NHTieDye.com Do It Yourself Tie-Dye Directions!
I get LOTS of people saying they can't
Mix 1 cup of Soda Ash into a gallon of warm
imagine making their own Tie Dye! But really it is
water until all has been dissolved, leave in
not hard, even a 5 year old can do it! with a little
bucket to treat clothing. Can be kept and
help of course. Let me show you how! Most
used until gone, store in capped bottle. It is
important direction is the first one, and to have fun!
slightly caustic, use gloves!!! and mix with
all the other steps are flubbable. In other words, if
dust mask. When you are done, you can
you follow the direction of your dye, you can't
throw down the drain with a little bit of
mess up a tie dye too bad if you are enjoying
vinegar to neutralize. No vinegar? no
yourself! Be A Hippy and it is all Groovy man!
worries, just use lots of water.
The Dye we use is a fiber reactive dye. It
Add warm tap water to dye bottles half way that
will work on cellulose fibers, and won’t dye
have been pre filled with dye and urea and
synthetic fibers. you will notice that the thread
shake vigorously until all has been
many shirts are made with will come out white.
dissolved. Fill to the top with cold water
Any blended shirt will not hold the color as well as
before using. can be kept for several days,
a 100% cotton shirt. Rayon, bamboo, linen, and
will dye clothing, and stain other materials.
other plant fibers also work well.
Use Gloves! and mix with dusk mask.
The Dyes are Not toxic, but like all
chemicals it is advisable to limit your exposure,
and some people might be sensitive and have a
Step 2 Treat your clothing!
rash with repeated exposure. Wear gloves when Once you have prepared everything time to start
working with any of the dyes, or fixative and a
by soaking your clothing in the fixative In a
dust mask when working with the powdered
bucket, Soak, until the fabric is saturated.
materials. If you have colored cotton clothes,
Wring out the shirt really really well so that
there will be space in the fabric for the dye.
First Step, Assemble Your
Supplies!
You will need:
Trash bags to protect working surfaces
plastic grocery bags to store your creations in.
Paper Towels to clean up and wrap your work in.
Rubber Bands to tie up your shirt with
Rubber Gloves to protect your hands,
Eye protection, and clothing protection
Plastic Bucket to soak your shirt in.
Chop Sticks to spiral shirts with.
Dye squirt bottles
Dyes, in the colors you need
Fixative, to make the colors stick
detergent, to get the extra color out
Clean Shirt to make colorful
Step 3 spread out your clothing!
Stretch and Spread out the shirt on a clean
protected surface so it lies flat. If there are
stains or spots from other tie dyes, they
add character, Groovy!
Step 1 Prepare!
Cover your work surfaces with plastic to protect
from the dye. If dye gets on something
wash it off right away! It won’t stick to most
surfaces if cleaned up right away, and if it
stains, bleach will take it off. Cover your
hands with gloves eyes with glasses and
wear an apron, or smock. When Mixing
fixative or dye just before your tie dye
session wear a dust mask.
John and Sarah
NHtiedye.com, P.O. Box 1268, Campton, NH
03223
603-726-8879
NHTieDye.com Do It Yourself Tie-Dye Directions!
Step 4 Spiral!
Select the spot on the shirt that you want the
central of your spiral or star burst and push
with a stick. I use a chop stick and spin to
start the spiral. Turn the stick and watch that
the folds that start to wrap around the stick
don't get to big and fold over other folds.
Manually manipulating the folds to keep
them all the same size until the entire shirt is
wrapped up.
Step 5 Tie!
Using rubber bands, tightly band the spiral
crossing the center like you cut a pizza! use
3 rubber bands for 6 sections, or 6 rubber
bands for 12 sections for a tighter wrap and
crisper white sections.
John and Sarah
Step 6 Apply Color!
Place your shirt onto a paper towel to absorb any
extra dye or fixative on your working
surface. turning your dye bottle upside
down apply color directly to the shirt. Using
squirt bottles saves dye, and allows for
more precise dye application than dunking.
We apply the dye to the edge of the fold, and
require the capillary action of the fabric and
the amount of dye to bring the dye into the
center of the folds. Use more dye for more
color, Less dye for more white space. If
you need to check, use a chop stick and
gently separate the folds to see how far
your dye has made it into the folds.
In this example, a primary rainbow spiral you
Start with lighter dyes, overlapping darker
dyes.
A) starting with yellow on Half the design,
B) with blue on half the design overlapping a third
of the yellow making green.
NHtiedye.com, P.O. Box 1268, Campton, NH 03223
603-726-8879
NHTieDye.com Do It Yourself Tie-Dye Directions!
C) Finally using Red on half the design
overlapping a third of the yellow and a third
of the blue making orange and purple
giving all 6 colors on the design.
(see additional color instructions attached)
Once you finish one side of the design, FLIP the
shirt replacing the paper towel under it.
Dye the opposite side of the shirt. You can
chose to do the same, OR do something
different. In this sample, both sides are
done exactly the same.
As an alternate, Do one color on one side and
one color on the other side for a star burst.
Spirals are from a line from the center of the
tied shirt to the outside of the spiraled shirt.
Shirts dyed in rings around the center will
not have the color spiral. Of course it is
your shirt! place the color where you want!
Look at included color blending information
for more ideas! Check out online to see
some great examples!
Step 8 Wait for dye to set
This is the hardest part! The Dye needs to set on
the fabric for a day! Place your wrapped up
shirt someplace warm for a day! Yep you
need to wait for the reaction to happen.
Warmer shirts react faster. If you can't get to
it right away, that is OK, I have waited for a
week, but it is better to do it after a day or
two. If you don't wait, the color will just wash
out.
Step 9 Finish the shirt
Rinse and Wash. Wearing gloves, right in sink
rinse out the shirt while removing the
rubber bands. Rinse out in the sink with
comfortable water until the shirt has little
dye running out of it. Throw the shirt in the
washer all by itself and run the shirt through
an entire wash cycle in hot water with half
the normal soap. If you use fabric softener,
over soften as the dyes are harsh on the
fabric. Dry as normal and wear, you shirt is
DONE!
Wear and enjoy! For safety sake, be careful the
next few times you wash your shirt. It
takes several washings to get all the extra
dye out of the shirt where it will not bleed.
Kit Contains enough to tie dye 5 or more shirts
Step 7 Wrap and put aside
Wrap up your shirt in some paper toweling so that
the dyes don’t bleed from one section to
another and place into a plastic bag so it
won’t dry out.
For More Ideas, Check out our
Web site! NHtiedye.com!
John and Sarah
5 T-shirts
3 bottles of dye
1 cup of Soda ash for one gallon of “magic Juice”
6 pair of gloves, 5 for tie dye makers, 1 for
washing out shirts
approx. 50 rubber bands
1 chopstick
5 zip lock bags for storing your tie dyed shirts
2 white trash bags for covering your work surface
One bucket for mixing and soaking your shirts in
the magic juice.
1 dust mask for use when mixing dry chemicals
This Set of Instructions
What you will need to tie dye shirts
Willing Tie dye artists
a roll of paper towels
running water and washing facility
Clothing that you don’t mind if they get messy
Rags and clean up supplies just in case.
NHtiedye.com, P.O. Box 1268, Campton, NH
03223
603-726-8879