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Print your own batik paper
Create your own decorative papers for collage, book making, scrap booking and gift tags. The possible uses for these papers are endless.

Posted by Glassprimitif Published See Glassprimitif's 4 projects »
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  • How to make paper. Wax Batik Collage Papers - Step 1
    Step 1

    To make wax batik papers you will need an electric wax pot, soft wax, tjap (Javanese printing tool), iron, cartridge paper, lots of newspaper and dyes or inks in various colors.
    Please note: wax is a very volatile material. Do not be tempted to melt candles in a pan as this can catch fire. The wax pot has a regulated temperature control to keep the wax at the correct temperature.

  • How to make paper. Wax Batik Collage Papers - Step 2
    Step 2

    First heat the wax until liquid then gently place the tjap (pronounced cap)into the wax to heat.(A tjap is a copper printing tool from Java. Leave the tjap for a few seconds to heat through and then gently lift from the wax.

  • How to make paper. Wax Batik Collage Papers - Step 3
    Step 3

    Place the tjap firmly down onto your white cartridge paper and hold it on the paper for a few seconds. Carefully lift the tjap and return it to the wax pot. There will be a wax impression of your tjap design left on the paper. This one is a gecko.

  • How to make paper. Wax Batik Collage Papers - Step 4
    Step 4

    Repeat the process until the paper is covered in wax geckos. When not in use, lay the tjap down on its side. Never turn it upside down when printing or hot wax will drip onto your hand.

  • How to make paper. Wax Batik Collage Papers - Step 5
    Step 5

    It will take only seconds for each wax impression to dry. Now you can apply dye or ink to the paper. Brush the dye directly over the wax geckos. Wax is a resist, therefore the color won't seep under the wax.
    Start with your lightest color first. This is golden yellow.

  • How to make paper. Wax Batik Collage Papers - Step 6
    Step 6

    Leave your dyed paper to dry thoroughly before moving to the next step. Wax will not penetrate damp paper. This should take about 30 minutes.

  • How to make paper. Wax Batik Collage Papers - Step 7
    Step 7

    Once the paper is dry, repeat the wax process in step 3. The geckos you now print will remain golden yellow. Next, apply a deeper color of dye or ink on the paper. This is cherry red.

  • How to make paper. Wax Batik Collage Papers - Step 8
    Step 8

    Once dry, place the waxed and dyed paper between two sheets of newspaper and set your iron to a high temperature.

  • How to make paper. Wax Batik Collage Papers - Step 9
    Step 9

    Slowly iron the newspaper to melt and remove the wax. Repeat this process twice more to remove any wax residue.

  • How to make paper. Wax Batik Collage Papers - Step 10
    Step 10

    Here is the finished paper. You will see that the first geckos printed remain white, the second geckos printed are golden yellow and the paper is bright cherry red.

  • How to make paper. Wax Batik Collage Papers - Step 11
    Step 11

    A little something about health and safety: please take care when using hot wax. If you burn yourself then place the burn under cold water until the burning sensation stops. You will notice that I have used words such as gently, slowly and carefully. If you work sensibly then accidents won't occur.

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Comments

italia.lologa
italia.lologa
I am trying to make batik paper for my wedding. What sort of wax would I use?
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Shazziiee
Shazziiee · Colchester, England, GB · 25 projects
That is so cute..!! I love batik, we have done it at school for our art project!
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arrasi e.
arrasi e. · Seremban, Negeri Sembilan, MY · 1 project
very nice
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..>¡Åñ∂®îåñå "Pü∂∂îñg"!<..
..>¡Åñ∂®îåñå "Pü∂∂îñg"!<.. · Medan, North Sumatra, ID
Very pretty... My class done this in Arts and Crafts class, but at that time we are only allowed to draw stuff with candle... Sort of like the wax resist technique...

Where do you buy the tjap? They dont even sell it in North Sumatra...
(here in Indonesia, its cap... but other countries pronounce it as 'tjap' anyway, so...)
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Jori
Jori
Another question for ya...do you ever done batik on fabric? If so, are the directions different?
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Jori
Jori
How in world did you find this out, and where did you find that gecko tjap? I looked on that website you posted pretty frequently for available tjaps and there's never very much to choose from. Do you know of any other websites? I've searched, but nothing really comes up.

Dang, this is just a difficult thing to get into...
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Elena a.
Elena a.
Sorry, html doesn't work Happy

Link for this article in russian languge: http://art-batic.ru/2008/05/04/goryachij-batik-master-klass
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Elena a.
Elena a.
Thanks for article!

I translated it into russian and posted with backlink on my personal site in post "<a href="http://art-batic.ru/2008/05/04/goryachij-batik-master-klass">Горячий батик - мастер класc</a>"
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nouk
nouk · 15 projects
That's cool! I really like it!
Reply
Tami
Tami · Atlanta, Georgia, US · 17 projects
I did this to make an Okami wall hanging (:
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