community of dyers

Hi, I want to tie dye a pair of socks using resist, I want to leave an image or spot white, but I am not sure how to do it.

I know how to apply the resist according to the instructions, but my question is:
After the resist has dry how do i soak the socks in the soda ash water?

Doesn't the wax comes off?

Thanks

Just wondering if anyone knew a way I could prevent the logo of the sock from not getting dyed? I know we could tie it off but its so small and theres so many of them. I'm looking for a method thats fast and effective. I have 1440 socks to dye for a small business and they want the logo to show. Any Tips?

Dear Dyers!
I'm about to start a rather complex batik-overdyeing project, and want to make sure I get it right!
The piece will involve beeswax (no crackling effect whatsoever) and overcoloring of procion dyes (probably 6-8 layers) with waxing steps in between each new dyeing, on medium grade cotton.

So I was wondering:

1. The wax: beeswax/paraffin ratios are usually given in order to get the crackled effect. This I do not want. So obviously that means use more beeswax, but I am interested if the ratio will still make any difference: should I go for pure beeswax, or still add some paraffin and how much? How will the ratio at this end of the spectrum affect the viscosity (I'm using tjanting) or penetrativeness of the wax? Or it's resistance to the repeated dyeing, rinsing, and soda ash immersion?

Hi, I'm a new dyer and batiker- I've done very simple one color designs with the batik wax so far. Then I decidided to try the soy wax- when I waxed an outline on a shirt then put it in the soda ash for 15 minutes the wax melted off- rats....
My next try was to soda ash the shirt, let it dry thoroughly, draw the design on with the wax and dye portions of it with the procion dyes using syringes etc.. The design was on a white shirt and looked so good! I let it dry but when I rinsed it out in hot water the dyes ran onto the rest of the white shirt and I couldn't rinse them off!-

I ran into difficulties with my first attempt at soy wax batik, last week. The lines of wax did not penetrate as well as beeswax/paraffin did for me, or else they were too thin and soaked away in the cold water. It's been a while since I last did this, so I'll have to try again with the traditional wax to make sure whether it's the materials or if instead it's just me.

Here's the shirt, another in my fish series, which I dyed as a gift for a friend:

can i make sodium alginate thick enough to use as a resist?

i'm trying to develop a homemade resist for silk painting (etc) that isn't mind-bogglingly complex like japanese rice paste.

i'm not interested in using wax.

i tried blue glue. it wouldn't come out until i'd already boiled the dye away.

i tried tapioca starch. it didn't resist at all, and wouldn't come out without serious scrubbing.

i've heard about flour paste for use with small kids, but haven't tried it.

Hey this is my first post, I have really enjoyed lurking and gaining advice and inspiration for new projects from all of dyers out there. I have been batking for a year now and I generally like the imperfect lines that the tjanting provides, but I have a design I need to be perfectly symetrical so I think the way to do that would be to make a stamp for batik? I was wondering if this would work and also how to make a batik stamp. Thanks in advance for your responses!Peace- Dorrie

Hi there...

I'm planning on doing some simple batik for kids shirts. My mother-in-law gave me a set of Dylon Cold Dyes with the Fixative they provide. I'm wondering if it's OK to pre-soak my shirts in water/fix and allow them to dry before beginning to batik? I don't want to mix the fix in with the dyes so the shelf life will be longer (since I'm just doing hand painting on kids shirts I won't be using a ton of dye at a time and don't want to waste it by activating). I know that my brush will pick up trace amounts of the fixative as I work, so I will be sure to pour a bit of dye at at time off the main batch to dip the brush in.

I'm posting my latest attempts with wax printing. I made stamps from polyurethane foam, wax temperature is OK with it.
My struggle with getting wax out is still too much energy consuming - maybe I should switch to another wax. And I haven't solved yet where to dispose melted wax.
I scratch the wax out mechanically first - what a mess! Then iron it over stack of old newspapers, then hot water. HATE IT!

I have some questions about fixing dyes with a view to re-use the dyes for both economical reasons and environmental reasons, but am unsure about the effect of the soda ash on the wax. All my previous batik work was dyed with dylon and framed behind glass so this wasnt really an issue. I have now invested in some Procion dyes and wish to create pieces that can be washed afterwards without running.
I have searched on the internet but it seems that I will be unable to re-use my dyes after I have added soda ash to fix the colour because this will eat away at the wax. Is there anyway in which I can fix the work in a soda ash solution after the piece is finished to avoid mixing it with my dye, or can I brush a soda ash solution onto the work after each step and rinse it before starting the next waxing phase and still achieve good results?

