Batik Experiments, Round Two

I played with batik again. In each group, the base colors in order are: Parakeet, Wasabi, and Palomino Gold. I use the procion dyes from Dharma Trading. 

The secondary color for the first set is Plum. Second set is Sunrise Red. Third set is Yucca. Fourth set is Pomegranite. 

I played with small cookie cutters. I dipped the cookie cutter in the melted soy wax and then stamped the wax on the fabric. I played with filling in the cookie cutters. I keep wanting to make small lines, but the small lines done allow enough contrast. 

I'm still aiming at some kind of design for a blouse. I'd need to make 3 yards of batik. I think I'm pretty much decided on the Parakeet for the first dye and I'm not sure yet what I want to use for the second dye. Marine Blue or Yucca are my favorites so far. 

I knew if I sewed enough garments that I'd find a use for these buttons. I bought them in bulk via mail order and then wondered why I did that. I don't know - maybe because I like silver toned buttons? 

Below, I put my heart on my sleeve. I wear my heart on my sleeve metaphorically, so there's no reason not to put my heart on my sleeve literally. I'll have to think about that..... I can envision some interesting embellishment....

This is my newest shirt. I've got three more fabrics to turn into shirts for me and I want to make a shirt out of leftovers. Can't wait until I'm off from work so I can spend quality time in the sewing room. I'm thinking of cutting out the shirts now and being able to sit down and do some serious sewing when Jim has his surgery. 

My First Attempt At Batik

I got out the soy wax, the batik tools and the fabric samples. I had four pieces of fabric of each color: parakeet, wasabi, palomino gold. I then took one of each color and put them in dye pots. Marine blue, peach, bright green, and truffle brown. 


I melted the soy wax in a double boiler and carried both pots out to my table on the patio. The hot water in the bottom pot kept the wax liquid. This was my first attempt at using tjantings. Tip the tool forward to have the wax come out the nozzle, tip the tool backward to keep the wax from flowing out. I played with dots, filled in areas, lines, and did a little drawing. On some of the fabrics, I used a paint brush to make more bold marks. 

The original colors above, marine blue on the next three photos. 

 Truffle brown. 

Peach. 

Bright green. 

I'd like to make enough batik fabric to make a blouse. I'm thinking of parakeet and marine blue. I thought the peach and parakeet would work well, but I got brown and blue when I tried that. I like the strong contrasts better than the subtle contrasts. 

Jim's Batik Shirt

When we were in Albuquerque last weekend, we stopped into a brand new fabric store - Nob Hill Fabrics. They have some great fabrics in that store. Jim found a batik he loved, so I turned it into a shirt. The fancy stitches are done with silver metallic thread. I tried some of my buttons on the shirt - but this shirt needed silver buttons. 

Jim's Coffee Shirt

I ordered some fabric from equilter, and discovered I'd ordered this batik as well. Darned if I know why I ordered it. Jim looked at it and decreed it would be a good shirt. 


I've leftover prints from three coffee themed batiks. I'm considering making Jim a leg of this and a leg of that boxers. 

Testing Out New Dyes

A new to me yellow showing most of the piece and up close. I've o idea where the red freckles came from, but they are kind of interesting. 

Parakeet. I really like this color and I may do some serious fabric dyeing with this color. 

Wasabi and wasabi up close. I like the blending of the wasabi and the parakeet. 

This is a new to me deep green and I like it better than other other deep green I have. This color seems to have more life in it. 


I took white fabric and cut it into four triangles then shoved each piece of cloth into a quart jar with dye from new dyes I ordered from Dharma Trading. 


I want to work with batik, but I first needed to see what these dyes look like in real life as opposed to the color chip on the website. I'll hem the edges on the triangles and call them scarves for when I eat in a restaurant. Apparently, my breasts act as a food magnet and I ALWAYS get food on the front of me. Sigh. I won't wear a bib, but I will wear a scarf. 

I've been scratching my head trying to figure out how to make a bib that doesn't look like a bib. I have reached the stage of life where I end up wearing most of my meals. I put out questions to both quilt groups that I'm on and the suggestion came back to make a scarf. 

I took a piece of white cloth that a friend had given me. I used a dyeing technique another friend had given me, and put the quart jar full of dye and fabric out in the sun. It's about 100 today so the dyes got a chance to really bake in. I would have liked a little more dye coverage, but overall, I like the results. I want to play with more dye combinations and with one dye just to see what I get. 

40 years ago today, Jim and I got married. It feels as if we've always been married and as if we just got started.