Ice Dye and Batik Dyeing Techniques

How to create wax batik patterns with ice dyed effects on t-shirts, tanks tops and other cotton fabrics

The other day, I was wandering through the sales rack and came across some white tank tops. Well, of course my first thought is “how am I going to dye that?”. I haven’t had time to do much fabric dyeing lately – life has gotten in the way – but a long Holiday weekend was coming up so why not?!

In the past, I have ice dyed t-shirts and I have batiked t-shirts so I wanted to combine these two dyeing technique.

First, some basics for those of you who are new to these dyeing methods:

What is Batik?

Batik involves creating designs on fabric using wax and dye. In general, the process starts with drawing or stamping a pattern onto the fabric with beeswax or soy wax.

The wax acts like a resist, keeping the dye from penetrating those areas. This results in undyed patterns on your dyed fabric.

This process can be repeated with additional waxes areas and dye colors to build up a complex, layered design.

Painting the wax design:

The first thing I did was draw my design onto the tank top. I decided on a Taurus zodiac symbol. (Hint: if you search online for a design under ‘tattoos’, you usually get a nice selection of possibilities).

Since my Taurus design was not very intricate or complicated, I decided to hand-trace it.

First, I printed my design in black and white in the size I wanted on the shirt. Then I placed the print between the layers of my shirt. Since the fabric was light enough, the design showed through the top layer.

Next, I traced the design with a soft pencil. You can also use a washable marker for this.

Now you need to melt your wax. You can see a double boiler for this – make sure it is for craft purposes only, not food prep. You could also use one of those tiny crockpots (thrift shops have lots of these).

I made a makeshift double boiler with a small pan, some aluminum foil and an empty can. Basically, I crumbled up the foil into three balls and placed those at the bottom of my pan. The foil will keep the can off the bottom of the pan.

Next, I added some water to the pan, placed the wax beads in the can, and placed the can in the pan. I turned the heat to medium and then waited for the wax to melt.

CAUTION! The wax will be HOT so be super careful when handling!

Once the wax was melted, I slowly painted the liquid wax onto the design of my shirt. Take your time with this! It takes a bit of practice to learn how the wax flows.

Ideally, the wax should penetrate all the way through the fabric. This doesn’t always happen before the wax cools, however. So, once I finished painting the front of the shirt, I turned it inside out and repeated painting the design from the ‘wrong’ side.

HINT: Practice painting wax on a similar piece of fabric first. Also, hold a piece of old fabric under your hand, when you dip the brush into wax and move it to your design. This will catch any drips before they hit your shirt!

Ice dyeing the shirt:

Since I have already written several tutorials with the exact details on ice dyeing, I will keep this section as an overview.

The colors I chose were a pale seafoam green, gray, cranberry and redish-brown.

First, I soaked the shirt in a solution of washing soda (soda ash) and water for about 15 minutes.

I did not want sharp lines of color so decided to keep my folding technique somewhat loose. Basically, I held the wax design area together in one hand, then folded the rest or the shirt in loose pleats around the center.

For my ice dyeing projects, I like to use a thrifted salad spinner similar to this:

To set up the ice dye ‘station’:

I placed my salad spinner bowl in an old plastic tub. Then I crumbled up three more small pieces of aluminum foil and set those in the bottom of the bowl.

Next, I placed the sieve part of the spinner on top of the aluminum, and my folded shirt into the sieve.

(The aluminum balls prevent the fabric from sitting in too much liquid dye after the ice has melted. )

Finally, I piled a bunch of ice cubes on top my shirt.

To add the dye powder:
Place the dust mask on your face. Then open your dye containers. Using old spoons, carefully sprinkle dye powder on top of the ice.

Set your dye station in a cool place an allow it to ‘process’ for about 24 hours. You may need to add more ice, if it melts completely before the time is up.

Rinsing and washing your dyed shirt:

Once the dye has processed, you will carefully rinse the shirt in cool water until it runs clear. This may take a few minutes so be patient.

To remove the wax:
If you used soy wax, you should be able to just scrape it off with your fingernails.
If you used beeswax, and it does not want to come off the fabric, you may need to use your iron to remove it.

Finally, just wash your shirt in the machine to remove any unattached dye particles. Make sure and wash it separately.

I hope this tutorial has been helpful.
Enjoy 🙂
Annette (FiberArtsy)

Ice Dyeing and Batik Dyeing Techniques combined on Cotton