Name: Billie Jordan
Message: Hi Paula, We are a small non-profit arts and crafts school in Tryon, NC and will be working with the public school system this summer to provide a one week summer enrichment program for under priviledged children in K-5th grades. We are planning a project along the idea of Tibetan Prayer Flags where the children will make a different flag each day learning new art/craft techniques. Our theme is the seasons - one flag to represent each season using a different technique. We want to do a Batik or Tie Dye for one of the flags. The other flags are collage, block print and weaving.  We have fabric that is 100% cotton and the flags will be approximately 6" x 10". The class time each day is 2 hours. Can you please recommend which technique, etc you would use with this age group for the time allotted. I will have to learn the process, as well as all of the instructors. We are planning a test day for our projects on April 26, but I will need time to order the supplies. Any and all help/advise you may be able to share would be greatly appreciated.

Tie dyeing can certainly be done in a space of two hours, if you don't include the time spent washing out the dye. The biggest hazard is the risk that the children will permanently stain the clothing that they are wearing with the dye. 

You will need to acquire plastic gloves for them all to wear. Finding these in child's sizes can be a challenge. My local drug store sells latex and nitrile disposable gloves only in an adult size large. Dick Blick sells them in an adult size small, as well, which is not ideal but would still be a great improvement. Size extra-small would be better for children.

Use cold water fiber reactive dye, such as Procion MX dye, so that you do not have to boil the dye, and also because it gives much better results than all-purpose dye. You will mix the dye powder with water in advance. It is important to avoid breathing dye powder, and children cannot be trusted to handle it safely. Once the dye has been dissolved in water, it is safe as long as the children do not consume it by mouth or spill it all over themselves. You will also need soda ash (you can buy this from your dye supplier or as sodium carbonate from a swimming pool supplier or hardware store). You do not need salt for tie-dyeing with Procion Mx dyes; urea is optional.

Be sure to get 100% cotton for the flags. Mercerized cotton or rayon or silk will produce the brightest colors. Avoid polyester or nylon. Prewash them in hot water to remove finishes.

It is easiest to have the children do their fabric tying with dry fabric. For some ideas of how they can tie, look at PRO Chemical & Dye's page on "Learn Folding Techniques for Tie Dye". Pleats and circles are the easiest and are quite satisfying. 

There are then two possibilities. Either you have them drop their tied flags into a single color of dye, for the old-fashioned original form of tie-dyeing, or you have them squirt dye onto the tied shirts using squirt bottles. The latter is the way tie-dyeing is usually done these days. It obviously has a bit more risk of mess than having them hand over the tied flags to you to dye, but the results are much more colorful, and it's more fun to do. Which do you think you want to do? I can provide you with more info on how to manage the logistics of tie-dyeing with a group of children, if you like.

Alternatively, you say you're considering batik. I feel quite strongly that it is best to avoid the use of real melted wax with children, for safety reasons. An excellent alternative is Elmer's blue glue gel, which is applied to make  a design and then dried thoroughly using hair driers. It must be quite dry before you apply the dye. Then you can dye as for tie-dyeing, as described above, using either a single color bucket of dye, or the squirt bottle technique.

With any of these dye techniques, you can then put the wet dyed items into plastic bags, for an adult to take home and dump in the washing machine to wash out. Use individual sandwich bags for transporting them, to keep the flags from coloring each other, or a large plastic trash bag if they are all the same color. The dye will finish bonding to the fabric while it is waiting for you to wash it out. (Warm room temperature is best for this step.) Untie the flags, if they are tied, using blunt child's scissors, as you dump each one into the washing machine. Then, do one washing in cold without detergent, followed by two washings in hot water with detergent. This will not hurt the washing machine. Then machine dry the flags and take them to the class the next day.

You will need to identify each child's work with a unique identifier, such as a code number that you write down on a list with their names, or initials that are not duplicated for more than one child. You can use a safety pin to attach a fabric tag (preferable a non-dyeable synthetic fabric) or a Tyvek tag cut from a non-paper mailing envelope, written on with a fabric marker or laundry pen or black Sharpie pen.

You will find it most economical to purchase your Procion MX dyes from a mail order supplier. There is still plenty of time for you to do this. On the east coast, I recommend PRO Chemical & Dye in Massachusetts, or you can order from Earth Guild which is near you in Asheville, North Carolina. (Earth Guild has excellent materials, though their instruction pages are not among the most reliable.) You can find contact information for these companies on my page of Sources for Dyeing Supplies. 

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