Cold Wax, what is it, how it's used.

This is cold wax. It's cold because it's not solid at room temperature like regular wax is, therefore it does not need to be heated to be used. It's the consistency of milk but it can be brushed on plain silk as a mask to preserve white areas or painted on the lines to separate areas of color. But, it has another use. In traditional batik wax is applied over areas of color to preserve the color when successive layers of color ( usually other colors) are applied. Cold wax can be used for this. Let the base color dry thoroughly, paint the cold wax over the areas you want to preserve, let it dry completely, then paint the other color or colors. This wax can be applied in many layers over many colors, as it is in batik. Once you have all the colors applied & dry, simply heat set the silk, between layers of newsprint or old newspaper ( at least 3 weeks old so the ink won't transfer). The wax will melt out of the silk & be absorbed by the newsprint. You need to do this even if you use the cold wax with dyes to get the wax out. Depending on the number if layers of wax used, you may have to repeat the ironing process several times to get all the wax out. The silk should not be stiff once the wax is out. If you use silk paints, you're done, the ironing process to remove the wax also heat sets the paint. If you're using dyes, after the wax is completly removed, set the dyes with your method of choice, usually steaming. The whites of this piece (last photo) were preserved by painting on cold wax prior to painting. At first, when I began using cold wax, I expected it to be much thicker. I was confused by it's thin consistency but as I use it more & mores, I learned to use it as a masking agent instead if a resist in the traditional sense. Keep this in mind when you start to use it. It's thin enough to run until it dries, which takes about 20 minutes or so, and it repels color once dry. It's great used as a masking agent, similar to what one would do with watercolor, but it's tricky to use as a traditional resist to separate areas if color in the serti technique. I hope this helps clear the confusion about cold wax.