Bullseye Tye-Dye

tye-dye anyone?

 

It doesn't matter how old I get,

I'll always love tye-dying t-shirts.

It's another thing I picked up at summer camp.

 This is a great project for both kids and adults,

because no matter what,

you're ridiculously excited when you unwrap your shirt and see what you've created.

You will need:

- a white t-shirt

- Rit dye

- rubber bands

- squeeze bottles

- measuring spoons

- a measuring cup

- hot water

- a plastic container (for run-off)

- plastic sheeting or newspaper

- gloves (I'd say they're optional, but you really want them)

Step 1:

Lay out your shirt.
As you can see, it's totally fine if it's wrinkly.

Step 2:

Grip and pinch the center of your shirt.
Make sure that you have hold of the front AND the back.

Step 3:

Lift the shirt

and take hold of the bottom.
 It should have a sort of "torpedo" look to it.

Step 4:

Take the rubber bands and wrap them

tightly around the "torpedo".
You can use as many as you'd like, but keep in mind:
The spaces in between each rubber bands will alternate in colors.

Step 5:

Time to mix the dye.
Take your measuring cup and fill it with 4 cups of water.
Microwave for 2-3 minutes.
Pour 2 cups of water into each squeeze bottle.
(this may need to be adjusted based on the size of your squeeze bottles)
Add a tablespoon of dye for each cup of water.
So: 2 cups, 2 tablespoons.
Easy :)

Step 6:

Run your shirt under warm water.
This isn't absolutely necessary but I find that it's easier to get the 

dye into the shirt if the shirt is already damp.
When the shirt is dry the dye tends to bead off of the fabric.

Step 7:

Lay down the plastic sheeting (I just used a garbage bag) 

to protect your work area.
Put on your gloves, and position your run-off bucket.

Step 8:

Apply your first color.

Cover the entire section.


Step 9:

Once the outside portion of the section is dyed,
make sure to look for white spots.
Pull apart the folds and apply dye to all the white you can find.
This is important, if you don't dye the folds your shirt will be almost all white space.

Step 10:

Repeat steps 8 & 9 for your second color.

Step 11:

Once your shirt is completely covered with dye,
you get to play the waiting game.
But the thing is, how long you wait is totally up to you.
I know people who let the dye sit over night, and others wait just a few minutes.
As for me, I wait about 20 minutes, and then I start rinsing.
(I'm impatient like that...)
Rinse your shirt, squeezing, twisting and scrunching to get rid of the excess dye.
Rinse until the water runs clear.


Step 12:

Remove the rubber bands.

Give it an extra rinse for good measure,
and then wring out the excess water.

Step 13:
Unroll it annnnnnd...

YOU'RE ALL DONE!
:)

See that shit?
YOU made that.

 Take a moment to think about how awesome you are...

WHEN YOU WASH IT:
I recommend washing it by itself the first time.
The rinsing process SHOULD have gotten rid of all the extra dye,
but just in case, I wouldn't risk ruining the rest of your clothes.

Then you'd all get mad at me, and it would just be this HUGE mess.

It wouldn't be fun for any of us.

Happy dying loves, see you all soon :)