Kitchen Resists with Julie B. Booth: Knotted and Wheat Flour Paste Resists

Create a Valentine's Day gift wrap with the fabric you create in this tutorial!

Hi there...It's Julie B. Booth again. I hope you enjoyed my first blog post on January 3rd. Welcome to my second post about Kitchen Resists! Today, we'll focus on using two resists to create fabric that you can use to wrap up a Valentine's Day gift for a special someone. Just a reminder that leaving a comment on this post, last week's post or my final post of the month (on January 24), makes you eligible to win a copy of my book, Fabric Printing at Home: Quick and Easy Fabric Design Using Fresh Produce and Found Objects, as well as one yard of Prepared for Dyeing cotton. For information about additional Kitchen Resists and a variety of techniques on how to use them, see Chapter 6: Irresistible: Fabric Resists Using Kitchen Ingredients in my book.


Valentine's Fabric Gift Wrap
In today's project, I'll show you how to make a Valentine's Day fabric gift wrap using two different fabric resist techniques. The first technique is a knotted resist, the second technique is a wheat flour paste resist.

Knotted Resist
For the knotted resist you'll need:

• A flat work surface covered with plastic. I like to make Portable Work Surfaces with foam board covered with plastic film. Go here to learn how to make one.

• 15" x 15" piece of Prepared for Dyeing cotton (or pre-washed white 100% cotton).

• Fuchsia and red transparent fabric paints (I like to use Pebeo Setacolor paints). Add a small amount of water to slightly dilute the paint.

• Plastic paint containers and spoons to mix the paint. 

• (2) 1" foam brushes

• Plant mister with water.

• Iron and ironing board.

1. Lightly mist the cotton fabric so the paint can penetrate the fibers. Start at one corner and roll the fabric on the diagonal into a tube.

2. Knot the fabric in several places and paint with the fuchsia and red paint.

3. Immediately, unknot the fabric and let it dry flat. When dry, iron the fabric to remove wrinkles.

Wheat Flour Paste Resist
You will now add the second resist layer to the 15" x 15" piece of fabric. 

You will need: 

• The fabric you just made.

•  An additional piece of 15" x 15" cotton fabric to use as a blotter when applying paint to the resist.

• A flat work surface covered in plastic or a Portable Work Surface (see above).

• White wheat flour.

• Water to make the paste resist, dilute paint and remove the resist.

• Container to mix up the wheat flour paste (I used a 1.75 qt Pyrex bowl).

• Measuring cups (dry and liquid).

• Wire whisk.

• Large metal spoon.

• Plant mister with water.

• Plastic spreader.

• Masking tape.

• Wooden skewer.

• Paper towel.

• Blue transparent fabric paint (I like to use Pebeo Setacolor paints). 

• (1) 2" foam brush.

• Plastic paint container and spoon to mix paint.

• Wipe up cloth. 

• (2) Pressing cloths (or pieces of cotton or muslin).

• Iron and ironing board. 

•  Plastic tub (that fits in your kitchen sink) to put fabric in to remove resist.

Mixing and Applying the Wheat Flour Paste Resist
1. The recipe for the wheat flour paste resist (from Jane Dunnewold) is 1 part white wheat flour to 1 part cold water. Pour the water into a container first, and then add the flour. Use the wire whisk to mix. The paste should be the consistency of pancake mix (you may need to adjust the ingredients to get the correct consistency). 

 2. Tape the 15" painted square of fabric to the work surface.

3. Mist the painted fabric with water. This will help the paste to better penetrate the fabric's fibers.

4. Spoon the wheat flour paste resist onto the fabric and use the plastic spreader to spread a thin even coat over the surface.

5. Let the paste-covered fabric sit for a few minutes. Then use the flat end of the wooden skewer to draw into the paste. You can draw designs or write words. Occasionally, wipe the end of the skewer on a paper towel to keep it clean.

Painting Over the Resist
1. Let the flour paste resist dry completely. Optional: After the paste is dry, carefully manipulate the paste-covered fabric to form small cracks.

2. Slip the extra piece of fabric under the paste-covered square. This extra piece of fabric will act as a blotter to absorb excess paint.

3. Mix the blue transparent paint to the consistency of light cream (about 1 part paint to 1.5 parts water). Paint over the dried resist. If the paint starts to pool, use a wipe up cloth or paper towel to soak up the excess paint. Occasionally, lift up the resist-covered fabric to view the back to see if the paint is reaching the fabric's surface.

4. Let the paint dry completely. 


Setting the Paint and Removing the Resist
1. See the instructions from my first blog post for setting the fabric paint.

2. To remove the wheat flour paste: Place the resist-covered fabric in the plastic tub. Add some liquid dishwashing soap and cool to warm water. Let the piece soak. Rub to remove the resist. You will need to occasionally dump and refill the tub until all the resist is removed.

3.  I like to put the fabric through a delicate machine wash (cold water with some detergent), just to be sure that all the resist is removed.

4. Machine or air dry.

Turn Your Fabric into a Gift Wrap
To wrap the fabric around a gift box, see the directions here (from my free online newsletter, Julie B Booth Surface Design News. Sign up at my blog if you want to receive future issues).

Hope you enjoyed this post. Be sure to leave a comment to be eligible to win the giveaway. See you on January 24th for my final Kitchen Resists tutorial.