Auction Commission: The Reveal (with a lesson)

It's been a long time since I have blogged and I am long over due. Sometimes life puts up obstacles and sometimes they are just pleasant distractions that lead you astray.

While visiting my twin sister in Colorado Springs, my husband and I finished four stained glass windows for our front door. We have spent three weekends stripping and sanding the paint off the door, restaining, and then polyurethaning it. Finally last weekend, we put in the glass... and voila. C'est magnifique.

However, I am most incredibly pleased with the result of the Tipperary batik I also finished while in Colorado. I have delayed in composing my final "Auction Commission" post until it was in the hands of its new owner. Now that it is... the REVEAL!

The batik was almost perfect after I removed the wax from the final dye bath. There were still a few little details I felt I needed to touch up.

I wasn't comfortable with the way the hair blended from the lighter part of the body into the darker area. The transition was too sudden. I used a paintbrush and hand-feathered bleach, waited about an hour, and washed it out in a bath of white vinegar and water. Although bleach may discontinue removing any more color, it still acts on the fibers of the fabric, weakening it more and more over time.

The purple in the body still did not match the vibrancy of the purple in the face. I applied a wash of purple dye over the areas where I wanted greater concentration of color. I then placed plastic wrap on either side of the batik and let it remain that way for 24 hours. Like radioactive material, dyes' reaction with fiber has a half life. It is about half as effective about 3 hours after you mix the dye with the Soda Ash thickener solution. By wrapping it in plastic wrap, you further delay its drying time so that it maximizes the half life potential.

Everyone has someone in their life who inspires them, who changes the way you feel about yourself, who makes a difference in who you become. For me, it was my high school art teacher, George Benedict, who sadly passed away last year from cancer. George taught me how to see... how light bends itself... that everything is formed of geometric shapes... and the most important lesson of all, how to convey power and emotion in the eyes.

Tipperary's eyes were nearly perfect. The color, The transitions. The only final touch I needed was to use a daub of white paint to enhance the highlights of (and the life in) his eyes. As the batik's new owner wrote me, "The package arrived yesterday. When I got home it was waiting. I opened it and it is beautiful! The colors are really vivid! I was amazed. I am so happy with it. I love the eyes (and everything else), but the eyes just grab attention when I look at it."

I want to thank everyone for their kind comments on this blog and on my Facebook page. We all have doubts sometimes, and I am by no means immune. I really appreciate your encouragement and support. :)

Auction Commission: Happy Accidents

I always tell those I teach that there are no Mistakes in batik, just Happy Accidents. Otherwise you will just go insane with all the imperfections. It is not a perfect medium. Batik has taught me to apply this mantra to other things I do, such as silkscreening shirts.

Every October, a cavalcade of friends travel to Dewey Beach, Delaware for the annual Greyhound gathering. We all stay in a house mere blocks from the ocean, usually more dogs than people crowding the couches. I always bring a craft project for my housemates, and one year I made silkscreens for shirts, and have every year since.

At some point I started designing themed images... The Dewey Bunch (Brady Bunch), the Bad News Hounds, and last year, MASH.

As we settled down to screen our shirts, with the wine flowing freely, eventually somebody drops a blob of paint on their shirt. My mantra has taught me to make something of that blob. They became bullet holes and hand grenades. Then my friends starting putting blobs on their shirts on purpose! Truely it became a Happy Accident!

Anyways, I have found that batiking a black dog is extremely difficult. Black cannot be... well, just black. You have to infuse color into black in order to develop tone and shape, so I chose purple. However, I didn't realize how purple my purple was and my layers of black on top of it are now tinged with the color. This can go two ways; it will wash out a bit in my final boil, or it will become yet another Happy Accident.

I have also never used hatching in a batik before. Now that I have been using my Ukranian Easter egg tjanting tool, I can get those fine lines that hatching requires. But never having done this before has made me uncertain and question my sanity. Then I remember my mantra, and move on.

I am getting to the final phase of the batik, the final dye bath. There is so much wax on it now that the image looks extremely dark. Removing the wax after the bath will be like opening a present on Christmas. Will it be an iPad... or socks?! You can never count on what you will get, but you can always make something of it. Again and forever my mantra... Happy Accidents!

Auction Commision: Rant and Rave

I have been visiting my twin sister, Lauren, in Colorado Springs for almost a month, and I am due to return home to Syracuse in a mere few days. While here, I have been taught how to do stained glass, taught and addicted my sister to batik, and have experienced the most horrific wildfires Colorado has ever experienced.

The first photo shows the ridgeline fire that jumped to the next peak and roared down the mountain, 3 miles in only 30 minutes. Residents scrambled to evacuate, nearly 350 homes were lost, and several lives. It gladdens and saddens me that through this disaster, people took in families and pets and firefighters worked tirelessly, but also evacuated homes were looted and opportunists ran donation scams.

Political, but... sometimes it upsets me that while here, when purchasing an item, I am asked if I am military, who often get big discounts. Yes, these are individuals who put their lives on the line to protect our security, but what about other heroes. What about these fire fighters... the cops... the people who volunteer... teachers... to name just a few. There are so many heroes. Don't they deserve the same? Why do we distinguish one as more deserving than another. Just a thought. End of my rant and onto my rave!

