For those that haven't discharged before and think they might like to try it after all this talking about it, this is the process I use for discharged stampings. When I first started doing this technique, I used a bunch of 5" squares of Kona solids and as many stamping/marking thingies as I could find. Someday maybe I'll make a quilt out of them...good, bad, and ugly all together. :o

What you need:

• newspapers and a plastic dropcloth
• tub of clear water
• tub of stop bath, antichlor or the 1-to-8 peroxide mix mentioned above
• prewashed fabric, you want the fibers to be as receptive to bleach as possible so, for best results, strip it naked of all finishes before you start discharging
• stamps or mark makers of your choice
• bleach compound of your choice

Cover your work surface in plastic and a layer of newspapers. Prewash your fabric and spread it, wet or dry, on the newspapers. Wet fabric will spread out the bleach more, making a blurred, softer shape. Dry fabric has a crisper look. Try some of each to see what you like. Stamp your fabric with your mark maker.

After a few minutes, you'll see the shape of your stamp start to appear. No need to hover and inhale bleach fumes, but keep an eye on things from a respectful distance. It's hard to know when it's "done", but since the fabric is wet, the shapes will not be as distinct as they will be when it's washed and dried. In reality, it can take anywhere from less than a minute to more than five. It depends on the weather, the fabric, the age of the bleach compound you're using, the phase of the moon...you get the idea.

When they're developed as much as you want them, put the fabric into the tub of clear water to rinse out the bulk of the bleach. Don't scrunch it up or fold it as the bleach can migrate to unbleached parts. Kind of pump it up and down to rinse it out. If you are doing several pieces, you can leave this one in the water and add others until they are all ready for the stop bath.

When you're done with the discharging, move the rinsed fabrics to the stop bath. Plunge them up and down to really work the solution through the fibers. Let it all sit for five minutes or so, stirring occasionally. The stop bath solution should be thrown out when you're finished; the chemicals are exhausted.

When you're all done, wash the discharged fabrics in the washer with a mild detergent. Dry as usual and admire your awesome talent! :)

ghostrider-okay, ignorance is not bliss contrary to what they used to say, and I'm not understanding exactly everything. I planned to start out spraying the bleach over some leaves....that sounds like it would have a great effect. My brain gets foggy when you mention stamping your fabric with a mark maker...does that mean you spray around the potato masher with the bleach....or do you dip the mark makers in the bleach and then place on fabric. Am I making any sense? I guess I've always been more of a visual learner (or maybe just slow).

You're making perfect sense, Linny. Spraying is just a different technique and it DOES have great results, especially good for creating shadows and adding dimension to pieces. Look at some of the work by Colleen Wise for examples. http://www.colleenwise.com/gallery2.htm She recommends using a 50-50 bleach and water solution and spraying from a height of 12"-18".

The stamping/marking technique doesn't involve spraying at all. You use the bleach compound like you'd use a stamp pad, so yes, you'd dip the potato masher in the Soft Scrub and stamp the fabric with it.

Does that help clear things up? Different tools in the same tool box. :)

ghostrider- thanks for being so patient and helpful with my queries. I was trying to picture dipping my potato masher in bleach solution, wondering how it would adhere to it......with Soft Scrub I can understand. You cleared things up very nicely and I understand there are so many ways and different products to produce the desired effect. Again, thanks so much. I checked out the Colleen Wise site.....she does beautiful work.

ghostrider~thanks so much for taking the time to discuss discharging in such detail! I've tried a couple of small pieces on my own, but didn't even realize it needed to be neutralized when done until I recently read that detail in a book borrowed from a friend--oops! It's a good thing I hadn't used first experimental those pieces in any projects yet.

I'm wondering if anyone here has found a particular black fabric that will discharge to a blueish color rather than the orange color that kona black does? Has anyone done enough experimentation to have compiled a short list of particular fabrics' original colors and what they discharge to? I'll be starting a list myself and will be happy to share whatever I learn.

You're giving me all sorts of ideas to try out now!

Paula Burch's Community of Dyers has a wealth of information on all types of dyeing, including discharge dyeing.
http://www.pburch.net/drupal/?q=forum/23 There is info on which black dyes discharge to which colors, but I'm not sure about commercial black fabrics. Don't rule out non-blacks in your testing. They often have great results, too.

Be aware that manufacturers change their dyes without notice, so a black that may discharge red today could be orange or cream on a sample from a different dye lot down the road...or it may not discharge at all, some dyes don't. Note the Kona 1080 Coal in the photos below (top row second swatch). Very little discharging after over 5 minutes.

Color results will also vary slightly depending on the type of bleaching compound used. In the photos, compare the Soft Scrub vs bleach results, particularly with the yellow swatch (part of that is the density of the application in the bleach sample, but it truly is lighter IRL). Bleach results are sharper, clearer and have no halo. In fact, it is the halo color in the top samples that is the total color in the bottom samples. Not better or worse, just a difference to be aware of.

This is a test bunch of Kona solids discharged with Soft Scrub w/bleach (all are Kona)
http://i49.servimg.com/u/f49/13/49/59/13/dd_sof10.jpg

and these are the same color fabrics discharged with full strength bleach.
http://i49.servimg.com/u/f49/13/49/59/13/fs_ble10.jpg

Thanks for posting the discharge samples; that's a big help!

I see what you mean Ghostrider about the difference between SoftScrub and bleach. Thanks.

HELP!!! I need some help please. I'm working on my July challenge (refreshing and cool) and would like to use "angelina fiber" to put some sparkle into my running water. The problem is simple, I don't know how - I tried and it came out to firm, I'm going to try and mix it with loose threads .... any suggestions would certainly help - Thanks much. You can PM me or place on thread.

sparkles
 

Bet you'll get lots of advice on this one.

Last time I used Angelina I discovered that i love my iron a great deal and a very very little angelina goes a long way. It did not seem to stiffen much if done that way but I don't know your final use and what you are attempting. ( I often like a little body in my wall hangings tho.) Also discovered that using and brushing on tiny bits of glitter paint can be awesome. And maybe some regular iridescent party confetti ironed down is cool (altho that one does stiffen things up)