I’ve been really busy with school lately due to projects and final decisions on said projects so I won’t be posting as frequently in the next few weeks or maybe even until Thanksgiving.
Anyway, I learned another technique in dyeing fabric last Friday, where we used wax to isolate areas of the fabric you want to stay a certain color. The fabric made from this wax-resist dyeing technique is called Batik.
The milky looking stuff is wax and she’s applying wax to other areas. Very labor-intensive.
First, we drew our design on a plain cotton fabric swatch (only natural fabrics or it won’t dye properly), my fabric swatch was blue. We used a mix of half beeswax and half paraffin wax or plain candle wax. We melted the wax. Then I applied wax, using a paintbrush, to the areas I wanted to stay blue. Remember to dye colors from lightest to darkest. Then I dipped the swatch in pink dye, dried it after dyeing. Then applied wax to the areas I wanted to stay pink. Dipped it in purple dye, then dried it again. Then applied wax to the purple areas I wanted to stay purple, dried it again. Then dipped it in navy blue dye and dry it again one last time. And the last step is to melt off the wax. We used an ironing board covered in paper towels (it’s the best way because using the washing machine or hot water from the sink would clog up both), the paper towels would soak up the melted wax. So I sandwiched my wax-laden fabric in between a ton of paper towels, then placed the iron on top to melt.
And viola!
The colors look better in real-life, I used the camera on my cellphone. But I’m so happy it turned out so well. I thought I would end up jumbling up the colors and end up with pukey brown.
Later on today we’re going to learn beading and embellishments. I can’t wait!
Bye for now:)
Photo credit: Google, my own photo
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