African batik 1

Well, here is my quarter project post!

I decided on African batik after finding this neat tutorial.

I found an old muffin tin, bunches of crayons, and a cotton pillowcase.

Then, I lightly sketched my design onto the pillowcase with a pencil.

 Next, I unwrapped a box of crayons...

 

...broke them into chunks... 

 ...and separated them by color into the muffin tin.

I stuck the muffin tin into the oven on the lowest temperature.

After about five or ten minutes, the crayons had melted.

I took the tin out of the oven, and using an old paintbrush, I started painting my design.

Every few minutes the wax began to harden, so I had to stick it back in the oven.

Several people commented on the tutorial that a warming tray may be much better than the oven.

If you're in a hurry, or want to be more efficient, you might want that.

Being the spendthrift I am, 

I took the time-consuming but cheap path. 

:P

Also, the wax hardened onto the bristles of my brushes, and they  became unusable.

So having a pot of boiling water is helpful, to pour over the stiff bristles, and to soak brushes in.

A warning...the container used to soak your brushes in will quickly become covered in hard wax.

Rather hard to clean. 

:P

And note the layer of wax on top of the water... 

It helps to clean that off with a bit of paper every so often, or else every time you lift out a brush, it will be re-coated in wax.

And...

Here is the fabric completely painted!

 It took maybe five or six hours to paint it all.

Phew!

Sweaty work in such a suffocatingly hot kitchen!

:)

I'll post about the last half of the project in a day or two.