Flour is more than just an ingredient in bread.

I'm taking an online class with Jane Dunnewold again this year. (CST 2019) In May Jane gave us the instructions for flour paste. So simple. You spread the flour paste on the fabric, let it dry thoroughly. Once the paste is on the fabric you can draw designs in the paste. Look closely and you can see the lines in the paste.

It took some time to dry since it was damp and cool the weekend. We moved them inside and had to wait until morning to continue.

Pieces were completely dry and then we placed them back on the table for the next step. What is really fun is that the flour paste will crack and flake with adds to your drawn design. You then add India ink with a brush. Make sure that it is evenly distributed with no puddles.

Added the ink and then hang to dry.

Once the ink is dry, then you take it to a sink and wash the paste and excess ink out of the fabric. Be careful because you will have a lot of flour paste in the sink and it may clog the drain. I stopped to take handfuls of the mess out of the sink.

And here are a few of the washed pieces.

Ready for some interesting additions.

Love the tiny cracked lines.

With a few of the pieces I tried washing out a little of the paste and then using dye paste over the India ink and paste. I had to let this dry again and then rinsed out the dye paste and flour paste thoroughly.

Reminds me of morning in a forest.

Looks like cherry blossoms. This is before the final wash out of the dye paste. Once that is completed, I threw it in the dryer to heat set.

And here is "Cherry Blossoms" completed. I added some green for additional color and then stitched for completion. Just love it!

Cherry Blossoms

Stay tune for more completed work using the flour paste.