liquid Procion H dyes can be steam fixed in the microwave for tie dye. I find the regular steaming approach too complicated for doing batik. So I am trying the unconventional method of first soaking the silk in vinegar and water, let dry, do the batik, iron off the wax, then resoak in vinegar water and microwave in microwave container to steam. Is this very wrong?

If you remove the wax before you've fixed your Procion H dyes properly, then the dye is likely to bleed from one section of the batik onto another before you fix the dyes. Even if this happens in only a small part of the design, it will completely ruin the effect.

If you don't want to steam-set your silk at all, you can use a different kind of dye. One excellent choice is Procion MX dye fixed with soda ash. This dye's reaction with the silk takes place at room temperature, if you use soda ash. You can mix up enough of each color to last you for a couple of weeks, but you will have to pour out just enough dye to use within an hour or so, because the dye's reactivity gets used up quickly once it touches the soda ash. This is true even if you presoak the fabric in soda ash and let it dry before painting, instead of adding the soda ash directly to the dye, because the tiny amounts of soda ash that are carried on your brush back to your open container will cause it to react.

After you have applied your Procion MX dye to the silk, with soda ash, keep it warm and moist overnight, then wash out the excess unreacted dye, first in cool water and then in very hot water. If you use soy wax (the type sold for making pillar candles) instead of paraffin and beeswax, you can even wash out the wax in hot water with plenty of detergent, instead of having to iron or boil the wax out. It is very easy to use Procion MX dye with soda ash to batik silk. It's exactly like tie-dyeing, with wax substituted for ties. You can buy a good tie-dye kit with Procion MX type dyes in local crafts stores. (Don't use all-purpose dye, such as Rit dye.)

Another option is to continue to use Procion H dyes, but fix them to the silk chemically after you have applied them, before you remove the wax, by using the high-pH chemical known as AfterFix, sold online by Dharma Trading Company, which is really sodium silicate. Allow your dye to dry, then paint on the Afterfix, cover with plastic wrap, and keep in a warm place for one hour, then wash out the AfterFix (don't let it dry on the silk). Do not use vinegar if you are going to use soda ash or AfterFix, because the acid in the vinegar will neutralize their pH and prevent them from working.

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[This answer was also posted, by me, on Yahoo answers, on February 20, 2009.]