Can Gutta Be Coloured For Painting On Silk?

I’ve received questions from Students who have asked, “Can Gutta Be Coloured For Painting On Silk?”

And my answer was a resounding, “YES! ABSOLUTELY!”

Over the years I’ve done this many times, creating amazing coloured outlines.

PS – I’m an Aussie using UK spelling for “colour” – whereas the US spelling is “color” – I love our differences 🙂

Looking for a Course to learn HOW? Visit this page: https://howtopaintonsilk.gumroad.com/l/outliner

Here are a few examples of outlines I’ve created:

Black outlines below and bookmarks I hand-painted and laminated before selling:

Hand-painted silk bookmarks by Teena Hughes

Orange outlines on the crocodile wallhanging below:

Wall art example - Day 3 of 5-Day Art Marketing

Black outlines shown below are thin around the clouds, and then thicker around the island:

How to create moving images of silk

The ballerina below had multiple layers of colours and I used white outlines for interesting effects:

My Frida Kahlo painting below had black outlines:

Frida Kahlo hand-painted on silk by Teena Hughes

The flower design below has yellow outlines filled with yellow steam-set silk dye to create a strong effect:

Yellow outline created by Teena Hughes

Important Silk Dye Information!

If you are using other brands of Gutta or outliners, I highly recommend you create a very small SAMPLE DESIGN and mix a very small amount of Gutta with the coloured DYE added to it.

Please note — I don’t use any other brands of Gutta, so I’m not able to provide specific instructions for YOUR type of Gutta and dyes.

The only colours which I have USED to add colour to RESISTAD are:

steam-set SILK DYES

The only colours which I have TRIED AND RECOMMEND are:

steam-set SILK DYES, because that’s what I prefer to paint with.

If you add any other type of coloured DYE or PAINT, they may wash out after steam-setting, or they may make a huge mess, so don’t do it – unless you want to experiment with a small silk design first.

If so, make notes in your Silk Adventures Journal to remember for the future.

Quick bit of history …

Gutta is the original outlining product used for silk painting since the early 19th century, and was traditionally gum-based (sticky, sometimes hard to remove). Over the years, there are now newer versions, including several water-based versions.

Different versions of outliners and Guttas have been used by professional silk artists for many years, and depending on the thickness of the silk, and how it is applied, they may have had different results.

RESISTAD (only one R in Resistad) is water-based and was invented by a New Zealand chap named John Mitchell, and his business was Procolour. He sold his Resistad Formula to Jacquard Products, and they now manufacture it and sell it. Yes, you can add coloured silk STEAM-SET DYE to Resistad to make new colours for outlining, which I did for many years.

It’s very simple to TEST each “resist” or outliner on:

different “thicknesses” of silk
using different thicknesses of outlines, to work out which one is BEST for you and whatever you wish to create.

Start experimenting, make notes of your results, and do let me know how you get on 🙂

PS – I have an online course all about this 🙂

Visit page: https://howtopaintonsilk.gumroad.com/l/outliner

Did this answer your question about how colouring Gutta outlines?

I hope so – if you still have questions, please do get in touch and let me know if you’d like more explanation about anything I’ve mentioned above, I’d love to help you. Here are a couple of easy ways to reach out:

contact me by writing an email
contact me on Facebook
contact me on Youtube
send me a voicemail on my website – there is a long pink button on the right hand side of the screen