Being forced to stay indoors because of the abundant smoke, I accomplished much on all my projects.

As usual, the Tipperary batik went through an "Ugly" phase and I had to rethink my intentions. Although I did many color studies that finally produced the colors I wanted, the brown dye bath seemed to muddy these colors.

As per my usual artistic method, I had an epiphany in the middle of the night. For me, art is instinct. I decided that I needed to wax out the background with a "hatching" effect to create texture and dimension to the background while still staying relatively neutral so as not to compete with the batik's subject.

I then applied a wash of a brown-blue mix to the background, with the waxed-out brown resisting. The blue tint, theoretically, will fade back from Tipperary, who will be completed with a black dye bath. The image shows the batik while it is wet and will not reveal its color until it dries.

After my efforts have dried, I will again wax out the background so that it will not take on the color of the final dye bath. I don't think I have ever thought and worked so hard on a background before, specifically to make the subject shine. A new learning experience for me... and exactly what this blog is about!! Making mistakes... and new discoveries. A journey in learning.

The image to the right shows the batik held up to a light so you can get an idea of what the colors and pattern will more closely look like. The blotchiness is pools of dye settling on the wax and will be more brilliant when removed. I am excited to start working on Tipperary.

I am also excited about the stain glass windows my husband, Luke, and I have been working on to fit into the four panels on our front door. We have a lovely Tudor style home that has always cried for stained glass, but could never really afford it. Luke finished the two outside panels. The inside panels are almost done, one need patina and the other is ready to start the soldering process. I can't wait to get these home and installed.

Auction Commission: No Turning Back

A little something about who I am as an artist and what has affected my attitudes about my art.

When I was 10 years old, my father had me apprenticed to a Master glassblower, William Burke, who (allegedly) taught renown glass artist Milon Townsend of New York City. I learned how to manipulate glass using the torch technique, with solid Pyrex rods and hollow tubing. By the age of 12, I had my first craft show in a cow field under a tent. My dad built me a demonstration table out of old pallets from a neighboring field. By the age of 14, I was sick and tired of mass production. I just wanted to be an artist. Only to create. Not to produce, and reproduce.

Because of that, I have only created artwork to please myself. If I love it, I keep it. If I hate it, nobody will ever see it. If I like it, I tend to give it away. I have never really sold anything since my glassblowing days. Not that I haven't had offers, but the price was never high enough to relinquish.

The Tipperary batik is, technically, my first "commission." Not that I am being paid, mind you, but rather I am doing it for someone other than myself, and very proudly for the benefit of Global Sighthound Rescue. It's hard. If I don't like it, I just can't throw it into the pile of my rejects, and, if I love it, I DO have to let it go. Keep in mind, I only taught myself to batik almost 2 years ago, and I have so much more yet to learn.

This batik will be the first one in which I have done the background first, and the first batik in which I will be doing a double dye bath. The problem with doing the background first is that you have to keep in mind that the background should not overwhelm the foreground. And yet I challenged myself by choosing to draw a busy blanket upon which to put the subject, a black greyhound, surrounded by detailed and colorful chocolate wrappers. The batik is at risk of losing a strong focus on its subject, with the busyness and color of the background acting as major distractors.

Whomever determined that problem solving occurs during R.E.M. sleep is a genius! I find myself waking during the early hours in the morning with Eureka! moments on how to approach my batik conundrums.

The dark subject and the colorful chocolate wrappers means I have to have a relatively neutral background. But I don't have to sacrifice the retro pattern of the blanket. I have to de-emphasize it. One of the main elements of my batiks is the "comic-bookish" dark outlines. For the background, I am going to forgo that element.

This is also the first time that I actually have to have a recipe for exact colors. That means I have to do intensive color studies while noting down the formula in order to recreate the color on a larger scale. To actually measure my dye concentrations, I had to create a miniscule measuring device. I used Sculpey and a golf tee to create it. Again, LOVE those Eureka! moments!

I started with a soft wash on the blanket to eliminate any distracting white highlights. I free-painted (painted with no wax resist) the retro pattern with my chosen color palette. Next, I waxed out everything that will will NOT be the warm, mid-tone brown of the blanket that will be accomplished using the first of two dye baths.

Tomorrow will reveal the results of my choices. There is no turning back now!!

Currently, I am visiting my twin sister in Colorado for a month. (I am from New York state) She has graciously taken time off from work to teach me stained glass, and for me to teach her batik. I sketched the following image for her to start with, and tomorrow, we begin batik in earnest!

**SIGH** Sadly, I love this sketch too!!

Auction Commission: Introducing Tipperary

In April of 2012, Global Sighthound Rescue ran an artist auction offering the services of seven artists to create a "portrait" of each winner's pet. The mediums used by each artist varied greatly: linocut print, ceramic sculpture, paper mache, soft sculpture, graphite portrait, painted ceramic pottery, and myself... batik.

