In her school, as part of the Holi celebrations, all students were asked to bring a white t-shirt to school, which they would tie-dye.
The snubnose dutifully took her t-shirt to school and came back with such a fabulously coloured t-shirt that I was quite surprised.
Here are some shots of her preening in front of the mirror wearing her tie-dye shirt :
After seeing her, I thought well…tie-dye cannot be too difficult. So, I looked up the instructions on the web. This is what Wise Geek has to say :
Take the wet garment and place it on a flat surface; this is where you will fold or tie the garment. You can either tie the garment using knots, or you can use rubber bands to secure the folds. When you tie dye, the pieces of the garment that you have specifically folded, tied, or crumpled will not be dyed.
Take the garment that is to be dyed and wash it thoroughly. Presoak the garment with a sodium carbonate solution. Wring the garment until it is dry, and then apply the dye. You can buy dyes specifically for tie dye, but any dyes that are fiber reactive will work just as well.
Apply the dye to your material, but make sure that the garment stays wet. Using different colors of dye on different areas of the garment makes for a beautiful effect. After applying the dye, let the garment sit for around two to three hours. After a few hours have passed, wash the material with cold water.
Repeat this procedure a few times in order to wash off any excess dye. Undo the knots in the shirt for the final wash. Wash the garment with hot water, and then give it a final wash using water and detergent.
Hmm…does not look as easy as I thought it would be. On second thoughts, I must speak to the snubnose’s art teacher, and find out the exact procedure from her.
And then any boring weekend, the snubnose and I can get into action trying to dye one of my old boring white dupattas.
Let’s see how it goes…
