TIE DYE!!! Part 2

Today was the reveal day for the tie dye shirts. Eight of them. And its not like you can pull them out of the bag and hold them up to see, either, because the dye is dripping everywhere and needs to be rinsed out, and then a trip through the washer and drier before they're done.

What I like about tie dye, is that there is no failure. Your item may or may not resemble what you had in mind when you tied it up and squeezed some dye all over it, but it is always an interesting result. The dyes are pretty, so the shirts are too.

We got some interesting and entertaining results. Yes, I took pictures!

swirly!

These are our swirled shirts. The basic idea is to grab a center point on the shirt and turn until the whole thing is coiled up. You can tie or rubber band around it to hold it together, which sometimes works better than other times. The backs of both of these - shown - turned out brighter than the fronts. Not sure why. The purple along the left side of the left shirt has some interesting shapes to it, and I really like how the red and black went together on the shirt on the right.

pleat folds

I folded my shirt vertically, and Carl folded his on a diagonal. I used red and blue, while he used more of a variety. We got more white space on Carl's than expected, but it doesn't mean it isn't a cool looking shirt. I really like the effect of that red strip on the back of my shirt, and I got a surprising effect on the front, as modeled here:

Is that an arm? I don't think this is going to add any support in that area...

Raine did more of a folded technique on her shirts, one on the diagonal, and one vertical and she got some interesting results as well. Not her first time dying, but her first with artistic intent involved. She was about 4 when we tie dyed last time.

Raine's shirts

I did one of those gather up a pointy hunk of fabric and wrap rubber bands around it here and gather up another hunk over there kinds of shirts as well, and got some lovely, colorful results.

rings of color!

I really like the yellow, which I used on the parts of the shirt that weren't tied into hunks, it is bright and happy, and the orange is awesome, too.

Finally, Carl made a black dye on heather grey shirt. He said he put so much dye on it, he was afraid it was going to come out all black. Nope.

Rorschach's test anyone?

Not as much dye as you would think, but, is that a guy in a suit over there on the left side below the seam? I think he's coming in for a hug. Here's a close up of the spot just to the left of the pocket.

Yep, definitely a panda...

You can't plan this stuff people. Even if you don't get what you expect - or maybe even hoped for - it is still visually interesting, and THAT, my friends is success.

TIE DYE!!! part 1

OK, first thing, let me say this. Tie dye is messy. Not the project that you can work on for a while, then pick up your camera and take a few process shots. You would need a designated photographer, and we didn't have one. So there aren't a lot of pictures in this post. Of course the shirts aren't finished yet, either...

About 8 years or so ago, we had a great time tie dying some shirts. The dye we used was from Dharma traders, and it isn't basic Rit. I think I'm wearing the last shirt from that batch. We wore them out. They got holes faster than they faded. We LOVED those shirts.

When I suggested tie dye to my family this summer, it was a go. Since the plan today was to dye, I started looking for our box of stuff last night. In the craft room. You know, with all the boxes? Yeah. My brother and I both remembered putting them in the cabinets and something about mason jars. Hmmm. There was no jar box in the cabinets, and no tie dye stuff in there in any other kind of box. There were mason jars. Yep, those I found.

So, this morning I started moving boxes and going through stuff. I gave away Raine's old play dough gear and was surprised that three of the tubs had actual, usable play dough in them. I moved this, and pawed through that. Carl came over to help.

Just when we thought we were out of luck, I lifted the lid off one. more. tub. There it was!!! Yay!

Anyone want to tie dye?

We made up the dyes, and tied up our shirts. The instructions we used before said to soak the shirts in a soda ash bath, which will help fix the dye. Then, we took them outside to play with the dyes. MESSY! Each shirt then went in a plastic bag to let the dyes set overnight.

tie dye shirts marinating

Tomorrow they get rinsed until the dye doesn't run, and then washed & dried. I can't wait to see how they come out. It may not turn out the way you thought it would, but the results will be awesome none-the-less!

Loving the colors!