Trying to find a recipe for applying dye in soy wax batiking

Name: Amanda

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Country or region: USA

Message: I am trying to find a recipe for applying dye in soy wax batiking. I know I need to use sodium alginate but I am not sure how to fix the dye. When I tried this at friends the Soda Ash was in the mix along with the sodium alginate and the dye.

What kind of dye are you using? Is it Procion MX dye? It is very important to use only fiber reactive dye, such as Procion MX or Drimarene K dyes, when using this recipe. It will not work for all-purpose dye, such as Rit dye.

There's a copy of Michael Fowler's recipe on my dye thickeners page, which sounds like just what you're looking for; it's not essential to use blenders, as he does. See "Sodium alginate, Superclear, and other dye thickeners":

"I use a bank of four principle blenders and add:
Day/Night before dyeing, I mix my chemical water:

4 Cups Water
1/4 Cup [60 ml] Urea (Jacquard or PRO Chem.)
2 tsp. [10 ml] Alginate or Thick SH

Then, prior to dyeing, add dye powder and soda ash:

4 TBS. [60 ml] MX dye powder (Jacquard or PRO Chem.)
2 tsp. [10 ml] Soda Ash (Jacquard or PRO Chem.)

To mix the chemical water, I fill 4 cups [1 liter] water, add Urea and then the thickener. I generally would store a quantity of thickener in a 5-gallon bucket or glass mason style jars. Then the chemical water is measured back into the blender for use and I add my dye powder and dye fixative."

You don't have to use sodium alginate in your dye mix, in order to work with soy wax. Alginate is a thickener; use it if you want your dyes to be thicker than water. I usually don't use it, myself, but it's important in some techniques, to keep the dye from spreading and blending as much.

Soda ash can be added either before the dye (in the soda ash pre-soak commonly used for tie-dyeing), or along with the dye as you're planning to do, or, in some cases, after the dye (the latter usually being used for LWI and vat dyeing). See "What is soda ash, and what's it for in dyeing?". When mixing the soda ash directly with the dye, be sure to use the dye immediately after you mix in the soda ash, because the dye instantly starts reacting with whatever's in front of it, whether it's your textile fiber or just the water in the dye mix, as soon as the soda ash goes in. Try to use it up within half an hour or less. You can save a separate soda-ash-free bottle of your dye mix to add soda ash to just before use, if you need to keep working longer than that. It's typical to add about half a teaspoon (2 or 3 ml) of soda ash per cup of dye mix (which is about 250 ml).

Urea is not required, but it is nice for retaining moisture in your dyed stuff when leaving it to react overnight. It is essential to maintain a bit of moisture, for the dye-fiber reaction to continue. Covering with plastic wrap will work just as well, if you omit the urea, but it's more trouble.

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Posted: Wednesday - July 14, 2010 at 09:37 AM

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Trying to find a recipe for applying dye in soy wax batiking

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