Technical Deep Dive: Gutta Resist Painting
About the Technique
What is Gutta? Is this the same as Batik?
If you’ve never tried silk painting before, gutta is a tree sap-based medium used to draw a (traditionally) clear (in my case, black) outline on the fabric. Think of it like a barrier — it holds the color inside each shape, kind of like a coloring book. Once it dries, you can paint right up to the lines, and the dye will stay contained without bleeding.
There are a few types of gutta out there. Some are solvent-based (which give you super crisp lines but have a bit of a smell), and some are water-based (easier to clean up, but not always as sharp). I’ve been using a solvent-based gutta with a fine tip applicator because it gives me more control when I’m working on detailed designs - and always keep my studio windows open to air it out!
Gutta and Batik are similar, but not the same — both use a resist to keep colors separate — but Batik uses melted wax instead of gutta, which is made from tree sap. After painting, Batik wax is usually melted and removed, while gutta usually stays on the fabric.
If you’ve been following my Instagram and TikTok for the past few months, you’ve definitely seen the process of making my viral stained glass dress.
It has certainly been a learning process - from messing around with the exact placement of the motifs to mixing the dye colors and figuring out the proper setup for the best saturation of color, there were lots of factors to troubleshoot. Luckily, figuring it out, fixing mistakes, and researching ways to imrpove my technique is my favorite part of the process - so after about 50 hours of work on this dress, I finally feel like I nailed it.
Instead of spending 50 hours figuring it out for yourself, steal my techniques for just $6 ;) Excited to share this deep dive with you on exactly how I acheived the effect I was going for, and some tips for your future silk painting projects!
The Ingredients List
Silk Organza
Watercolor paintbrushes