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Batik Cold Wax 250ml*

*Until Stocks last
COLD WAX - A new medium to create amazing Batik

Cold Wax is a new water-based medium for use in creating batik effects.
Safe and easy to use, it simply washes away! No heat required to melt wax, no hot iron required to remove wax from fabric* - just place fixed fabric in hot water and Cold Wax will disappear leaving it as soft and supple as it began.

Instructions:
Apply Cold Wax to stretched silk using brush, sponge, stamp, Tjanting or even gutta pen and nib for very fine lines and gutta effect. If using a stamp, turn the stretching frame upside down with a sheet of absorbent paper underneath.

Allow to dry for approximately 30 minutes (speed-dry using a hair dryer on cool setting).
Once dry, paint silk using iron-fix, steam-fix or fibre reactive dyes. If you want to keep some white areas or the original background colour, do not paint over the wax, however, if you do paint on the Cold Wax, the colour will bleed through a little giving pale shadows.
Carefully remove any excess paint from the wax using a paper towel and allow the first coat of colour to dry.
Add a second coat of Cold Wax taking care to preserve any existing areas as liked, and create new effects. Allow to dry.
Paint another coat of Cold Wax with one or more colours, again taking care to preserve any white or already painted areas. Repeat this process several times as required.
Once you are happy with the result, and the fabric is completely dry, remove from frame and fix your colours either with ironing if you have used iron-fix paints (in which case, sandwich your work between several sheets of either lining or brown paper to protect both your iron and your ironing board), or by steaming if you have used steam-fix dyes, (protect your work with a double layer of steaming paper).
For crackle-effect, simply coat stretched silk with Cold Wax - allow to dry completely. Remove from frame and scrumple up to create cracks within the wax. Re-stretch silk and paint with a final layer of dye. The dye will seep into the cracks and produce the "crackle" effect. Fix and remove Cold Wax as above.
Cold Wax can be used on other fibres (such as fine cotton/wool) but effects will be different due to the varying characteristics of these fabrics. We recommend that you carry out tests first. If you discover techniques and effects that we have not mentioned, let us know!

HOT TIPS: If using wool, it is important that it is pre-washed to remove any natural grease.

Cold Wax is ideal to use as gutta as it washes away completely leaving no shadowy effects as left by some guttas.

Please note: Due to the extremely soluble nature of Cold Wax, we do not recommend its use in a dye-bath.