A Comparison of Resist Products

Lately Elmer's glue (especially the blue gel type) is all over the internet in crafty circles.  I've been wanting to experiment with resists, so I thought I'd try a few and compare them for you.  An online search produced actually very little.  Here is what I came up with:

1. Tulip Tie-Dye Resist ($5.99 on Amazon for 4 oz)
2. Pebeo Gutta Water-Based Colorless Gutta ($3.85 from Dharma Trading Co. for 20 ml)
3. Washable Elmer's School Glue ($.50 from Walmart for 4 oz).

In applying this to a dry rayon napkin, I noted the following:

1. The Tulip resist is difficult to work with.  It's the texture and stickiness of glue coming out of a hot glue gun.  When you lift the applicator up, the fabric wants to come up with it.  
2. The Pebeo is lovely to work with.  It comes out much thinner, and has a more watery consistency.
3. The glue is, well, glue.  It was somewhere between the others in terms of ease of use, and the applicator left something to be desired.  If I do end up deciding to work with it, I will transfer it to a container with a better applicator.   

Something I noticed almost instantly, however, is that by the time I finished writing with the Elmer's glue, the Pebeo had "spread," meaning it absorbed into the fabric.  Perhaps this is why it had such a teeny-weeny applicator.  Perhaps I should have used it more sparingly!

Before I show you how it looked after drying overnight, let's look at the instructions for these three:

1. Tulip says: Apply to fabric by brushing or squeezing on (I cannot begin to imagine the mess brushing would make--remember, spreads like melted hot glue).  Let dry completely.  Dye fabric (presumably with Tulip Tie-dye).  Let set 6-8 hours.  Wash inside out in hot water to remove Tye-Dye Resist.
2. Gutta by Pebeo: See leaflet.  Shit!  Tossed leaflet!
3. Elmer's glue: There are no instructions for using as a resist, but this from the Elmer's website on how to remove dried glue from fabric.  When dry, do not use hot water, dry cleaning solvents, a hot drum dryer or iron before the removal of the adhesive is complete, as they can fuse the adhesive film irreversibly, making removal impossible. Soaking in room temperature water for 24 hours or longer will help to redisperse or soften the film. After soaking, wash the fabric in a normal wash cycle and allow it to dry at room temperature. 

So when I woke up this morning, this is what the dried resists looked like:

The Tulip resist shrunk as it dried. It had a plastic sort of feel to it.  It also continued to spread.  The lines of the "T"  no longer meets at a right angle, the "u" has merged with the "l" and there is barely a hole in the "p" any more!  

The Pebeo gutta lay very flat and had a nice hand for working with.  

The Elmer's glue looked like, well, dried glue.  A little stiff, and the larger areas did curl up on themselves a bit like the Tulip did.  Overall, however, it did not spread like the Tulip did.

Next, to a dark brown dye bath.  For the purposes of this experiment and for the sake of ease, I used dark brown Rit dye.

I was worried that giving the fabric a long hot bath in the dye would begin to remove the resist, but since I work with heat, I needed to try it with heat. 

Pulling it out of the dye bath, this is the initial look:

Next, I hand-washed the fabric in warm water.  

The Tulip resist was very difficult to get out.  Maybe after a run through the washing machine it would be better, but that's not practical for when I'm dyeing with naturals.  Also, you'll notice that the dye looks like it seeped in around the edges.  On closer inspection, it looks like the resist worked best where it permeated the fabric though and through.  Which clearly wasn't everywhere.  

The Pebeo gutta is almost as if it weren't there at all.  I'm thinking this might have to do with the heat of the dye bath?  I believe the Pebeo is intended more for fabric painting.  It's an interesting effect, if you want a "suggestion" of a resist...  

The Elmer's glue had some of the same problems as the Tulip resist, in that where it was not spread the thickest, or where it didn't soak all the way through, the dye got through.  Something to think about if you don't like the batik look...

THE WINNER: ELMER'S SCHOOL GLUE

• It was the cheapest by far
• It can be purchased just about anywhere
• It stays where you put it
• When applied thickly enough, it resists nicely
• It washes out easily

But that's not the end of the resist experiment... check out the experiment with household bleach and neighborhood plants!  ...and learn from my mistakes!