1. What did you do?
First I thought of how I wanted to make my tie-dye product look. I thought that I would like to have diagonal lines running halfway through my piece of cloth with different colors in between the lines. Then a thought that the other half of the cloth I would fill with circles of different colors and have the same background color for that half of the cloth.
The next step, was actually tying the cloth. I tied part of the cloth by pinching up part of if then holding it a bit lower from where I pinched it and then tying it to make circles. I also tied clumped up the cloth diagonal and tied it to create diagonal lines. Finally, I tied some the already tied diagonal design, in between the rubber bands with a rubber band that criss-crossed the cloth. Next, after tying the cloth with rubber bands, I continued by actually dyeing the cloth. I died the different sections of the cloth marked by the rubber bands different colors for the diagonal pattern. However, I did not dye the cloth in the sections marked with criss-crossing rubber bands but with the same color.
Then, I died the different pinched parts of the cloth, which will make the circles with different colors. Finally, I died the area where the circles were with one color. This color was blue. The dying process in as follows: first, you pick the color you want to die your cloth in. The colors/pigments are in buckets. Lets say you pick blue. There are two buckets you have to dip the cloth into if you want blue. There is a first bucket with a lighter color which you dip the cloth into first, then a second bucket with a darker color which you dip the cloth into second. The color in the second bucket is the what the color of the cloth will turn into, not the lighter color. Next, there is a final bucket/basin filled with normal water. After dipping the cloth in every color, you dip it into this basin. This is to was off excess dye. You should take note that the longer the cloth is in one dye, the darker the color, the shorter the cloth is in one dye and the quicker you was it in the basin, the lighter the color.
After dyeing, you let the cloth dry. Then once it is dry, I undid all the rubber bands one by one. The cloth will be a little crinkly but once you unfold and straighten it, you have your tie dyed cloth!
2. What had been the success/failure?
The success was the way I tied the cloth made the circles quite good and I was happy with them. Also, the diagonal segments turned out quite well. I was happy with my product, however, if I compare it to what I had expected, it did not turn out the way I had wanted it to but instead become more unique in its own way. I believe this is one of the great things about using tie dye because even if it does not turn out the way you expected it too, it is still nice and unique in its own way.
There are quite a number of failures. The first failure took place during the dying. I had at first wanted the circles to be different colors, however, I chose the wrong color for the background of the circles. This color was blue and it was really dark. Once I put the segment of the cloth with the differently colored circles into the blue dye, it immediately covered all the circles in blue. At first I thought that because of this the circles would all turn out blue. What was interesting is from this I learned an interesting technique. Once the cloth dried, I saw that the circles had a little bit of the original color though it was dominated by blue. When I undid the rubber bands, the edges of the circles had little bits of the original circle colors which created a cool effect. This was my first failure which was actually not really that much of a failure. My next one was that at first, I had wanted to have two of the circles to overlap each other. Once I undid the rubber bands, I found out that the circles hadn’t been placed close enough together so instead made two different circles. Another failure was the criss-crossed rubber bands which I thought would make a criss-crossed technique. Instead, they made their own line pattern which, if you think about it, could have been pretty cool but sadly, wasn’t very visible because the dye was not strong enough. This was another failure. On some segments the dye was not strong enough. Finally, the diagonal lines did not turn very diagonal though they were diagonally, placed. Instead they turned quite circular. This shows that using tie dye, you can’t really get straight lines but they will turn curved.
3. What will you do better/differently?
If I ever do this activity again, I will first, make sure that the dyes seep deep enough and long enough so that the colors will be brighter. Next time, I will also like to try and experiment with different techniques. First, in order to create straighter lines or more definite shapes, I would like to use the technique that I learned where you cover the cloth with tape that can be easily removed instead of with rubber bands. Then I would also like to try tying things like marbles into the cloth to create better circles and to use other items to create other shapes. Other than this I would also like to try a technique my friend thought me which, creates a spiral patter to the cloth. What you do is first, you pinch the cloth in the middle and twisted around and around till it forms a sort of spiral. Then, you tie this spiral with rubber bands; one horizontal and one vertical. Next, you did the different segments as you wish and you can also blend the colors. Once you open the cloth it will create a spiral pattern. I would also like to try things like folding the cloth and then tying it, or dipping the cloth into a bucket filled with different dies. These are some things I would like to try if I get to do this again. I will also try dying the cloth in different ways to create different results.
