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Are there Batik wax shortcuts

Hi Hi everyone,

I bought batik wax which comes in a tray. I haven't bought the applicator. I have a little slow cooker, and I think it may work to make the wax liquidy.

1. What do you think of the electric applicators and how do you fill the electric applicator with the hard batik wax. Do you break it and stick some in the applicator? And with an electric one, I'm assuming that you wouldn't need a slow cooker or electric fry pan. Is that correct.
DYEING:
2. MORE IMPORTANTLY, When I ordinarily do tie dye - I wait 1/2 a day, then, I just dump it in the cold water washing machine and use a little synthropol; and then dump it in a warm wash with a little synthropol and that works for me.
If I do the Batik resist and then dye it (my preferred is the pole shibori)and leave for many hours, then I have to rinse it (and not use the washing machine because pieces may come off) and that is a pain to rinse, and rinse and rinse and rinse. And then get the batik wax off by your different methods and after the wax is removed; I then wash it in warm water (and I'm assuming I can wash it in the washing machine -- because the wax is gone. Wow - that's a long process; especially the rinsing by hand.
So,question -- can it be done this way?
1. Do the soda ash rinse; and let dry. Do the Batik resist design. Dye the garment however I do - pole, folding, however. Keep the dye on for hours. Then use the Scunci Steamer (this is a hot steam to clean your house) to remove the wax (only I don't know How to remove the liquid wax after the steamer makes it liquidy (that part I don't know). Then handle the dyed garment like I did before (i.e. - washing in cold water with Synthropol; wash in warm water with Synthropol and then dry in dryer).

OR
Use the Elmers school blue gel glue to make the design and let dry -- then dye - does this really work -- or is it just for regular dyeing?
Those are my questions - thank you! yentakaren

By yentakaren at 2012-06-15 21:02 | Batik and resists | login or register to post comments | previous forum topic | next forum topic

batik wax choices

I don't know whether your slow cooker will be hot enough. It's not enough to just melt the wax; it has to be hot enough to really penetrate the fiber, between 220°F and 260°F (that's 104°C and 127°C). I know my slow cooker doesn't get as much above boiling as I need for a wax melter; it barely simmers the food I put in it (a simmer is a little below 212°F). I use a very cheap electric frying pan, too thin on the bottom to be good for cooking, but with a thermostat on the handle that has the temperatures marked. I usually set it to 230°F.

If regular batik wax is too much of a pain, then I recommend soy wax instead of Elmer's Blue School Gel. Elmer's can work, but I like the soy wax better. When working with Elmer's Blue Gel, you have to be very careful not to let any of the rest of the fabric touch the gel-coated areas, because it will transfer to any other fabric it touches, leaving unwanted areas of resist. It's best to lay the piece out flat to apply the dye, instead of immersion dyeing; do it like tie-dyeing, but without tying the fabric at all, just spread it out, and, if you're dying clothing, separate the back of the garment from the front with something waterproof (such as cardboard wrapped well in plastic wrap, or a plastic report cover) to keep the glue from transferring between the two layers of fabric. There have also been cases in which dyers have had extreme difficulties in removing the Elmer's Blue Gel afterwards, possibly (but maybe not) due to not using the temperature of wash water recommended on the label.

Soy wax behaves very much like real batik wax, and is melted in just the same way, but you can wash it out in a bucket with 140°F water and plenty of detergent to keep it solubilized as you dispose of it. I recommend doing this step by hand in a bucket or plastic dishpan before washing in the washing machine. If you just pop it into the washing machine, you can't be as sure to use enough detergent and can run up some very expensive bills if the wax settles somewhere and solidifies.

Soy wax is not quite as good as batik wax, in that it is more apt to wear away at the edges when immersed, but the great ease of washing it out, instead of melting it out, makes it preferably, anyway, in many cases.

If you do use batik wax, keep in mind that it is easier to melt a batik wax made with paraffin and natural beeswax than it is to melt one made with paraffin and synthetic microcrystalline wax; this is because the synthetic microcrystalline wax has a higher melting temperature than natural beeswax.

If you use a clothes steamer to melt out your wax, I think you will need to have some absorbent material handy to catch the wax, like the layers of newspapers used to absorb wax while ironing out wax (my least favorite way to remove wax).

It's not too bad to use batik wax (whether natural or synthetic), rinse out excess dye with cool water, then put the waxed item in your large dyeing pot with water and real liquid soap (such as Dr. Bronner's liquid castile soap) or grated real soap (not the detergent bars most of use use in the bath) and heat the water until the wax floats off. Then you have to wait for the wax to cool, though, so it doesn't get back on the fabric when you remove it from the water. Leave your batiked fabric in the pot until the water cools.

-Paula

By pburch at Sat, 2012-06-16 07:10 | login or register to post comments

Batik Wax Choices

Hi Paula,

Then if I can conclude - it seems that Batik wax made with paraffin and beeswax is the best choice (which I don't have). What about the electric applicator? Are those good? Or if I get little the electric fry pan, what kind of applicator should I use? I'm assuming you can use the wax over and over again. How much wax should I put initially in the fry pan.

I looked at my batik wax and it is parafin and microcystalline - so that's not really good. I guess I should return it - I don't need another problem (not being hot enough.) I guess I'll get it on line.
It looks like if I use Batik wax (which seems to be the best choice), I am going to have to rinse out my garment from the dye in a tub of water and I'm assuming until it's clear from dye and then wash it (or just put it in) by hand in the sudsy real soap water and then let it cool until the wax rises to the top and then remove the wax from the water. I have a big tub and realize that when I was previously rinsing my garment from the dye, I was rinsing in a gallon tub of water and maybe that's why it took so many rinses and I would have to keep on emptying it. I will wash it in my big tub (bigger than a baby tub) and maybe it will be easier. I don't have a "dyeing pot" that can be heated so I will have to get one from Good Will or someplace like that (maybe I can get the electric fry pan there as well).

