Sunday Sampling

[WARNING.  This is a long post with lots of pictures.  If you have a slow internet link, go get something to drink.]

 

Oh boy did I have fun today!  The process-du-jour was Discharge Dyeing.  I chose a couple of solid fabrics and a couple of tone-on-tone fabrics.

And then I tried several methods of discharging.

First up is the Bleach Pen.  This pen comes with a narrow tip on one end and a brush-like on the other.  In that first photo you can see this strip that I traced through the stencil, the small orange square that I used the brush end through another stencil, and a black square on which I wrote free-hand.

The bleach needs to dry completely, so I moved on to Comet Cleanser (with bleach).

 

I brushed the cleanser through this piece of netting and also through a stencil.  Again, the solution needs to dry completely.  Waiting is the hardest part!

So, I moved on to discharge paste.  I poured a small amount onto a platter and dipped several stamps into it.  The paste is kind of a thick gel and can also be painted with a brush.  I tried some of that, too, but apparently forgot to take a photo.  Don’t have a photo of the discharge paste bottle, either!

As you can see, it can be difficult to see where you have put the paste, especially as it dries. 

Oooookay.  While we’re waiting for all that to dry I’ll let you know that Sarge and I are taking a trip this week, so there will not be a Wednesday WOW and perhaps not even a Sunday post (although) I do have something “cooking” that could be ready for when we get back).  Everything should be back to normal by the following week, so come back then.

Now then . . . back to our discharge batches.  The bleach pen and cleanser need to be rinsed thoroughly with a mild detergent.  I used hand soap and then threw them in the dryer.  The discharge paste is activated by using a steam iron.  Let’s see what we got.

  As it happens, this photo shows all three methods.  The green appears to have been an over-dye.  You can see the general shape of the stencil, but there was a lot of “creep” from the bleach pen.  It looks pretty cool,though, so I’ll count that as a win.  On the brown piece, those dots were done with discharge paste.  The rest of the fabric was heavily coated with cleanser. . . with less than stellar results!  Not a win!

Even less impressive is the bleach pen on that scrap of orange.  I mean there is NO SIGN of any bleaching!  This is one color-fast fabric!

 

 

 

 

Okay, this is more like it!  Both of these are discharge paste.  The keys are a stamp, and the other piece was done with a paintbrush.

 

And this one!  Three different stamps were used on this.  It takes a lot of practice to get the paste/gel just right on the stamp.  But I think there are some real possibilities here.

And watching how the color just disappears as you steam-iron it is really, really cool!

 

 

 

 

Since the discharge paste did so well on all the other fabrics, I had to try the orange again.  Much better.  I may return to this later.

 

Oh yes!  Remember that freehand writing I did?

It says “Love, Inspire, Create”.   What?  You can’t read that???  Well, maybe I’ll have to work on this one a bit.  And I will be doing some beadwork and/or embroidery on this next one as well.

This will be the page in my sample book.  I do like the discharge paste.  Good thing, because I have a full jar!  That flower up there seems to have potential for something larger.

There you go.  This was a busy day, but a fun one.  Remember, I won’t be here Wednesday and maybe not Sunday.  But I’ll see you all the following week.  See ya!