Playing With Dye

 

        Several years ago Dana helped me to make four dyed shirts using ice and powder dye.  I gave two shirts to my parents, one of them to C and kept the fourth for myself. It was fun to do and interesting to see how they would turn out as the melting ice would influence where the dye went.

        When my Mom was bedridden the nursing staff cut the back of her shirts so they could dress her more easily. Dad gave Mom the shirt that he had as they were more comfortable for her to wear. When she died all the clothes that had been altered were thrown away.

        A few months ago Dad suggested to me that he would like another shirt. He liked the one that he had and would get compliments when he wore it. I told him that I wasn't going to be able to make another one exactly like his old one, but I could do another in the same colours. He said that would be fine with him.

       About a year ago I purchased a tie dye kit and four white cotton shirts thinking that it would be a fun craft project for Mom and I to work on. We could work on it out on the deck so we wouldn't have to worry about messing up the dining area with dye.  By the time the weather got nice enough to do that, Mom wasn't able to do crafts anymore. 

        I looked at the dye colours in the kit. There was blue and green, the two colours I used for Dad's original shirt. There was no reason why I couldn't try to dye another one. I knew he didn't want anything loud. I could experiment before I did his to figure out what would work best.

        I wet a shirt and folded it up like an accordian and secured it with rubber bands. Then I mixed up two dye colours from the kit and went to work. I use one colour on the top and a second colour on the middle and bottom of the shirt. It was fun squeezing out the colour in different places. I folded the shirt into a plastic bag to let the dye set.

        The next morning, I looked at it and decided the second colour was too patchy. I applied more of it and let it set again. 

        The next day, I took it out and it looked good to me. I rinsed out the excess dye and washed the shirt then hung it on a rack to dry. Once it was dry I tried it on. It was all right, but I wished that I had carried the top colour down the shirt more and maybe blended the colours together so there wouldn't be an abrupt line where one colour stopped and the other started. I learned a lesson.

        I started another shirt yesterday. I wet the shirt, but didn't wring it out like I did for the first one.  Instead of folding it I laid it out with the front on top and crumpled it. I still had the two colours of dye left from the first shirt so I applied the colours in random places on the shirt. Dana had given me some dye she wasn't using. I took a packet of dry blue dye and sprinkled some of it on the areas that had no dye. Then I got some ice cubes and put them over the spots of blue powder. I'm fairly sure it is not the correct way to ice dye, but I decided to experiment. I really like the way it looked. 

        When I checked it this morning,it looked pretty good. Later on I'll rinse it out and wash it. If it turns out the way I hope, then I can start working on the shirt for my dad.

        It's fun playing with dye. There is something satisfying about adding colour to something that has none. Once I get done with shirts, I wonder what else could I dye. First things first though. I have to finish Dad's shirt, then I'll see what else I can do.