Batiking?

[Rosal]

I want to batik a borring grey hoddie I have...Can I just use a candle instead of buying tons of fancy equipment? I just want dots, nothing too detailed.
And dyeing tips or tricks? I'm a noobie.

[lizzymahoney]

Yeah, you can use the candle. For best control of the wax, warm it slowly just until the last bits are opaque in the pot (should be a double boiler). They'll continue to melt. Then with a spoon or a paint brush, and a rag held beneath it to catch any drips, apply to the areas you want to keep the original color.

If you've used fabric softener, you may have a little trouble penetrating the sweatshirt fleece. I think if you wash it with a cup of vinegar it will cut the softener residue though.

When the wax is cool you can dip in a cold dye bath.

To get the wax out after the color is set, use lots of newspaper covered by kraft paper or papertowels and a low heat iron. Iron the hell out of it, and keep sopping the wax, moving to new areas of the paper.

You will still have a halo of wax around the resist area unless you've really covered your piece with it. Dry cleaning will get that out, but once you've melted most of the wax it generally feels okay to wear, not stiff or anything.

If you meant to just drip the lit candle over the shirt, yeah, that will work too, but you will definitely have way less control and may get sooty marks from the wick staining your shirt.

[DivineMsEm]

Thanks for listing the instructions on making batik. I am loving batik right now and would love to learn to batik myself.

I have been amazed by the prices of some of the batik kits for sale.

[patchwork suzy]

anothwer tip for those who might not know- you can buy regular old paraffin wax at the supermarket. it would be sold by the canning/kitchen stuff. it's super cheap and better than using up all your candles. (beeswax isn't cheap...but it smells yummy.)
you don't need fancy tools either...a double boiler needs to be nothing more than an old tin can in a pot of hot water...
a tjanting tool is wonderful to have and will allow you to do fairly intricate designs...but you can use anything to draw with wax...the only difference is ease of use and "running out" of wax constantly. one of these days i am going to make my own tool - with the handy-dandy resevoir and nice drawing tip...hmmm.
have fun batiking!

[Rosal]

I have ten tons of sheet metal laying around, some pliers and stuff...let's make a tjanting tool!
I'll update on my progress. It might be kinda freaky looking cause I've never seen one .

[lizzymahoney]

If I can find mine, I'll photo it. Probably next to the hot wax writing tool for pysanky (decorated eggs). Haven't used them in years though.

For the djanting or tjanting pen, the reservoir is perhaps a 1/2 inch diameter cylinder that is about one inch long and capped. The open end is sealed on the usually wooden handle. There's a hole on the top side of the cylinder for scooping up wax. Oval works better than round, but about pencil width is good. Then on the bottom, a cone of metal (mine have always been brass) is soldered to a hole there. The tip is open, but not by a lot.

The pysanky tool is simpler. Small brass cone, open tip, handle to hold the brass cone. The cone scrapes up some soft beewax, and you melt it near a hot flame. Only takes seconds, but you are using very small amounts of wax at a time.

[lizzymahoney]

http://www.surmastore.com/order.html

pysanky stuff, look down the page for drawings of the tools.

http://www.aubijoux.com/Magazine-Tarifs/Mag14-Page11.pdf

this is a French pdf. I hate pdf while multitasking, but they have an image of a djanting pen.

[flossdaily]

It's too bad hot glue guns can't be altered to accomodate wax. As in, wax sticks to go in the gun...... but I'm guessing that it wouldn't get hot enough to melt?? or would it?
_________________
the world is an apple
i shall not eat
but instead cut up
and serve sweet

[Rosal]

a wax gun would be awsome. I never did make the tool thingy...I haven't even made the hoodie yet. I am so horribly lazy. *Apolagises.* I am thinknig of dyeing it and then going after it with a clorox bleach pen.