Toothpaste Batik

by Jackie
(UK)

This craft project is a toothpaste batik I made from some old kitchen muslin, cheap toothpaste, aloe vera gel and acrylic paints that were a present.

Instead of the lengthy process you get with wax batik, this is one that is so easy and can be done by children as well.

Draw out your design, with a mixture of 50/50 toothpaste and gel using an old applicator bottle if you can; something with a squeezy tip/nozzle. You could try using aloe vera gel straight from a plant but you might ruin it, unless you have large leaves, depending on how much you need?!

Leave to dry overnight.

After it has dried overnight, paint with a medium of your choice - I used acrylic paints that I'd been given but oil, watercolour paint tubes and poster paints work equally well, and tempera paints do too.

If you have no ink or paints, you could use food colouring.

If you don't have muslin, you can use thin fabric or mesh that can be pulled tight for a surface to work on; heavy or really stretchy fabric might not be so good.

Once finished, brush off all the toothpaste which leaves the white border.

Try things out first on test pieces, it might work for you e.g. different fabrics or try using just the toothpaste?