fiberhart

Soy Wax Batik

I got my tjantings from Dharma, so I hunted through my copyright-free books and came up with a design to do. I can tell my garage-sale overhead projector will get plenty of use, it made enlarging the design a simple task.

Friday afternoon I waxed it. I got the skillet hotter this time, to see if having the soy wax hotter would make it behave more like the traditional wax I used at Anne's workshop. It didn't, it still has wax on top- but it went through, I could tell by looking and feeling the underside.

After brushing on soda ash solution, I dyed the almost the whole piece yellow. I want the tulips purple, so can't have yellow as an undercolor- but the rest of the piece, I can.



I batched it awhile, then did the stem, leaves, and flowers- so blue on the first two, grape on the flowers. A bit of yellow bled into the flowers, but I'm ok with that- it will help shade the flowers.



Today I hope to wax part of the leaves, so I can add a darker blue to shade the leaves some. Then I'll wax all the flowers, and blend in some red to the background.

I've had some bleeding in my lines- when I waxed, I used a box that was smaller than my piece. So I had to finish the job by moving it, and bending the already waxed portion over the box. I wonder if that didn't contribute to the incomplete lines.

I went into this with the attitude it is a process piece, one to help me learn how the wax behaves- so if it is not a masterpiece, that is just fine. But doing a wholecloth piece is very different and more painstaking than doing abstract cloth that will be cut up and used in a larger piece. I like doing that, and think I would approach it in the future by doing several at once, with colors that blended- in other words, think of the whole, finished piece, and not just the cloth I am working on. You have lots of time to think through that issue while waxing, it is not a quick process!

I also got brushes, but haven't had much luck with them. I hope I can figure that out before I'm ready to wax the background, that would take forever with a tjanting!