Dextrin is any starch (corn, potato, complex polysacharrides) that
has been roasted until approximately golden brown (sometimes in the
presence of acids). It's used as a binder in pyrotechnic
formulations, as an adhesive paste (wallpaper), fabric sizing, as an
adjunct in brewing, or GRAVY!
Place Argo corn starch and spread it out in a think layer on a cookie
sheet and bake in the oven at ~400 deg. F for several hours, mixing
occasionally, until a golden brown. But, frankly, I don't think you
need to go to this much trouble.. just make cooked corn starch paste
as outlined below.
You can also buy various dextrins at brewing supply houses. YMMV.
As a suggestion for keeping the paper from drying in a wrinkled
fashion, pre-shrink the paper as a watercolor artist does prior to
using watercolor paper by first soaking it in water, then taping it
to MDF with 2" wide gummed paper tape, then maybe add your dextrin
mixture with a spray bottle set on fine mist.
see this link for how to pre-stretch watercolor paper:
http://painting.about.com/library/blwcpaper.htmYes, the starch that is in fabric starch is the same as the argo
cornstarch that is used in food - I contacted Argo. I starch my own
shirts and cannot get laundry starch (the ole-timey kind that you
cook) at the groc. store anymore, so I use food grade cornstarch
(basically passes through a finer mesh). My mixture, which would
probably serve well as a starch for TT is as follows:
Bring 2 cups of water to a boil. stir 1/2 cup of cornstarch into 1/2
cup of COLD WATER until smooth. stir this cold mixture into the
boiling water ... stirring constantly. Cook until the starch
thickens. If you need a thicker mixture, just make up a little more
COLD starch/water mixture to add to the boiling mixture. If you try
to stir cornstarch straight into hot water, you'll never get it
smooth... it makes lumps: always add to cold water then the mix to
hot water.
Also, the spray starch that you get in the cans is NOT what you're
looking for... it relys on the heat of the iron to "thicken" the mix
while ironing. If you just spray it on paper it will still just be
little grainy bits of starch. Use the cooked method above for a
transluscent paste (of variable viscosity depending on starch/water
ratio) that will suit your needs very well. The overspray has
clear-coated the walls in my apartment where I iron my shirts -
exactly what you guys are looking for.
Just some thoughts from someone who uses a helluva lotta cornstarch.
Gardner
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