Science Camp: Tie Dye

 For years, when I hosted Science Camp, we launched Camp with tie-dye t-shirts.  The first time my husband, Rob, helped with Science Camp, we tie-dyed.  He ranted about the mess for hours.  We tie-dyed outside; even so, Rob can’t stomach tie-dye.  If you are throwing caution to the wind, here are my tips.  I use procion dyes and washing soda as a mordant.  The kids first fold their tie shirts.  Here are loads of patterns.  Buy a giant bag of rubber bands.  We soak 100% cotton t-shirts in buckets in solutions of washing soda, generally, one cup for each gallon of water,  for at least 15 minutes.  The procion dyes are strong.  Here is the directions; mix 1 tsp of dye with 1/2 cup of water.  After the t-shirts are dyed, we double-bag them and send them all home.  The longer the dyed shirt rests in the plastic bag, the better—even 24 hours.  Here are tips from Dharma.  The kids usually want to wear their shirts to camp the next day.  DON’T wash the tie-dyed shirt with any other clothes.  I recommend hand-rinsing the shirt and line-drying it, separately.