Let's Chat About Wax With Tjaps

Let’s Chat About Wax With Tjaps

So today let’s work with paraffin wax and tjaps on silk. This is just mostly busy work that can almost turn into meditation if one allows to get caught up in the process. As always, I am chatting about how I approach my work and since I continually use that square wheel there could be an easier and better method to the madness. This is mine-

First of all, the set up. Takes up most of your time and if you don’t do it—it all turns out in a mess so here are a few tidbits about my set up.

Depth of wax in your frying pan. I like it to be about 1/8” deep but 1/4” will do. The deeper the wax the more wax on your tjap– so more prep time removing it to get it just right or a messy scarf. I have lots of those—but as Hamada said—there may be only one pot in a thousand that is truly worthy but that does not mean that the other 999 are not beautiful in their own right. Oh yes– where was I?

Temperature of wax about 250 degrees. I am not sure, but if the wax is too hot it will spread out on your silk and of course if not hot enough, well you won't get a full print. So about 250 works for me. Remember to always work in a well vented area and never let your wax smoke. Now that you have your porridge I mean wax ready to go lets drop in the tjap.

Now lets work on getting the image of the tjap on the silk.
Place the tjap in the wax and let it warm up. Shake the excess wax off the tjap and then place it on 2 layers of plain paper. (I use the packing paper sold at Walmart) Let it sit for a long moment—I count to about 30-and then make a print on the paper. Check to see how it looks. If it is messy then print again, or just try to print the part that is really messy– like the cat’s face that I struggled with on the examples.

Now having already prepped your table with a few layers of towels and your silk is all nice and stretched and you are working on the wrong side, place the tjap on the silk and firmly rock it on and off. This takes a bit of practice to know where you want it longer and less, but I am sure you will get the feel of it. Actually, think about how it feels on the silk and you will know you have a good print.

Continue this process on your silk until all the areas you want a print have been stamped but not overlapping.

Turn your silk over to the right side and dye and paint as you wish. Remember all these images will be waxed before we go on to the next layer. After letting the dyes dry once again turn your piece on the wrong side for waxing.

With a brush designated for wax that you are comfortable with– better to go slow with a smaller brush than use a brush that is too large–  fill in all the images you have stamped and painted. When your silk is thoroughly dry it is time to go to the next layer.

With the wrong side of your silk on the table, once again apply the hot wax to your piece creating areas of overlapping and interlocking images. This creates depth and interest to the pieces. You can continue this process of waxing, dyeing, drying, waxing until you feel it is finished.

Remember to keep the waxed images clean of additional layers of colors if you are doing a gradual increase or such and might be spraying. Clean these images of wax on both sides and keep them clean—if not all those little bubbles will be waxed in and you might not be happy. Took me forever to catch on to this idea, but…. I use paper towels and clean them while the dye is still wet.

Now the piece is almost finished. Oh, I forgot to tell you that don’t worry too much about the bleed outs as the final or background will be very dark and will cover up those mistakes. However, today I did come across a tip about using kelp thickener in your dyes—just a tad and it will be more likely to stay where you want it. Just tried it and I am impressed.

So there are several ways to finish up your pieces. In the example today I painted up to each waxed image and was careful not to cover the images. Another way is to spray it alland then clean the images up -mmmmmmmmm lots of time –but gives a very antiquey look if you are looking for that. If you want a true batik do this background in the next to your darkest color and wax it off completely. Take the scarf off and crinkle a bit—and watch out where your crinkles are– control them- if you want it to look really good. Then apply a final coating of dye and work in to the cracks for that fine line batik look.

OH, yes now we have to remove all that wax we spent so much time carefully applying.


It is really a good idea to have a designated iron and ironing board for removing the wax. I tried putting layers of old sheeting etc. on my ironing board but alas it is not a good idea.  Invest if you can in an iron and board or use a very old table top covered in several layers of towels and if by any chance you have a flat iron that is not for steam send it to me immediately if not sooner. That is what you want to iron out wax with if you have one. I think they are like hen’s teeth to find. (Hen’s don’t have teeth) I use my table to iron on and lay out an old blanket and a old towel and then 2 layers of the packing paper the length of the scarf. I then lay only one layer of paper on top and begin removing the wax with a hot iron. It takes about 3 layers for each area on top. I flip the bottom papers over after round one and leave them. Sometimes, when I can see an area of wax still in the fabric that is around the image, I just reiron it without paper on top until it fades away. Steaming will get the rest of the wax out, but if you are really heavy handed this is what you do after steaming.

Fill up a large kettle with water and then add a tad of soap. Place the scarf in the kettle and let it heat up—do not boil– leave the scarf in the pot and stir until the wax is all removed. Let the kettle cool- remove wax from top and good to go. Remember this step is after you steam your scarf.

Well that about wraps up this adventure.
I hope my methods have been instructive and perhaps if you use them let me know.

If I don’t see you sooner, wave as you drive by,
Swinging on her old garden gate,
She waves as you she watches you leave the drive.

Making Art with Friends

Amy and Elise

For the last year, I have had the pleasure of having two delightful and wonderful people over to share my studio.


In a few weeks, they will be moving away and our Art Adventures will be coming to an end. For the grand finale we decided to play with silks, cottons, tjaps, shibori and even some tie dying for four days this week.

Today we played with silks and tjaps. Their pieces are not finished but I wanted to share each day in a blog. I think they are coming along grand.

So met Amy and Elise with their silks.

Well that about wraps it up for today, check back by as we will be showing some Japanese pole work with velvets.   OH so pretty.