The winner of my auction is Susan who has owned many dogs, from many different breeds, as well as cats. Obviously a woman with a lot of love in her heart to share with so many. The process of choosing WHICH pet to feature in the batik caused Susan much uncertainty.

Initially, Susan told me she had a greyhound who is a trancer. Trancing... what the heck is that!! To my surprise, some greys seem to go into a trance when they brush their back against low hanging branches or bushes. They may actually stand motionless for several minutes with their eyes glazed over as they seem to be feeling the touch of the branches.

In reference to this behavior, Susan asked me if I could do a sketch of her three greyhounds peering out of a liliac bush. I began with a simple sketch and found, though I loved the idea of using brilliant colors, that the dog's beautiful face was getting lost in the busyness of the liliacs. To add two more greyhounds to this didn't seem like an option.

After looking through many pictures, we finally agreed that Tipperary would be the subject of the batik. Susan comments about her heart dog, "Much as I love the others, he (Tipperary) was and always will be Mommy's favorite."

To create the perfect composition that shows the pet's personality in addition to his visage, I had to find out more about who Tipperary was.

Tipperary was Susan's first greyhound
whom passed away in 2005 at age 11.

Tipperary was a lovely black male greyhound with gorgeous, engaging eyes. Susan wrote me "He was not a needy or demanding dog, but he always made it clear that I was very important to him. He watched me wherever I went, but did not have to follow me everywhere. It's probably why I liked his eyes so much." THAT statement gave me my focus!

Despite the fact that Tipperary was afraid of thunderstorms, fireworks, balloons, and black plastic bags, he was better known for being a precocious scamp.

Susan wrote, "He did seem to have a taste for the written word. He ate many newspapers and books through the years. He also was a manic chocoholic. When we visited my parents, he found and ate selectively from her chocolate stash in the bedroom. She learned to hide her chocolate better whenever he came to visit." THOSE statements gave me my composition.

Since then, I have found the reference materials I need to convey my idea, sketched out an image (that I love and whose subsequent batik I will sadly not be able to keep), done a color study, transferred the image onto the fabric ( I choose a lovely French cotton with Snails embedded in it), and I am now at the beginning stages of waxing.

Tipperary has such fine white lines in his black face that I decided to try using my Ukranian Easter Egg tjanting tool, which I have never used before in a batik (see white areas in the closeup image around the eye). It was working fabuously until I realized that these lines would have to be redone during each subsequent wax removal and reapplication. It was best if I had started with the background.

Traditionally in my work process, I always underplan and wait to see how the subject of the batik turns out before I decide what kind of background "speaks" to me and what colors are appropriate. Now I am forced to work in reverse. I decided that a retro pattern seemed to suit the theme of this batik, Tipperary's avid chocoholicism.

Given many of these factors, I have entitled this batik "Chocolate, Snails, and Puppy Dog Tails... That's what Tipperary is Made Of"

Lesson 4: Understanding Chemicals

The chemicals of batik have been the hardest to understand, and for the painterly batiks that my group are doing, I have had to make a great many errors to discover perfect solutions to uncommon situations. If there is any lesson you should read about, this is the most important one.

The most important chemical in the batik process is soda ash, a fixative that bonds the dye to the fiber. Dye must be 'fixed' (made permanent) with Soda Ash on cotton and other cellulose fibers. It's a mild alkali that enables the reaction between the dye and the cellulose fibers at lower temperatures, causing them to “become one.” How much you use is normally a function of the amount of water, not the amount of fabric or dye.

I have ready many books on batik, and every one of them has instructed presoaking your fabric in a mixture of soda ash and water and then letting it dry completely dry before sketching your image. When the dye is painted on, it reacts with the Soda Ash in the fabric.
 
This technique is fine if you are creating simple "blocky" images or stamps of traditional batik that don't require intensive painting, but I have found that the more detailed painting I do leaves a stain caused by diffusion. The wet areas of dye seem to push the sodium of the soda ash to the border and leave and unsightly stain. Stay tuned and you will learn a very important simple trick.

BASE SOLUTION: Cold Batch Chemical Water

Hand painting on fabric requires a thickened solution that slows bleeding, allowing you greater control of color placement and blending. First, you need to create the base solution for the other chemicals that will be added later. Cold batch chemical water is the base for mixing dyes for the purpose of handpainting and can be stored in a refrigerator for up to a month. It basically contains water and Urea. Urea extends the drying time of the fabric so that the dye has time to bond with the fibers, generally 6 hours for pastels or silk OR 12-24 hours for deeper shades and brighter colors

Cold Batch Chemical Water Recipe:

Mix together ¾ cup Urea (dissolve in a little hot water if necessary) with 1 quart water. (NOTE: In this image, I am only making a quarter batch because that is all I need during my month long sojourn with my twin sister in Colorado.)

THICKENING SOLUTION: Sodium Alginate

Before handpainting, the chemical water needs to be thickened. The thicker the solution, the less it will bleed along the fabric fibers, allowing you to control the flow and actually paint or print onto the fabric.

