4a. Melt the beeswax in a small pot over an electric burner. If the wax begins to smoke, quickly remove the
pot from the burner. You need at least 1" of melted wax in the pot so that you have enough for your batik
tools to dip into. For paraffin wax, use a separate pot. Paraffin wax has a lower smoking point than beeswax,
so make sure you keep a close watch on the paraffin to avoid flare-ups!
4b. When the wax is almost melted, place your tjanting in the
wax to heat up. You’ll notice that a crust of wax will form, indicating that the tjanting is too cold. When your tjanting is sufficiently
warm and ready to use, no solid wax should be visible on any
part of the tool. Dip the tjanting into the pot and collect wax in
the reservoir. To ensure that no cold wax remains in the reservoir
of the tjanting, pour the wax out into the pot, then continue to
collect and pour out the wax a few more times. Repeat this step
each time you collect wax from the pot.
4c. Fill the tjanting reservoir with melted wax, wiping the side of the tjanting against the side of the pot to
remove excess wax. Use a paper towel to catch any drips.
4d. Test that the wax is hot enough by drawing a few lines on a piece of newspaper. When the applied wax
is translucent in color and seeps through the newsprint onto the other side, the wax is ready. If the wax is
opaque and sits on top of the fabric, then the wax is too cold. Continue heating and testing the wax until
the applied wax is translucent.
4e. When the wax is hot enough, use
the tjanting to apply it to the pencil
sketches you drew earlier on the
stretched fabric. Apply to both the
front and back. A brush can also be
used to apply wax to larger areas of
the fabric. Warm the brush first in the
wax before applying.
NOTE: Be sure to apply wax to
both the front and the back of
your sketch.
4f. Allow an hour for the wax to fully
harden. If you used paraffin wax, use
your index finger to apply light pressure to the hardened wax. The wax
will crackle with applied pressure.
