on it without the dyes spreading like they normally do. Some people like to create paintings this way,, others simply cover parts of the silk with an antifusant, to block out certain areas.

In a plastic cup I put approx 5% of a teaspoon (20-30 grains) into a half cup of water and stirred. Took a while for the grain to dissolve, so I left it about 15-20 minutes then stirred a bit more.

Above: Wallpaper paste sachet, "polypaper" brand, cost about $A3.00.

The wallpaper paste solution was very weak, and did not go thick at all, which was just what I wanted.

I painted onto the stretched silk habotai, and dried with a hairdryer (I was impatient to try this out):

Above: using a hairdryer to dry the wallpaper paste after it is painted onto the silk.

Above: the antifused area is the top part of this photo. As you can see, there is no clear difference between the dye painted onto the antifused surface, and the normal silk.

Second Experiment

Hmm, this makes me think the solution isn't strong enough, so I decided to add some more of the wallpaper paste to the solution, and try again.
Above: In this photo, you can see the wet antifused area (I have written "double dose" to the right".


Above: I quickly painted 3 lines on the silk - the top half of each line is on the dry antifusant (wallpaper paste weak solution).

You can see clearly how the top half of each line maintains its shape quite well, and the bottom half of the lines the silk dye is spreading, as per normal application.

Success!

Next I decided to try some small silk dye 'dots' with the brush - some on the antifusant area and some on untreated silk:



See the blue arrow and dots on the silk above? That's where the wallpaper paste solution ends.

You can see above that the purple dots on the solution are of one size, and stopped spreading, and the dots below the line continued to spread on the untreated silk.

Next I created several swirls with the dye to see how they would react with the antifusant of wallpaper paste:


You can see where the dye has spread further on the swirl below the blue dotted line, than the sharper lines of the swirls above the line on the antifusant.

Next step: I will wash the silk and see what the results are on the antifusant section. I'm aware the dyes are quite old (had been prepared over 6 months ago) so I expect the colour to leach out a fair bit.

Dyes used: fiber-reactive dyes, over 6 months old, kept on a shelf
Antifusant: Wallpaper paste solution, consistency of milk
Fixing: no fixing, left to dry for several days

Please note: The fiber-reactive dyes I use (Drimarene K in Australia) don't need steam-fixing. If wrapped in black plastic for 24 hrs the colours remain vibrant, if not wrapped and simply left out in the air, the colours will become pastel when washed.

More soon,
Teena!

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Silk dyes, cold wax and wallpaper paste #2

To view Project #1 blogger page, click here.

PROJECT #2 - SILK DYE WITH WALLPAPER PASTE



Above: For this project I wanted to experiment with wallpaper paste as a thickener for silk dyes. The wallpaper paste is the little yellow packet shown above, I bought it at the hardware store for about $3.00. I first mixed up about a quarter of a teaspoon of wallpaper paste in a plastic cup. Once stirred it became thick and gelatinous.

In an icecube tray I added about a teaspoon of this mixture into one icecube, then dropped on one drop of pink silk dye.

I decided to use my Frenchgirl, change her hair, and leave the balloon out.

I started the painting by outlining the face, hair and beret with clear (white) cold wax.

When I tried the first colour, it was weird to paint with this thick gluggy substance. It was lumpy and didn't look good at all. I mixed up a couple of other colours and tried those out. What I ended up with was the silk shown below.

When the thickened dye mix was brushed onto the silk, it was like painting with something akin to baby food, I guess - rather an unusual experience :-)

At this point I really didn't expect to end up with a silk painting worth keeping.



Above: Well this certainly doesn't look very attractive, does it?

The poor Frenchgirl looks like she's been left in the sun too long!

Her pink face is blotchy and thick and very weird, don't you think?

On the blue dye used for the coat, I added swirls of purple while the dye was still wet, so they merged nicely together.

I left the silk to dry.

Above: When the silk was dry - and it didn't take too long - I used the black marker to outline the whole painting. I've always loved this look. Ahhhhh now she's looking a lot better than before :-)



Above: Here you can see my original sketch and the current silk painting side-by-side.



Above: You can see the icecube tray with the coloured dyes mixed in.

The silk is still stretched taut as there wasn't enough wet dye to weigh it down.


Above: I painted a cold wax outline outside the black border with a normal sized paintbrush; you can see thinner wax lines on the shoulder in the left bottom corner where I used a thin paintbrush.

Main Background: When the cold wax dried I painted the purple background - there was no paste in this dye, and it spread across the silk beautifully. In the photo above the purple background is DARK because the silk dye is still wet. The purple of the beret is exactly the same, except it is mixed with wallpaper paste and has dried to a lighter shade.

Inner Background: Next I painted the pink background - again, there was no paste mixed with the pink dye, and it flowed easily on the silk habotai.





Setting the colours

While the silk background was still wet, I rolled it in a dark garbage bag (trash can liner) and left it overnight. The fiber-reactive dyes will continue to work on the silk until they are dry.

The next morning I unwrapped the plastic and the silk had dried.

Removing the wax

When I purchased the Cold Wax, I also purchased the Wax Out - a great little product! After the colours are 'fixed', simply add one tablespoon to 2 litres of hotwater, soak for 10 minutes, then wash. (Full instructions are on the bottle.) I handwashed it several times with a mild soap until all the excess dye ran out.

No, I didn't steam it, and no, I didn't iron-set it. I simply washed and dried it, then ironed while ever-so-slightly damp.

Fiber-reactive dyes for handpainted silk

I used fibre-reactive dyes which I had mixed up about 6 months ago. The instructions say the dye lasts a couple of weeks, but I wanted to experiment and see what happened.

After washing, the colours became less vibrant, softer, muted - very pretty in fact. Not my usual outrageous colours but attractive nonetheless.

Now I really don't like to admit this, but I forgot to photograph the end result BEFORE I wrapped it and sent it off in the post :-(

I will however insert the final photo from Experiment #1, to show you how the purple, orange and blue became rather muted, faded if you like, but still quite pretty:



This was a lot of fun, it's soooooo important to experiment and document what you did, whether it's with photos, a blog, or a notebook.

Ciao for now,
Teena!

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