Thickener is generally made from sodium alginate, which is cheaper but requires mixing in a blender, some time to thicken, and has a yellowish cast that may skew color perception slightly (from what you see when wet to what you see when dry). I used to buy a pre-made clear mixture called Superclear from Dharma Trading Company, but supply shortages on alge has made this difficult to get in the United States. If this is a concern, you can buy a higher grade food alginate used in molecular gastronomy at Amazon.

Sodium Alginate Recipe:

In a blender, combine 1 cup chemical water and 2 Tablespoons sodium alginate powder. Mix at low speed for 10 minutes. Refrigerate for several hours or overnight until thickened. Store in the refrigerator. If you want a thicker solution (especially for screen printing), add more sodium alginate.

SODA ASH: ***The BIG Secret***

After my initial failure with staining caused by diffusion, I decided to try adding in a little bit of soda ash when I mixed the dyes and thickened solution together. That was a failure. It was difficult to control the ratio of liquid to soda ash to get the correct reaction with the fiber.

Sadly, I do my best thinking when I am asleep (and might benefit from sleeping a bit more often). In a moment of inspiration, I jumped out of bed in a EUREKA moment. The soda ash reacts with the dyes!!!! The solution is to add the soda ash to the thickened solution where it remains inactive at the proper concentration until the dye is combined with it.

Soda Ash Recipe:

Roughly ½ teaspoon soda ash per ½ cup of thickened chemical water is needed. If you don't use enough, the dye won't yield full strength.

When mixed with the dyes, the soda ash fixer activates and has a limited shelf life of 3-5 hours before it becomes half as effective. Blacks exhaust even faster. Only small quantities of dye solutions are needed for painting.

Add a squirt of thickened chemical water (or however much you will need for your image) into a mixing cup. Dip the tip of a paintbrush into the powdered dye and mix a small quantity of it into the thickened chemical water. Test out the color on a scrap piece of cloth or paper towel. Try to go a shade or two darker than you want for your finished result. Use slightly more for blacks, bright reds, and bright blues. Smaller dye to water ratio yields pastel hues.

MISCELLANEOUS CHEMICALS:
Calsolene oil is used in the final deep water dye bath to break the surface tension of the water and allow the dye to dissolve better.

Synthrapol is a wetting agent that helps wool fibers to open up to absorb water for the acid dye process. However, for cold water batik Synthrapol is used as a soap to encapsulate loose dye particles and prevent accidental dye spots when washing your batik before boiling the wax out.

The next lesson I will present will be about different techniques in painting with thickened dyes.

Through the Stages 5: Finished at Last!

Well, this particular batik went through many more "Ugly" stages than I anticipated, but it is finished at last. I am not thrilled by my results, not enough to justify the enormous expense of framing it just so I can validate my reasons for keeping it. After all, everything looks better framed.

I think it is about time that I consider an online store or maybe selling it on Etsy. I have maybe six or seven batiks that I am willing to sell for the right price.

It is always hard to let my artwork go. If I love it, I will not part with it. If I hate it, I certainly don't want anyone else to see it. If I am ambivalent about it, I cannot charge anyone for it, so I give it away. If I want to make my art a "business", I need to toughen up about my insecurities.

Years ago I bought a lovely oil painting of Chinese war horse from an artist online. Weeks later she blogged that she regretted selling that painting, but every day I cherish that same painting.

This experience teaches me that I need to adjust my perspectives on my art. It may sound obnoxious to say that I am being selfish about hiding my artwork away when others can appreciate it and love it and value it so much more. It is time for me to grow up and get "out there."

My next "Through the Stages" blog will be about the winner of the Global Sighthound Rescue Artist Portrait Auction's winner and the process of the personalized batik as it goes through its stages.

Lesson 3: As Mr. Miyagi Says, "Wax On"

About Batik Waxes:

There are many different types of wax, each with their own pluses and minuses. My favorite by far is natural, high quality (strained) beeswax. I bought several pounds of inferior beeswax at a garage sale once, and while it works, it has a much coarser, stiffer structure that seems determined to cling to the fabric despite numerous removal attempts. Beeswax has a lower melting temperature than some types of waxes. One of the very beautiful characteristics of batik though is the lines of crackle that appear after the final dye bath. Beeswax is a very soft wax, and by itself, will only produce very fine lines of crackle or even none at all.

A premixed Batik wax can be purchased online and sometimes locally in an art or craft store. This mixture is a combination of beeswax and paraffin. Paraffin has a higher melting point and is more brittle when cool. The more paraffin used, the more the wax will crackle, giving you that "batik" look.

Soy wax... I wouldn't bother unless you are vegan. Much like beeswax, it has a low melting temperature. However, it is not a very hardy wax and can weaken or melt out if washed in warm water.

The wax mixture should be melted in an electric wax pot or crockpot with a HIGH setting. (220°F-240°F) (CAREFUL! If you overheat the wax, it can burst into flames!) Work with hot wax in a well-ventilated area (it gives off fumes), and never leave hot wax unattended!! In case of emergency, you can douse the flames with baking soda, NOT water.

