The big sugar experiment

My second attempt at sugar syrup resist dyeing was boring and another failure in my opinion.

Rather than give up, I decided to go big.  First I re-read the directions.  Perhaps my big problem is that I am not adding the soda ash solution till late.  So, I will soak and dry my material first.  Second, maybe my sugar solution is too weak. I debated making another sugar syrup but thought, gee, I have lots of forms of sugar syrups around the house so why re-invent the wheel??  So here goes the big sugar experiment.

First I took a yard of fabric and ripped it into 4 pieces.  I  labeled them for the type of syrup I will use-- sugar, corn syrup, pancake syrup, and molasses.  Then I soaked the 4 quarters in a soda ash solution and hung them to dry.  I wish it were a sunnier, drier day.  While I was waiting for the fabric to dry I mixed 3 dye colors-- basic blue, fire engine red, and fushia.

Here is the whisk that I used to make the prints.   I found it in an antique shop while on vacation.  I love hunting through antique shops for odd print tools. 


And here are the 4 types of syrups printed on the fabric.

Pancake Syrup

Sugar Syrup

Molasses

Corn Syrup

And here the 4 pieces washed, dried, and ironed.

Pancake Syrup

Sugar Syrup

Molasses

Corn Syrup

Lessons Learned 

1. Using previously soda ash soaked fabric is important to get the benefit of the "first strike" of the dye.
2. Any heavy sugar syrup will act as a resist and the dark color of molasses or dark corn syrup does not stain the fabric.
3. The pancake syrup fabric looks different because I moved it and rolled it to batch. The other three pieces I left in place to batch.  They have a much more distinct pattern to them.  One is not necessarily better than the other but it will be good to remember that I can get the two different results.

Finally, results I can be satisfied with and a technique I could use again!!  Yeah!

 

Third Time's a Charm

 It took me three tries to get this right, but I really like the results.  The first time, the syrup was too thin and I schmeared it all over the fabric and got really light, non- resisted stuff.  Unlike Judith, I didn't save them to show -- I immediately over-dyed them and now I love them.

The second time, I boiled it too long or too hot and got some delicious caramel.  Great for eating -- not so great for this project.

 The third time it was just right -- I set a timer and didn't leave the kitchen to do other things while it was simmering.  The top two photos show the sugar syrup drizzled over the fabric and the third is the result after everything was washed out.
 

This shows the sugar syrup before I applied all the dye.

This is the syrup and dye before batching and rinsing.

This is a close up of the syrup mixing with the dyes.  I love the way the syrup and the dye run together.

And the finished piece.  I found that fat quarters worked well for this.  I took a piece of heavy plastic -- the stuff I use for covering my tables for my projects -- that was only a little wider than the fabric.  I rolled up the fabric as I finished and then let the fabric/plastic sausage batch overnight in a bucket outside.  The nest morning I just filled the bucket with water, removed the plastic, and let the syrup and excess dye run off.  No -- I didn't have any problems with ants.

 This one was done with drops of syrup and dye from pipettes.

I like the backside of all of these best -- you can see the patterning from the dyes running together with the resist.

I like this -- it's easy and there's no waiting for stuff to dry before dyeing.  The results are quite different from the flour resists I'm so fond of.  I did some resist/dye-painting recently that is here on my own blog.   Very different....

A great technique does not guarantee great results

I almost did not post my results from my sugar resist experiment.  It is not that the technique did not work.  I just made bad choices and the results ... well, you'll see.  It was like I forgot every dyeing lesson I ever learned!  LOL

I started out with a really lovely ice dyed fabric.  Here you see it pinned to my wonderful padded print surface that Beth helped me make. I have been thinking about stamping a pattern in a resist on one of my ice dyes and then overdyeing it in black.  So that was my plan to try with the sugar resist on this piece.

Here are the stamps I used.  I bought them on my summer vacation at a craft fair in Berea, Kentucky.

 

I then cooked my sugar resist from white sugar and water, let it cool, and stamped the fabric with the resist.  It was a big more blobby that I wanted but still doable.

Next I immediately stamped the fabric with some leftover fuchsia dye paste I had in the fridge.

 I forgot to take a picture of the next step but I dropped black dye onto the fabric in droplets that did not completely cover the fabric with the dye so you can see the drops.  Since that black dye was also leftover dye from the fridge, at this point there was no soda ash in the process.  To add the soda ash, I sprayed the fabric with the solution.  I expected a lot of bleeding of the black dye but got very little.  I then let it batch, rinsed, washed, dried, ironed, and got this results. Yuck.

