community of dyers

Hello!
I've found some dextrin distributors in Italy. The potato dextrin isn't white but a yellow power (not white!). Indeed the corn dextrin is pre-gelatinized.

The vendor explained me the difference between corn dextrin and pre-gelatinized corn dextrin: the first one is obtained by the "overroast" of the starch, the second one is obtained by the "cooking" of the starch.

I cannot buy small quantities for a test but only 25 Kg bags.

Will they work?

Thanks!
Fabio

I have a dilemma... I have tried several times to use soy wax to do a batik resist on a silk scarf that was pre-dyed, then I over-dye with another color. Because the scarf is silk, I would normally nuke it to set the dyes, but since I have used soy wax to create the batik design, I am concerned that the wax will melt in the microwave. How can I heat set the overdyed area in this case? Should I allow the dye to dry, then just iron with newspaper to absorb the wax, as in other wax methods? I would love to hear from other dyers who use soy wax to dye silk. I am using Procion MX dyes, pre-soaking the scarf in soda ash.

Fascinating stuff!! Not sure how to embed this, maybe Paula can help.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UDsD5sQOF_A&feature=player_embedded

After the Batiking should I Fabric Paint or Thicken Dye to Paint?
Hi,
I have a little dilemma.
1. I prepare my garment (soda ashing and then completely hang drying) for dyeing.
2. I make a design and outline the design in a fabric color paint and brush batik wax in the design.
3. I use my pole for arashi and dye my garment by squirting two colors of dye on.
4. I leave the dye on for almost a whole day. Then I rinse the dye in cold water for awhile and then rinse it in a tub of hot water and get the wax off. And that works okay. I'm assuming I can only rinse out the dye one cold bucket at a time and get the wax off, one hot bucket at a time because the two garments have different dyes on them.

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.

My mom sent me some shirts to dye for her. Her only request was that they have something on the front of them, something other than a fish.

The first one I did using soy wax to draw the shapes of several different leaves. I started with a golden yellow, waxed, then LWI-dyed with fuchsia and a mixture from Dharma called oxblood, both Procion MX dyes.

Front:

Back:

Hello there...we are new to this forum and this is our first post so hello everyone!
We have been doing batik since learning from the great Rikki Power in Tioman island, Malaysia about 6 years ago. We use Remasol dyes and free hand paint our pieces on cotton which range from sarongs to dresses to cushion covers and wall hangs etc etc..
Anyway, we have always used sodium silicate to fix our pieces (as we were taught in Malaysia)...however, we always seem to have issues with it.. it isnt easy to source (we are based in Australia).... some potteries have it and there is a batik suppliers in Sydney, but is quite expensive to have it sent and the main problem is that it doesnt always work...even if ensuring the piece is 100%dry before putting in the solution and constantly "babysitting"it ...we have mixed results when taking it out...which is frustrating when you have spent hours on a piece only to find it ruined ....I know that the dyes can also be fixed by heat...so I guess the question is...do any of you know of a heat fixing machiene or a relatively simple way of heat fixing that could serve us (our pieces are sarong size and bigger) or of a sodium silicate solution that will work well everytime (we have tried many..I think the best one was from PQ silicates "N" solution, but its just the cost factor..about $15-$20 per litre..we need about 30 lts plus postage of at least around $100 or more)... I hope some of you have some suggestions..I attach some pics of our work and you can also see more at www.kontigobatik.wordpress.com.

Here's a shirt I did for my mom's birthday. First I batiked it with soy wax, heated to 270°F in the electric skillet I always use for batik wax, applying the wax with a tjanting for fine lines, and a natural-bristle house-painting brush for larger areas. I dyed it using the LWI technique with Procion type red MX-5B and ProChem's MX boysenberry, which I think is magenta MX-B, then, after washing out the wax in 150°F water with detergent, and drying, I drew on the butterfly details, freehand, using permanent fabric markers.

Finished shirt:

I've been screenprinting with presist over H dyes and it works well
and even seems to discharge color. Does anyone know if it's made from casava flour and if so, has anyone tried to make it? Does it work well as a print paste resist?

Hello, I would like to vat dye silk using the batik method. But I am having difficulty, as it seems the water temperature required to dye silk in a dye bath is too hot, and will melt the wax. Does anyone have any suggestions?
Thanks!