Sketch your image onto the fabric using a pencil.

Stretch the fabric on a Frame or Hoop. This will keep the fabric taught, raised off of your work surface and away from any contaminants or spreading of dyes as you paint.

Applying Wax:

A Tjanting (canting) tool is a Japanese instrument for applying hot wax to fabric, consisting of a small thin copper (or metal) reservoir with one or more capillary spouts, and a handle of reed or bamboo.

Let the metal end of the tjanting sit in the wax pot to warm up to the same temperature as the wax. This prevents the wax from cooling too quickly in the reservoir and allows for a more continuous, clean line.

Use a folded paper towel under the tjanting when transferring it from the wax pot to the fabric. This prevents stray drips of wax from falling on your work. Once wax is on the fabric, it is very difficult to remove without starting all over again. Don’t worry. Sometimes these accidents become a happy part of the design or can be later fixed with magic markers or overdying.

Practice using your tjanting on a scrap piece of fabric to get a feel for it before beginning your batik.

Use the Tjanting tool to apply lines of melted wax to any areas that are to stay white or to stay a specific color that has already been applied to the fabric.

You can also use natural fiber brushes to fill in the larger areas. The brush needs to be reheated in wax much more frequently because it does not have the ability to retain heat that the tjanting does.

In Indonesia, wax designs are repeatedly stamped onto the fabric with intricate metal stamps made of copper called Tjaps or Caps (pronounced "chops"). I tried using mine for the first time last night and have realized that I have a lot to learn. I probably need to use it outdoors where I can shake off the excess wax better before applying it to the fabric. As you can see, my results were blotchy, hinting that I had too much wax and too hot of a tjap.

When applying wax, no matter what method you are using, regulate the temperature so that it penetrates the fabric, not so cool that it just turns yellowish and sits on top, and not so hot that the wax drips quickly from the tjanting or all your drawn lines spread out too much. The wax should have a clear appearance, indicating it has penetrated to the other side. Flip fabric over and apply wax anywhere it has not penetrated.

In lesson 4, I will discuss chemicals and provide you the recipes needed to start dying.

Lesson 2: Tools of the Trade

You may have read a book about batik that tells you about the Indian Javanese tjap (cap) and the tjanting (canting). Truly the most important tools of batik, but not by far the only ones for the painterly batiks my group has been doing. While we have only been using these tools thus far, some of us are beginning to experiment with new tools and techniques. But first, the basics.

Tjantings (A-C) are pen-like tools that have metal reservoirs, whose job is to hold and keep the melted wax hot. The wax flows through a tiny spout, some straight (A & C) and some curved (B). The wax flow depends on the angle you hold it and the shape and the size of the spout.

Tjanting A is an inexpensive commercial wax pen with a straight spout. The problem with this one is that the straight spout releases the wax too quickly with little control. I've tried flattening the spout with pliers to some benefit, but though it is usable, it is not one I recommend.

Tjantings B have copper reservoirs that retain the heat longer than other metals and curved spouts that allow for greater control of the wax flow. Spout size is measured in millimeters. The size our group uses most often is 1 to 1.5 millimeters and maybe 2 millimeters to fill in larger areas. These tjantings were purchased from Dharma Trading Company, a company who offers a large variety of high quality batik supplies.

Tjanting C is actually used for the process of waxing Ukrainian Easter eggs. While the wax cools very quickly compared to the others, the diameter of the spout is extremely tiny and produces very fine hairs of wax.

Tool D is a tjap, a copper stamp commonly used in the production of repeated patterns in Indian saris. Tjaps usually come in a negative and a positive form, one stamped on the front and the other stamped on the reverse of the fabric to reinforce the resist. Tjaps tend to be expensive and difficult to find as many of them are antiques. Although this tjap is old, it is new to me and as yet, still unused. It is too large for my wax pots, which means I will have to invest in a flat heated skillet.

Natural hair brushes (not synthetic, which melt) are used to fill in large areas of wax resist (while hot) or to add texture (while cooling). The brush does not keep the wax hot for long, so as it cools, the stroke of the brush becomes more apparent. It needs to be heated more frequently than the tjantings. One brush technique I hope to try soon is using the thicker brush shown and striking it against a hard object to create a spatter effect. Totally Jackson Pollack. You can even make forms from sticky frisket to block out shapes and let the spatter define the shape.

Brushes of various sizes are also important for the application of thickened dyes, either in large blocks of color or very painterly like Grasshopper Dana's truly realistic heart! Fantastically ghoulish!

Tools F through H are "freelance" tools, household metal items that retain the heat and create different effects. The pot scrubby (F) can be used for fur, the eye dropper (G) for rough pointillism, and cookie cutters (H) for whimsy.

I've have even carved stamps out of potatoes (which eventually cook) for the background of the Halby Hives logo to the left and floral foam, which is easy to carve but eventually breaks down. There are no limits to the tools you can use. Some work. Some fail. But all of them are a fun process of learning through trial and error.

