For the Ontons

I found small plastic bags at Smart & Final and thought to tie the shirt up in it. The dying worked well, keeping the white portion protected. I rinsed out most of the dye with the bag still tied on, then I did the rinse with all the bindings off, including the white section. It picked up dye quickly even though it hadn't been pre-conditioned in soda ash. I put it in the front-loading washing machine on the general wash setting and let the whole cycle finish. Mistake. The white became dingy. I should have run rinse cycles before the wash cycle. Since the front-loading machine uses less water, the shirt was being tossed in its own dye.

I tried to bleach the bottom white section. The dingy grey turned mauve, of all colors. I washed it on hot, but to no avail. I re-dyed it in the blue, but without soda ash prep. It finished a lighter shade of blue. I gave it to Aare Onton.

For the black, I used the Hot Black and wanted to see if putting it in the microwave would make a difference. The black dye spread past the bindings in the heat. I can't tell if the finished effect is blacker black since I didn't save the previous, non-heated attempts. I won't microwave again because of the color expansion.

I applied the dye with a bottle, rather than dunking it in a dye bath, for a mottled effect.

I made this shirt for Aare's wife, Judy. I used two shades: electric blue and alpine blue.