Sugar-technique

Another interesting technique is the sugar-technique.

The nice part about the Sugar-technique is that it does not cost much money.
Almost everybody has sugar at home.

There are three ways to go about it.
1. Boil 1 kg of sugar in 0.5 liter of water, till it becomes syrupy.
Let it cool, and store for use in an airtight bottle.
2.Or use equal quantities of icing sugar and water, to boil till syrupy.
3. Use artificial sweetener (coffee or tea) in liquid form straight from the bottle.

This is the easiest way, as it is straight from the bottle.

Its application is simple:
a) dye on sugar syrup, or
b) sugar syrup on dye..

a) Paint the silk in the desired colors and drop, sprinkle or brush the sugar syrup on the WET silk.
b) A second way is to spray, brush or spatter the sugar syrup on the silk first, and then add the dye, either by spraytechnique from a bottle or lines drawn with a stiff brush.

A third possibility is to lift the frame slightly to let the dye with the sugar syrup trickle down the silk.
Do not forget to cover the floor under the frame with old newspapers or plastic as it can become a little messy.
On the other hand, very interesting designs will develop during the drying process of about 48 hours.
To speed up the drying time, it is possible to use a hairdryer.
Nevertheless, depending on the thickness of the silk and the room-temperature it takes may take a few days to completely dry.

When steamfixing dye is used, use a double layer of fixing paper.
Then after giving it a thorough rinse with warm water, a few drops of vinegar and fabric softener, it will feel very soft and silky and no trace of the sugar syrup will be left behind.