Name: Kate
Message: Hi, I really appreciate your web site so much and because of it I just bought my Batik kit from one of the businesses you listed.  But I have a few questions, I'm really sorry if they are answered on the site, but I looked a bunch and just didn't see them. 
1. After the cloth is done pre-soaking in the soda ash do I rinse it or just let it dry? 
2. If the answer to Q1 is no don't rinse, should I re-pre-soak before every dye. 
3. And lastly, if I don't have any urea how much dye should I dissolve in the H2O.  
Thank You SOOOO much!! 

What kit did you buy?

Leave the soda ash in the fabric for the dyeing step. Don't rinse it out. It's okay to let it line-dry, or just wring it out and use it damp, whichever you prefer. You need the soda ash to be in the fabric when the dye is applied.

Don't get soda ash on your hands for long, because it is irritating to the skin. (Rinse it off if you get it on your skin.) I like to tie the fabric either dry or dampened with plain water, so I don't have to wear gloves when tying. Then I soak it in soda ash. I don't like tying with gloves on, but I like always wearing gloves while handling wet soda ash.

If you wash out your fabric, such as if you dye the same fabric twice, you will have to presoak in soda ash again, since the soda ash will have washed out when you washed the fabric.  There's no harm in doing this. 

For batik, I apply the melted wax to totally dry clean cotton or silk fabric, then soak the fabric in soda ash just until it is thoroughly wet, no more than five minutes. Then I squeeze out the extra soda-ash-water, lay the fabric or shirt out flat, and squirt on the fiber reactive dye, such as Procion MX dye.

You don't have to use urea. Its purpose is to help the fabric stay moist long enough for the dye to react with the fabric. When I use urea it makes no difference to the amount of dye I use. If you are immersion dyeing, you don't need urea at all.

When I directly apply dye to the fabric, I like to mix about two to three teaspoons of Procion MX type dye with every cup of water. If I add urea, I use one tablespoon of it, added to the same cup of water as the dye. Here's the recipe I use: "Hand Dyeing - How to Do It: basic recipe for Procion MX dyes on cellulose or silk".

I hope you have a great time dyeing.


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