Ok, I know I'm going to end up typing a lot so I'm just warning you. Go ahead and skip all the words if you want, I'm just going to explain what all I did in detail because I don't know how to summarize anything. Enjoy the pics anyway!
Oh, and for those who do not know: a batik is the technique of dyeing fabric and using melted wax to resist the dye and create a design. You melt the wax off when you're done though so you just have the dyed fabric.
I first did a Batik in my Crafts2 class, and I hated my design but loved the technique. I decided I want to make a batik for an art contest, and came up with the idea for an anatomical heart. I didn't want it in red, and I wanted it monochromatic because I didn't want to take the time to figure out how all the colors looked. I decided on purple, though I don't remember why lol. I drew the entire thing in Paint Shop Pro, using layers to denote different steps, to make sure I had everything straight. On Valentines Day we had a snow day, but nobody told me so I woke up at 7:30am anyway and took the day to make a mini version to test colors and techniques (i draped it over a fan to dry between steps). It ended up looking more like a squashed beetle than a heart because I was using too big of a tool. I don't have a pic of that though. I had planned to start a week before the due date so I would have 1 day for each step (to let it dry overnight because it was way too big to drape over a fan). I can't do basic math though (despite having an A in calculus) so I figured our on the second day I didn't have enough time and needed a way to dry the batik because you can't apply the wax when the fabric is wet. My Photo2 teacher suggested using my dryer on fluff/no heat. I have this rack for drying shoes or something so I used that to keep it from tumbling around and breaking wax off. Whatever, I should learn to control the enormous volume of words that I always end up typing. I guess it's because I like providing the how-to to others. Onto the pictured (and some more words lol)!
The finished batik! I intended it look to dark and creepy, and I think it looks like it's decaying. I chose horizontal stripes for the background because I didn't want to leave it plain, I like stripes, and the horizontal-ness at to the static feel of the image.
(the lines are straight, the pic was taken at an angle)
The setup. My little design from the computer is on the right and I enlarged the lines and traced them with sharpie onto large paper, which I traced onto washed cotton fabric (not seen here). On the far left is a pot of boiling water with a small coffee can full of melting paraffin (with this metal ring under it to keep it off the bottom of the pot, from my sister's candlemaking stuff). Some people add beeswax to make it crack less and stick better, but i like lots of cracks. And a toaster, napkin holder, salt/pepper shakers, tart warmer, and spoon rest because they had nowhere else to go, and I had nowhere else to work. Oh, The dye washed away my design so I worked over a paper-covered light desk thing for the outline and shading and freehanded the rest.
The first step. I dyed it, dried it, then waxed the outline. Originally, i wanted the shades in reversed order of what i did here but that didn't so well on the small scale but I ended up liking this better. Sorry, I have no pics of me applying the wax because it takes both hands (one to hold the tool, one to hold a paper towel to catch dripping wax) and nobody would take pics for me. Oh yeah, I used tools called "tjantings" or something that I borrowed from school in small medium and large. I used the small for outlining here.
Here's me dyeing the fabric. I used a big turkey pan in one side of my sink, and wore gloves. I got some on me once and did not come off easily. The dye I used is some kind of permanent fabric dye from Joann's. I was supposed to mix it with salt and lots of water or something, but that made a lot more (and less concentrated) dye than I needed so I made up the amounts of salt and water. I stored the dyes in spaghetti sauce jars with press'n'seal under the lid just in case.
Second step, i waxed the shading after I dyed over the outline. The outline looks whiter here because it got really cracked when I wrung the fabric dye out (not the best thing to do, but I didn't have much dye to use). I used a small tool to outline the edges of the shading and a medium tool to fill in.
third step, I filled in the heart with a large tool. The second pic is the back, and it shows that I used WAY too much wax. but the large tool runs really fast, so it doesn't take as much time but it lays down a ton of wax. Oh well.
I don't have any more pics of the other steps, sorry. It was getting late, like 1 or 2 AM, and I just wanted to finish (I still managed to procrastinate to the last minute). I also had to battle my 4 cats. My oldest wanted to lay on my batik, which was still covered in melted wax.The other 3 wanted to catch the wax I was spilling all over the floor while I made the striped. I made sure nobody burned themselves (except me, the klutz). I do remember my dad telling me before he went to bed "I hope you can scream loud enough if anything goes wrong." That was creepy, I mean its just melted wax lol. Everything was fine anyway. Oh yeah, I used black to make the background (some stripes rinsed, some not) because I already had the darkest purple I could get.
It's me ironing my batik between layers of paper at 2AM. I put the batik between blank paper so the newsprint wouldn't transfer. I replaced all the paper every time it got soaked, which was often. My cats loved to play in the waxy paper I had scattered all over the kitchen lol. This is how I was taught to remove the wax in class.
Then I was all done! I didn't quite get all the wax out but I was too tired to care. Here are dome detail shots, I love the crackled effect and the batik-ness
:
I love this. I just wished it had cracked more i the darkest areas of the heart.
In school I mounted it for the contest using matte-board. I cut the board a little small and wrapped the edged over and secured it with masking tape (a matte would have been better, but no mattes allowed in the contest) The winners are announced at some big party thing March 31. I also entered 4 photographs from Photo2 class (I got an honorable mention for photography last year, I hope I get something this year).
I hope you all enjoyed despite my extreme wordiness!
