Karin Knudsen: studio journal

Another fabric made with glue gel resist.

I like how the lines look a little uneven. They were drawn (glue-bottle-drawn?) free-hand, so a little unevenness is to be expected. I think if I practiced I could draw smoother lines.

The hard part of glue gel resist is the waiting:   for the glue to dry (so you can paint the fabric), the paint to dry (so you can iron the fabric and wash out the glue), and the fabric to dry (so you can see the final result). But I guess I like doing things with multiple steps.

I finally made time to try a technique I have read about:  using Elmer’s glue gel as a resist before painting on fabric. The results end up something like a batik–where the the glue lines keep the paint from soaking in (mostly) and the fabric takes color in the non-glued areas. I’ve read about this method in a magazine and have seen lots of fabric painted this way on the blog of artist Cynthia St. Charles.

First I created a design with my glue on white cotton fabric:

Then I painted over the lines using textile and acrylic paints mixed with a little water:

After letting everything dry completely and pressing the fabric with an iron, I washed out the glue and let the fabric dry again.

This was the finished product: