Soy Wax Batik

Soy Wax Batik 

 Why? Why did I take this workshop? I love what I am doing with parafin. The batik is fun, I get the results I am looking for and it's working for me. But soy wax? It is a weird beast. It does act as a resist, but it is also water soluble. You can wash it out with hot water. This is easy compared to boiling regular wax out over the hot steaming stove. I don't have much experience with soy wax though, so I could use a primer. And then, Jane Dunnewold was teaching it. I said YES before I even found out if I could go. I didn't know what to expect, but I was going with friends, I just love Jane's work and the books I have gotten from her. They have taught me so much about surface design and are so inspiring. I was completely unprepared for the joy that was about to come my way. Jane is on the cutting edge of a completely new way of making batik. She has been experimenting for over a year and a half to come up with this new technique. She puts the dye right in the wax!! Then you can stamp or brush on many different colors in one pass, and then dye the background. It is an incredibly important and significant difference than the batik of olde. And she has formulated a recipe to make dye crayons with the soy wax too. So, you can color with them (see the bird below), and you can use them to do rubbings for texture. I am in awe! Jane Dunnewold and Lisa Kerpoe (both of our teachers!) These are the trays of soy wax on the hot plate with dye in them. This is one of the two cats that live in Art Cloth Studios. Very cute! This is an inspiring piece, lots of wonderful colors! Sorry I can't remember who made this one. Quick someone email me with the appropriate reference! This one is also wonderful. It was made by Lisa Kerpoe. Actually I spent a lot of time browsing all the fantastic samples that Jane and Lisa had out for us. I got so caught up I forgot to take pictures of them. This is a double layer done by Sherri McCauley. There is a silk piece underneath, and a sheer piece on top. These look marvelous together! This is another sample from Sherri showing the textures from rubbings with the soy dye crayons. They are processed with steam and the colors really come alive! This is one of my favorites by Leslie Jenison. I love the combination of colors she used in this rubbing! Very pretty! This is a sample of mine. It is cotton and I thought I had ruined it. The low water immersion dye bath dissolved a lot of my soy wax and I thought I lost a lot of detail. Upon processing, a lot of the colors were still there. It is my favorite piece that I did during the 3 day workshop. I never would have picked the muddy neutral background color. It just happened by accident, and I LOVE the way it turned out! This is another of my favorites. In addition to using the crayons to capture texture with rubbings, you can also just color with them. I sat on the floor and felt like a little kid again. Pure bliss! Jane and me. Fun class! I would highly recommend Jane as a teacher. She shares a ton of information, is very patient with students' questions, and offers a lot of inspiration and expertise! Thanks Jane!