My favorite hobby is to tie dye. it lets you be artistic, creative, and its a good stress reliever. A tie dye shirt could be a cool accessorie on your dog or if your on vacation you could spot your kids easily with a uniqe tie dye shirt on. its a fun activity to do with your friends your children even with your mom :)
So first off you need to by die or a tie dye kit from your local hobby shop or arts and crafts store. The kits usually include dye powder, sqeeze bottles, gloves and rubber bands. usually you have to buy the soda ash sepeate but its usually hanging next to the kits. You can use old shirts or get some from a salvation army second hand store. I usually go to Long's drug store or CVS or walgreens for my shirts. They have a deal by 5 shirts for 10 dallors. I bought a plastic table cloth from the Dallor store, cheap and reusable and its easy to wipe up your mess. The dyes are permanent so wear old sweat pants when doing it.
* soak your shirts in a mixture of water and the SODA ASH usually 1 gallon of water per packet. soak for about 20 min. this will alow the die to absorb into the shirts better.
* rinse your shirt free of excess water then place your shirt flat on surface on plastic table cloth. fold in half
* my pic examples in the step by step is the upside down V. fan fold shirt from opposite bottom corner or collor...to do the regular V start fan folding from opposite bottom corner of sleeves, all other instructions are the same
*then tie it with string or use rubber band to keep shirts shape you dont want it to unravel at all during the whole process. then
* select as many colors as you like. i usually use 4 colors and color the fanned part of the shirt with 3 small sections of color and the main color of the shirt the 4th color. be careful to keep track to where you put them...
* flip shirt over and repeat color order. some dye might leak through to the other side but thats normal and your shirt will still come out awsomey cool
* then place your shirt into plastic bag and tie it up let it stay sit for about 6 to 8 hours for the best soak time
sometimes i get too excited and can only wait 2 hours and its still fine but comes out a little faded than what it should have been
* after the wait remove from bag and rinse in bath tub hold under facet with cold water! rinse until the water runs clear some dye color will wash out, thats normal. then wash your shirts together with cold or warm water and dry in dryer and the process is comeplete and now you have some awsomey cool shirts to show off to your friends !!! :)
Things You'll Need
TIE DYE kits
white shirts
gloves
rubber bands or string
plastic table cloth
soda ash
plastic bags one for each shirt
paper towels
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Instructions
1
*soak shirt in SODA ASH for at least 20 min.
*fold shirt in half
* UPSIDE DOWN V. fan fold shirt from opposite bottom corner or coller
*REGULAR V start fan folding from opposite bottom corner of sleeves
2
*fan fold bigger fans as more of the shirt gets involved
*tie off with string or rubber bands
...my example is UPSIDE DOWN V
3
*this is what shirt ends up looking like before tieing off
4
*choose 4 colors
*use 3 colors to color the fanned part in 3 small sections
*use a 4th color as the main color you want the shirt to be which will *be a large area on either side of the fanned part
*place shirt into plastic bag let sit for 6 to 8 hours
*rinse under facet until water runs clear
*wash with cold water and dry in dryer
*put shirt on and wear it :)