Soy Wax Play Time

Last Saturday I spent the day at Making Ends Meet in Shelbyville, Kentucky where Darci McKinnon taught us about soy wax batik.

Darci McKinnon
Darci giving us instructions

I took a picture of my friend Marilyn’s skillet because of her cool tools. The large spiral one I used on several of my pieces.

Marilyn's soy wax skillet and cool tools
Marilyn’s soy wax skillet and cool tools

 

Leslie McCarthy makes some cool fabric
Leslie McCarthy makes some cool fabric

Leslie is the owner of Making Ends Meet.

My new friend Marilyn and one of her masterpieces
My new friend Marilyn and one of her masterpieces

It was lots of fun and by the end of the day I was a tired puppy. Here are a few of my pieces.

This first one was really interesting. This is the first look at it when the dye was still wet.

First look at this batik piece
First look at this batik piece

Darci came over to my table and suggested I wax over the whole piece and then submerge it in black dye. Sounded like a good idea. I painted wax over the whole piece, stuck it in the freezer for ten minutes, crunched up the fabric in my hands, and then soaked it in black dye bath for about an hour. I waited almost 48 hours to wash out and here is what I got.

Finished over soy waxed fabric
Finished over soy waxed fabric

The black dye seeped through the cracks to make an interesting pattern on the fabric. My only disappointment was the dyes did not come out as vibrant as I thought they would. More about that later.

Another batik piece
Another batik piece using Marilyn’s tool and my wisk
Previously dyed pieces
Previously dyed pieces

These pieces I dyed years ago and I wanted to see how this technique worked over them. Again as with all of the pieces, it worked but the dyes were pretty washed out.

Batik piece
Batik piece using wood potato masher and cardboard triangles

And my favorite:

My favorite piece with my potato masher
My favorite piece using my potato masher

It was a fun day and I came home with some interesting fabric. As I mentioned before, the dyes were not as vibrant as I’m used to and they are some of the same fiber reactive dyes I have used on my projects.

After much conversation with Marilyn and contacting my favorite expert on dyeing, Katherine Sands, I believe the soda ash water we added the dye to was exhausted by the time I used it. When I do this again, which I will when current projects are completed, I’ll first soda soak my fabric and then make a printing paste. When I took the screen printing class with Kathy, the dyes were beautiful with no wash out. That said, I did learn alot in this class and it was so much fun.

The night before I had the opportunity to spend some time with a friend I had not seen in years. Joy and I met at the Old Stone Inn in Simpsonville where we had a lovely dinner and great conversation. It was so good catching up with her.

Joy and I at dinner at the Old Stone Inn
Joy and I at dinner at the Old Stone Inn

I can’t forget to mention the dinner. I had their Chicken with Artichokes – Yum!

Old Stone Inn's Chicken with Artichokes
Old Stone Inn’s Chicken with Artichokes

And speaking about food – I harvested our first asparagus yesterday!

Our first asparagus
Our first asparagus

Just enough for a taste at last night’s dinner. And there is more where that came from! Everything is starting to come up here so lots to do outside and the weather has finally changed to warm! Hope all is going well in your hood.