Bathroom rugs with rice flour resist cotton edges

I managed to improve on the flour resist method I used on the bags I made in this post: Rice flour and gum Arabic resist
When making the bags I found that using a piping bag caused the four-water paste to separate in its 2 components (water and flour).
To avoid the problem I purchased a bottle with a very fine applicator.

The flour still attempts to separate from the water but I can shake the bottle every so often to mix the paste again and now it seems to be working OK.

I purchased from Empress Mill at the RDS in Dublin their Egyptian cotton fabric. Some of it was in long strips which I will use for the borders of the new bathroom rugs.

I created the resist design with the applicator bottle and I let the rice flour resist dry for a day. I am not sure whether this is necessary but I like the cracks that form when the resist dries completely. 

Using a clean Mr Muscle bottle full of Procion dye solution I sprayed the dye on the fabric.

The main part of the rugs is made of 2 layers of old, scratchy, frayed and thick bath towels.
I cut them to size and joined them using the strips as an edge.

Rice flour and gum Arabic resist

The first big bag has simply a large square of rice paste which cracked most attractively especially where the paste was thicker.

The second bag is a zen tangle. This one gave me some problems. I piped it using baking paper. I broke 2 of the piping bags and one of them "dissolved". I am not sure what caused it, the paste was the right consistency and then became more and more runny until I had to pour it out and add more flour.



After it dried I have realized that the initial consistency was to dense. It did not bond with the fabric. If I do this again I'll either wet the fabric first or make the paste runny.

I added gelatin to the paste and I am wondering whether the gelatin melted again with the heat of my hands squeezing the bag? Or maybe I involuntarily pushed the water upwards?

The last sample was made with a stencil made of fun foam. This would work well as a base for further design.









And these are the finished bags. Possible canvas for other techniques. 
Maybe couching design on the  top one?

Flour Resist

I have been planning to try flour resist for ages and here is it:

I used one of those cheap white cotton bags you can buy everywhere. I washed it and inserted in the bag a piece of cardboard wrapped in plastic bags. The cardboard was as big as the bag to keep it stretched.

I have mixed a pancake batter consistency mix of wholemeal flour and water and squeegee-ed it onto one side of the bag.

I left to dry several days (read: I had no time to perform stage 2 for several days).

I scrunched the resist but I could have done some more.As you can see the crackles aren't too many.

I prepared the paint using manutex and procion dyes, I painted it in using a large brush on both sides.

I then inserted the bag in a plastic rubbish bag and left it to cure for 48 hours.

The resist came off very easily in large chunks. I used the back of a cheap table knife as scraper.