Organic Soybeans

Description

Organic whole soybeans are used to make soy milk for applying ochres and pigments to cloth. For complete instructions on the traditional Japanese method of using soy milk, check out John Marshall’s website page on soymilk and instructions are also included in his book: Singing the Blues. Instructions are on page 80.

Learn more about John Marshall in his FEEDBACK FRIDAY video.

From our Feedback Friday series:

I am trying to paint cotton fabric with the indigo dye ink I purchased. I thickened with Gum Arabica and all looked great, but it washed out after drying. Then, I tried spreading soy milk first, let dry and then painted. It didn’t help. What do I need to do? I would like to use these cotton squares I am painting (drawing) for quilting with my dyed indigo fabric.

The indigo ink is an ink, meaning that the color pigment can only bond with the fiber on the surface as the dye molecules are not soluble to bond into the fiber like with an alum mordant. Its intended use is as a drawing ink on paper. If you are thickening with Gum Arabic, that is fine, but then you need some type of bonding mechanism. A bonding agent like soy milk should work and you might need to add some soy milk into the ink itself to assist the bond. However, once you have done this, I don’t think you should wash it right away as it is not a very strong bond.

You can make the soy milk bond stronger by curing or air-drying the piece for several weeks (keep away from direct sunlight). This helps the soy bond strengthen. I have not tested this, so can’t tell you if it will work like you are expecting or not, but I have painted with indigo pigment using soy milk on the fabric and in the ink and it worked well. I hope this is helpful to you.