tshirts easier than tie dye!!!

[asktriplets]

ok all you crafty folks, now i need YOUR help....

i washed 1 of the shirts and some of the circles made marks on another part of the shirt. i describe it this way because it is not as if the color spread from the circles out farther, but it looks more like part of the tshirt got folded over onto itself in the washing machine, and an imprint (of sorts) was made...like perhaps during the spin cycle part of the mickey ear circle was pressed against the shoulder of the shirt and some of the ink transfered to the shoulder. make sense?

i used a hair dryer immediately after making the circles, and put the shirt in the dryer when i was all done, but perhaps for only 10 mins, not the recommended 20 mins. could this make a difference in setting the color? any other suggestions? is there something i could spray over it to keep the color?


as for the color washing out, it seems like overall the color stayed. it is a bit faded, but not too much.

thanks

 

[asktriplets]

java,...

i played around with the circle sizes a bit before i made my choices. for the kids shirts, i ended up using a kid's sized plastic cup from a restaurant (we have a jillion of 'em!), and for the ears i used some tiny little liqueur glass (found in the back of the cabinet from God knows where). i thought a larger shot glass would work, but i couldn't find one.

for a bigger shirt, i was thinking a large plastic cup from a restaurant/gas station would be good, with the ears being made from the kids cups.

i just took random cups and traced them on paper to get an idea of what might look good. because the color spreads a bit over the edge of the cup (to the outer edge of the rim and/or to the rubberband just below the rim of the cup), plan on the cirlces being a BIT larger than what you see when you trace.


once i found the sizes, i just pressed the cup rims into the fabric where i wanted them(makes a pretty clear imprint) and then put some sticker dots into the center of where each circle imprint is. this made it easier to figure out where the cup should go when i put the cup under the shirt (you can no longer tell what is even/centered because you've got that big cup standing up under the shirt front).


as for the dot in the center, i cut a small circle sticker out and put it in the center of the mickey ears (instead of a penny/bottlecap). this still gave the kids a "center" to work from, but it didn't take up so much space (allows for more color). because it was a sticker, i didn't have to worry about it sliding around as the kids tilted the cup to make their marks, too.

i also played around on rags to see what i liked. once I figured out what worked, i let the kids play around with the markers and the dropper on the rags. good practice, and the kids had a great time making the circles with little interference from mommy! ...with the real shirts, i had to make sure they didn't mark on any other part of the shirt accidentally with those perm. markers!

 

[worm761]

does anyone have anymore pics or suggestions for this method?
i am thinking of making shirts for all of us for our next trip. it won't be for a while but i am also not artistically inclined. so i want to practice before i do the actual ones we will be wearing!

 

[worm761]

ok. so i went around the house and found some old shirts that we don't use (and my boyfriends paintball t-shirt..he he) to start trying this out on. how do you get the color to bleed all the way to the edge of the cup? i am using one of those little kid drink cups from walmart that come 4 or 5 in a pack for like $1. we have them for all the seasons. anyway i cannot get them to bleed all the way to the edge. is my cup too big? i am using a penny, water bottle cap. any suggestions? thanks for the help.

 

[asktriplets]

hi.

as for getting the ink to bleed to the edges of the cup, i found that i had to play with the alcohol a bit....i dropped some in the middle (as directions indicated), then when it seemed like things were slowing down, i would drop some more (still in the middle), but then tilt the cup to get the alcohol to flow, OR i would tilt the cup and then drop the alcohol. i also found that for the bigger circles, i needed plenty of alcohol (rubbing alcohol, that is!!!! ). if i dropped too much, too quickly, it would just soak down through the shirt and drip into the cup.

i will see if i can get my son to make another one of these with me later today to replace his shirt that bled in the washer. i'll take pics. and try to post the process here.

hope this helps,

 

[PiperPizzaz]

Maybe you should iron it before washing?
Also try the laundry soap that is supossed to keep colors from bleeding. I may have to try this.

 

[my3princes]

I love this concept and I am planning to do some shirts for our summer trip. Here is a question for you. Do you think I could use colored shirts, say red, use the cup idea as you have, but drop bleach into the center instead of alcohol and markers? That would leave me with white circles (theoretically). I'm not sure how to set the bleach though as I wouldn't want it to run in the wash. Any suggestions or reasons why this wouldn't work?

Deb

 

[ms_mckenna]

I love this concept and I am planning to do some shirts for our summer trip. Here is a question for you. Do you think I could use colored shirts, say red, use the cup idea as you have, but drop bleach into the center instead of alcohol and markers? That would leave me with white circles (theoretically). I'm not sure how to set the bleach though as I wouldn't want it to run in the wash. Any suggestions or reasons why this wouldn't work?

