I need a new idea for t-shirts!

[robinb]

We are going on vacation in a few weeks with my DH, DD-10 and her friend also 10. I would like to do t-shirts but I am looking for a new idea.

I have already done traditional tie-dye:

Iron-On transfers:

Flour & water paste as a resist with spray-on fabric paint:

Fabric painted mouse ears:

And finally ... immersion tie dying:

I need a new idea ... any suggestions? I am thinking of doing a resist and making a Mickey Head (like the four and water) but something that will stand up to the immersion dying. But I have no idea how to go about it ... anyone do batik?

 

[robinb]

*bump*

Anyone?

 

[Mickster]

no...but I think you can get a kit at the craft store...

your t-shirts are lovely! Every year we go, I always say that I should make shirts and never do...this might be the push I needed...we'll see...

 

[Earstou]

Wow, you've done a great job on all those shirts!

Many years ago I learned batik in college. I know dyes have changed quite a bit since then (we used Rit!). We dipped tjanting wax pens in hot wax, heated in an old electric skillet, and then drew on the fabric with the hot wax. We would fill in large spaces with paint brushes (use an old one-you'll never paint with it again!). First you draw what you want to stay white, then use your first lightest dye, say yellow. Next you draw or fill in what you want to stay yellow, and dye with your next color, getting progressively darker as you go. Continue with as many steps as you want. Our last step was usually black, and the fabric would be mostly covered with wax. I remember cracking the wax on the fabric some at this point, to increase the black lines thru-out.
It was very interesting to see how the fabric turned out. But it is also VERY messy and hard to get even lines and shapes. It's easy to drip wax where you don't want it, then you have to get creative and change your pattern, to make it look like that drip was supposed to be there!

I haven't batiked since I had kids and my last is a senior, so my experience is very dated. I'd guess there are now easier methods.
Good luck!

 

[mom of 3 blondes]

What about reverse tie dying with a coloured tshirt and bleach? We are going to be doing this type for our upcoming Dec trip.

 

[runskyhy]

Awesome shirts! Thanks for sharing!

 

[Mama Steph]

Can you tell me how you did the flour and water resist? I've never seen that before and I think the kids would love making them!

 

[robinb]

Can you tell me how you did the flour and water resist? I've never seen that before and I think the kids would love making them!

Here's an old thread:
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1387362

And here is where the idea came from:
http://familyfun.go.com/crafts/solar-flare-t-shirt-668775/

 

[pjlla]

What about reverse tie dying with a coloured tshirt and bleach? We are going to be doing this type for our upcoming Dec trip.

You might want to pick shirts in advance and do a test one before you do a whole batch. We did this last year on vacation (the kids do a vacation group t-shirt project every year) and we had varying degrees of success.

For example, I bought a bright orange Hanes t-shirt at ACM for DS to use... we tied it up in a bullet pattern on the front, did the same bleaching dips that we did for the other t-shirts, etc. It BARELY bleached out. You could only see the pattern if you looked closely.

But some other t-shirts worked well. Someone used a navy t-shirt from Old Navy... it worked well and turned a cool orangey-pink... and DD used a bright pink t-shirt from Old Navy and it worked pretty well also.

There didn't seem to be any rhyme or reason why certain ones worked better... fabric content, age of shirt, previously washed... we couldn't really pinpoint why one type worked better than another.

I used a bright blue Mickey tank top... it only bleached mostly on the front and back, but not at all on the trim around the arm holes... and the fabric stretched out SO MUCH it was unwearable after.

Again, I suggest some experimenting in advance for success with this project................P

 

[mum&son]

no ideas for you but just to say i think they are great

 

[bdoyledimou]

Have you heard of Wordle?

http://www.wordle.net/create

You type or paste in a number of words for a theme (like rides and resorts or characters or whatever) hit create and it builds a beautiful word cloud for you...

then you print those off onto transfers ..

NO TWO are alike... and the more you repeat the word, the bigger the text is so you can get creative and have some control...

 

[robinb]

Have you heard of Wordle?

http://www.wordle.net/create

You type or paste in a number of words for a theme (like rides and resorts or characters or whatever) hit create and it builds a beautiful word cloud for you...

then you print those off onto transfers ..

NO TWO are alike... and the more you repeat the word, the bigger the text is so you can get creative and have some control...

What a great idea! My DD LOVES wordle .

Right now I am leaning toward iron on appliques I saw mentioned in pjlla's thread here: http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2517171 . I saw some beautiful batik fabric at Michael's this week so I can have my batik fix for a lot less trouble .

 

[krishriaz]

You have done a very good work on tshirts, robinb. You are really very creative but can you share ideas for how you have done it on tshirts? Thanks in advance.