Tie Dye Instructions for Spiral Mickey Shirt

[GoofyWalker]

Zoebear,
You can buy a clorox gel bleach pen in your supermarket, right along side the other laundry products. It usually costs a couple dollars.

GoofyWalker

Hmmm, I haven't posted in ages, and now today I can't stop...

Zoebear,

Realized you may want a bit more info.

The bleach pen was not my idea, I read it on a post somewhere way near the beginning. But here is a recap:

If the dye runs through your stitching and rubberband, so your MH is not well-defined, you can use a Clorox bleach pen to remove some of the dye and reshape the Mickey Head to make it stand out.

Works best if the shirt is still wet.

Insert a piece of cardboard between shirt so bleach doesn't run through to other side.

Take the bleach pen and outline the Mickey Head.

You can just draw a line, as thin or thick as you like, or one person used the pen to draw hash marks around the MH. (If I can find the picture, I'll post it.)
Someone also suggested drawing a "swirly Mickey" inside the center colored circle. (There is also a great picture of this out there somewhere!)

I found the gel bleach a little thick, so squeezed it ou, watered it down a bit, and used an old paintbrush to apply. Brushed in short outward strokes so it wasn't even.

I have also used straight bleach when I didn't have a Clorox pen on hand.

Carefully wash out as soon as you can! I read on the internet that bleach can weaken and/or eat through cotton fibers if left on too long!

Other methods of salvaging undefined MHs that don't involve bleach, were buying dimensional fabric paint to outline the MH. Or completely painting on a MH with fabric paint or fabric marker in a contrasting color. Or using an iron-on MH overtop of the tie dye.

HTH. Let us know if you have any other questions!

GoofyWalker

 

[DizneeMommy]

Here are the shirts for our trip. . .we leave TOMORROW!!!
We thought they turned out great!

 

[GoofyWalker]

 

[GoofyWalker]

Here are the shirts for our trip. . .we leave TOMORROW!!!
We thought they turned out great!

DizneeMommy,
They look super! The colors are really vibrant. Enjoy your trip!!!
GoofyWalker

 

[GWNnewbies]

GoofyWalker
Kudos on doing the marathons. The shirts look great. I LOVE the blue and purple ones. The colours really pop.

DizneeMommy
Wow, those turned out really nicely. Very colourful.

 

[GoofyWalker]

Can't find the hash mark picture right now, but if I do, I'll post it.

But it is simple. Instead of drawing a continuous outlined MH, you make short outward lines (kind of like a starburst) all around the MH area.

GoofyWalker

 

[littlezar]

DizneeMommy - Those came out great! Have a BLAST!!!

GoofyWalker - Wow! Great shirts! You put a LOT of work into them with mixing colors and test strips and making so many! I'm not following the crown on the pink shirt - is there multiple crowns around the MH or one crown sitting on top?

 

[GoofyWalker]

There is one small crown, at a slight angle on top of the MH. You can't really see it well unless you are up close to the shirt. I'll see if I can find a better picture and blow it up, or I'll take a new one and post it.

I was going to add heat set crystals, but found the little iron on crowns, and since I was pressed for time, I used them.

GoofyWalker

 

[GoofyWalker]

GoofyWalker - Wow! Great shirts! You put a LOT of work into them with mixing colors and test strips and making so many! I'm not following the crown on the pink shirt - is there multiple crowns around the MH or one crown sitting on top?[/QUOTE]


I couldn't find a good picture that I could zoom in on, so I took this one today. You can really only see the crown when you are close up to the shirt, and it does interfere a bit with the space between ears on the MH, but overall I was happy with it. Since it was for the Princess race, I just felt it needed a crown!

GoofyWalker

 

[GoofyWalker]

Yesterday I mentioned that I changed my process a bit this time.

When I get to the dyeing part, I never rubberband all my shirts first, then dye them, which makes sense, I know, but I am always in a hurry to start getting to the dying part. I twist one shirt, rubberband it, dye it, repeat. I usually end up getting random dye smudges on the shirt from this, not that anyone but me would notice.

Also, I would get such nice "cinnamon buns", then the rubber bands would squoosh them all out of shape. The shirts always turned out fine, though.

So here is what I did on the set of pink Princess shirts.

I found sets of 3 round aluminum food containers with lids, like you'd get Chinese food in maybe, at the dollar store. The lids sit in the rim of the container and you crimp the edge down all around it. You can find a picture of one here: http://www.packagingsupplies.com/images/round_alumimum_food_container.jpg

After I dyed the MH and covered it with plastic, I twisted the shirt.

Then I slid the twirled shirt onto an old piece of plywood (it was about 12 inches square) covered with plastic. I left the shirt twirled, but with no rubber bands, and applied dye to the front of the shirt. Since it wasn't rubber banded, I had easy access to the folds, and could use my fingers to separate them and really get the dye in between.

I also use ALOT of paper towels, to soak up extra dye that drips out and accumulates under the shirt. So while my shirts would drip if you squeezed them, they usually don't drip all over the place.

Then I turned one of the aluminum rounds upside down onto the shirt, and flipped the board, shirt and container, like releasing a cake from the cake pan. This turned the shirt upside down, but kept it nicely contained in a circular shape.

I applied dye to the back of the shirt, then put a second aluminum container on top of that and flipped again, so the shirt was still in a round container, but now the MH was back on top, and (hopefully) the excess dye wouldn't run down through the stitching and rubber bands to the MH.

I did use the lids and close them onto the container. Even though they are not airtight, it is probably good enough to just let them sit like that, but I did stack several and enclose them in a plastic bag, more to prevent spills and take up less room, than anything else.

After 24 hours when I was ready to rinse, the only rubber band to undo was the one around the MH.

I know this probably didn't save me much time, but somehow it just seemed easier to me, and I felt it gave me more control over where the dye was going. And while I like a little more white than I ended up with, I never worried that I would have huge undyed areas.

Hope this helps someone, and hope I didn't confuse anyone.

GoofyWalker

 

[littlezar]

GoofyWalker - Wow! Great shirts! You put a LOT of work into them with mixing colors and test strips and making so many! I'm not following the crown on the pink shirt - is there multiple crowns around the MH or one crown sitting on top?

I couldn't find a good picture that I could zoom in on, so I took this one today. You can really only see the crown when you are close up to the shirt, and it does interfere a bit with the space between ears on the MH, but overall I was happy with it. Since it was for the Princess race, I just felt it needed a crown!

GoofyWalker[/QUOTE]

That is soooooo totally cute!!! LOVE it!!!

Really like your idea for using the aluminum pans, too!

 

[GoofyWalker]

GoofyWalker
Kudos on doing the marathons. The shirts look great. I LOVE the blue and purple ones. The colours really pop.

Thanks, GWNnewbies! I have been doing Disney races since 1997, I think! There are several online communities devoted to participating in these races, one right here on the DISboards, the W.I.S.H.er's. I belong to another one, but there is some cross-over. It is hard to stop doing the races over and over (just like it is hard to stop making t-shirts) when you KNOW you will be seeing all your Disney Friends again!!

For anyone who thinks they have done EVERYTHING at Disney, I suggest participating in a race. You do not have to run, most races are walker friendly if you can maintain a certain pace, and most also have an associated 5K Fun Run (3 miles) and sometimes Kid's Races.

Next up? Hopefully Tower of Terror 13K (8 miles) again in Oct!

GoofyWalker

 

[iheartpluto]

I've been reading this thread for ages, and finally decided to try my own! I made 3 shirts for myself (since DH won't wear one... this time!) and they are currently sitting in their plastic wrap. I can't wait til tomorrow, and I hope they turn out well, since we leave for our honeymoon on Saturday! I will try to post pics when they are dry... Wish me luck!

 

[TamTab]

I gave this a try yesterday. Here is what I came up with

both shirts (the one on the left is for my brother the one on the right is mine)

the backs

I think they turned out all right for the first time. I rushed through the whole process so not too bad.

 

[tigger_mommy]

this is such a cute idea....now it's just the execution of it for me.

 

[lklasing]

Does anyone have any tips about which brand dyes are the best?

 

[littlezar]

TamTab - Your shirts came out great!

lklasing - Mine http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=30227256&postcount=869 were made with Tulip Classic Colors kit (2 kits for 6 shirts), Tulip Soda Ash (1 box) & 100% cotton t-shirts.

 

[teacher09]

Thank you for the visual learner directions. I would have never understood without the pictures.

 

[iheartpluto]

Here's how two of mine came out. I tried to do the dye resist omn a tank top, but it didn't quite work, so now I just have a tie-dyed tank top, and I didn't think that needed to be posted. I'm quite satisfied with these, since this is the first time I have ever tie-dyed, and I had to add some bling to the Mickey heads, just to help them stand out a bit.

 

[littlezar]

iheartpluto ~ Those came out so cute with the bling! I want to try to dye resist but haven't seen it in Michael's or AC Moore the last few times I've been in there.