Ironing out the wax

The reason why I like doing batik is because like most types of craft, a lot of elements are unpredictable - how they dye will turn out, how the wax will interact with the dye, etc. Today I ironed out the wax from my lantern piece and I have to say that I'm very happy with the results.

Here is the piece so far - I have it lying on the couch for picture purposes - I still have to paint on the cables/lines for the lanterns - somehow the lanterns look funny just floating in the background. I'm not very happy about the black though - it still seems mottled - and I would like a darker background. Black never comes out right for me except when I do it up on small swatches. I'll have to continue experimenting.


I set up in the kitchen today to iron out the wax - partially because there's a little window, and the range hood to dispel of fumes, and partially because I don't have an ironing board, partially because I have easy access to old newspapers and paper towels. So here is the set up - newspaper + paper towel.


You're supposed to replace the paper towel frequently so you don't get such a big wax ring around the object you're ironing. This worked quite well with ONE of the lanterns. I don't like to waste paper so much, so the other lanterns had waxy rings around them - I'll have to work with it!