I've tried many different wax pots with much frustration. Problems with consistency of temperature always seems to be the predominant issue. You do not want to experience change in wax flow when you are deep into a batik. The small wax tray to the left was sufficient for myself alone (another Dharma purchase), but I found that it had to be placed on the highest heat setting. Even better is a simple crock pot, 1 quart is best or 2 to 3 quarts for the many hands reaching into the same pot during batik Fridays.

Lastly is the all important frame that stretches the fabric taut and suspends the fabric above your work surface, preventing dye contamination or bleeding wax. I have used anything and everything for a frame, including paper boxes and egg cartons.

My first major frame purchase was Frame 1, a wooden frame with slots that made it adjustable to your fabric size. While good in theory, the frame agonizingly fell to pieces with consistent regularity.

A better option is to purchase different size stretcher bars for canvases. These can be assembled and disassembled to fit your project. The major problem with wood though is that it soaks up the dye and is a risk of contamination to your fabric.

Plastic options are available in Frames 3 & 4, though Frame 3 severely limits the size and shape of your batik. My favorite frame by far is Frame 4, purchased from ProChemical & Dye. The plastic frame is adjustable and has sharp claws that snag and hold the fabric. The only down side is its large, cumbersome size that dominates our Friday night table space.

Don't feel overwhelmed by the magnitude of the quantity of tools. Simply start with a tjanting, a crockpot, and a box. That is all you need. The rest will come along when your skills and confidence emerge. Batik is only a game that you win with practice.

Through the Stages 4: Art of the Grasshoppers

Since I cannot really call the friends who join me for batik every Friday night students anymore, it seemed natural to start calling them Grasshoppers. I was reminded last night where that particular reference came from, and remembering brought me great joy in recalling how much I enjoyed watching David Carradine in Kung Fu. Now I am sure I will have to go check for it on Netflix.

I am proud of my Grasshoppers. They have become so self-sufficient that I rarely have to look over their shoulders anymore. In fact, sometimes I have to prompt them by asking "Where do you think you might be going next with this?" When someone new joins the group, I sometimes forget that I need to explain anything at all.

I want to share with you some of the work of a few of my Grasshoppers. These batiks are the ones they are currently working on and at different stages of the process. The most recent addition to our group is Rita whose tree frog has come a long way without much advice from me, and, unbelievably, she has accomplished this much in only two nights. Every beginner has the inevitable accidental blobs of wax on the fabric before they gain confidence from their practice with the tjanting tool.

The Grasshopper who has been with me the longest is Dianne B. She has even gone so far as to take a "Fundamentals of Dying" class with me at Pro Chemical & Dye, and along the way has learned as much from my mistakes as I have from hers. (Like, who knew bleach could go bad?? Not me!) Dianne has been working on these gorgeous zebras and is now agonizing on the finer details of shading and contrast.

Grasshopper Mary is working on her third duck image, a Merganser. She has sworn that she is moving on from ducks after this, only to find out she has been researching more ducks. Mary has gotten horribly hooked on batik and is already planning out her own studio, building a light table, and acquiring her own supplies. LOVE it when that happens!

Grasshopper Tamara shows no fear. Her very first batik was an ambitiously jaunty image of Walt Whitman, and despite some major disasters, she played around and experimented with different processes until it became as beautiful as Walt's poetry. This is still by far one of my favorite batiks of my Grasshoppers. Currently she is finishing up an image of Sally from Tim Burton's Nightmare Before Christmas. The picture shown has just come from the final dye bath and still contains the wax resist.

Another ambitious first project was completed by Gail, a vivacious Grasshopper with tons of spirit and adventure. Sadly last year, she lost all three of her greyhounds to illnesses, so it seems fitting that her first project was of her greyhounds. Beautiful use of color, texture, contrast, and composition. Her next project is going to be a scarf, but I am eager for her to begin the image of her cat's face. The detail in that image has encouraged me to seek out new methods of applying the wax to the fabric to get different textures and detail. You will see some of those in my next blog about the tools of batik.

Last, but not least (sorry Dana, Mom, and Lynn), is Grasshopper Diane H. whose husband is keeping us "well rounded" with his wonderful desserts. Diane has started working on a Mexican Oaxacan bull after just finishing a fabulous Oaxacan Eagle. This image is going to challenge her with the magnitude of its fine detail, but I know she is up to it. As the abilities of my Grasshoppers mature, they brave greater complexity in their image choices.

I am almost finished painting my batik. I have a few areas I want to redye in order to assure the vibrancy remains after I wash out the dye and boil out the wax. The next stage is to rewax the areas I want to protect from the final dye bath and leaving the hard outlines seen in my inspiration image. Before I move onto the dye bath though, I have to address what I am going to do for the background. I know I want it to be dark so that the other colors POP, but I am still struggling with how much detail, the technique, and the colors. I will have it all figured out by next Friday, I am sure, after many sleepless nights. At least it is almost out of its "Ugly Phase." Stay tuned.

Through the Stages 3: The Ugly Phase

There is always a stage in batik when you look at it and say "This looks so awful... why should I even bother to continue?" While I don't think my current batik is terrible right now, exactly, I am certainly not in LOVE with it. This is what I call the "Ugly Phase".

