Tie Dye Party

Last Sunday several (non-quilty) friends came over for a tie dye session. While the fabric soaked in the soda ash bucket, we prepared the dyes. 2 Tbsp of Urea in each pint bottle, with 4 or 8 tsp of dye powder, depending on the color. We made up 3 yellow, 2 turquoise, 2 fuchsia, green, black, deep purple, burgundy, fire engine red and a dark mix of an unknown(black or dark green), jet black and navy. Bonny, our tie dye guru, led us on the tieing session. She showed us how to tie a heart, a spiral, and a chevron. I showed them how to roll a T-shirt on a PVC pipe to do Shibori.

We set up at the side of the yard, with wire racks, to squirt the dye on the rubber banded bundles.

Susan dyeing her spiral bundle.

Amy's tied heart bundle.

Jenny got her self up off the ground for easier dyeing.

Amy and Susan's Shibori dyeing on the PVC pipe.

After we were done with our shirts, we had dye leftover, Bonny took what she needed to do more at home, and that left us 4 bottles of dye. I had soaked about a 3 yard piece of muslin in the soda ash, and I hung it over a swing frame. We each took a bottle of dye, yellow, fuchsia, turquoise and the odd black mix, and squirted it on the fabric to run down in streaks. The brilliant colors were like stained glass, as it dripped we added more, here and there to sort of balance the colors.

The dark colors were a beautiful deep purple, navy, rust, brick red, lots of depth as it blended with the brighter colors.

The proud dye team, Jenny, Bonny, Amy and Susan. Every one went home with the shirts in gallon zip lock bags, with directions to wait until tomorrow, then heat set the dye in the microwave for 2 minutes each, rinse until the water is clear, then launder with Synthropol.

My Shibori shirt came out great, with diagonal turquoise, green and dark green.

The rainbow spiral is my favorite, the colors blended well and the pattern is clear.

Can you see the heart? I can't, the rubber bands must have shifted a bit when I tied it. But I do like the colors, burgundy, fuchsia, and some cobalt blue. The last two are going to be over dyed later, they are very splotchy, the colors did not blend and there is too much white. One is the chevron fold with accordion pleats, the other a quarter fold with each corner tied. I can't decide if it looks like a clown threw up or a confetti machine exploded!

The fabric came out great, nice rich colors at the top, but the bottom washed out a bit, the dyes were probably exhausted by the time they dripped to the bottom. But the blend of colors is wonderful anyway. The photo is only half the width and length, it is really a large piece of fabric.

Susan and her husband Larry, show off two of the T-shirts that she dyed.

I am linking this to Nina-Marie's "Off the Wall Friday" click on the badge in the right hand column to see what other wonderful artists are doing.

After the tie dyeing was finished, the ladies had brought the guys along too. They had gotten a good fire going in the fire pit, and we sat around all afternoon, several other couples came and we made a party of it. We BBQ'd burgers, hot dogs, and had lots of yummy side dishes. My husband Charlie had a great time, he was well enough to walk down the back stairs with just a cane, and the guys brought down his wheelchair for him to sit in. When I upgraded to a party, he kept mumbling "too many people," but he really enjoyed himself and had a special day. We went into the early evening, I being the only one who had to work the next morning.