Deb

Deb I do not see why it would not work. http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1403030 on my boutique shirt thread Cruiser1969 and Beth both shared how they did some bleach shirts. Not exactly what you want to do but maybe would help point you in the right direction.

 

[my3princes]

Deb I do not see why it would not work. http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1403030 on my boutique shirt thread Cruiser1969 and Beth both shared how they did some bleach shirts. Not exactly what you want to do but maybe would help point you in the right direction.

Thanks for the link. That is some great information

Deb

 

[asktriplets]

well, i've tried a bunch of different options, and i still can't keep the color on these shirts from transferring to the white when i wash them!!!! i looked at the craft store, but i didn't see any type of spray/clear "paint" that i can put over the colors to set them. argghh.... for my last shirt, i washed the white of the shirt by hand, holding on to the mickey head to keep that section from getting wet...what a pain! the kids loved being able to make these shirts by themselves, but i say they are not "trip worthy".

so, i have to say that unless you want these shirts but aren't worried about washing them, i would stick with the tiedye design....*sigh*

on a good note, we are heading to Michael's for their $1.88 tshirt sale to pick up shirts to make the family fun mickey heads! those shirts look fabulous, but i'm guessing that i'll have to do the majority of the work, which is the reason that i loved the other design so much. they'll still be able to mix the flour/water, scrap off the flour mixture, and paint, which is probably all they'll have the patience for, anyway! thanks to all who have posted such great ideas here on the DISigns boards!


10 days until we leave....

 

[maggiew]

I'm a chemistry teacher and I have done this activity a few times with my students during National Chemistry week (although never in Mickey heads!). Its called "chromatography". If you use certain black permanent markers, you can get the dots or lines to separate into a rainbow of colors. If the black in the marker is made by a mixture of different colors, the alcohol will allow the colors to separate as the alcohol moves from the inner circle to the outer circle. You would have to play around to see how big the circles needed to be in order to allow enough time for the colors to separate.

I do not think the bleach would work as a solvent. You would get the white dot in the center, but I do not think it would carry the colors with it as it spread from the inner circle to the outer circle. In fact, I think the bleach would probably just bleach out your marker dots and not spread them at all. The way the chromatography works is that the marker color is soluable in the alcohol and carries the color with it as it moves along the shirt.


I'm going to try to make a shirt this weekend!

Thanks,
Maggie

 

[Jen72386]

any updates??

 

[TravelinGal]

I Love this idea!!! My son's preschool did this but with just random patterns. I never thought about it for a Mickey head design! (silly me!!)
His preschool didn't use drops of alcohol though - they put it in a spray bottle and did 10 sprays on each circle.

I would think it would work on any light color shirt but dark ones probably wouldn't work too well. (The marker color would have to be darker than the shirt in any case!) I'm going to try it on some old shirts I have that have stains etc.

 

[scrapah1]

Has anyone tried adding names to this? I wonder if you could use letter shaped cookie cutters and try the same technique.

 

[TravelinGal]

Has anyone tried adding names to this? I wonder if you could use letter shaped cookie cutters and try the same technique.

Sounds interesting! It would be hard to get the fabric taut around all the bends in letters, but if it would work it would be cool.

I'd suggest trying on an old (stained/torn?) shirt and see how it works! (and let us know! LOL)

 

[MooksterL1]

Awesome idea! I'm going to try this today or tomorrow.

 

[GoofyWalker]

Sounds interesting! It would be hard to get the fabric taut around all the bends in letters, but if it would work it would be cool.

I'd suggest trying on an old (stained/torn?) shirt and see how it works! (and let us know! LOL)

I've tried quite a few different designs to see how this works! For letters, I liked it best when I wrote the word, then dribbled a line of alcohol across the middle of all the letters. It cause them to bleed and spread out "taller", but you could still read the words.

Good Luck!

 

[TravelinGal]

I've tried quite a few different designs to see how this works! For letters, I liked it best when I wrote the word, then dribbled a line of alcohol across the middle of all the letters. It cause them to bleed and spread out "taller", but you could still read the words.

Good Luck!

Do you have a photo of how it turned out?

 

[GoofyWalker]

Do you have a photo of how it turned out?

TravelinGal,

Sorry took so long to reply. I dug out my test strips. Unfortunately, they sat on a sunny window sill for quite a while and the letters are all faded.

I got some other pretty neat designs, though. I'll try to take and post pics in the next few days.

GoofyWalker

 

[dragonfly57005]

Awesome idea! thanks for sharing!