Cotton Discharge
Discharging color with bleach is simple and requires few materials.
100% cottons perform the best as synthetic fabrics are not affected
by the bleaching action. Bleach can be mixed 50/50 with water and sprayed
or poured onto fabric. Fabric can be tied and bundled and submerged
in bleach solution to yield discharged tie dye effects. The directions
below are for preparing a thickened paste that can be stamped, painted,
stenciled or silk screened onto fabric. Monagum is available from fiber
art supply companies, such as Pro
Chemical & Dye.
 Thickened
Bleach Recipe:
1/2 cup warm water
3 tablespoons monagum
1/4 cup cold chlorine bleach
Place bleach in refrigerator to chill. Blend first two ingredients with
a wire whisk or hand mixer until they form a very stiff paste, place
in refrigerator until cold. When ready to use pour cold bleach into monagum
paste and mix until completely smooth.
Once
the bleach has been applied you need to monitor the discharge
process until enough color has been removed to suit your taste.
This can take just a few seconds to several minutes. When the
fabric looks good to you, submerge it in a bucket full of water
to stop the bleaching action. Rinse and then wash in detergent
to remove all traces of the bleach.
 That's
it! It's interesting to experiment with lots of fabrics as they all discharge
differently. Blacks will often bleach to browns, purples or pinks. Some
colors will bleach to white and some will not. This technique also works
beautifully with 100% Rayon fabrics, but will destroy silk fibers. To
discharge silk a product such as Thiox is applied and left to dry. The
fabric is then steamed to activate the discharge action.
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