Name: Aubrey


Message: I teach camp crafts.  I would like to do a cross with batik tie dying this year.  Would you recommend the jacquard tie dye kit mentioned on your site for this (Or the steve spangler science kit)?  They have lists of what comes, but doesn't mention whether you are mixing dye with urea and what the dye fixer is.  

I also wondered what the ratio of beeswax to paraffin you recommend for batik (I pour candles so I have this stuff).  Would you just use paint brushes and skit the tjanting pens with High school kids?

Thank you for your time.  I hope I didn't ask a question you already answered on your website. 

The Jacquard tie dyeing kit is an excellent choice for batik. I'm not sure whether it contains urea, which is optional, but it does contain soda ash as a fixative, packaged separately from the dye. (Some kits include soda ash already mixed with the dye, which works fine only if you use the dye immediately after mixing it with the water.) The Steve Spangler tie-dyeing kit also looks excellent; their "Tie Dye Fixer" must be soda ash. For the best prices and a wider range of color choices, consider mail-ordering a tie-dye kit from PRO Chemical & Dye or from Dharma Trading Company.

A typical ratio of beeswax to paraffin is 15% beeswax to 85% paraffin. Some premixed batik waxes contain 50% of each. Use the larger amount of paraffin for more "crackle"; use more beeswax for smoother lines. You can substitute microcrystalline wax for beeswax to save money, but then there's a little more difficulty in removing the wax since the melting point is higher.

You might want to try something relatively new, which is soy wax, as a substitute for beeswax and paraffin. It must be melted and applied in just the same way as batik wax, but the wax does not have to be boiled out when you are finished. It can be removed by washing it in a bucket with detergent in hot water. Some dyers throw the waxy shirts directly into a hot washing machine, but if you use an inadequate amount of detergent, so that the soy wax is not dissolved, the wax can clog your pipes, so I prefer a prewashing with detergent in a bucket first, to be able to see that the detergent has solubilized the wax. The soy wax to use is the hardest type, made for pillar-type candles, not for container candles; you can buy the right kind of wax from a good dye supplier.

Paint brushes work fine. Tjantings allow for some more interesting details, such as written words, but they do drip a lot. It's a good idea to place something, such as sheets of cardstock, over sections of the fabric that are not being waxed at the moment, to avoid unwanted drips.

Every one of your students must be well-behaved, and not inclined to horse around physically, since hot wax can be very dangerous, even more dangerous than boiling water. If you have a class with any impulsive students, I recommend using Elmer's Washable Blue School Glue Gel, instead of wax, to make your resist designs. Use a hair dryer, if necessary, to get the glue gel absolutely dry before applying dye, and apply dye directly by dripping or squirting it on, rather than in a bucket, so that the glue gel does not transfer from one section of the fabric to another after the dye moistens it. Instead of presoaking the fabric in soda ash, as you do in tie-dyeing, add the soda ash directly to the dye immediately before squirting it on, because soaking the glue gel designs in the soda ash will cause them to float away before you apply the dye. You do not get the cracks in the glue gel designs that you get with wax, but the applicator tip makes it very easy to add complex details to the designs, and it's wonderful to completely avoid the dangers of hot wax, burns, fire danger, and wax fumes.

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