Esteri,
Makes me want to try this to my kids tee's as well. Was it hard? I love how you got it in a "V" . Looks so cool!
Janelle
It's two part process...
Part one - dye the entire shirt the lighter color. Since I wanted that chrystilline effect, I shoved the shirts in to a small bucket (4 quart paint bucket from Ace - for 6 shirts),
very tightly, and poured the dye over. Wait about 4 hours, and wash it out.
Part two - Over dye to make the V. Fold the shirt in half long wise. Pinch at the point of the V (about 2/3 down), and finger walk up to the widest part of the V (on the shoulder), making pleats about 1" high. At that point, wrap a rubber band around
tightly. Cover the portion you don't want to dye with plastic wrap to prevent accidents. Use a squeeze bottle to over dye the shirt with the darker color. (This is the technique most people think as "tie-dye".) Wrap in plastic wrap and let sit for 8-10 hours. Wash out all the excess dye. If a solid color is important to you (like these shirts) use LOTS of dye. Remember - you have to soak 4 layers of cloth.
Not hard. Remember that half the fun is the unpredictable results. Not even these turned out exactly like I envisioned, but I'm still pleased with the result. So, don't go in expecting "perfection" - regardless of what happens, it's art - it'll be beautiful.
Variations....
Rather than using a squeeze bottle, it'd be interesting to just stick that portion in a bucket of dye, and clamp it to the edge of the bucket, so that entire shirt doesn't accidentally fall in. Might use more or less dye - depending on the type of bucket used. But, faster than squeeze bottles. (We like squeeze bottles, as then the boys can help. They each dyed their own shirts.)
Reverse the design. That is the chrystaline effect is in the V, and the dark dye is in the body. This would be interesting - might try it next.
Do this, and then discharge dye in an interesting counter pattern. You can use bleach (not full strength), or discharge paste. You can get some really interesting effects with this. Or, cut out sponges (Mickey Heads?), thicken the bleach solution to a paint consistancy, and discharge using the sponge. I thought about doing that, but decided against it. A little
too Disney for me - if you get my drift. But, might turn out really fun. (Actually - this'd be fun to try. Wonder if I can find someone to commission a set sometime. You think something like that would sell?)
Or rather than a counter pattern - shove it all tightly in a small jar, and pour the bleach in - you'd get a discharged crystaline effect then. Now, that might be really cool.
Be sure to have some Bleach-Stop on hand to throw the shirt into. Discharging can go pretty quickly. I'd recommend no stronger than a 1:3 (25% solution) bleach to water ratio for something like this. Maybe even a 10-15% solution would be better.
OH! One hint? If you're doing shirts for kids.... Kids grow. We always make a set with every size, then put away the too big shirts. That way - the family still has an entire set for several years. Because of the professional dyes and chemicals I use - fading is practically non-existant. You can't tell the two year old shirt, from the new one coming off the shelf.
Hope that gives you some ideas. Like anything - the hardest part is gathering your courage and jumping into something new.

Dharma has some nice kits with everything you need except the clothing, and really excellent directions, if you're just starting out. That's how I did it.
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