Using Starch

[tweeds]

I wish i could quit you, DDML.

[tweeds]

sorry.

[Yet Fung]

I use spray on starch, but I don't wait for it to dry, I blow dry with cold/warm air depending on whether or not I'm afraid the denim will shrink. Then I repeat the process. It takes maybe 15 min, depending on if you're picky about where you spray and how drastic you want the wrinkles to be, you practically have to lunge to get those diagonal whiskers.

[__3xL]

I bought some cheap STF 501 to experiment . Got them new , soaked them in water few hours inside out and let them hang dry upside down/inside out few hours . Then I proceeded to put them on and wear them the rest of the day after 4 pm'ish until bedtime ( right side out ) ..

Then wore them a week or so and sprayed a heavy concentration of sugar and water onto them all over the front of the leg thigh area , knees and back of knees and entire bottom of cuff like 6 " up ..

WORKED GREAT ! The creases locked in and began to take on fading pretty quickly like after 2 weeks of me putting them every day after I got home about 4 pm until bedtime .

After a month I did another cold water soak this time 4 hours , agitated some repeated 2 hours hang dry to remove excess water and wore until sleep time .

repeated sugar water ( almost paste consitancy but still liquid ) and wore them another month before an actual soak and full dry . This time wetted the entire jean lightly and the high crease areas inside and out heavily and wore until dry .. Took a shower cause my skin was sticky icky and voila amother month later great lines everywhere I wanted ..

* Sugar Water - the budget starch alternative *

[botch]

Using sugar water seems like a good way to wake up to an ant colony in your jeans.

[mizanation]

looks like you've invented a new form of distressing. you have any pics?

[__3xL]

ants ? Wow - don't sleep outside dude ;-)

miz - unfortunately no I don't have pics of them "before"

While supertalk was down I went somewhat mad and pulled out my dremel multispeed and proceeded to "fine tune" a custom pair of jeans if you will .

I went to town with the wire brush and sanding drums and then wetsanded them with 400 grit in places .. So no "natural sucrose" creasing pics avail , but I had good results and will do it again with another test pair of stf ..

I really fugged up on two of the crease lines - didn't realize I went so far and the line itself has a distress tear on two creases .. Didnt happen til the final thorough hand wash thoguh where I was really squeezing them .

Here are the post dremel destruction photos if you guys wanna see how lack of supertalk.superdenim drives sane man mad ..

Another pic I just so happened to have in the same album .. Lot 53's I have had about 10 years now ..

[__3xL]

on a side note the reason I even thought about "sanding" the creases in is that I plan on washing them in hot water when I get around to machine washing and drying them . Thought to myself - " self , they are gonna fade like a mofo and blend better once you do dat "

What do you guys/gals think though ?

[mizanation]

the creases on the front look crazy. do you basically fold and sand on the crease cusp?

i think if you wash them, the creases will definitely meld in perfectly.

[denimdestroyedmylife]

i would soak them in a small amount of water to redistribute the indigo and even it out.

[__3xL]

DDML - Putting them thru hot water soak x 2 1 hur apart - 2nd round agitating every 10 mins .

thanks

[SLEEZY]

im not sure if this is the best place to post this since theres seems to be a few starch threads floating around but whatever.

Last night i researched some recipies for homemade starch, and decided to go with the easiest one which was boiling water with sugar and then dipping my jeans into the mixture after it cooled.

i first tested this method on the leg of an older pair of jeans that i dont like, just to see what would happen. for that test i used equal parts sugar to water. this method has been dubbed "candying" your jeans. (this is because its the same method used for candying fruits and other things at restaraunts for deserts)

it made them so hard they almost crack when i bend them.

its actually insane, they feel like sandpaper. i dont even think anyone would be able to wear a full pair of jeans done with this much sugar. also, up until they fully dried, they were sticky as fuck.

i then did a full pair of jeans which i copped from zara for real cheap after i took them in a bit, and used alot less sugar with a little extra water and let them dry over night.

even though i used alot less sugar they still came out extreamly hard, way harder than i wanted. i suppose with a little more experimenting with the sugar to water ratio, a desirable result could be achieved, but im told that simply getting liquid starch and mixing it with water and soaking your jeans is alot more effective and much less work.

just thought id share the experience with yall since it seems somewhat relivant.

i will get photos of the jeans i did this to when i find my cameras battery charger.

call it what you want..