I spent last Friday adding more of the dye colors to my composition. While some colors seem to work together, others do not seem to be quite as harmonious.

At this stage I begin to doubt... "Did I make the right color choices?"... "Should I have applied that technique differently?"... "OMG, is that too dark?"... "What the hell am I going to do for the background?" Really, this is piss-poor planning on my part. My husband always complains that I throw myself into my art without having a firm plan or path to achieving it. I tend to wing it.

I guess I think of the process of batik as being more instinctive. There is no right or wrong... just choices to be made. That is one of the things I love about my Friday night batikers. Initially they would ask me, "What do I do next?" and I would give them a list of options. Then they would make a decision and learn from it. Now, instead of asking me what to do, they actually present me with their own options that I may have not even considered... and now I learn from them as well.

Anyway, I put a wash of periwinkle on the background so that I can wax out some of the rain in this color. The intention is for the background to become much darker (blocking out the periwinkle I don't need) so that the bright colors in the rest of the image will pop. "Popping" is what gets the batik out of its "Ugly Phase." The introduction of dramatic contrast between dark and color will give the final image its luminescence, like that of a stained glass window in the sunlight. Sadly, that stage comes much later, and until then, I will have to continue living with my doubts and trusting my instincts.

Lesson 1: Highs and Woes of Fabric Choice

The first thing to understand about choosing the proper fabric for batik is to understand a little something about the dyes and the dying process.

1. Types of Dye Processes:
There are basically three major types of dye; acid dyes which require hot water to bond the dye to the fibers, silk dyes which require either steam or chemicals for bonding, and ProMX cold water FRD dyes which require chemicals to affix the colors. Basically, Batik requires a non-heat activated dye, or in this case, a fiber reactive dye (FRD). Any heat process will weaken or melt the wax that blocks the dye and is not a suitable process for batik. For batik, cold water FRD dyes are the obvious option. Typically, FRDs bond with silk or plant fibers.

2. Types of Fibers:
The next thing to understand are the major types of fibers: synthetic, silk, plant (cellulose), and animal (protein).

Inappropriate Fibers for Batik:
Synthetic fibers I do not know much about except that each fiber requires a different process; rayon uses dispersion dyes and nylon requires acid, dispersion, and pigment dyes. YAWN, I am bored already.

Examples of the major protein fibers requiring a heat dying process are wool, angora, mohair, cashmere, silk, soy, leather, and suede.

Fibers Appropriate for Batik:
Silk is wonderful in that it responds to both heat (more brilliant) and chemical dying processes (less brilliant). It is neither a synthetic, cellulose, or protein fiber. It is unique by itself. Last year, I picked up a bolt of beautiful unbleached rough silk at a garage sale with a history that enthralled and inspired me. The seller's father had brought back the silk from Japan during WWII for her mom. The silk's origin and ancient history expresses itself beautifully in an antique color palette. Without revealing my finished pieces to soon and too fast, I will someday soon post my Arts and Crafts inspired William Morris silk pelicans and my Royal Peon silk peacock.

Cellulose fibers include cotton, linen, hemp, ramie, bamboo, rayon, and muslin. My first naive MISTAKE was in believing that these fibers would all yield the same or similar results to each other. I LOVED the idea of using bamboo. The initial colors were brilliant... lovely... and then they washed out to a pale representation of what they could have been. (see Mermaid and the Fish, left) Again, I fell back onto my magic markers to brighten my results.

After that, I decided that maybe I needed to better investigate my materials. I ordered a swatch-sampler package of over 50 different cellulose fibers from Dharma Trading Company. I handcarved the work "Batik" out of florist foam and industriously stamped it on each swatch (with the Dharma fabric code). I subjected all the samples to a single dye bath and was amazed at the huge variations in depth and vibrancy of color (more recent tests to the right).

3. Where to buy your fabric:
I've bought my fabrics from many places; the GOOD, Dharma Trading Company; the BAD, popularized commercial chain fabric stores; the BEST, seek out specialized fabric stores in your area who buy high-quality lots and know their fabrics like they are best friends (for me, Feminine Touch Fabrics, Syracuse).

4. How to prepare your fabrics:
It is recommended to pre-wash the fabric to remove any dirt, grease, and starch.

Pre-washing in Synthrapol or detergent helps remove invisible lubricants, fingerprints, dirt, oils, silk worm gum, and other impurities that can interfere with the dye absorption and cause uneven results. It is especially important for tub dyeing when you want an even, consistent dye job.

Not pre-washing is one of the biggest causes of "splotchy" results. Even PFD (prepared for dyeing) fabrics should be pre-washed.

Do I pre-wash my fabrics? LOL. Only when I remember. If you should though, a WISE thing to do is to clip the corners off the fabric to remind you that the fabric has been pre-washed.

5. Texture of the fabric:
Who would have thought that texture could have such a big effect on results? Well, I guess I should have!!!

