Potato Dextrin Resist

This summer I've been taking another Quilt University class with Marjie McWilliams : 3 Unusual Ways to Dye. One of the "unusual ways" is with potato dextrin. I've had the stuff and books and explanations for about 2 years now, but I haven't been able to bring myself to make this kind of a mess without a class with deadlines and schedules, and someone to help troubleshoot any problems that may come up. So here it is :


Above, mashed potato spread on fabric in a circle. Pretty homely, huh? The goal is to get the cracks and crevices to give the dye a place to penetrate. Where the potato resist stays, there will be no dye--at least that's the theory. I think I spread it on a little too thick here. It was even starting to get a little moldy with our unusually cool August weather this past weekend. I even tried putting it in a warm oven to help drive out the moisture.


Here is the same piece after dye has been applied, in this case with spray bottles.


Here is the final piece. I like it!

Wouldn't this look good with some trapunto to puff up the "sun"?

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Below, this is a fat quarter on which the potato dextrin has been spread. The top darker section with deeper cracks and crevices is real potato. The lower 2/3 has been slathered with prepared mashed potato flakes. Since the potato flakes start with such a fine powder, the crackling is much finer as well. The flakes also don't seem to discolor as a real potato does.


Dried Potato Dextrin


Fabric with dried PD plus dye.
Dye was applied with a sponge applicator to get the dye into the cracks. I was conscious of not slathering on too much so that the PD melted.

Here's the reverse side, still with PD on the other side.


Here is the final Fab :

Not bad!

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Here's the last assignment in this Lesson.
It's the same thing (mashed potato on top 1/3 ; Potato flake mixture on lower 2/3) except this time it's on a fat quarter that has been pre-dyed blue. I also took it upon myself to crunch and crackle up the dried potato a little more by distressing the fabric.

Dried Potato Dextrin


Dried PD with Dye.


Here's the reverse side with PD still intact.
This view can give you a good idea if you've got enough, too much, or just enough dye. Marjie's right : This step takes some practice to get right.

Here's the final product. Not too big of a mess, though it kind of smelled like stinky feet.
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Other notes:
I was a little concerned about insects coming to eat the PD while it dried those few days. I didn't really have any problems with critters until I went outside to take pictures and had to go back into the house for fresh batteries. When I came back out 30 seconds later, Maggie, our big black 2nd-hand Newfie, was laying on 2 of the PD-and-dyed pieces. She was trying to lick off the dried and dyed potato--as if we never feed her!