Instructions: Low Immersion Crumple Dyeing

After much exploring, I've found I am happy with a spontaneous kind of dyeing process that uses little water and produces big results. Okay, it still uses plenty of water, but less water than tub dyeing. You still need access to a laundry sink and hot water. By fitting a crumpled cloth into a small tub I can get a semblance of tie-dye without the ties; the pattern leans more towards flowers than fireworks. I call it crumple dye, but I think most call it "low immersion." I recently dyed a shirt for a friend and documented the recipe as I went along. I also dyed some linen and used it to cover a handmade book for a gift (hint: for book covers you don't have to back the linen with paper, and you lightly apply the glue to the boards).

Tools: plastic spatula; 48 oz plastic (yogurt) container; two 48 oz  64 oz (8 cup) food storage containers that you won't be using again for food; one smaller plastic container for pasting up the dye; 1/4 and 1/2 cup measuring cups and 1 teaspoon measure dedicated to art or that you won't be using again for food; dishwashing gloves or other plastic gloves to protect your hands (I use two: one pair on the clean cloth and one for when I am working with the dye and dyed cloth); vinyl tablecloth to protect your work surface

Materials: one pre-washed Hanes Beefy T-shirt (or other all-cotton shirt); powdered dye (I use cold-water Procion dye); soda ash fixer; textile detergent; plain table salt (although iodized will also work as it is a trace mineral and doesn't seem to interfere with the colors)

You can buy all of the materials from Dharma Trading. The beefy white t-shirts are high quality and quite inexpensive.

One pre-washed T-shirt.

Dissolve 1/4 C of soda ash in hot water in one of the rectangular storage containers.

Dissove 1/2 C plain salt in hot water in the yogurt container.

Soak the T-shirt in the soda ash mixture for 20-60 minutes.

Periodically squish and turn over the soaking shirt to make sure the mixture is getting all through the cloth.

Measure out one teaspoon of dye into a small container.

Paste up the dye in warm water, trying to dissolve as much as possible. Grains of dye will spot the cloth in different colors. I don't always mind this, but the more you mash it up and work it, the better results you will get. 

Once it is dissolved, you are ready to make the dye bath.

Pour the dye into the second storage container.

Add most of the salt water solution to the tub and stir well.

Crumple up the T-shirt. I didn't take as much time for this one. With clean gloves on, I usually work from one end to the other, making small pleats, folds, and tucks.

Make sure all parts are submerged in the dye. You can use the spatula again for this.

Let it soak for about an hour.

Wearing gloves, wring out the excess dye.

Rinse in cold water until the water is clear when you wring out the shirt.

Add a drop of liquid textile detergent to the tub and fill with hot water.

Wash the shirt in hot water, and rinse in hot water until the water runs clear again.

Dry the shirt in the sun or on a rack or in the dryer.

Ready to wear! No dye should come out when you machine wash later, although I would still recommend washing on cold.

Book cloth made from the same jar of powdered dye. A proper moss green like the T-shirt, this with red overtones. I will not be washing this.

Another T-shirt, this one made with a different dye lot of the moss green. It dyed up more blue with yellow overtones. I took more time to tuck and pleat to make this pattern.

It does make a difference which dye batch you get, and it is worth testing first if a particular color is important to your project or if you have something you need to match. And each color will behave uniquely. Check Dharma's instructions, particularly for the very dark blues, blacks, and purples.