Any tye dyers out there?

[trimomma]

I'm planning on doing a tye dye project at dd's preschool. I'm responsible for getting the dyeing materials and the kids will bring in their own shirts. Any suggestions for materials (note: I'm not an expert dyer, I've done a few shirts at home with dc with materials from Michaels). I was thinking of checking out Dharma Trading and getting on of their kits. Any suggestions? Tips?

[ma2maya]

I have done this a few times with my dd's school. Not sure how many kids you will be working with so I will just give you the rundown on what I do.

I use basic colors...magenta(mixing red at dharma), turquoise, and golden yellow. I set it up so there are 2-3 kids per 8 oz bottle of dye. I prefer to set them up 2(or 3) to a newspaper covered milk crate. If you are doing this inside pick up some painters plastic drop clothe from the hardware store to cover the floor. And remind parents to send kids in clothes they will not stress about getting paint on. Also remind them that there kids will have colorful hands for a day or so since you will not find gloves that will fit them.

I also premake the dye at home and prefill the bottles too. I also premake the soda ash solution to add to the dye bottles just before the activity begins. I prefer to directly activate the dye rater than soaking the t-shirts b/c the shirts just become a big drippy mess.

Also, stock up on some plastic grocery store bags so you can just throw each kids dyes shirt in them to cure overnight. I usually take the shirts home myself to cure and wash then return them to school a day or 2 later.

I suggest not buying a kit from dharma but creating your own kit of sorts. So even if you have more dye than you need for the activity you will have it for another time. Dharma sells the squeeze bottles for a good price and you can get soda ash from your local pool or spa supply store.

Good luck and have fun!
Kathy

[trimomma]

Wow ma2maya!!! Thank you so much for all that info. It has become clear to me that I need to research this a little more before I go in to the class. The recommendation of letting parents know to send kids in that day in 'serious play clothes' is great. As well as the reminder that the kids' hands will be colorful for a few days. Mind if I ask you a few more questions?

Do you have an online recommendation of somewhere I could buy the dye?

Dd's school is a small Montessori school of about 45 students. About how much soda ash should I plan on getting?

So, I need to bring drop cloth, dye, soda ash, bottles, rubber bands. Anything else?

I'm going to ask the parents to purchase a white shirt for their child and send it in a plastic bag, so I don't have to worry about getting 45 bags. I'll bring in some spare bags in case some forget their own.

Thanks!!