BOILING WATER METHOD
One of the most effective ways to get the wax off is with boiling water. The colors will be lighter than the original colors since some of the excess dye will be removed. You want to do this near a sink.
Place your batik in a disposable container. Pour boiling water over your fabric until submerged. Stir back and forth to loosen the batik wax. The batik wax will start melting and float to the top.
Remove from container and continue to scrub any remaining wax using hot water directly from your tap. Any extra dye will also be removed.
Give your fabric a cold water bath to allow the colors to set. Wring the fabric out. Hang your item to dry.
HOT IRON METHOD
Alternatively, you can use a hot iron to remove the wax.
When fabric is dry to the touch, place your batik piece in between two sheets of newspaper/craft paper. Set iron setting to max and turn off the steamer. Move the iron over the whole image until until the newspaper/craft paper is saturated with wax. Then remove all the wax-saturated paper and place new sheets of paper under and over the batik. Repeat the process until no more wax is absorbed.
With ironing, the batik piece will always have a wax residue which gives a slightly stiff parchment-like feeling to touch.
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BATIK WAX REMOVAL USING HOT IRON
BATIK WAX REMOVAL FOR COTTON SCARF