> we used to gather small circle bunches and rubber band
> them tightly. gradually making the circles bigger around
> the last gather. (does this make sense so far?)
This is really good advice, but what follows isn't. Don't use RIT. Rit
is a tint and it washes out each time you wash the item. Use a permanent
fiber reactive dye, such as procion dyes.
>then just
> dunk it in the rit dye or if you want it the same color
> just wash it in the washer with rit dye (follow instructions
> on the box).
If you want, you can do it in a bucket...but if you want bright colors,
here is the way to do it. You presoak the shirts or whatever as long as
they are 100%cotton in soda ash, which makes the dyes permanent. Then you
mix up in some squeeze bottles the dye, some salt, and urea(a wetting
agent) with water. Take the shirts out of the soda ash(they should have
been soaking for about 15 minutes and wring them out. Don't rinse them
out. Here is where you fold, tie, crunch or do whatever with rubber
bands string etc. Then you apply the dyes with squeeze bottles. When
you are done, toss the shirt into a plastic bag, squeeze out the air and
put a rubber band around it. Now you have to wait. Wait at least 6
hours but up to 1 week is better. THe longer you let them sit, the more
time they have to react,the less dye you get rinsing out. WHen you can't
wait any longer put them through one wash cycle by themselves. After you
can wash them with like colors. I usually put them through half a wash
cycle and then I snip off the bands.
Hope this helps,
Naomi in San Francisco
PS there is a real nice kit out there made by Jacquard that will do about
12 t shirts. It costs about $20. It comes with everything you need
except for the plastic bags, the shirts and your imagination. They have
a 1-800 number and are in Healdsburg, CA
