silk painting and resists

[Gesa Lamers]

Please help!

I hope that this is an appropriate newsgroup to post my question. I'm
experimenting with silk painting and am now expanding from hot iron set
dyes to steam set dyes. My question is if I can use my water soluble
resists with steam set dyes or will my piece be ruined by overflow
through the resist lines? I hope that I can successfully use them
because it's going to be a real hassle having to take every piece I
paint to the dry cleaners to remove real gutta.

I'd appreciate any input.

Thanks
Gesa

[Deborah DeChurch]

I'm a silk painter, and yes, you CAN use water-soluable resists with
French steam-set dyes. I do it all the time. The water based resist
is just so much easier to deal with. You'll have to scrub the silk a
little to completely rinse out the gutta (this is AFTER steaming). The
gutta is a bit more "runny" than the petroleum-based stuff.

Deb DeChurch
Chrysalis Designs
ddec...@indiana.edu

[Cynthia Aberte]

Gesa Lamers wrote:
>
> Please help!
>
> I hope that this is an appropriate newsgroup to post my question. I'm
> experimenting with silk painting and am now expanding from hot iron set
> dyes to steam set dyes. My question is if I can use my water soluble
> resists with steam set dyes or will my piece be ruined by overflow
> through the resist lines? I hope that I can successfully use them
> because it's going to be a real hassle having to take every piece I
> paint to the dry cleaners to remove real gutta.
>
> I'd appreciate any input.
>
> Thanks
> Gesa

That would depend on whether the manufacturer of the resists makes them
heat sensitive or not. In a real bind? try a small scrap before doing a
whole piece. Gutta Perca is not necessarily just the "original" formula.
Some manuf. add in other fixitives to make them work in certain
conditions (like under extreme heat).

[Ulrika O'Brien]

ddec...@cluster.ucs.indiana.edu (Deborah DeChurch) wrote:

>I'm a silk painter, and yes, you CAN use water-soluable resists with
>French steam-set dyes. I do it all the time.

Me, too. In fact, I have yet to use a true gutta resist
at all. I've recently gotten some from Dharma Trading Co.,
but haven't had an opportunity to experiment with it.

A word of caution, though, to the original poster. While
you can use the Deka brand *transparent* water-soluble resist
for steam set dyes, avoid the gold and silver, which will
loosen from the silk during steaming and peel off -- it
makes a mess, and is a waste of the gold and silver, since
the effect won't outlast the steam setting process.

--
"Criticism is the only known antidote to error." -- David Brin

Ulrika O'Brien***ulr...@aol.com***caveat lector