eBay is one of the best places I know of to find supplies for surface design and fiber art! In the surface design class I teach, my students learn how to do tie dye, batik, fabric painting, silk painting and block printing. We are always on the lookout for supplies that will make our projects more interesting, and eBay has been the place we found all of our best gear!

Tie Dyeing & Dip Dyeing:

Tie dyes and dip dyes are really trendy right now! eBay has an impressive selection of vibrant, colorful tie-dyed garments and dip-dyed garments that are ready for you to buy and wear. However, if you want to make your own tie-dyed or dip-dyed clothes, eBay is a great place to stock up on supplies.

 To Tie-Dye, you will need:

• White cotton t-shirts or other white cotton garments
• Dyes: You can use fiber reactive dyes, direct dyes such as Rit, or other dyes. I prefer fiber reactive dyes because the colors don’t fade or run and they are more vibrant. The easiest thing to do is buy a tie dye kit, which will usually include pre-measured dyes, squeeze bottles, latex gloves, rubber bands and soda ash (or washing soda) dye fixer. Jacquard is a fantastic brand-name to look for when you want to buy a tie dye kit. You can often find kits on eBay at better prices than you can find at the art supply store.
• Dust Mask or Respirator to wear while mixing dye powders. This is important because you do not ever want to inhale dyes!
• Instructions: there are so many good tie-dye books, videos and dvds available that will teach you everything you need to know to create beautiful tie-dyes. You can learn to create numerous different designs: tie dye swirls, tie dye hearts, tie dye mushrooms, tie dye stripes, tie dye mandalas...and more.
• Synthropol- a detergent which works especially well for rinsing & washing dyed fabrics

Here are some pictures of tie-dyed shirts I made using supplies I found on eBay!

Batik

Batik is a process in which an artist applies heated wax or other resist to fabric before dyeing it. In the areas where the wax is applied, it will help the fabric to resist the dye; the waxed fabric will remain un-dyed and the rest of the fabric will take the color. In this way the artist creates a patterned fabric. Quilters love batik quilt blocks! I have also seen batik used in clothing and wall hangings.

In order to create your own batik, you will need:

• A heat source with temperature controls so that you have control over how hot the wax is getting. Wax should not be heated above 240 degrees, because it can smoke and give off toxic fumes if overheated. I like to use a fondue pot to heat my wax. Other artists use an electric frying pan, a double boiler or a crock pot to heat their wax. Wax should never be heated directly over an open flame.
• Fabric: I like to batik on silk habotai, but you can use just about any fabric as long as it is not too thick for the wax to penetrate it.
• A way to stretch your fabric: For small designs I use artist’s wooden stretcher bars, but you can also stretch fabric using an embroidery hoop as well.
• Batik Wax: You can use either pure paraffin wax or a mixture of paraffin and beeswax.
• A way to apply the heated wax to the fabric. One tool used for this is called a tjanting. It is also sometimes spelled canting. Wax can also be applied using carved wooden blocks (see the section on block printing below) or using a similar metal device known as a tjap.

Here is a picture that shows batik tools. The one on top is a tjanting.

Here is a picture of a tjap I bought on eBay. This particular tjap has been made into a wall decoration, so it is not suitable to actually use in batik- but it should give you an idea of what a tjap looks like.

Here is a photo of a partially-completed batik: Notice the crackled effect that is characteristic of batik.

Fabric Painting & Silk Painting

Painting on fabric is a great way to show off your creativity! You can create your own clothing, accessories, and home furnishings in any style you choose. There are countless different approaches to fabric painting, from the simple to the complex.

In order to paint on fabric, you will need:

• A way to stretch the fabric, as discussed above
• Fabric: muslin, cotton, silk, etc.
• Paint Brushes, Sponge Brushes, sponges or other tools to use in applying the paint
• Instructions: There are lots of great fabric painting books that will help you perfect your techniques.
• Fabric Paints: a few to try are Lumiere metallic paints, Dye-na-flow, Versatex, Jacquard Textile Colors, Pebeo Setacolor, and Palmer Fabric Paints. 

Silk painting can get a bit more involved. If you want to learn more about silk painting, I recommend that you read more about it before you proceed. eBay has a great selection of silk painting books and silk painting videos.

In order to paint on silk, you might want to consider trying out the following additional supplies:

• Gutta resist
• Silk paints, silk dyes or a silk painting kit. Pebeo Setasilk is one brand to try.  Jacquard's Dye Na Flow also works well on silk.
• Dye set concentrate or dye fix
• A steamer

Block Printing:

There are numerous approaches to block printing, which is similar to rubber stamping. Artists can design and carve their own blocks made of linoleum, wood and other materials. Some artists even use materials like potatoes and pencil erasers! eBay is a great source for blocks that have already been carved. I LOVE my antique wooden batik blocks from India- I found them on eBay! I have 3 favorites: one is a floral, one is a paisley and the other is a medallion. My students and I have had so much fun with them! You can use them to print on fabric, paper, or just about any surface that paint will adhere to. Your supply needs will vary depending on what you want to print, but if you want to print on fabric I recommend experimenting with the fabric paints listed above.

Here are some pictures showing block prints I did on fabric using the medallion and paisley blocks shown above. I also used fabric painting techniques to achieve the hand-painted areas inside the motifs.

Here are pictures of some artwork I created on paper using the same blocks shown above. You can see how versatile these blocks are.

Other Techniques:

You might also wish to explore shibori techniques, devore (otherwise known as "burnout"),  vegetable dyeing, katazome, stenciling and screen printing as well. You could also learn about knitting, weaving, quilting, stitching and beading. It is exciting to combine surface design techniques to see what results you can achieve.

Here is a list of some surface-design-related resources you might enjoy:

Complex Cloth:A Comprehensive Guide to Surface Design by Jane Dunnewold. Jane is a talented artist and also a gifted writer and teacher. The pictures are pure eye candy. This is an extremely valuable resource for surface designers.

Belle Armoire Magazine- This publication is packed full of exquisite wearable art, with instructions on how to create the featured projects.

Quilting Arts Magazine- this is not just for quilters. It often features great information on topics such as beadwork, embroidery, dyeing and design.

Other interesting periodicals include Ornament, Surface Design Journal, and Fiber Arts Magazine.

I hope this guide has been helpful to you, and that you will enjoy your search for surface design supplies on eBay. Happy hunting, and happy creating!