You will need:
inexpensive t-shirts {100% cotton work best}
Sharpie markers
rubbing alcohol (91% solution -- I got mine at Target pharmacy, but I imagine it's available most anywhere}
eye droppers or spray bottles
plastic garbage bags to put between the layers of your shirt to prevent bleed-through
Optional for team logos: freezer paper, Xacto knife, an iron, blue gel glue and/or white craft paint
For very basic Sharpie Tie Dye, just color a simple design onto your shirt then spray it with alcohol and watch the magic happen. Leave a little space between your colors so they have room to spread without getting "muddy". If you want to add a logo here's how it's done:
Step 1: Use a freezer paper stencil** with blue gel
glue to create a resist pattern on the plain white t-shirt before
coloring them. Wherever the glue is, it will resist the spreading ink,
leaving you with a white pattern in the middle of your tie dyed area. Create a freezer paper stencil and paint a fairly thick, even layer of
the glue on top. {You must use the gel glue for this to work.} Let it
set up for several minutes, then carefully remove the stencil and
discard it. The glue will still be wet at this point. Set it aside for
several hours to dry or use a blow dryer set on the highest
heat setting to help it along. Just make sure it is completely dry
before moving on to step 2.
{**You'll find a great tutorial on using freezer paper stencils here at The Alison Show, if you're unfamiliar with the process.}
Step 2: Place a plastic garbage bag in between the layers of your t-shirt to prevent bleed-through. Make sure to get it into the sleeves, too. Using Sharpie markers, draw a design onto your shirt. Avoid drawing on top of the glued area. It's OK if you get a little bit on there, but don't go crazy! I chose to create stripes, leaving about 1 inch in between for the colors to bleed. You could draw spirals or flowers or clusters of tiny dots -- whatever you like.
I found it helpful to practice a little bit on a paper towel by drawing the design I had in mind and spritzing it with alcohol to see how it would spread out. The colors change a little bit once they spread so it's nice to make sure you like it before you mess up a shirt. Ask me how I know that ... For instance, I learned that the normal Orange Sharpie turned really pink when it bled, so I used a light layer of normal orange and drew another light layer of yellow orange on top of it to counteract that effect. Also, the blue inks spread a lot more than the lighter colors for some reason.
Step 3: Add alcohol and watch the colors spread! Open your windows because the smell gets pretty intense. I started out using a spray bottle, but that broke halfway through so I dropped the alcohol from an eye dropper to finish up. Both methods worked great, but I think I had a little more control of the spread with the eye dropper. I found that the the ink bled down toward the bottom of the shirt much more that it bled toward the collar even though it was laying flat on a table. The colors will only spread as far as the fabric gets wet so avoid spraying any area you don't want color on {like the sleeves}. Be careful not to use too much alcohol. This is what happens if you get a little out of control with it:
Allow the shirt to dry completely.
Step 4: Rinse the logo under warm water to remove all the glue. Throw the t-shirt into the dryer to dry then heat set the ink with a hot iron.
On the Seahawk shirt, the logo didn't turn out very well using the resist technique. I don't know if it was because it was a colored shirt or if I just didn't let the ink spread enough. Either way, I wanted to emphasize the logo a little more so after the shirt was dry I used a freezer paper stencil with white fabric paint and it looks great now.
These shirts are color-safe and machine washable. Come back Monday to see how I will be using my Sharpie Tie Dyed team shirts to throw the best ever Game Day Party the whole family will enjoy!
I am curious where you got the team logos in simplified forms to make the stencil with? Any hints???
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