Name: Rebecca

Message: I'm interested in your method of simple batik. However, it is cold here and I microwave my dye projects so that the dye can react more completely with the fabric (procion-mx with cotton). I work in the garage and it is often 40F!

Do you expect there would be a problem with the batik wax melting during the short time (about 4 minutes) I microwave the dyed shirts? (I microwave in plastic turkey baking bags till I see the bags puff up, let the bags deflate, then microwave more, until I've gone about 4 minutes. Then I let the contents sit and cool a while before I open the bags.)

I would not use that technique on wax batik. It is very likely that the wax will melt and transfer to other sections of your garments. You should keep the temperature of the fabric that you are dyeing below the temperature at which the wax will soften. This temperature can be considerably below the temperature at which wax is adequately melted and liquid for applying to the fabric. It would be best to keep the temperature of your dye reactions below 100°F, although I melt my batik wax at 230°F for applying it to cotton knit fabric.

Instead, I would advise you to use a different method to warm up your Procion MX dye reactions, to a more moderate degree. There are several different ways you can do this. Since Procion MX dyes are the most reactive of the cool water fiber reactive dyes, it doesn't take much to reach a temperature that is warm enough to allow the dye reaction.

The optimum temperature for Procion MX dye reactions with cotton is 30°C, which is 86°F, but, as you have seen with your microwave method, higher temperatures are fine as long as the soda ash and dye have thoroughly penetrated the fabric before you apply the heat. Lower temperatures work, too. A reaction temperature as low as 70°F (21°C) is perfectly adequate if you leave the fabric to react with the dye and soda ash, in the process commonly called "batching", overnight or longer.

When my work area is below 70°F, my favorite way to warm up my dye reactions is to fill a large kitchen sink with warm or hot tap water, and place my fabric+dye+soda ash into small 1-gallon buckets. Placing the buckets into the hot water keeps the contents warm. Don't fill the sink so deeply that your buckets float and fall over.

If you seal your dyed shirts in sturdy ziplock freezer bags, you could probably float those directly in the warm tap water. Double-bag if you're not sure. Make sure that the temperature of the water is warm, not hot, so as not to soften the wax. Do you have a thermometer with which you can test the temperature of the water? If not, try to get it about body temperature, no hotter. The dye reaction will take longer than you've been seeing at the near-boiling temperatures in the microwave, but it will be faster than it would be at lower temperatures.

Another method for warming up your dye reactions is to cover the items with plastic and then tent an electric blanket over them, making sure that the blanket does not directly touch the plastic right over the wax, since it might get warm enough to soften the wax.

A simpler method would be to get a waterproof plastic storage bin, place all of the items you are dyeing inside it so that they are safely contained, and carry it to a warm part of your house, leaving it there overnight. Some dyers place a space heater into a small room such as a bathroom to get it warm enough for the dye reactions, which is any temperature over 70°F.

See also "What is the effect of temperature on fiber reactive dyes?".

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