Procion MX Dye

Batik

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Procion® MX dye is the best dye for batik because brilliant colors can be achieved in a dyebath cool enough not to remove the wax. Batik is an additive color process that plays upon the transparency of dye.

Materials:

• 100% cellulose fiber fabric, prewashed and ironed
• fabric stretcher frame
• beeswax, paraffin, or Jacquard Batik Wax
• tjanting tools, brushes
• container for heating wax
• dyes, chemicals, and supplies for dyeing

Instructions

1. Stretch washed fabric on the stretcher. Lightly sketch design with a pencil or an auto fade pen.
2. Melt the Jacquard Batik Wax or a mixture of beeswax and paraffin. Pure paraffin is too brittle and pure beeswax is too supple. To alter the crackle effect, change the ratio of beeswax to paraffin. A 60% beeswax to 40% paraffin is a good place to start. A deep fryer or electric frying pan are the most desirable tools for melting wax because they reduce the risk of fire by maintaining a constant temperature. The wax mixture may ignite if it is too hot. If the wax mixture is smoking, it is too hot.
3. Using the tjanting tool or brushes, apply the hot wax to all the lines and areas which will remain white. Think of the wax application step as a process of retaining color rather than adding color.
   • Let the brush or wax sit in the hot wax until it becomes the temperature of the wax.
   • The wax should penetrate the fabric. If the wax turns white and sits on the fabric, it will not resist the dye. Raise the temperature of the wax and reapply.
4. When the wax is cool, run through a standard immersion dyebath using cool water. Don’t make the water too cold or too hot. Room temperature is good.
5. Lay the fabric flat to dry.
6. The salt, soda and handling of the dye process may have removed some wax. Carefully check for this and reapply wax to those areas.
7. Apply wax to the areas which are to retain the color dyed in step 4. When the wax is cool, dye again. Remember that Procion® MX dye is transparent. If the first dyebath was yellow, a second dyebath of pale red will produce orange fabric in the non-waxed areas. If the third dyebath is blue, the unwaxed orange areas will become brown.
8. Repeat steps 4 through7 until the design is complete.
9. Remove the wax by one of the following methods:
   1. Crumble and abrade the surface to remove excess wax. Remove remaining wax by immersing fabric in simmering water, then cold water. Repeat the immersions until the wax is removed. If too much wax accumulates on the surface of the hot water, the fabric will pick up wax rather that dispose of wax. Ladle excess wax into another container to cool. A final immersion in fresh hot water will remove the last traces of wax. Any remaining wax can be removed with dry cleaning. All wax that was removed can be reused. Never pour hot wax filled water down the drain or it will clog it. This method does result in some loss of color.
   2. Iron the piece between sheets of newsprint. The newprint will absorb the wax. You will have to refresh the newprint when it gets saturated with wax. Dry clean to remove last of wax.
   3. Use either of the above methods and remove the remaining wax by soaking in gasoline or mineral spirits followed by a hot wash.