I noticed in the poll regarding resists that Elmer's Blue Gel Glue is very popular. I'd like to try this method with Procion dyes and Superclear thickener. (If you haven't tried this thickener, it's terrific).

Can anyone please direct me as to how to incorporate a dye fixative with the dye powder and thickener mix or if there is a fixative I can apply after painting? Many thanks!

S. Jackson
http://jacksonfabricarts.com
JacksonFabricArts.etsy.com

I just found this snapshot of my favorite t-shirt ever:

It's just a single waxing followed by LWI dyeing with Procion MX type dyes. I

OKey Dokey. I dont know so much its scarey. But yet, I have confidence!

I am doing a prayer shawl on raw silk. I have drawn my pattern onto the fabric. What I want to do is put the outline of the pattern on the silk, dye it blue, then add more wax and dye it blue again. Repeat multiple times. I would like to brush the dye on.

I would like to have varying shades of blue, but using only one dye - so section A would have only white (fully waxed) section B would be light blue (one dying) section C would be medium, etc. I would like the final shade to be a very rich blue.

So. Here are the questions:

How necessary is it to use a frame for batiking? I have been doing small designs on small pieces of fabric (the largest fabric has been about about 22"x22") without any frame at all. It seems to be working fine, but maybe I'm missing out on something...everything I read says you're supposed to stretch your fabric onto a frame of some sort.

Does anyone know where I can buy some Magic Batik Resist? I've never used it, but I understand that it behaves the opposite of was. It's liquid when it's cold and solid when it's hot. I've been using natural dyes and they need to be boiled. I would like to be able to do some batik with these...

The ingredients used in dying seem to vary depending on what kind of dying you are doing. I would like to do some hot water dying using ingredients that i simply know as sulphur, caustic soda and dyes. Could you please steer me in the right direction? what is the correct name for sulphur(the stinky, powdery, white substance used to activate the dye in hot water)? I found causic soda (in flakes form) in a hardware store but is it the right product? Where do i find quality powder dyes that produces a very strong color even with a minute amount of powder. remember i need this for hotwater tie dying and batik.

I've been experimenting with dying Cordura, a type of nylon. Using Jacquard acid dyes, the results have been promising. I'd like to be able to batik, but I'm afraid that either the paraffin will melt during the dying process or worse, I won't be able to melt out the wax at a temperature that won't damage the nylon. Will paraffin be alright or should I look into another form of resist?
thanks

Paula, I am especially posting this for you. As you know, I have been working with soy wax for the past few months, and mentioned in an earlier post that it seems to be a good thing to try for those who are uncomfortable with how to remove the wax once they have dyed using regular batik waxes. I can't say enough about how easy it is to use the soy wax, and I am thrilled with the results I am getting. Here is a shirt I just finished, and it came out even better than I hoped:

I started out by dyeing the shirt using LWI, then traced the leaves on, waxed, and overdyed with several browns using LWI again. I did 3 shirts in a batch (one just LWI) and all came out great. If you haven't had a chance to try the soy wax, I hope you get an opportunity soon!

Hello, I have just started batiking. On a trip to Phuket, Thailand, the resort we stayed at offered a batik painting project. (They had the designs drawn already. All you had to do was paint it, then they did the rest.) I enjoyed it, but wanted to create my own designs!

So I found a Chinese lady here in Singapore who was willing to teach me. But I'm very frustrated with the wax dripping! I think these Indonesian made tools hold some wax between the metal bowl and the wood handle, and even after blotting, it drips (I don't even see it coming!)

So I'm thinking about getting an electric cjanting tool, but before I spend the money, I want to make sure it will accomplish what I expect it to. What I'm expecting, is that I will still melt the wax in a bowl on a hotplate, but then I will put the melted wax in the electric cjanting tool which will keep the wax hot for a longer period of time (allowing more working time before refilling) and (most importantly) since the tool is not dipped into the wax, there is no wax on the outside of the tool to drip all over my work.

found on YouTube