tie dye...using dye to unify...

by karen #1965 third grade teacher i was born in 1965 and i do love me some tie dye...what can i say?.so why did we do this project?.well.at camp, we have different teams participating in something called "messy games day".teams are different colors.our kids like to tie things on their bodies to participate in these games.maybe it is the influence of survivor.i don't know.anyway, i thought it would be cool if the kids tie dyed squares of fabric (bandanas) to tie on their legs, arms, or heads.i had several buckets of the different tie dye sitting around on the blue tarp.i got 100% cotton fabric and cut it into squares.the kids scrunched the fabric and wrapped rubber bands around the fabric.then, they place their fabric in dye for 5 or 10 minutes or so.

now some of the art addicted could not resist the calling of the other colors...so, some of them would dip part of their 100% cotton fabric in one bucket for five minutes and then another part in another color.what do you say?rule breaker???nope, you just let them do it...cause deep down...you know you would do the same thing...anyway.here are some kinda complicated directions for those people that like details.http://familyfun.go.com/crafts/tie-dyed-t-shirts-666905/...now i did not use real hot water...i did not use soda ash...i did use salt...and it worked just fine through the messy games event...here is a pic of my soul sis's offspring with the bandana tied in her hair on the right...

pretty cool, huh?can you tell i didn't use salt?can you tell i didn't use soda ash?can you tell my water was lukewarm?nope...the dye worked i tell ya!..you say, really, how do you know?...let me tell you how i know...i left all the buckets sitting on the deck with the gorgeous view while we were gone on a day trip...you wanna see the view, dontcha?here it is for the curious...

nice, huh?so anyway, we are on the top of a mountain.while we were on the day trip, a storm comes along.yep.the storm blew wind and blew buckets and blew dye all over the deck.so, not only did i have tie dye bananas, i had a tie dyed deck.lol!...sometimes we don't consider all the possibilities...and stuff happens...good, bad...and there's always gonna be storms...that sneak up on you...when you forgot ur umbrella......riders on the storm, riders on the storm, into this house we're born, into this world we're thrown, like a dog without a bone, an actor out alone, riders on the storm (the doors, 1971) happy february 16, 2010!