So I can put the batiked garment in soapy water that I heat until the wax rises to the top and let that sudsy water cool? How do I know that ALL the wax has risen and there's not some left?

Oh, when I use the batik wax, what should I put in the middle of the front and back of the garment (a cookie sheet or something like that?) to make sure that it doesn't go through to the back?

Thanks.
Karen

By yentakaren at Sat, 2012-06-16 10:37 | login or register to post comments

more on batik wax

The batik wax mixture, with microcrystalline wax, is fine if you're melting out the wax in a couple of gallons of hot water, and let the wax solidify before you remove the fabric from the pot. Go ahead and use it, since you have it already.

You need to have enough wax in the melting pot for it to be deep enough to be able to dip your tjanting easily, so a wider pot means you need more wax. Important: the tjanting and brushes will slip down into the wax unless you make a bump on the handle of the tjantings and brushes to prevent this. (Imagine absent-mindedly reaching down into the pot for the fallen brush and getting a horrible burn!) I am sorry to say that I do not remember who thought this up, but a great way to prevent this is to wrap masking tape around and around the handle of each brush or tjanting, wrapping each layer exactly on top of the previous one, until you have a thick ring of masking tape on the handle to serve as a stop to keep the applicator from sliding down into the pot. See, you can't just dip a room-temperature tjanting or brush into the wax without cooling it off some, so it is better to leave the tjanting or brush in the wax long enough to warm up, with the handle resting on the edge of the pot.

I always just use a regular tjanting and a small natural-fiber housepainting brush. I actually have one of the electric applicators in a box somewhere, but I never use it, and I don't even remember why not. It might just be for the very stupid reason that I'm not in the habit of using it. I think you can't just put chunks of wax into it, but have to dip it into the melted wax as with any tjanting. That was a disappointment to me.

You don't have to get all the color out before heating the garment to get the wax out. The last little bit of excess dye will come out in the hot water. It won't permanently stain the rest of the garment if you make sure it's had enough time to react thoroughly, to the point that every bit of the dye has had time to react with either the fabric or the water. Non-reactive dye that stains unwanted areas can be removed with hot or boiling water.

It's pretty obvious when the wax has risen to the top. Stir your fabric around a bit to make sure none is stuck inside. You don't have to bring it up to a boil, in spite of the way we say "boiling the wax out". The wax all comes out at a temperature below boiling, maybe 180°F.

Be sure that the dyeing pot you buy is not made of aluminum. Aluminum reacts with soda ash and also reacts with vinegar, so it's no good for dyeing in. But if you find a huge aluminum pot really cheap, you can use it just for boiling out wax, and not use it for dyeing. Aluminum is fine for just removing wax; it's only if you want to use the same pot for applying any sort of dye that aluminum is a problem.

You can buy an enameled canning pot for dyeing in. The cheap ones are usually black with white flecks. If it has a rusty scratch on the inside, you can repair it by painting it with heat-resistant epoxy paint, such as that sold for use on stoves. This is not a good idea for any pot you will use for cooking food, but it's fine for a dyeing pot.

A cookie sheet makes a fine surface between the front and the back of a shirt while you are applying wax. Although we shouldn't use dye on our cooking tools, wax is okay even on things you will use to cook with again. I've used cookie sheets for adult size shirts and cake pans for baby size garments. It is okay to use aluminum for this, since wax doesn't react with metals the way soda ash does.

One more detail: the wax will drip from your tjanting and fall where you don't want it to on the fabric you are waxing. Hold the tjanting or brush in one hand, and hold a rag ready in your other hand. As you move the tjanting or brush across your surface, have the rag in the way to catch any drops until you get to where you want the wax to fall. Tilting the tjanting a bit sideways slows the fall of the wax, but there will be unwanted drops now and then, anyway, so always work with a rag or something in your other hand to catch drips.

-Paula

By pburch at Sun, 2012-06-17 11:41 | login or register to post comments

Thank you!

Hi Paula,

As always, your comments are concise, informative, and user friendly. Thanks! Karen

By yentakaren at Sun, 2012-06-17 14:38 | login or register to post comments

Weighing garment down; and cleaning brushes

Hi - I have 3 questions:

1. When you do the process - hot water & soap to get the wax off, do you weigh the garment down at that time, or swish it around some (and how much time is "some) and then weigh it down to cool?

2. When you weigh the garment down, I'm assuming that you are putting the weight under the tee-shirt on the back side or on the edges of the garment so that the garment can flow freely. Am I getting this part correct?

3. How do you clean the brushes that have the wax on it?

By yentakaren at Sat, 2012-06-23 10:07 | login or register to post comments

removing wax after batik

1. Swish it around until it seems to me that the fabric no longer has hard wax on it, then weight it down if necessary while waiting for the water to cool.

2. Mostly just keeping the shirt out of the wax layer while it cools.

3. Leave some wax in the brushes to harden, or even, if it seems more convenient, leave the brushes in the wax as it hardens. You will never get them clean again, ever, but you can melt the wax next time you do batik and reuse them many times. You can wipe off molten wax while the brushes are still hot, if you want to change wax types, but there will always be some trace of wax on them. Use separate brushes for batik wax than you use for dye painting or anything else.

-Paula

By pburch at Sun, 2012-06-24 11:53 | login or register to post comments

Removing Batik Wax

yentakaren

Thank you Paula. I took the brush (because I hadn't received the answer yet), and I put it in water with a teeny bit of soap that had been boiled and the wax did come out. But it is probably a step that isn't necessary and just another "thing" to do since I will use it again the same way.

By yentakaren at Mon, 2012-07-02 07:54 | login or register to post comments

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