Saturday, June 2, 2012

Final product

Just a followup to the previous post about the batik poncho.  My original plan was to do some more stamping with wax over some of the dyed areas, but I decided instead to paint wax on with a foam brush, to preserve more of the dye colors I previously painted on.  The final step was to add black dye using Low Water immersion... less dye than a traditional dye bath, and it left some areas undyed.
The big challenge was using hot water to melt the wax without damaging the rayon fibers!  I ran it through a gentle cycle in the washing machine with two rinses, but when I pulled it out, there was still a lot of wax adhering to the fabric, and I had gobs of wax in the bottom of the washer!  I tried hand rinsing with hot water in a bucket, and it removed some of the wax, but I ended up running it through another full wash with hot water... then the wax was finally gone.  Here's the finished piece:

Although the fuchsia dye faded, the other colors remained strong and clear!  I'm very pleased with my first experiment with wax on rayon... hope it's only the first of many!

3 comments:

sharon said...

judy! i really like this one! i see a new poncho in my future!

Judy Sall Fiber Art said...

Hah! Well, if it doesn't sell before Open Studios, I will have it with me. But you don't need to wait... let me know, and I'll pull it from the shop for ya!
Judy

Kim Barron said...

It turned out well.

I have good luck with a fair amount of detergent and hot water in a bucket in the sink. Even a dish soap works well to help get out the soy wax since it is more like shortening than parafin.