Batik Sunflower Wall Hanging

Wax-less Batik Sunflower Wall Hanging

by Dianne Giancola

Traditional batik uses hot wax as a resist to create designs when dyeing fabric.  Hot wax is very hard to handle, and after dyeing, the wax is difficult to remove.  With the “wax-less” batik method, a washable resist medium, such as Crafter’s Pick Batik-EZ Resist Medium, is used in place of the hot wax.  It’s so much faster and easier!  In this wall handing, a sunflower design was stenciled onto fabric using a washable resist medium.  Then, dyes were painted around the design and finished off in the microwave.

Supplies Needed for Wax-less Batik Dyeing

  • Rit Liquid Dye: Lemon Yellow, Teal, Scarlet, Purple, Kelly Green, Cocoa Brown
  • Crafter’s Pick Batik-EZ Resist Medium
  • 3 - 14” Squares white, 100% cotton fabric for each block design
  • Sunflower stencil
  • Stencil brush & assorted brushes for painting with the dyes
  • Stencil spray adhesive
  • Measuring spoons
  • Metal spoon
  • Rubber gloves
  • 4-Cup measuring cup for mixing dyes
  • 8-Cup glass measuring cup or bowl for microwave
  • Plastic wrap for microwave dyeing
  • Paper towels
  • Plastic to cover work area

Instructions

1.  Cover table with plastic sheet or tablecloth.

2.  Prewash cotton fabric to remove any finishes that may interfere with dye absorption.  Dry and iron fabric. 

3.  Cut three14” squares of white cotton fabric. 

4.  Wearing rubber gloves, measure and mix 3 teaspoon Lemon Yellow liquid dye in 1 ½ Quarts hot tap water in large 8-cup glass bowl.

5.  Place three wet fabric square in measuring cup with dye.  Cover with plastic wrap and microwave on High for 2 minutes. 

6.  Remove fabric from microwave.  Rinse fabric until water is clear; launder with mild detergent, rinse and dry.  Iron to remove wrinkles.

 How to Create Sunflower Batik

1.  Place sheets of plastic wrap on work area, overlapping the edges to make a square slightly larger than your fabric square.

2.  Fold yellow square in half and half again to find the center; finger press.

3.  Pour resist medium onto a paper plate.   

4.  Spray back of stencil lightly with a Stencil Adhesive Spray. Let dry. 

5.  Position sunflower stencil in center of fabric.  Using a stencil brush, apply the Crafter’s Pick Resist Medium to the open areas of the stencil, working from the center out.

6.  When all areas are covered, remove the stencil.  Let the resist dry for about one hour.

7.  Repeat for each fabric square.

Dye Painting

1.  Wearing rubber gloves, measure and mix 3 dye solutions:

  •  1 teaspoon Teal with 2 cups hot water
  •  1 teaspoon Scarlet with 2 cups hot water
  •  1 teaspoon Purple with 2 cups hot water

Note:  Test color by dipping fabric strip into the dye.  If color is too light, add more dye; if too dark, add more water.  

2.  Place sheets of plastic wrap on work area, overlapping the edges to make a square slightly larger than your fabric square.  Place one fabric square with stenciled resist on plastic.

3.  Brush Teal dye around stenciled sunflower in swirls.  Work around outside edges first then do the center around the sunflower.

4.  Place plastic wrap over the painted dye block.  Seal edges.  Then place it in the microwave and set on HIGH for 2 minutes. 

5.  Wearing rubber gloves, remove sunflower block from microwave.  (Plastic is very hot.)  Remove plastic wrap and rinse in cool water until clear and then launder with mild soap to remove any excess dye.  Resist will wash away leaving a batik-like sunflower design.  Let dry and iron.

6.  Repeat for dye painting for Scarlet and Purple.  Note:  If dye has cooled, cover with plastic wrap and reheat in the microwave for one minute.

Dye Painting Details on Sunflower  

   

1.  Place paper towel or cardboard underneath fabric to absorb the dyes.

2.  Prepare Chartreuse dye color:    Measure and mix ½ cup LemonYellow liquid dye, 1 teaspoon Rit Kelly Green liquid dye and 2 cups HOT tap water.  Then add 2 more cups hot water to dilute the color and achieve desired shade.  Using the Chartreuse dye and a very fine brush, paint the stems and leaves on the sunflower.

3.  Prepare Cocoa Brown Dye:  Measure and mix 1 teaspoon dye with ½ cup very hot tap water.  Using a very fine brush, paint seed dots on sunflower.

4.  Let dye dry and then iron between two paper towels.

Note:  Reheat dyes in the microwave if they get cold.  Dyes should be hot when painting with them.

5.  Dye paint details on all three sunflower squares.

Finishing Wall Hanging

Wall hanging can be finished as desired.  Yellow sashing was added around batik-dyed sunflower squares.  Then a hand-dyed cocoa brown border was added.  The top piece was layered with quilt batting and a hand-dyed cocoa brown backing.  The layers were machine stitched together along the seams in the sashing.  Wall hanging was finished with matching binding.

Details