Week 29 Dialectic level activities (#2) suggests learning about batik. It says the instructions are on the web-site under Year 3 Arts/Activities. I can't find them. Can someone help?

Here are a couple of websites to get you going:
http://www.pburch.net/dyeing/howtobatik.shtml
http://www.craftbits.com/viewProject.do?projectID=542

I melted the wax in its container by placing it in an electric skillet with an inch or two of water. It held the wax at a good temp (between 150 and 200 degrees) -- you have to be sure the wax is hot enough to penetrate the fabric but not so hot that it will burn. Then the kids used metal droppers, paintbrushes, and toothpicks to apply the wax to white muslin. After the wax hardened, we dyed it. I bought liquid Rit dye, diluted it per the instructions on the bottle, and let it cool before we put the projects into the bucket. We only used one color dye but you could do several if you want a more complex project.

For younger ones, I gave them pieces of white muslin on which they lightly traced in pencil their design. Then, they used Elmer's washable blue gel glue to trace their design. We let it dry COMPLETELY and then used watered down acrylic paint to paint the fabric. Once that was COMPLETELY dry, we washed the fabric in warm-to-hot soapy water, rinsed, and hung to dry. Their projects turned out beautifully -- actually much better than the actual batik projects did because the younger ones had better control of the glue from the glue bottle than the older kids had with the hot wax.

If you want the experience of working with hot wax and more authentic batik materials, definitely try the regular batik. If you want a finished project that really looks like it was batiked without the hot wax, go with the gel glue.

Hope this helps!
Monica

Thank you!