Edited by SLEEZY on May 14, 2006 at 04:22 PM

[botch]

Aren't syrup coated jeans going to get sticky when any type of moisture comes in contant with them? Besides, starching looks horrible. Just buy pre-distressed jeans if you want unnatural contrasting.

[SLEEZY]

Quote:

Aren't syrup coated jeans going to get sticky when any type of moisture comes in contant with them? Besides, starching looks horrible. Just buy pre-distressed jeans if you want unnatural contrasting.

--- Original message by botch on May 14, 2006 04:45 PM

its not really syrup. it has potential to work quite well, but you are right, when they get wet they feel pretty weird and sticky. which is not tight.

i'll let yall know how they hold up over the next few days.

call it what you want..

[OGCmon]

STA-FLO, you can buy them by the jug at wal-mart.

[watchman]

Quote:

Spray on, Hang. Dry

If you what the whiskering behind the knees, just spray on (behind the knee) and sit kriss(that how you spell it) cross and watch tv for an hour.

--- Original message by Joe on Apr 30, 2006 04:42 PM

i stay doing that. I just watched a 3 hour movie cross legged for that reason haha

[obsessis]

am i the only one who thinks that soaking your jeans in sugarwater is dumb? starch isn't that expensive and works fine.

using starch doesn't make your jeans 'fake'. trying to use way too much starch and make your jeans look really old when they've only had them for a month is lame, though. fake creases suck. if you want to use a little starch to make your jeans creases set a bit easier, i understand that. carrying a can around so you can spray your jeans in front of people to look cool is a bit too much.

[__3xL]

Sugar water WAS starch before other starches became readily available .

I probably used 3-4 tablespoons per 8 oz of water though is all .

[Guest]

Sugar water has to be the silliest thing I've ever heard of. I'd have to question it's performance as well. I'm no chemist, but I believe sugars break down much faster than starches. A dip in sugar water isn't going to keep your jeans stiff for very long.

As for starch being cheating...I wear raw denim becuase I like the feel of it. I use starch to prolong that stiff raw dry feel as long as it's aesthetically feasible. As the jeans develop I taper off on the amount of starch used. Once any significant creases have begun to appear I put away the starch. Once the jeans really start coming on excessive starch can look a bit un-natural. Is it cheating? I don't think so.

Sand paper, a handfull of gravel, dremels??!! That's cheating. Numero Uno 3XL, I hope to hell you're not wearing your jeans when you apply a dremel. Any distress that occurs without your ass in the seat is definitely cheating.

[Old Geezer]

I not so sure sugar water was ever widely used as a laundry product. In the 18th century sugar was such a precious commodity it was kept under lock and key. Starch on the other had is made from corn, potatoes, etc. Not exactly rare or precious things.

[Old Geezer]

I not so sure sugar water was ever widely used as a laundry product. In the 18th century sugar was such a precious commodity it was kept under lock and key. Starch on the other had is made from corn, potatoes, etc. Not exactly rare or precious things.

[__3xL]

hear ya the 1st time Old Geezer :-)

I didn't mean 18th century day though I meant 1940's at home grandma's homemade starch recipe .

[obsessis]

grandma's homemade starch recipe should have been made with potatoes.

that is what is in potatoes....starch.

[SLEEZY]

regardless, i tried out the sugar water as an experiment to see if it would work and it did, it just worked a little too well. my jeans are so hard i can hardly wear them. with a better ratio it would work perfectly for starching your jeans.

if you think that its stupid, then dont do it. no big deal.

but if your curious to know if it works, the answer is yes.

also, everyone seems to think that when they get a little wet they will turn into syrup, this is not true..i splashed some water on my jeans that i had used sugar water on and they just got damp until they dried. i hope that this was informative for some.

any ideas for the next experiment?

call it what you want..

