Batik question

[11girl]

So I made my first batik over the past few days. Lots of fun and I am feeling really inspired to do more- except for the part where I have to get the wax out.    I opted to boil the fabric as I don't know any dry cleaners around here and am not into the chemicals anyway.. but what a PITA!! The fabric is quite long, so maybe I need a bigger pot to boil in. The wax kept getting stuck on the underside of the fabric and so hard to get it all out even after cooking it twice and rinsing several times and picking little wax flakes off. Argh! With the amount of water I used it would be hard to make a profit off the finished product! 

Any suggestions? 
I used parafin and sticky wax.  I have been reading a little about soy wax but it sounds like it is TOO water soluble to vat dye??

TIA

[pburch]

Did you weight the fabric down and then wait until it was cool and the wax solid before removing the fabric from the water? That's what I have to do.

Also, I like using a bit of liquid soap (not detergent) in the water, though this means that you cannot reuse the wax.

The dry cleaners I have tried cannot get out any of the wax at all.

Paula

[11girl]

Did you weight the fabric down and then wait until it was cool and the wax solid before removing the fabric from the water? That's what I have to do.

Also, I like using a bit of liquid soap (not detergent) in the water, though this means that you cannot reuse the wax.

The dry cleaners I have tried cannot get out any of the wax at all.

Paula

Well.... I was a little impatient waiting for it to cool and kept skimming wax off the top while it was still hot. By the time it was cool it didn't form a solid piece on top.  However, I don't think this made any difference for the wax that was stuck in between the fabric.
I was also afraid to actually boil the water/fabric for fear of damaging the faric on the bottom of the pot. 
I'll try some soap next time as well.

[pburch]

A larger pot would be helpful for making it possible to stir the fabric, but above a certain size, that's not very practical, is it? I use a three gallon pot, but only for about a pound of fabric at a time.

The wax comes out for me at well below boiling temperature. The water doesn't need to get nearly as hot to come off as it does when I'm applying it.

The soap I use is Dr. Bronner's liquid castile soap, from the health food store. People say that soap works better than detergent for this purpose. The liquid soaps at the grocery store are usually detergent, rather than soap. Ivory soap flakes were always recommended in the past, but I don't think you can buy that anymore.

Paula

[11girl]

I used a 12 qt pot and found it difficult to stir my fabric.  I think it is a little over 1lb, though. 
I'll try the soap next time and also try to get a bigger pot.

Thanks!