Fabrics with heavy texture, such as linens (top left), seem to have more difficulty holding the wax, maybe because heavy fibers extend in multiple directions and prohibits the wax from absorbing equally. Maybe because its thickness is greater than that of other fabrics, such as cotton, silk, or muslin. Linen seems to want to bleed more.

You need to choose your fabric to suit the style of your design. A batik that requires clean, sharp lines benefits from thinner fabrics with finer texture (bottom left), such as cotton.

Do not discount linen though. The dyes spread beautifully for a watercolor technique or soft blends on an interestingly patterned surface. Its harsher texture can even create drama. (see Geisha, right)

I have so much to learn, and am eager to do so. If you should play around with batik, I hope you will share what you learn. Challenge yourselves! And have fun!

Through the Stages 2: Beginning Dye Stage

I wholly intended to begin my first instructional blog discussing the highs and woes of fabric choices, but I have to write about my wonderful Friday night batik group.

First, my Birthday:
I gotta say... I LOVE MY FRIDAY NIGHT FRIENDS!!! For my 45th birthday, they encouraged me to dye my hair, and in a fit of pique, I did it blue rather than pink. I did a terrible disservice to Dana who made me this gorgeous goth hair piece that would have popped on pink... but pink will come again... eventually.

Tamara made me an awesome pound cake (and I gained a few too) with, unfortunately, non-alcoholic whipped cream. Didn't need it though. It was delish. And Lynn brought a sumptuous lemon cream pie!! Yuum!

Diane H. brought me flowers and cake a week earlier, and although I tried to convince her that my b'day was the next week, and then again the next week thereafter, and so on, I could not get her to continue her lovely generosity.

My BFF, Dianne B. gave me the most sentimental card that lets me know how much our relationship is cherished.

Mary, who gifts me every day with her humor, her dog, and her endless zeal for adventure, has been an inspiration to me... a very cherished gift indeed.

My mom also gave me a beautiful card, accurately encapturing our relationship, that made me cry when I was sober enough to read it in its entirety.

And extra special appreciation to my VBFF, my husband, who despite protests, got me an I-pad3 and will suffer many days helping me learn how to use it.

I want to share with you these people who make the learning process of batik easier for me. I learn from their mistakes and through their obvious mistake in trusting blindly in my advice. I learn from them as they learn from me! And we have fun all the while!

We had a large group this Friday, so I bowed out of dying my image much and helped others, including another newbie. I love seeing their projects come to completion. You have done well grasshoppers.

I am thrilled with the vibrancy of color and depth I have gotten from the new natural cotton fabric that I am trying with my image. Already today, I am heating my wax and eager to take the next steps.

Stay tuned.

Through the Stages 1: Initial Wax

While I really hope to impart in this blog is the story of the trials and errors in discovering the process of batik and to convey what I have learned to those who want to know. But, I also want to show the progression of my current project as it goes through its stages each week.

Using an enlarged image of my initial sketch of a gothic girl sharing the shelter of an umbrella from the rain with a crow, I traced the image onto a piece of unbleached 100% mercerized cotton using a light table. Fabric choice, as you will learn in my next post, plays an important role in the final appearance.

Using my tjanting tool and a hot wax mixture, I traced my pencil outline. While these lines will eventually be black, they will at this stage prevent any dyes from bleeding between sections of color.

This image of a girl amongst peacocks served as my initial inspiration. I hope to carry through the surreal colors and heavy black lines that I love about this picture. My image, however, has a lot more far away details that will make this style difficult to achieve. I also still have many decisions to make about my color palette before I start the dying process this Friday with my friends. Color has always been a stage of uncertainty and insecurity for me. Sometimes you have to dive in, and just commit.

Batik Beginnings: How it all Started

Several years ago, I decided I wanted to try the process of batik. Batik is the art of using wax resist on fabric to control the absorption of dyes into the fabric. Most people look at batik as a way to create colorful repeating textile patterns using stamps and tjantings, commonly used for Indian saris and quilting panels. I wanted to take it to the next level. I wanted to discover how to create an original art piece through a process of painting and manipulating dyes.

I started reading what books I could find. I watched videos online. Most informative was the documentation of the process on the Dharma Trading Company website. Through trial and error, I have finally evolved a process that works best (this I will share in my later posts).

My first adventure in batik was ambitious. I wanted to paint a vineyard overlooking the vibrant fields of Tuscany. I fearlessly threw myself into a process that sounded easier than it actually was. Hours later, after much swearing and tantrums as blobs of wax landed and dyes bled in places where they shouldn't, I gave up and hid it away, eventually to be rediscovered months later.

Batik is not a perfect medium. You will always get unexpected results. Then you learn to cheat.

When I returned to the Tuscany batik, I doggedly finished it despite my growing fears that I was wasting my time. I collected old newspapers and paper bags, and ruined my iron through the process of ironing out the wax, but it was done, and it turned out... okay.

Through much positive support of a much maligned husband, I was encouraged not to give up, so I took out my basket of art markers and fixed it. I cheated but who cares. My final result was much improved and worthy of framing.

I put away all my supplies and did not touch them again until about a year later.