batik tips

[Janine]

Can anyone who does batik answer questions and give tips here?
My first question is, is it possible to use those electric wax pots meant for body waxing to melt wax to do batik?

[Janine]

with my first attempt, the type of dye I am using I didn't realise that I needed to add a thickener to it for batik. It looked sort of ok, but I think my next attempt will be better once I use that thickener. The needle felted bear on my page had some batik in the background, but I needle felted silk fibers over it because it didn't come out as good as I would have liked. It is a fibre reactive dye that one can fix in the microwave.

[Janine]

Has anyone ever combined tie dye (or shibori) with batik and if so which step is better to do first.. the batik or the tie dye.. or both at the same time?

[Janine Maves]

How confusing it is to me to find another Janine here!

I've had good luck with soy wax, but have overheated it using my hot plate. I'm going to keep my eye out for an electric skillet. The only trouble I've had is the way it hangs in the air and smears up my bifocals!

[Janine]

Thanks all. I got a new electric skillet on sale for a great price. Here is my entry on my current experience with batik.
This past Sunday I took a workshop in Modern Batik.
I want to share this because it is possibly the easiest way of doing batik.
I would always suggest starting with a book. One I have is called " Creative Batik" by Rosi Robinson.
In my workshop they showed me that one does not have to go through fussy dye mixing to do the batik. All you need to do is buy the powder MX dyes and put a tiny amount on an old plate or palette and just dip the wet brush in some dye and add a tiny bit more water, then just apply it to your penciled out design on the cotton.
Now, they didn't teach us to pretreat the fabric with a fix soloution to bind the dyes to it. They don't because they say it can just be framed behind glass. Everything else I read said it is important to fix the dyes to the fabric so that your piece will last. Also if you want to stretch your work over canvas rather than framing it, it is important to fix the dyes.
The book I mentioned explains a very simple way you can do this. If you are just working by dipping the brush in water and powdered dye, then you can just follow the Soda Ash recipe in the book and brush it over your cotton before applying the dyes. After doing your initial colours, you start blocking those areas out with bee's wax or parafin wax (see book for details), and then go back to add more colours.
Another unique thing I learned in this course that I haven't seen in other forms of batik is that once all the dyes are applied (they say never use the word paint when doing batik) and have dried, and you have ironed off all the wax, you then take india ink and ouline your details.
In traditional batik outlines are defined with the wax and come out the white colour of the cloth, so I find this method really great, especially since I like outlining details in black in my work anyway. Next weekend I will be doing the india ink step. I will post an image of it once it is done.

[Diana Bracy]

Janine thanks for all of the tips. I am almost ready to start some form of batik here and your methods are simpler. I will order the book. I am looking forward to seeing a photo of your work. Diana

[Anne Marie Desaulniers]

Janine,

It's interesting that David is now using the MX dyes. When I took a workshop with him (several years ago), he was only using Dylon dyes, I suggested that he check out G&S Dyes for the Procion MX. I guess this means that he did. I took the class, did one piece, purchased all the equipment (small rice cooker, the wax, the dyes, india ink) and then never did anything else with it. I hated the wax removal step. Anyway, I look forward to seeing your pieces. Perhaps it will encourage me to use some of the supplies. BTW, the Dylon dyes don't need the soda ash and they are pretty cheap. David had us draw our design on the fabric and then colour one section at a time with the dyes. When that section was dry, you basically painted over it with the melted wax. Then you could work on the next section and so on, and so on. You are actually painting with the dyes. The wax acts as a resist. The india ink looks great, but be careful if you're using a nib. It's easy to blob!!!! Ask me how I know? LOL! If I was planning on doing more of this, I would probably purchase the technical pen he recommended (if I could remember the name of it).

Anne Marie - Toronto

[Diana Bracy]

Hi Anne Marie, would the tool be Tjanting? Thanks for the additional information. Diana

[Anne Marie Desaulniers]

Nope! It was a pen that had india ink cartridges. I believe it was in the $100 range, but could be purchased cheaper, if you were lucky, at some of the bargain basement type art supply stores (Janine might remember the name if David said something in the class). I really haven't done enough work with the ink to be, how shall we say, tidy. I seem to remember some big blobs on my work. Of course, I then made it into a design statement, so all was not lost. That piece never did get finished off. My idea was that I was going to layer and then stitch the hell out of it. It's sitting in a drawer. Sigh! BTW, isn't the Tjanting tool used for very fine wax lines?

Anne Marie - Toronto

[Diana Bracy]

Yes, the tool is for waxing and they do have different sizes. I wondered if this could also be used for ink Thanks, Diana.

[Janine]

Outlining a batik in india ink or thickened black dye produces great results. Will post photos soon.