Hello.
Anyone out there ever experiment with a process mixing dyes with soy wax as a dye/resist in one step?

I've heard some interesting things, but don't know much of the particulars.

im trying some blue glue resist, and looking for any tips. i would like to put the glue on a shirt, then tie dye it. my questions are, can i apply glue to a wet shirt? should i worry about the glue melting in the microwave if it is touching other areas not resisted with glue? i'd like to do a bird design and tie dye a swirl. anyone tried this kind of thing? thanks

I hope I'm posting in the right spot. OK I bought several different types of needles. I am taking a white cotton/spandex t-shirt and drawing for example an S-design on it and stitching it up tight with nylon upholstry thread(doubled the strand)and the water went under the stitching so there ended up being no resist. Oh, and I used the LWI technique. Do you think its because of that? Should I just squirt the dye on using the bottles. I thought this would work with LWI too.
This has nothing to do with the thread resist but I tried the snow technique rinsing out a shirt in water put it in a tupperware and put it in the freezer for an hour.

I bought a couple tjaps to use for batik. In case you aren't familiar with them, more info is here: http://www.dharmatrading.com/html/eng/2224425-AA.shtml?lnav=tools_tjaps_copper.html
I've also used some cookie cutters to get outlines. They work well for stars, circles, etc. And used some sheet metal from the hardware store to make up my own shapes.

But other than premade ones, what have you used to stamp the wax on the fabric? I know Judy mentioned she has used some wood stamps.

Hey everyone,

Having read through countless articles on dye resists and dying in general I am completely stumped and need some help from you lovely people.

What I am after is a dye resist paste that is thick enough to screen print onto a t-shirt. I then want to hand dye that shirt and be able to wash the paste off leaving the original colour of the shirt showing. I want to screen print the paste because I am producing lots of shirts and want to keep the design consistant, plus some of my designs have a high amount of detail.

I've looked at Batik wax, discharge, rehance, bleach, but I want to find a solution that is DIY, 100% eco friendly, and easily accessible. Batik Wax is messy and cant be screen printed (to my knowledge), discharge isn't 100% effective on all colours or environmentally friendly, rehance is patented and wont release anything about it, and bleach destroys the fibres.

Hello, has anyone any information /experience of what happens with Jacquards green label dyes and water based resist, clear or coloured, when you immerse in the liquid fixative for 5 minutes.

This resist is water based does it then dissolve, spread.....

Any other info on using the green label dyes gratefully received.

I am gradually working my way up to steaming, I think, due to being fed up with loss of colour intensity in silk paints. Though I love their ease of use.

Thanks, Evam

I want to use thickened MX dyes on top of a flour paste resist but I'm afraid the dyes won't stay damp long enough to set. I'll use pre-soda soaked fabric and if y'all think it makes sense, I'll also put soda ash in my dye solution, plus I will try to roll the whole thing up and stick it in a huge ziploc baggie to batch, but does anyone more suggestions for not washing out the dyes when I wash out the paste resist?

I've lately been using my hand-dyed fabrics to make art cloth by using flour paste resists on them. It's been a blast and the results have been fascinating and beautiful. I hope I added the photos properly but if not, you can hop over my most recent blog post to read about it (http://approachable-art.blogspot.com/2010/04/no-this-one-is-my-favorite.html).

The orange(ish) fabric was done using textile paints to achieve a crackle effect. The pink(ish) fabric was done using thickened bleach to remove color rather than add it.

Is anyone doing snow-dying?
I've been going crazy with it, and snow makes a fantastic, though uncontrollable resist. Lots of fun!
I do have to wonder about why this works at all, given the extremely low temperature. Any ideas?

cheers,
Gisela

My question if about the proper rinsing steps when doing direct application and then immersion dyeing.

I am making some batik cotton shirts using the Dharma batik wax. I have been presoaking in soda ash and letting them dry then drawing on my pattern in wax. Then I hand paint part of the design (say the inside of a heart) red, let it dry completely then overwax the heart and immersion dye the shirt (maybe orange). I'm using procion dye concentrates made up with urea water and don't add soda ash since its in the shirt already. I then overwax the colored design and immerse in a lighter color I often get bleeding around the edges of (the heart) if I dye a lighter color.