Other Auxiliary

Sodium Alginate is used to thicken dye mixtures for hand painting and silk screening, and some dyers use it as an aid in their normal liquid dyeing process. Two ounces of Sodium Alginate will thicken about eight quarts of water to a hand painting consistency. The Sodium Alginate we carry is MV - Medium Viscosity.

Soy Wax is used for batik. Soy Wax is a great wax to use as an introduction to the world of Batik. There are many different waxes out there - Beeswax, Paraffin ect. , but for our use we always prefer Soy Wax. While other waxes may provide a more solid resist, they come with the downsides of being hard to work with, and hard to wash out. Soy Wax is very easy to melt as it has a very low melting point, and is easier to wash out just using hot water. The disadvantage of using Soy Wax over stronger waxes are the resist isn't as strong and the wax may crackle, allowing some dye thru in crackling lines of color (we like this effect but know it isn't for everyone). The other downside is that melted Soy Wax can flow very easily and can be hard to use for very precise or intricate applications.