Cynthia St. Charles Store

Sunday, December 7, 2008

Glue Gel Art - MX Dye Painting


I've finished another glue gel resist piece that was painted last summer. This one was painted with MX dye thickened with alginate. The fabric was not pretreated because I thought I would be painting with Setacolor Fabric Paints, but I changed my mind at the last minute.

So, I mixed up a big batch of Sodium Alginate (which I think is derived from seaweed). Just a little sprinkle mixed into some warm water will thicken up nicely in about an hour.
I mixed my dye powders with a bit of urea water till they were a pasty consistency.
To mix my colors, I poured about 1/3 cup alginate mixture into a yogurt cup, added a heaping spoonful of soda ash / baking soda and a spoonful of the dye paste. I mixed this together and everything dissolved into a nice paintable dye. After the painting was complete, I covered the whole thing with plastic and left it to batch overnight.

I enjoy the warm sunny colors in this piece, and am happy with the lines created by the fences. I am calling this one "White Picket Fences"

I just got the binding finished. It measures 27 x 29"

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