Batik dyeing at home

I've been reading up on how to batik dye fabric at home.

Batik is a resist dye method where wax is painted or applied to the cloth before it is dyed to prevent the cloth from taking the dye where the wax goes.  

I thought it would be fun to gather up some inspiration and tutorials about this dye method in one thread.

Here is the video that got me thinking about it.



here's part one where she grows indigo and makes the vat

yeah Batik is super fun. like all craft its time consuming and slow...depending on how many layers you put on as well. you can do simple one layer batik fairly quickly.

i've done quite a bit of it, and was one of my first crafty gigs for money, making Batik clothing and fabric.

we would buy dozens of blank white tee shirts, hoodies, skirts and especially tons of baby clothes, onesies and jumpers for kids then do one layer mostly...sometimes doing more elaborate pieces for hoodies and dresses and skirts. i even made a few small tapestry design pieces...but those take a lot more time and effort to do something elaborate.

anywho ask away...if you have questions, maybe i has answers =)

for doing it i would use a crock pot ( you know an electric slow cooker) dedicated just to wax. this is much easier than messing with double boiling your wax on the stove.
i would usually blend wax, like small percent beeswax with common cheap paraffin or whatevs....candle wax or soy wax even...and there's different blends. straight beeswax is a bit thick and also pricier.....so it's good to make a good blend with thick and heavy beeswax, and something lighter to make it flow..

you need a jaunting tool, and it's nice to have a few sizes...a big one for bold lines, and a thin one for detailing. the jaunting tool is a bit like a pen, with a hollow in it to scoop up wax into it to draw with. it's easy to make designs with that than  just a paint brush, though you will want to have a few brushes around and try that way.

i would do repeat designs on a light table. so once you have a good design, make a copy with sharpie and real thick, then use it on a light table to light up and trace your design onto fabric. this is how i did quick production type work. you can obviously do it free hand, but it's good to at least have a nice sketch to stick under your fabric and the light table make it easy to trace out the main elements.

you can also use stamps, any kind of stamp, or even objects...like an object that already is shaped enough like a stamp, or make mold from objects.
you can even make simple potato stamps, or some other available soft sculpty stuff...where you can engrave stamps with something. then keep dipping them in the hot wax and stamping out on your fabric.

I'm thinking of working with some woven cotton cloth I have kicking about.

Should I pre-boil the cotton fabric before working with it?  I'm thinking I don't want to do all this work and have the finished garment shrink.  I pre-washed it, but I'm still not confident I got all the wax and sizing out.

I'm also wondering if I should pre-cut the fabric before dyeing, then sew afterwards?  I don't think I have enough space in the dyepot for the finished garment.  

that sounds good, yeah you need a bit of extra space in your dye bath, so you have room to keep turning it and mixing it every once in a while for the dye bath.
i personally would not pre boil it, because you boil it afterwards, to get the wax out. thats the real chore i guess, is once you are finished you need to remove the wax.

you want to get as much as you can out of it, you keep scooping out the wax as you turn it on to boil, and maybe repeat bringing it up to boiling again and again.  after that i would often take all the work into the shower with me. this was the easiest to really work out the rest of the wax and dye, and you can stomp on it and keep working on it while you get a shower =)

i dont know if you use a dryer at home, but you want to have worked it over and over again before putting into a dryer. drying in the sun is always a good thing too.. the wax still in there will melt in the dryer and thats not good for your dryer.

with natural dyes, or even common cheap household dyes, you will likely get subdued colors. to get the vibrant awesome colors you pretty much have to resort to good dyes, and they can get expensive, and there a bit of on the intense chemical toxic side...but thats what brings the vibrant colors.. but the more mellow dyes can be nice too...i used to do ones like that with sort of tribal african sorts of designs...you know very geometric, triangles and lines and squiggles, repetitious simple patterns...and i think those went well with more earthy tones and mellow colored dyes...

then i would often make...scarves or simple cross body messenger bags or other things like that...sometimes simple clothing. mostly i would start with the garment already made, buy blanks in bulk. sometimes i would do a thirft shop stock up...i liked doing old camisoles and petticoats and funky slips and nighties and other thrift store stuff too...you can get these super cheap at thrift store and then upcycle them...and those go well with more pastels and lighter colors.

another important beginning tip, the basic gist of batik, is to start with your light colors first. especially when you get into multilayered batik. so you work your yellow and orange tones, or pinks or baby blues...and then eventually work your way to the darkest color...which is your last dye bath and the one that ties it together.

so you may start with golds and yellows and then unto deep browns and red last...or start with light greens and blues and eventually dye the last dye bath deep midnight blue daark green, or black. thats where you get the crackling effects that looks so cool...is a bit of the darkest color coming into the bottom layers and making cracking patterns...