DeColourant by KandiCorp was one of the new and exciting products I saw at CHA last winter. It’s a product that you apply to fabric and it will either a) remove the fabric color or b) remove the fabric color and deposit a new color onto your fabric.
Here’s how it’s described on their website:
Have you ever tried using Discharge Pastes to remove the color from fabric? If so, you KNOW how messy and smelly the process is, and you know that you can never get really good results. deColourant and deColourant Plus changes all that. Great precision, fantastic fine line detail, all in an easy to use citrus scented creme.
I was thrilled to be able to take home some samples and try it out myself. I cracked open the bottle and took a little whiff. (I know, I’m weird, but I know odors really bother some folks and so I feel obligated.) Definitely not overly strong (or bleach-y,)Â but more of like a chemical/ citrus cleaner smell. I dipped in a paint brush, only to discover that this product is really more of a paste.
I would love to say that I started with swatches…but that would be a lie! I dug right in to trying deColourant on batik fabric to see if it would discharge the color well.
See? The color has lifted. I got a nice, clean discharge. Sweet! (By the way I used those Crafter’s Workshop Stencils for these first few examples.)
Next, I tried the deColourant Plus that promised to not only remove the color of the fabric and then also deposit a new color onto the fabric. For this sample, I used an inexpensive “quilter’s cotton”- a 100% cotton fabric printed with a mini print.
So..how do you know that it actually lifted the color and didn’t just color the top? You flip it over, of course!
Now, I noticed that you can also use deColourant on paper, too. So NOW I move on to the swatch test:
Top- from Left: Silk, metallic-printed cotton, polyester felt.
Middle-plain cardstock, black cardstock, Core’Dinations cardstock
Bottom- printed scrapbook paper, origami paper, kraft paper bag, mulberry paper.
As you can see, there is virtually no change in some- the printed scrapbook paper, the origami, the craft, and the silk were pretty much duds. But I loved the way the printed quilter’s cottons turned out. And I read online that if you vary the heat exposure time, you can get different shades. Cool!
I think this product has legs and will be fun for making some mixed-media art quilts. I have also read that there are metallic colors (copper, silver, gold) and in a spray form. I’m really itching to play with those, too. But for now, I can tell you that deColourant is a fun product and is certainly a far cry from working with bleaches- hooray!
So why did I include this product in my #GoGreen month? Because now I can up-cycled all of those ugly fabrics in my scrap bag- better to alter and recycle than to buy new. Or, you can take the tired old shirt or jeans and really alter them for a fresh new look! What would YOU use deColourant on?
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