So see you around town if not earlier and have a great day.

So... Let's make a shirt.

Having always liked the needle and thread it was only a matter of time before I decided to dye some fabric and make a shirt.

My search on the internet for double knit cotton led me once again to Dhrama Trading and when it arrived I was a little disappointed . The fabric was a bit hard and lumpy and was more of a winter weight of cotton not at all the light weight I was hoping for to wear on hot summer days here in Virginia. Anyway, after scouring it and preparing it for dyes, I began to accept the fabric and chose a rather repetitive large tjap for the design. Needing more than 2 colors, I decided to use the white as one color and a lavender for the second. The fabric was going to be more than a yard so I decided not to frame it up but just resist while it was on the table.

With cotton, one uses procion dyes and with this piece I planned on doing a vat dye bath after the wax was laid on the material. I submerged the fabric and let it sit in the dye for about 20 minutes then removed it and laid it on a rack in a plastic box where it was to stay until the next day or two.

At this point, the wax needed to be removed, but this time not with an iron. I filled up my big pot with hot water and some soap and set it on high on my outside burner. I carefully put the fabric in the pot and allowed it to get hot but not boil. After the wax melted from the cotton, the wax came to the surface and when cooled and could be pulled off to remove my ready for washing fabric.

It seems with cotton, one spends much more time with their washer and dryer than about anywhere else.

At this point, I needed to design a shirt pattern and sew it up. After taking my measurements I drew up my pattern and cut out the fabric. I chose a dirndl sleeve as those shirts require almost no sewing and they feel good without a set in sleeve. I think that the shirt turned out well, but the pattern of the fabric could have been a little smaller if I were to be a bit critical. Anyway, my first attempt and prototype batik shirt.

That about wraps this adventure up.

Glad you stopped by and give me a beep as you pass by.

Waves as she watches you leave down the long drive.

When the muses dance.

Elephants and palm trees

It is always nice when the muses decide to play their flutes in one’s life. I am sure there are muses of all things, but when they dance in your studio it can be fun.

 



Dragonflies - first attempt

  It was early into my silks that I started using wax as a resist and it grew into part of the process. I wanted a crisper edge without using a gutta type resist so after some searching I discovered TJAPS and knew immediately  that these tools  would fit right in. (I will talk about the history of Tjanps and Tjantlings in another blog.)

Tjaps I used in these pieces

That led to the research on batiks and yes, I am now dabbling in batik. Also included with batik are some shibori techniques that one might call advanced tie dye. It is a lot of fun—but some do require much preparation. Well, like I always say where am I going that I need to get there so fast? Smiles. It has taken some time as in all things to catch on to the technique needed to gain the result one is looking for.  I think my new work demonstrates a bit of achievement and I look forward to see where this leads me in my work.  I do believe it would be much easier if I started out with a round wheel, but for one reason or another I generally start with square and chip off the edges in many exercises to learn the new road. Perhaps that is the part I like best. Shrugs.

One black turtle

With this new toy also comes new fabrics to play with. Cotton and rayon will be included in the fabrics that I will use along with silks. That offers me an opportunity to dabble at the sewing machine and to make a few wearables. Along with these fabrics comes a new dye (Procion MX) that I will talk about in an upcoming blog. There are a lot of new steps, making it seem very much like old times in the glaze room.

Peonies and butterflies

Hope you enjoyed the short stay...

Waves and winks as she watches you drive by

and calls out-

Hope you had a good time- Stop by again.

For me it is the studio!

To some it is all about the hair, the white teeth, the shoes or whatever floats one's boat. For me it is the studio. Perhaps, if I were to be honest, I would say the desire for creating the perfect studio must go back to the days of fort building, tree house living and arranging secret spots in a loft or attic space. Thereafter, that is where I would find myself dreaming of castles and paintbrushes, wheels and crowns. The lastest studio is "the garret" and perhaps will be the last great workspace and hideout for me. Well, perhaps not the last but certainly the perfect one for me now.

As an addition here, I find it necessary to tell a little story. I will try to keep it brief, verbose that I am.

Growing up we most often had a sailboat. It was my dad's boat, all started about the age of 13ish or so when he made a rowboat into a somewhat small sailboat that he set forth on the great open water of second lake up in the pines of New Jersey. Dad would buy a boat and enjoy it for awhile mostly viewing it and not sailing much. "After great discussion and hesitation", he would sell the boat and pronouce to the family that there would be no more boats. About a week later, you might find Dad sitting in a chair leafing through the new edition of "Yachting" or some such magazine, showing Mom a new boat that really looked nice. And the circle goes round.

OH, where was I, oh yes the new studio.

The new studio workspace was created by opening the existing bedroom into an attic area. With a few changes here and there the new room has a window and a little storage and lots of good work space. The walls are deeply slanted and one must remember that not getting a bump on the forehead is far better than slandering the world with obscenities after a good slam on the noggin. My chart tables or paper cabinets (that were so handsomely painted by my very wonderful husband Kelley) are well suited for a nice space at the end of the room where a removable long table has been created with lights directly over head. The best part of all is the new floor. It wipes clean - I am so pleased with a proper art floor. Most all of my supplies have been put away and my old room has been made into a very nice area for sit down work, computer or visits. After an over haul of my stuff in the closet, it has been made into a proper tech center and a place for most of the papers and supplies for book making. I am so pleased.

It has been a couple of weeks since I started this post. The room is just delightful and I am so enjoying work. Work is moving forward and with so many requests, I will try to involve my friends in what I am doing.

See you soon and if not wave as you go by.

Winks and waves,

Janet