And a couple of detail shots where I tried to avoid the too bright fuchsia dragonflies. Without the dragonflies, the fabric is ...uh...interesting.

This is definitely a piece that will go back into the recycle pile but I learned some lessons. 

1.  Yep, Lisa did warn us that the wet on wet technique gave soft edges.  The sugar resist did work but it has very soft edges that would look great in something other than blobby dragonflies. Assessment--I shoulda known better.

2. Dragonfly stamps are better used with a resist with more thickness that will give more detail and harder edges.  See assessment above.

3.  Droplets really do not do a good job of defining shapes.  I needed an all over color to do that. See assessment #1.

4. Try again but try not to forget all my years of hard learned lessons.  LOL

Sugar Resist Tutorial and Fabric Giveaway

I’m excited to be a guest on the blog today. Thank you to the “Fire” crew for inviting me and for focusing on resist techniques this month! I’ll be giving away a sample set of resist-dyed fabrics.  Details on how to enter and a photo of the samples appear at the end of this post.

Before the “sweet” talk begins, I have to do a little bit of resist evangelizing. Working with resists is kind of like magic. After applying the resist and then the dye or paint, you end up with a stiff, ugly, strange-looking piece of fabric. You have no idea what the final piece will look like. Then, once you wash off the resist and excess dye, the pattern appears, seemingly out of thin air!  

I fell in love with resists about eight years ago. A friend invited me over for a play day in her garage.  We experimented with flour paste, potato and corn dextrin and soy wax.  I wasn’t impressed until I washed out my fabrics at home.  The fabrics I created that day were beautiful.  They had so much depth and texture.

After that initiation, I started experimenting. Over the past eight years, I’ve tried most of the commercially available products and just about anything available from the grocery store that forms a paste. One of my favorites – sugar – is the subject of today’s tutorial A lot of people are avoiding sugar these days, but here is a low calorie way to enjoy it.  The only weight you’ll add is to your fabric stash!

Resists are usually allowed to dry before you apply the paint or dye because they can more easily breach the resist while it is wet. Sugar syrup works very well for wet-on-wet techniques.  Part of the appeal is the way the dyes mix and mingle with the syrup. It creates soft edges as the dye/paint blends with the syrup. Plus, sugar syrup is available in the grocery store – no waiting for your internet order to arrive!

 

 

Below is an overview of the process. Download the pdf tutorial for more detailed information.

Sugar syrup is easy to mix by heating equal parts confectioner’s sugar and water on top of the stove. I like to let it cool a bit before using – it becomes thicker as it cools.

There are lots of ways to apply it.  You can drip it from a spoon or syringe.  You can drizzle it over the entire cloth, then spread it with a notched spreader.  You can use a found object stencil and brush the syrup through the openings. Whichever method you choose, make sure to leave some areas of the cloth without any resist.  Part of the effect is the way the dye spreads on the fabric and how it reacts when it reaches an area with the resist.

Sugar syrup dripped from a spoon

Sugar syrup applied with kitchen scrubber

Sugar syrup applied with notched spreader

Dyes or paints are applied with an eye dropper while the sugar syrup is still wet. Apply the color to the white areas of the fabric and on top of the sugar syrup. The liquid dye interacts with the liquid syrup and moves and changes.

 

Once the fabric is dry, or almost dry, it can be washed. (See the tutorial for a note on using dyes vs. fabric paints.) Don’t let the cloth dry completely before removing it from your work surface – the syrup acts like glue! The syrup washes out easily in warm water. 

I usually work with dyes rather than paints, but I'd like to show you a sample I did recently with fabric paint.  I generally suggest Dye-Na-Flow, a very thin paint that is the consistency of dye.  I was out of Dye-Na-Flow, so I used Pro Chemical's ProFab paint thinned with their paint thinner. 

Here is the right side of the fabric.

Now, look at the wrong side.  Notice the wonderful rivulets that appear in the paint.

Now, on to the fabric giveaway! The resist-dyed sample set includes 7 pieces of cloth, totaling about 1 yard of fabric.  

 The set includes cotton, silk noil, rayon and silk/cotton.   If you would like to enter the drawing, leave a comment on this blog post. The winner will be drawn at random from those who leave a comment by August 6.