Name: Umang

Message: Dear Paula,
I am not actually an average dyer. but I have an interesting case. See I am a biker and have been looking for a half skull bandana for me...Now since I could not find it anywhere...I have taken upon myself to make it....I have stencil of the skull...and now I want it to be printed on the scarf......or a bandana.......please ma'am would you guide how do I do that...........

I think the coolest-looking way to do that would be to use bleach to make the design on a black bandana. There's something ghostly-looking about the off-white colors you typically get by using bleach to break apart dye molecules. Can you buy a black bandana reasonably cheaply? Not all commercially dyed items will lose their color when bleached, so don't buy an expensive one for this. Buy at least two, and run a test on one to see if the black will discharge when you use bleach. (Note that you should use bleach only on 100% cotton fabrics, or other natural plant-based fibers such as hemp or bamboo.)

Alternatively, you can buy some opaque white fabric paint to use on your black bandana, or you can use a reverse design and paint the black background onto a white bandana. If you buy white fabric paint to use on a black background, be careful to buy only fabric paint that is labeled "opaque". Most fabric paint, like dye, is transparent, so white will show up on a black background only if it is opaque. You need a light background for most fabric paints and markers to show up. Metallic or pearlescent colors work well on a dark background, and so will puffy or "velvet" paints or markers. Black fabric paint will work on a white background regardless of whether the paint is opaque or not. You can even use a good fabric marker for drawing the dark background design; I recommend the fat-tip Jacquard Tee Juice pens, or Marvy Uchida Fabric Markers. You will have to go to a crafts store, or possibly a fabric store, to buy good fabric paints or fabric markers. Regular artists' acrylics will feel too stiff and scratchy after they dry, and ordinary felt-tip markers are apt to wash out more quickly, so it's worth looking for a good fabric paint or fabric marker instead of other paints or markers.

With either bleach or opaque fabric paint, probably the easiest way to do the project would be to use a skull stencil, such as you have already. If you want to change the design any, you can cut another one. A thin plastic report cover from the drug store is my favorite material for cutting out a stencil, but you can also use a manilla folder. You can even print a design you find online out onto card stock, which is printer paper that is thicker and heavier than regular paper (you can get it at an office supply store), then cut out your design from it, using either pointed scissors or an Exacto knife, depending on the amount of fine detail. To make the stencil water-resistant, you can paint it with almost any water-resistant paint, polyurethane finish, or spray paint.

Lay your bandana out on a large piece of cardboard and tape its edges down, then tape your stencil onto the fabric, to hold it in place, taking care not to cover any of the stencil openings, of course. Then you can apply your bleach or your fabric paint. The easiest way to do the bleach is to buy a product called a Clorox Bleach Pen. These bleach pens contain a thickened gel form of bleach that stays where you put it better than other bleach products, and the amount of bleach fumes produced are much lower, which is important to me because the smell of bleach bothers me. Another way to use bleach is to put some water into a bowl and add ordinary household bleach, the kind used in the laundry. (The fine print on the label should indicate that it contains some hypochlorite. You don't want a "color safe" or "oxygen" bleach for this project, because they will not work.) Apply this diluted bleach to your stenciled fabric with a sponge. Wear gloves while working with bleach, and be sure to keep the windows wide open, because bleach is bad for your lungs and skin. Don't get your sponge sopping wet with bleach, or the bleach will creep under the edges of your stencil. Squeeze the sponge out and dab on the bleach lightly. You can use the same sponge technique for applying your fabric paint, instead, if that's what you decide to use. Some dyes are more difficult to bleach out and require undiluted bleach, while some other dyes will not change color at all, no matter how much bleach you put on. Do a test first so you don't waste effort.

After you use bleach on fabric, the bleach and its breakdown products can continue to damage your fabric, even after it is rinsed. It is wise to neutralize the bleach afterwards. To do this, first plunge the bandana into an already-filled sink or dishpan of water (so that the bleach does not run onto the unbleached fabric as you do it), then quickly rinse, to get rid of as much bleach as possible in a hurry. Then treat with a bleach neutralizing chemical. Do not use vinegar for this. It is safe and effective to use hydrogen peroxide from the drug store, the 3% solution that is sold as a disinfectant. Or, you can buy a product called Anti-Chlor or Bleach Stop from a dye supplier, or buy metabisulfite from a home winemaking supply store. After soaking in the peroxide or Anti-Chlor for fifteen minutes, the bleached material can be washed in the usual fashion.

If you use fabric paint instead of bleach, let the paint dry on the fabric for a few days, then use a hot iron to set the paint. Some fabric markers require this sort of heat-setting, while others do not. Just check the package instructions, and be sure not to skip heat-setting if it is needed. Then, in the future, you can wash the bandana as usual. Fabric paint will tend to gradually wear off of fabric in the wash, so treat it gently so that the design will last longer.

For more information, check out these pages on my site:
      • How to Tie Dye on Dark Fabric [the technique is the same for stenciling as for tie-dyeing]

      • What chemicals can be used to remove dye?

      • How can I neutralize the damaging effects of chlorine bleach?

      • How to make cool designs on shirts using bleach

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