Discharge Paste and stamping

[tiedyejudy]

Hi, all.  I am mulling over an idea to use a stamp and discharge paste on fabric, but have never created my own stamps.  Has anyone used discharge paste with linoleum block stamps?  It would seem like the linoleum would be too slick to allow the discharge paste to cling to it.  Should I try foam blocks?  The design I have in mind is primitive, so it might even come out better with the foam (as in styrofoam, not poly-foam).  Any suggestions?

Thanks,
Judy

[Jaja]

I don't know your discharge paste, but I use some kind of thicker foam - material is oftne reffered as moosgummi in german.

[Lelia187]

Okay, I'd like to start to try discharge dyeing, but am sort of poor because I am starting school soon and my books are insanely expensive. Would it be possible for me to use bleach and use sodium alginate as a thickener? Also, If I were to use bleach, could I use a blender to mix the bleach and sodium alginate together or would that be hazardous?

[tiedyejudy]

Since my first post in March, I took a class that demonstrated how to use dishwashing liquid with bleach for discharging.  I have discussed this in other threads of the forum.  It's very inexpensive, and easy to obtain.  I would suggest experimenting with that rather than try to thicken bleach with sodium alginate.  There is a bleach thickener available thru Dharma Trading, but what I like about the dishwashing liquid is that I don't have to do any mixing!  If you check out the thread Miscellanea/Miscellaneous Miscellanea, then click on 'Quick, a picture of your most recent dye or dyes" page 4, you will see an example I posted of a stamped discharge using Dishwashing liquid.  I did not dye over this discharge, just left it as it came out.  However, I have dyed over other projects, and get good color even though the discharged area does not come out real light. 

Judy

[mysticmountainsmama]

I haven't used it yet but I bought a material for making stamps from Dharma on one of my orders..It is like a thick pliable vinyl that you cut with scissors and glue to a block to make a stamp, don't know what they called it or if it works for that but it's available and a lot easier to cut than lino....

[ktaltre]

Judy's suggestion to use dishwashing bleach gel is a good one. You can't use bleach with sodium alginate because the bleach will "eat" it right away. The bleach thickener is called monagum.
I couldn't bring up Dharama's page right now so I'll use ProChem. Here's Monagum: http://www.prochemical.com/Glossary/Monogum.htm

If you are going to use bleach discharge, you must use a bleach neutralizer:
http://www.prochemical.com/Glossary/AntiChlor.htm
Rinse the bleach product off before soaking in bleach neutralizer.
You can also get bleach neutralizers at pet/fish stores.
I would mix bleach/dye/paint art stuff with a dedicated blender or whisk.

Here is a product to carve your own stamps (E-Z Cut):
http://www.dickblick.com/zz404/02/
I've seen this kind of stuff at Michael's and art supply stores.
I use linoleum cutters to carve this and it is very easy.
If you have hard linoleum carving material, you can rough it up with sandpaper to print with.
k. taltre

[fiberartist219]

I have heard of people cutting up potatoes for a one day only stamp.

I have also seen people use some sort of sticky back foam attached to a block. I think they cut it with regular scissors. I'm not sure what the foam is, but it comes from the hardware store. I have also heard of people using weather stripping to make stamps out of, because they can attach it to a block. I haven't tried these methods though. I just saw some of the prints at my local art center a few years back.

I have tried cutting out stamps from the rubber things. I used an exacto knife, but you can use the linoleum cutters too. I found though, that some mediums, such as luminere, do not work with rubber stamps. That's when I took up my cheap version of screen printing. For dye and bleach though, you could probably use a variety of materials for stamping.