THE BASIC STEPS IN THE TIE-DYING PROCESS

1. Buy

Buy high quality white 100% cotton shirts

2. Wash

Wash shirts in hot water with Synthopol, a special detergent, to remove sizing and ensure good dye adhesion. Dry.

3. Soak

Soak shirts in soda ash for 30 to 60 minutes, to roughen cotton, again ensuring good dye adhesion.

4. Squeeze Dry

Squeeze shirts to remove excess water, and roll in towels to get shirts as dry as possible

5. Twist

Lay the shirts out flat, twist into selected pattern and band shirts (Minimum of 18 rubber band per shirt

6 – 10. Dye Shirts

Shirsts can be dyed in 2 ways - applying the dye directly with squeeze bottles or placing the shirts in a bath of dye.

For shirts using the applied dye process

6. Mix dyes and urea with water in squeeze bottles
7. Apply dye in patterns to one side of shirt, flip, and apply to other side
8. Wrap shirt in plastic wrap
9. Place wrapped shirts in plastic bags
10. Cure in warm area for 24 to 48 hours.

For shirts using the dye bath process

6. Mix one color of dye in a 3-gallon bucket
7. Place 4 to 6 twisted shirts in the bucket
8. Stir every 10 minutes for an hour.
9. Optionally add second color of dye
10. Place buckets in warm area for 24 to 48 hours

11. Rinse By Hand

Unwrap shirts/remove from buckets – rinse in cold water.

12. Rinse More By hand

Remove rubber bands -- rinse in cold water, by hand, until the rise water runs clear.

13. Rinse Rinse Rinse

Run in washing machine, cold water, no soap, 3 times.

14. Final Rinse in Washing Machine

Wash in hot water, with Synthopol to remove most remaining dye.

15. Machine Dry

16. Print

Have shirts professionally silk-screen printed (if applicable).

17. Take Inventory

Inventory and tag.

On Average, a batch of 8 shirts takes about 10 hours of labor, not counting time to cure.

For more information, contact
Hawkmoon Prints at

hawkmoonprints@hotmail.com