Spring is in the Air and I Want to Create Batik Fabric

We are having a beautiful day today; it is warm, and I am making ice tea. I went through all my seeds this morning and  picked out the seeds I am going to grow. Some basil for Pesto - a must for the summer. I not only like it for Pesto but I like to rub it under the skin of  a whole chicken that I roast with new potatoes. I am also going the grow Goji berries, tomatoes, summer savory, lettuce, and a couple of other things.  I got some rooting powder today so that I can take cuttings off some of my plants this year and start some for one of my friends. She just got a new place and is fixing up her garden so I wanted to help her get an Herb garden going. I want to grow some Thai basil this year. I love Thai food and have been learning to make a few dishes. Thai basil is a beautiful dark green and purple and it has a wonderful spicy taste.
For the last couple of days I have been thinking about the quilts I want to create next. I am leaning towards doing a scene from Hawaii. I want to experiment with making two quilts at the same time; one quilt in full color and one quilt in blacks, whites, and grays.
Yesterday I spent most of the day doing some research on the computer. I have been wanting to learn how to make my own batiks. I didn't want to use wax so I was looking for an alternative. I found several articles on flour paste resist. I found a wonderful blog and there was a recipe for flour paste resist. I went on www.YouTube.com to see how it was being used by other artists. Today I decided to make the flour past resist and put it on a piece of dark fabric so you could see how it looks. After I made the flour paste I put in in a squeeze bottle and applied it to the a piece of dark fabric so you could see it. When you make the batter it has the consistence of pancake batter . You have pretty good control of where the flour paste resist goes on fabric. After it is applied to the fabric you let it dry . Mine took about 40 minutes to dry. After it is dry you paint over the surface and let the paint dry, wash the fabric, dry it, heat set it and then you can use it in all kinds of projects. I will be working with this resist and try different ways of applying it to fabrics. to see what I can come up with to use in my quilts.
Here are the items I used to make the flour paste resist.
3/4 Cup flour
3/4 Cup water
Mix these two items together and put it in a squeeze bottle to make your batik fabric. I am using my resist on cotton fabric since I have never tried it before.
I think I want to use this resist to make fabric for the leaves, flowers and bark for trees  in my quilts. I'm sure I will think of other things to use the fabric for. I also want to try using this technique for overdying fabric. I have some hand dyed  light green fabric that I think will make beautiful fabric for leaves and plants. I was also thinking I can make some pretty fabric with leaves or geometric designs on a wallet shopping bag. After I put it together, I think I will add some simple embroidery and a few beads.
Here is the site:  Terry Jarrard- Diamond Studio 24-7, http://studio24-7.blogspot.com/2010/04/flour-paste-resist-with-marti-plager.html#commentform. She had a wonderful site, full of good information.
Tomorrow I am going to experiment with Procion  fiber-reactive dye . I have never used it before. I have been using  Pebeo Setacolor fabric dye to make my hand dyed or overdyed fabric. I also use fabric watercolor pencils to change the color sections of fabric that aren't the right color for what I am making.
I also saw a video of how to use Rit dye to make hand dyed fabric in small amounts. Because of my disabilities, it is easier for me to make small amounts of fabric to use.  The ways I dye fabric still allows me to have  a large variety of fabrics in colors I like .
 I am off to gather the things I will need to make my Procion dye baths for tomorrows dye experiment. I will be posting the results.