Gel Glue Resist

I was astonished that something as ordinary as glue could make a good resist. OK so it has to be gel glue, but it's still easy to find. I suspect that other things might be cheaper for large-scale projects, but leftovers can be used as glue. I'm not planning on doing a whole lot of resist work, so it's a good entry-level project for me.


I planned a simple pattern on newspaper, then traced it onto one of those yellow & orange samples from the other day. I went over my lines with the gel glue. I squeezed it right from the bottle, which limited me to a medium-thick line.


I over-dyed in Periwinkle, trying for a light shade. The dye in the little jar was supposed to be more concentrated, but it all came out the same.


I'm not much of a yellow-green person, but this works for me. It's cheerful.


I'm very impressed with how thoroughly the glue blocked the dye. The design is much more distinct on the side where the glue was applied. This is the back. (Ignore the color difference; the pictures were taken in different light.)


This picture shows the fabric as it started and as it ended up.


I'm happy with how the blotchiness shows through in both the blue and the white areas. The color combo doesn't do it for me, and the pattern is only so-so.

It's easy for me to love fabric in a textured color. To love a printed fabric, it all has to work for me: the final colors, and the contrast between the colors, the resist pattern, and the overall texture. Much trickier.

This one doesn't have enough contrast for me:


I masked that W off with scotch tape and smeared on the glue. The glue seeped under the tape, but still results in a crisp line.

And now exhibit #4. Total failure. The original fabric was too dark for the pale over-dye to do anything. But it's a nice color.


Whether I get into this resist thing or not, I made one really valuable discovery: the glue is a great way to keep the label visible:


Before when I tested concentrations of black, I couldn't read my labels. When I dye dark colors in future, I plan to smear glue over my written label, and then a bit more glue so I have a place to add notes later.

And the big news is that the glue washed out really nicely. After the fabric sat for a while in hot water & synthrapol, the glue got gummy, and then washed away.