Sunday, January 04, 2009

Batik--Water Soluble and Low Cost

It's been a long time since I got out the fiber dyes...I'd like to get back to it. A new (to me) technique really caught my attention last summer, and it's been sitting in a directory waiting for a break in my project stream: Flour Paste Batik from Bridget Benton at The Matchbook.

I love traditional batik, and every time I buy something from Dharma Trading Company, I end up drooling over their batik supplies for a while. The process is no more messy than many of my other favorite pastimes, but if you need to really get every last bit of wax resist out of your project, dry-cleaning chemicals are the way to go. Here in the country, there are no dry-cleaners, and no shipping or delivery of volatile chemicals. (Not to mention the hazardous aspects of those lovely organic solvents.) That's the beauty of Bridget's flour resist--it's water soluble! I am definitely going to try this. Sometime soon, I hope.

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