Working with Resists - Commercial Resists

I love commercial water-based resists for their ease of use. No mixing is involved - just open the bottle and pour! Jacquard, Presist and Inkodye are three of the many brands available. I was introduced to water-based resists years ago when I painted on silk.  I created detailed drawings with the resist and then painted inside the lines using silk dyes. When I transitioned to other surface design techniques, I didn't realize how versatile those resists can be. They go way beyond the traditional squeeze-on application.  Here are a few of my favorite ways to use them.

I love using my garden as inspiration and as a printing tool!  These are printings of rose leaves from my backyard.

I'm drawn to the soft, subtle effect of this piece. It was created by brushing water based resist through a mesh laundry bag.

Compressed sponges are the perfect stamping material.  They are very thin, which makes them easy to cut with scissors or a craft knife. Once they are placed under water, they swell to the thickness of a kitchen sponge.

Commercial resists are particularly suited to screenprinting.  The consistency is smooth and easily penetrates a silkscreen.  This is a thermofax image.

Back to the old familiar ways - the resist was applied with a squeeze bottle.

What are your favorite ways of applying water-based resists?

Read my tips for working with resists

Read about working with sugar syrup

Read about working with acrylic medium

Read about working with flour paste

Read about working with oatmeal

Read about working with potato dextrin

Read about working with soy wax

Read about working with commercial resists

Read about working with corn dextrin