Looking for wooden tjaps to use for batik

Name: Clare

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Country or region: Ireland

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Message: Hi, I am looking for some wooden tjaps to use for batik- can you recommend a supplier. Also is it ok to use rubber stamps with hot wax?

I recommend against using rubber stamps with hot wax. I get best results when I melt my wax to at least 230°F, and many rubber stamps will not tolerate that temperature. If you want to test this, use a rubber stamp that you don't much like; do not test this with one of your favorite rubber stamps!

I am not aware of any available wooden tjaps. I think the wooden blocks are more frequently used for printing with fabric paints or thickened fiber reactive dye. Tjaps are more typically made from copper metal.

Dharma Trading Company occasionally has antique used Indonesian copper tjaps. They sell out quickly, even though the prices tend to be quite high, so get on their tjaps mailing list if you want to be notified of future availability. Used tjaps often have significant flaws as the result of much wear. If you find used tjaps on another website, check the date of the listing, because other sources often sell out, too. Textile Techniques in Shropshire England sells both copper tjaps (new ones!) and wooden blocks for printing with dye or fabric paint. They say that you can "even" use the latter to apply hot wax, a wording that suggests to me that they might not expect good results.

Since tjaps can be difficult or expensive to buy, think about ways to make your own. Look at kitchenwares as source materials. A metal potato masher makes a nice shape, with available models including an asterisk shape, a squiggle, or a gridded circle. Consider metal cookie cutters, perhaps using a heat-resistant variety of epoxy glue to mount them onto a small block of wood to serve as a handle. Walk through a hardware store, looking at bolts whose heads may have interesting shapes, or push a pattern of metal thumbtacks into a piece of soft balsa wood. Carving your own wooden tjaps would be time-consuming, but crafts stores sell wooden cut-out shapes for which you could devise a handle. Avoid hot-melt glue, for obvious reasons. Look at the suggestions made by Tie Dye Judy (Judy Sall) entitled "Tools for Waxing" in a discussion entitled Soy Wax Batik on the Dye Forum from October 2007.

Instead of using a tjap, I like to use a tjanting like a pen, or a narrow natural-bristle house painting brush with a wooden handle, to apply hot wax designs onto fabric.

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Posted: Thursday - December 08, 2011 at 07:03 AM

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Looking for wooden tjaps to use for batik

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