[derdankhund]

i wonder if the sugar canes have any sort of special affinity for sugar starch over regular...heh heh

probably not, but i sure would love to think so

"One must still have chaos in oneself to be able to give birth to a dancing star" - Nietzsche

[Guest]

Another starch recipe is to use a mixture of white glue that dries clear, like elmers, and water. I came across this when I found a professional cleaners dicussion thread about ways to heavy starch jeans and military uniforms. The person that posted the message referred to it as glue starch/PVA starch and he used it whenever a customer complained that their garment was not heavily starched or stiff enough (he claims no one complained a second time). Anyway, mix 1/4 to 1/2 ounce glue to 1 or 2 (or more) cups water. Put in a fine spray mist bottle, spray jeans VERY lightly, let starch soak in a few minutes, and iron. You have to iron - the heat sets this starch mixture. BUT use caution as this starch does not wash out easily and can make cloth board stiff - think plaster cast. Do not soak the cloth and iron. Also, it does not get stiff until it cools off after ironing, so make sure to let the jeans cool off before deciding to apply more. This really works well if you want a stiffer feel that does not wash out, but I did ruin a pair of pants and a pair of jeans when I first tried this because I applied the starch and ironed several times in a row to get a heavy starch feel and set them aside. I later found that they were board stiff. If you decide to try this I would recommend using a cheap pair of jeans first. If you want to set in creases, then iron and put the jeans on warm and wear them as they cool off.

[Guest]

I tried posting this last night, but it did not seem to work. So I'll try again. If you are wanting some experiments, give this one a try. I came across this on a professional cleaners discussion thread concerning heavy starching jeans and military BDU's. Obviously some people want super stiff jeans and BDU's and the cleaner was getting complaints that their heavy starch was not stiff enough. One person suggested PVA starch (or glue starch). He claimed that they used this for the customers that wanted a really stiff, heavy starch finish and they never had a repeat complaint of clothing not being stiff enough. Anyway, the mixture is white glue and water. Any white glue that dries clear (like elmers) will work. The mix was 1 ounce glue to 1 cup water (2 cups water worked better for me). Put in a fine mist spray bottle. Lightly mist the jeans/pants (barely dampen, do not soak the fabric). Let it soak in a couple of minutes. Iron. Unfortunately you have to iron because the heat sets the starch. The odd thing is that the starch does not get stiff until after it cools (but this might be an advantage if you want to set creases because you could put the jeans on while warm and let them set while wearing) And it is permanent - it will last through many washings. I've used this on some of my dress khakis to set the crease with great results. But be warned, if overapplied it will become board stiff (think plaster cast) and unwearable. If you try this please experiment with an old and cheap pair of pants or jeans and use less glue or more water in the first mix to find the result you like.

[ron]

PVA or glue starch. A couple of years ago I came accross a professional cleaners discussion on customer complaints that the heavy starch on their jeans/BDU's was not stiff enough. One cleaner said he used glue starch for these customers and never had another complaint about these items not being stiff enough. Basically mix 1 ounce elmers white glue (dries clear, not the wood glue) with 1 - 2 cups water. Put in a fine spray mist bottle. LIGHTLY spray area to starch, let soak in, and iron. You have to iron because the heat sets the starch. It does not get stiff until the fabric cools. I have tried this on dress khakis to set the crease and it does work, but you must be careful not to overapply the starch because it will set up like concrete (and yes I did make my first pair of pants unwearable). Because it sets up as it cools, it might work well to set the creases in the jeans - iron the jeans and wear them while the cool. But I would strongly recommend using a cheap pair of jeans first.

[watchman]

that seems risky. I'm glad i havent had a problem with regular spray starch yet, since im not going for stiffness as much as just putting a little on the honeycombs and whiskers.

[ron]

Quote:

that seems risky. I'm glad i havent had a problem with regular spray starch yet, since im not going for stiffness as much as just putting a little on the honeycombs and whiskers.

--- Original message by watchman on May 18, 2006 08:13 PM

I agree that it would be risky hence my warnings. But I guess I was intrigued to try it after I read it. And I certainly am not endorsing that anyone experiment with this.