Finished Project

Just wanted to share my latest completed project in textile art. This was an experiment in batiking but instead of using traditional wax or gutta resist I used Elmer's Washable Gel School Glue. It was a little tricky at first. I think the first bottle of gel glue that I used was old and it made it hard to squeeze it out of the bottle.

On this pillow I used a sun stencil and applied the glue by dabbing it in the stencil opening on the white fabric. I dried it with a hair dryer and then measured off the center frame with a ruler and air soluble ink. I free-handed the border with red fabric paint and dried it with the hair dryer. I set the dye by ironing it with a dry iron and then painted over the red border with gel glue. I again dried the glue with the hair dryer and then painted the whole pillow cover with a sponge brush and black fabric paint. I dried it again with the hair dryer until just dry enough to pick up. I ironed it again with a hot dry iron and then put it into the dryer for 30 minutes to 'cure'.

I hand washed the piece in mild soap and warm water to remove the excess dye and the glue. It took a little soaking and scrubbing to get all of the glue out and rinsed it well. The fabric was firmer but still soft. I Ironed the wet fabric to dry it. I was anxious to see the finished piece.

This pillow pattern I kept a little more simple. All of the white areas were just covered with gel glue and left to dry. I painted all of the orange areas first. I randomly painted orange blotches in the border. when the orange dye was dry, I covered the orange blotches in the border with gel glue and let it dry. The last step was to paint the remaining areas with red dye and let it dry also. I heat set the dye with the iron again and then repeated the finishing steps above.