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Tie dye in the rain

───   17:54 Wed, 21 Feb 2018

Tie dye in the rain | News Article

I have always liked tie dye, but I recently started playing around with more alternative techniques.

Tie dye is incredibly old and pretty established. Probably mostly associated with hippies and the classic spiral shape. 

I started dabbling in dye again about a year and a half ago, simple stuff, store bought liquid sun dye (which is loads of fun and super fast). Progressing from there and hunting for stronger and more sustainable dye, I went through enormous amounts and varieties of dye. Eventually I found what I was looking for, and actually needed. Fiber reactive dye! Fantastic stuff! 

Besides dipping and bottle applications I learnt about ice dye, muck dye, snow dye, rain dye and many many more. 

Today was a pretty cloudy day, and while driving home to Sasolburg from Klerksdorp the rain started showing itself just past the N1 (between Parys and Sasolburg). Driving into town the roads were drenched! I missed it. 

So my son and I carried on with our regular afternoon activities - mostly watching Paw Patrol over and over and over again. Woefies. 

Out of the blue there was a rumble. Thunder. Maybe I didn't completely miss it.

I put on yet another episode of paw patrol and ran outside - wind blowing, clouds dark and heavy. Yes! I grabbed a few pre prepped and tied shirts and started the process of applying dry dye and soda ash. Always spray it with water (mist) so the wind doesn't blow off all your dye. 

So here you go, rain dye! I am leaving them open overnight and will put them in bags tomorrow. But they will bake for a few days so that the dye sets properly. 

I will add photos just now! Patience is a massive part of tie dye. 


UPDATE

Finally, photos!

This is just as it started raining last night

This is after 15 minutes in the rain, notice how there is no more white parts on the tshirts

And this was 6am this morning, after a night of some pretty decent rain

I placed them all in a plastic bag, and covered that with a black bag. They will 'bake' like this until at least Sunday. So, check back on Monday, I will post the results for you :)

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