Questions and Answers

Question: When should I use a silk dye (Pebeo Soie, Procion H, Dupont) or a silk paint (Dekka, G&S Liquid Colours or Setacolor) when I'm painting on silk?

Answer: We will always recommend using a silk dye over a silk paint. The advantages to using a dye on silk are better colours, retained luminosity and feel. This is most important when painting scarves or wearables.

Silk Paints are still bright and have an acceptably soft hand. Using these paints has an advantage when painting large banners or paintings that never requiring washing. Large paintings, like banners, are very cumbersome to steam set and setting with a hand iron is an huge time saver and advantage. For scarves, silk paints are acceptable, but with our steaming service, the inconvenience is minimal.

Question: What's the difference between resist and gutta?

Answer: Our line of resists, guttas and waxes is actually quite confusing. There's just too many choices. Choice isn't bad though. Gutta and resist are interchangeable words. Resist means gutta and visa versa.

G&S Waterbased Resists: This is the most economically priced resist we carry for silk dyes and paints. It comes in clear and black (note: We've discontinued gold, silver, copper & antique). Ideally, these resists work best for silk dyes (Pebeo Soie, Procion H and Dupont). Since they are waxed based, ironing can create halos. Besides price, they are some of the strongest waterbased resists on the market.

Pebeo Solvent Gutta: This is a solvent based product, which is very strong as a resist. Used by more traditional silk painters, the main advantages of this resist is the ability to paint over lines and very fast drying times. The solvent fumes can be an issue (toxic over long exposures). One does have to be careful when using these line of resists.

Pebeo Waterbased Gutta: This line is aimed at the beginner painter. It comes in 12 colours and 20mL tubes that you apply straight out of. You can decant into an applicator bottle for better control. The clear gutta also comes in 250mL. This line works best with iron set silk paints like our Liquid Colours line

Pebeo Setacolor Pearlescent Paints: This line can expand on the Pebeo Waterbased Gutta. It's been used in place of Pebeo Waterbased Gutta with good results. If the resists lines aren't holding the dye back, mixing in a bit of the clear Pebeo Waterbased Gutta, fixes the problem. Available in 13 colours and in 45mL, 250mL and 1.0L sizes

Question: Resist lines always have a big blob at the beginning and end, why?

Answer: Although quite difficult to avoid, I find that not squeezing the bottle before and after touching the silk helps. Also testing flow on a towel removes all air pockets and water before you actually apply the resist.

Question: It appears that I've applied resist properly but the dye still flows thru the line, why?

Answer: The main reason for this is that the resist or gutta has not penetrated the silk properly. This problem usually occurs on heavier fabrics like silk noil, heavy crepe back satins and duppioni's. If this occurs on lighter fabrics it could mean that the resist is too diluted.

Question: How come my lines are so wide and globby?

Answer: This is an application and applicator problem. G&S Dye carries four types of applicators to make it easier to aply.

When applying resist, make sure bottle is only slightly angled and squeeze lightly. Also do not hover above the silk while resisting. Make sure you are in contact with fabric. Another consideration is the type of tip you use.

A, B & C: Applicator Bottle With Differing Metal Tip Plastic bottle with pointed nozzle end. Threaded extended metal tip to screw onto the nozzle end. Available with extra fine, #5,#7 or #9 tips. A & C tips are easier to control than the basic tip B. A&C are also finer.

D: Air Pen - $145.00

Applicator pen that automatically pumps resists. The even pressure of a compressure assures clean starts and stops, consistent lines and alleviates all pain and soreness from squeezing an applicator bottle. Comes with six cartridges.