Discharging fabric with potatoes and more

Here are some of the results of my discharging. The least successful are the pieces were scrunched or folded and dropped in the bleach solution; I like best the pieces stenciled, spritzed,stamped, or painted with bleach.

This is the result of brushing the bleach solution on bubble wrap, then laying the fabric on top: 

I used a commercial stencil for this one:

These circles are made with marbles and elastic bands.

This one was folded and clamped, and partially dipped in the bleach:

Perhaps my favorite is the piece that had been stretched and smeared with instant mashed potatoes.

 

Here's how I did it:

First, stretch fabric tautly and securely. Smear cooked instant mashed potatoes over the surface. Or potato dextrin, if you prefer, available from Pro-Chem or Dharma. (That's what I used last time.)

The potatoes were not evenly distributed on the fabric (on purpose). Some areas were uncoated, As you can see by the photos, where the mixture was thicker, the cracks are bigger. I actually forced cracks in thinner areas by pressing  both from the top and from behind.

Using a foam brush, I painted on the bleach solution (4 parts water to one part bleach). I pressed fairly hard with the brush because the last time I did this the bleached lines came out very thin. Although that piece was beautiful, I wanted to try something different.

The top photo below is the black fabric coated with instant mashed potatoes still drying. The potatoes turned a bit yellow when dry, as shown in the other two photos.

When the discharging reached a point I liked, I spray the piece with the garden hose until all the potatoes were gone (actually they were in clumps on my lawn--they had to go somewhere, just like the oil). After a thorough rinse, I plopped the fabric in Anti-Chlor solution (Pro-Chem, again), followed by a final rinse.


I have become pretty excited about using my own fabrics in my work.