Tie Die Shirts

J.:
Did you google the internet? You will find all ways to tie die. I did it years ago and dont remember but have fun!
L.

I tie dye as part of my home based business. I use Tulip brand dyes (works best for cotton shirts) - you can find it at Joanns. All you do is add water and it comes with an applicator bottle. Just a note, I usually only fill the bottle halfway with room temp water. Filling it halfway increases the intensity of the color (use more water to dilute the color). I use room temp/lukewarm water to ensure that the dye granules all dissolve.

FYI - RIT is not a good choice for cotton as it will bleed alot.

To open the cotton fibers and get good saturation, get a thing of soda ash (next to the dyes - Tulip makes one). You'll presoak your item in this before you apply the dye.

Last, after letting it cure for a day in a twisted up plastic bag, I rinse in cold water, throw it in the washer on cold (twice), then run it through a third rinse cycle on hot.
It should be mostly color fast when you do it this way. (I would still only wash it with other colored clothes just to be sure)

By the way, if you want to learn a little more about tue dyeing, go to pburch.net/dyeing . That's how I learned.

Have fun!

Instructions:
First, pour two to three different colors of cloth dye into separate containers.
Then, take your shirt or what ever material you are using.
Take or pinch different portions of the cloth and tie the portions with rubber bands.
Dip each portion into the color that you want. Do not forget to wash your hands thoroughly after this.
Next, dry the cloth in the hot sun until it has dried. After that, untie the rubber bands. You will get a colorful cloth with ring patterns on it.

We did this at camp about 10 years ago and the students had a blast doing it OUTSIDE.
Best Wishes and I hope you have lots of fun,
D.

For a very simple way to get the tie dye look without the mess, go to www.youtube.com and search on "tye dye". Watch the Thread Heads Quickie - How to Tye Dye your shirt video.

Basically, you scrunch up the shirt and spray paint on it. You can scrunch it up and spray different colors multiple times to get the tie dye effect.

I did this with about 5 other parents and my daughter's first grade class. We got through 20 kids in about an hour. In the video, they use regular spray paint, but we used fabric spray paint from the craft store. The paint dried in about an hour (unless the kid sprayed the paint on real heavy). You then just wait 72 hours and wash the shirt. The best part is that the kids could do it for the most part by themselves. The parents were there mostly to make sure the paint was only sprayed on the shirts.

have you checked on the internet? You might find some info there

Good morning J.. If you put tie dye into your search bar, you will be blessed with tons of options. About.com has a family craft page that I looked at, but there were lots!!! L. S.