Mandala

Drip Dyed with tie dyed background

March 2003

Both of the pictures below link to larger copies of themselves.

How I did it

I drew a peace sign on a plain prewashed white cotton t-shirt, which had been soaked in soda ash solution and then line-dried, using a pencil, ruler, compass, protractor and two sizes of dinner plates. Using a metered Eppendorf micropipette, I dripped small drops of dye, mixed with water and urea as in How to Dye, on the pattern. I allowed small amounts of dye to seep through from the front to the back of the shirt.

The next day, I rubber-banded the shirt with the peace signs at the center, and dyed the outer edges of the front, brighter sign (having first encased the center of the design in plastic for protection against stray drops of dye), and completely overdyed the back one. Since the weather was cool, I placed the shirt in a glass container, covered it tightly with plastic wrap, and microwaved at 20% power until the shirt was quite warm to the touch, about four minutes (times vary dramatically in various nmicrowaves, and fabric that is overheated in the microwave, past the point of dryness, will burn, so, if you try this yourself, be sure to check frequently to determine when the damp material is warm).

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Page created: March 23, 2003
Last updated: March 23, 2003
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