Group Tie-Dye Project

Tie-Dye makes a great group activity! It's safe and fun for the participants and easy and inexpensive for the organizer.

Whether you have a camp group, a Boy Scout or Girl Scout troop, a birthday party, a family reunion, or a school class, tie-dye is a blast!

We've been in the business of selling tie-dye supplies for over 36 years. Our dyes are safe and easy to use and are the #1 choice of professional and beginning tie-dyers alike. These are the dyes to use for bright, clear colors that won't wash out or fade.

To make things easy, we have assembled four Tie-Dye Group Kits that contain everything you need (except the clothing!) for a successful tie-dye project with a group of the given size. You can either buy these kits as is, or you can just use the materials lists below as a guideline and buy exactly what you want for your own project. Another option is to use our Tie-Dye Ordering Helper to walk you through the ordering process.

Each kit comes with complete group instructions, so no prior experience is needed to have a successful project. You can also give us a call toll-free and talk to one of our tie-dye experts if you have any questions: 800-542-5227 (8am-5pm California time).

If you need something to tie-dye, we have a wide variety of inexpensive white T-shirts and other white clothing blanks in all sizes for men, women, and children.

Have fun!

Instructions

It is best to have the tables all set up, covered with plastic, etc. Each work area should have newspapers, rubber bands, gloves, finger rinsing bowl, paper towels or a sponge, a bucket of premixed soda ash (allow about a gallon of soda ash mix for each 8-10 adult t-shirts - (1 lb of soda ash makes 2 gallons), and squirt bottles of premixed dye in the selected colors. It is always best to use freshly made up dye, so you can mix it the morning of the class, or the night before at most. This allows for the brightest possible color.

To mix up the dye in quantities you need, just multiply our 8 oz recipe by the number of cups of each color you will need - how to figure that out, you say? Well...

For example:

Tie-dyeing 50 t-shirts in 3 colors, using 4 "stations" with 12 to13 students at each station:

1. Soda ash soak: 4 buckets, 2 1/2 gallons each, will take 5 lbs
2. Dye: 3 colors in 16 oz squeeze bottles will tie- dye 12-13 shirts at ea station, unless people really pour on the dye-(for 4 stations, you need 12 bottles-kit has 6-need 6 more) use a dust mask!

You can demonstrate tyeing to the whole group first, showing them how to tie their garments-then have everyone do it at their station while it is fresh in their memory. Then all the shirts can be soaked in the soda ash 5-10 min. (Use gloves!) During that time you can demonstrate how to apply the dye on a pre-tied and soaked garment. Be sure and demonstrate how to get the dye into the folds! Then turn 'em loose! After garments are dyed, lay them all out on newspaper with plastic over the top to keep them damp for the curing process, making sure that shirts don't touch each other, or have each student put their garment in a plastic bag. Then, have the students help clean up!

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1. Fold and/or tie the fabric into the desired patterns.The designs will be more defined if you wet the shirt and squeeze or spin out excess water before folding.	2. Wear your dust mask and dissolve 1 cup (8 oz.) of Soda Ash Fixer per gallon of warm water. Soak the tied garments about 5-15 minutes (until saturated). Reuse solution until gone. Squeeze out excess so garment is just damp, not dripping.	3. Using your dust mask and gloves, combine water with all chemicals except dye. Add liquid to dye gradually, pasting up to avoid lumps. Apply dye with squeeze bottles, paint brushes, sponges, etc., as many colors as you want. Easiest to use a funnel to pour dissolved dye into squeeze bottles. Dye Formula: 8 oz. cup of warm water (not hot, body temperature) 2 to 8 teaspoons of Procion dye Some colors are noted with * on the Procion dye page (Colors with no * = 2 teaspoons) (One * = 4 teaspoons) (Two ** = 8 teaspoons) 1 tablespoon Urea (dissolve in hot water first). 1/4 teaspoon water softener (if needed) Sodium Alginate Thickener (A little to slow spreading, and control color, if desired.)
4. Put fabric (still tied) in a plastic bag (the idea is to keep it wet and chemically active - any method of keeping it wet is O.K.) and let sit for at least 4 hours but preferably 24 hours to "cure". Shorter times work better in summer, and longer times are needed when it is cold.	5. Remove from bag and while still tied, rinse off the excess dye under cold running water (faucet, hose or shower), then rinse in warmer water while you untie and after garments are untied, until water runs fairly clear. Have your washing machine pre-filled with hot water with Synthrapol and throw in the clothing as soon as it is rinsed, running it through a full cycle.

RINSING:

Use gloves! While garment is still tied it needs to be rinsed as much as possible under warm running water (faucet, hose, shower, bathtub), then gradually untied while still rinsing. Get as much dye out as possible this way, then immediately wash with hot water and synthrapol. Synthrapol is a special detergent that helps get the rest of the excess dye out so it won't bleed and run in future washings. Students could bring little jars to take some home in - warning-it can eat through plastic baggies. Remember, good rinsing procedure keeps the clothes from looking "muddy" and colors from running over each other into white areas. You can't skimp on water! Immediate washing with synthrapol keeps the excess dye that is still left from bleeding. Before washing, don't let the dyed clothing touch anything!

CARE:

Since procion dyes are "fiber reactive", they are very permanent and will not fade or bleed. Bleach or detergents containing bleach should not be used! If the garments have been properly rinsed and washed, they are safe to throw in with the family laundry!