Let me begin by saying, in a totally unbiased way, that batiking rocks.
I cut my fabrics (I tried three different ready-
to-dye white cottons: a sateen, a mercerized, and 60"
kona cotton) into 2/3 yard lengths. This
gave us a nice area to play with and work on designs,
but was small enough that there was no feeling of pressure.
For my first batch of fabric, my test batch, as it were,
I used a base layer of this bright yellow over white
cotton.
Then I started experimenting. I took a piece of my
yellow on white, put a second layer of wax, and dipped
it in hot pink dye, to make this orange piece.
with my third bit of of yellow on white, I put on more
wax and put it in a sky blue dye to get this green background.
(Blue on yellow base, makes green. By She Who Bakes.)
For Ladies Art, I pre-dyed some of my fabric, so I could
offer the ladies a base of bright yellow, mottled sky
blue, pink, or white.
This is my blue on pink pieces that I made with the ladies.
I used the stamp that my friend sent me in a close set
pattern. (It was the gift of this batiking stamp that jump
started this project.) I played it loose with my alignment,
but I like the effect.
Of the pieces I've done so far, this one is my favorite.
It's a blue base with a fire red on top. I used the
edge of a coaster as my stamp. The entire effect
makes me so happy.
Now, I'm not done processing all of the fabric we dyed
this past week. I have several pieces waiting for
their turn in the dye bath, and some waiting for a
second layer of wax. I just have to say that I love all
of the steps of this process. From the smell of the wax,
to the excitement of watching the colors layer themselves,
to the boiling of the fabric and waiting to see what's going
to happen. The only difficult part is when we run out
fabric. That is sad.