Silk painting with a resist

This weekend I started making DD#2s comfy pregnant belly blanket. I want to make this extra special, so I hand painted a piece of silk satin. I used Jacquard Clear Water Based Resist, which I transferred to a tiny bottle with an itty bitty metal tip, and hand lettered verses from Psalm 92. Then I added some swirls and rubber stamped some dots. After letting it dry overnight, I was ready to hand paint it.

I wanted the fabric to stay as soft as possible, so instead of using fabric paint, I pulled out some green label Jacquard silk colors. These liquid dyes are rich, transparent colors which can be either steam set or you can use Jacquard’s Dyeset Fixative instead. Wanting quick and easy (big surprise, right?), I pulled out the fixative. I’ve been hoarding all of these supplies for so long, I wasn’t sure they were still good or not, but I figured it was worth a try.

I lightly sprayed the silk with water and then simply dropped the dye from an eyedropper, letting the colors spread and mingle. Sadly, I couldn’t get the same lime green color as the backing will be, but I still like the mixtures I got.

Another 24 hours for the dye to dry completely, and then I spread the fixative all over. One more hour of waiting (hurry, hurry!), and I washed it all out. Oooh, pretty!

I’m actually a little disappointed with the Jacquard Clear Water Based Resist. On the one hand, it is really easy to remove when you’re done. On the other hand, it dissolves too easy. Simply lightly spraying the silk with water and painting the fabric dissolved some of the resist, so the words don’t show up clearly. I’m going to let my daughter decide if she wants to leave it this way or if she wants me to enhance the letters with textile paint. The main thing is I want it to stay soft since the blanket is supposed to be used to soothe the bare skin of her pregnant belly. I painted a small sample so she can try it out before she decides. Now I just have to wait and see what that might be.