Tuesday, April 19, 2011

Discharge Printing with DeColorant

REVERSE PRINTING! An easy way to get a light print on a dark ground.  We tested on a black cotton tee with excellent results. We also did some on a dark orange heavy stock paper, loved it!
Materials:
  • Dark ground non-synthetic fabric (100% cotton works well. Check the tag on your tee).
  • Discharge ink, Soft-Scrub with Bleach, or DeColorant

First insert a protective sheet inside the tee shirt, so the color remover won't bleed through to the back. You can use cardboard or plastic. DO NOT use corrugated cardboard because the texture will interfere with the print,
Here's the tee stretched nice and flat on the ironing board with the insert in place.
Apply self adhesive stencils. Feel free to play with the background/ negative areas as well as the peeled-out positive shapes, (shown here with a masking tape border  to protect the surround material).
Spread the decolorant discharge paste on the open areas. Like buttering toast; thicker paste gives you a higher discharge value...and faster too!

...Let it dry, then use a hot iron to set it off and cure it.
Be sure to cover the design area with a press cloth for heat setting to protect the iron from the paste, and vice versa. We used a muslin strip, but newsprint works.
...mmm...one potato, two potato, three potato...
Peel off the stencil paper...

et Voila! DISCHARGED! Wait a day or two after heat setting to wash, for optimal results.

2 comments:

  1. Decolorant comes in colors too; it takes out the old color and replaces it with the new. Yes, you CAN have your tangerine and deep purple :~)

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  2. I cannot wait to get my dying fingers on this stuff.
    Ellen Highsmith Silver

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