Name: Amanda
Message: Hello, I have been researching tie dye for some time and I have come across many different techniques. I am an elementary art teacher and I am wanting to tie dye shirts this year with my students (all grades k-6). We are using our tie dye shirts for field day (the last day of school outside activites). Each grade is picking one color for their tie-dye shirt. I was wondering what process you thought would be the safest and easiest to use? I am on a limited budget so I would also need the least expensive (for 900 kids). I thought of using the kool-aid tie dye for the younger students. But I would really like your thoughts on what you think would work best for the older and younger students. Thank you for your time!

The cheapest dye will be that purchased in bulk. You will want to use a fiber reactive dye such as Procion MX dye, purchased in 8-ounce or one-pound jars of each color. One ounce of this dye can be used to dye about two pounds of cotton fabric, so one pound of this dye can be used to tie-dye about thirty-two pounds of cotton shirts, or over a hundred children's size large t-shirts. Surprisingly, the best quality dye is far less expensive, when purchased by mail-order, than the poor quality all-purpose dye sold in many grocery stores and pharmacies in the US. It is also much easier to use, since you can use room-temperature water instead of having to use hot water (all-purpose dye works best in water that has been heated to just below boiling, and kept that hot, for half an hour, with the shirts in it).

Since each grade will be using just one color of dye, there is no point in having the students squirt on the dyes themselves in a tie-dye party. (I've seen enough rowdy misbehaving kids that I can't say I completely favor that idea, anyway.) Instead, you can have them each label their shirts (perhaps with a permanent black laundry marker, or by pinning on a tag cut from Tyvek mailing envelopes), then tie their shirts as they please, using rubber bands, string, waxed dental floss, or (my favorite) artificial sinew. There are many different possible patterns that they could make; you will want to make hand-outs for the students describing them. See, for example, the drawings on ProChem's "Learn Folding Techniques for Tie Dye". My children's elementary school chooses a different solid color t-shirt for each class, each year, unfortunately without tie-dyeing; using the identical color but different dyeing patterns will be much more interesting while still having great advantages (especially on field trips, when having the children each wear the same color makes it much easier to keep track of them).

You can then dump the shirts into the dye yourself, or have them watch while you do it. A very easy way to do the dyeing is by dropping the tied shirts into a washing machine with soda ash and salt, resetting the timer on the machine every twelve minutes or as needed to keep the dye and chemicals from draining for an hour or so. It is possible to use a large plastic trash can, but it will be no fun to dump such a large and heavy container full of dye water when you are done. If you do not use a washing machine, choose your container according to how much water you can easily move. A standard-sized top-loading washing machine can hold twenty gallons of water and dye 8 pounds of shirts at one time. However, since you are not trying to get a perfectly smooth even solid color, you do not need the large excess of water of a washing machine load, so any large bucket will work. Afterwards, you can remove the ties using blunt-ended children's scissors (to reduce the chance of accidentally cutting fabric), then rinse the shirts with cool water and finally wash out the excess dye with hot water and detergent, in the same washing machine, before going on to the next color.

Kool-aid tie-dyeing is a fun project, but it does not work on cotton shirts, so it is not practical for children's clothing. It's only for silk, wool, and some nylon. Unfortunately, food coloring cannot be used on cotton, as this kind of dye cannot bind to the cellulose fiber and washes out pretty quickly. Try it on cheap silk handkerchiefs, which can cost as little as $6 per dozen.

To buy the good Procion MX fiber reactive dye, you can mail-order from most of the companies listed on my Dye Sources Around the World page, or, for similar prices on 8 to 16 ounce jars of dye, you can order through Amazon using any of the following links, which will help to support my web site by providing a commission to my site at no additional cost to you:

Eight ounce jars of Procion MX dye through Amazon
One pound jars of Procion MX dye through Amazon
Color Chips for Choosing Procion MX dye Colors sold through Amazon (tiny jars only)
Color Chips for Choosing Different Sizes of Procion MX dye Colors sold through Amazon (under construction, to include links to all jar sizes)

You will also need soda ash, which you can buy with your dye or as sodium carbonate from the pool supply store. (Avoid sodium bicarbonate.)


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