Inspiration for creative activities can come from anywhere and in this post I will talk about where the idea for the pieces of fabric, shown below, came from.
Recently we have been clearing out our garage as everything in there became unfit for use due to a leaky roof but one day last week my husband brought a box in containing fabrics which he thought might be usable. Having looked through it I decided that, apart from smelling a bit damp, the fabrics seemed okay so I started giving them a wash and this was when I came upon the piece of fabric which became my inspiration.
Batik fabrics tend to be quite expensive and so I thought I might see if I could create my own. I had previously random dyed some cotton fabrics and some pieces of silk velvet so I already had fabric with a base colour. Now for the fun!
I have a slow cooker which I use for melting wax ( and not for food!) so I switched this on and, whilst the wax was melting, chose some fabrics to experiment on, and these were two pieces of cotton fabric, one piece of silk velvet as well as a piece of heavier cotton which had been handpainted rather than dyed.
Using a reasonably thick brush I dripped spots of wax randomly all over the fabrics and then random dyed them again in different colours in a kilner jar for about 2/3 hours. Having rinsed and dried them I then ironed the wax off and gave them a further wash.
Of the different types of material used I think the most successful ones are the two pieces of cotton, one of which my husband describes as "a map of the galaxy". I feel the pile of the silk velvet means the area where the wax was applied is not so obvious and the handpainted fabric seems to have resisted the dye.
My next experiments will include re waxing and adding a further colour.
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| Original piece of batik fabric |
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| Pink/Purple cotton fabric |
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| Multi coloured cotton fabric |
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| Silk Velvet |
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| Back of silk velvet |
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| Hand painted fabric |
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