Things You'll Need:
- 1/2 cup Wheat flour plus 2 tsp.
- 1/2 cup of water
- 2 tsp. of alum
- fabric dye for cotton fabric
- muslin fabric enough to fit into a frame or embroidery hoop
- embroidery hoop
- squeeze bottle with fine tip
- fork
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Step 1
Mix the 1/2 cup of water with the 2 tsp of alum to have it dissolve then add the wheat flour to the mixture slowly, while you are stirring the liquids, make sure that you separate any lumps that form with your mixing fork. Reminding your self that if there are any lumps in the mixture, it will plug up the squeeze bottle and not be able to flow properly on the fabric. Some people wonder why you need to add alum to the mixture, well the reason is, that the alum helps the paste to stick to the fabric so it can dry and make a boarder for the dye not to migrate to the next color or area.
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Step 2
Stretch your fabric over a embroidery hoop or a wooden frame so that it is taught. This will insure that when you are squeezing lines of paste onto the fabric they will not run or puddle. You want to maintain clean and sharp lines for the paste to work properly.
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Step 3
Squeeze out your design out onto the fabric to make sure that all of the lines are solid and bold.
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Step 4
Let the design dry. Since I live in New England, it is cold and usually rainy in the Fall and so I like to have my work dry over a heating vent in my house. As it dries, I rotate the piece if it is large around all sides so the whole piece is dry and ready to spray dye. It is very important the have the paste completely dry for the batik to work because it will keep your lines crisp and clear.
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Step 5
Once the paste design in completely dry it is time to spray dye the piece. This is the fun and creative part if you ask me. I love to mix up small batches of dyes and put them in spray bottles because when you apply the color in layers so when it comes out in such a fine mist it is so easy to layer colors together to make a graduated color wash on the fabric. You can make from one corner green to graduate to the other corner a bright red to have a holiday themed fabric. The possibilities are endless!
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Step 6
Let the dyed fabric dry over the same vent til all of the dye is dry and also the paste is dry again as well. Once the piece is completely dry, you can peel off all of the paste from the fabric.
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Step 7
Set the dye onto the fabric by drying it in the dryer for a few minutes. Hand wash fabric from any excess dye and rinse until water runs clean. Dry the fabric in the dryer until completely dry. Use the batik fabric in any project that you might have for that extra sparkle that you might need to win that blue ribbon in your next Art contest that you might have.
