Happy Earth Day!! How to tie dye

I am so excited that the weather is warm again. The winter's in Buffalo, NY are long and cold! It is tie dye season again, and making tie dyes is one of my favorite things to do. I have been tie dying for nearly 10 years. I have sold tie dyes in many states when I've traveled across the country following Grateful Dead related bands. Now that I'm a mama, I don't go very far anymore, but I still love to make tie dyes and I find venues closer to home to sell them.

Ok so here is my tie dying process... 

I fold and rubber band the shirts, this is what decides the design of the tie dye.

I have 42 shirts folded.

I quick checked at Dharma Trading Co. to review the dye formulas. 

It has been a while, so I wanted to make sure I still had it right!

I add soda ash to my water. 

Get out my dye bottles and dye. I ordered all of this dye from Dharma Trading Co. They are awesome and have the best dye! I use procion dye only. It's top shelf and the colors stay bright for a very very long time.

Then I put the shirts into the soda ash and water mixture.

I manage to fit 18 shirts in my bucket. I let them soak for at least 20 minutes.

 The soda ash helps the shirts to absorb the dye easier. 

All ready to go! 

I fill my bottles with 1 1/2 cups of luke warm water.

And add 1 1/2 tablespoons of urea. The urea makes the colors brighter and last longer!

Then I add the dye. I used 4 heaping teaspoons of dye per container.

Ring out all the shirts and lay them in the yard. This was my second time tye dying at our new house. But this was the first time tie dying here in the spring, I love it here!

I love all of our wild flowers growing :)

18 shirts dyed!

They are all bagged up and in our mud room. I will let the dye absorb for about 18 to 24 hours. Then I will rinse them, wash them twice and dry them. I will post pictures of the finished product tomorrow. I can't wait to see how they turn out! 

Thanks for looking!

And in honor of earth day! Here are my seedlings. I am ready to plant them outside in my container garden, but I'm concerned that it could snow up here again. You never know with Buffalo. 

enjoying the wonders of nature.. 

xo