Day Three - Tie Dye Tshirts

What summer camp would be complete without a tie-dyed Tshirt? And that's just what we did at our Camp E.D.G.E. VBS today!

.

This was tons of fun and turned out way better than I expected. The three different age groups all required different amounts of help with this project, but everyone had fun.

.

.

Last night I prepared the dye: one package of RIT dye, 1 cup of salt and 12 cups of boiling water for each of the six colors. Once the dye was cool enough, I transferred it to 500mL bottles: 6 bottles for each of the six colors.

.

Each child received a white Tshirt that had been washed and dried. Using a permanent marker, their wrote their names on the inside of the hem. Then they "tied" their shirts with elastic bands. When everyone had their shirts "tied" tightly, we trekked outside to the dying station.

.

To dye the shirts, the 500mL bottles were adapted with a "squirt bottle" cap. An extra cap had a 4mm hole drilled into it and the dye was squirted onto each section of the shirt, either by the kids or by the helpers depending on the kids abilities. Once all sections were dyed, the shirt was popped into a Ziploc freezer bag, with as much air squeezed out as possible. (I've found that Ziploc freezer bag plastic and zippers stand up best to the abuse this craft puts them through - thanks Ziploc!). And the kids were done for now.

.

Rit dye needs moist heat to set the dye onto the cotton Tshirts. So into the "oven steamer" they went. I set my oven to 250 degrees F, poured boiling water into the bottom of my roasting pan, and set the bagged shirts in a single layer on a rack over the water. Put a lid on it, or sealed with foil and baked for 90 minutes, and checked occassionally to make sure the roasting pan hadn't boiled dry.

.

Then the shirts were taken out of the roasting pan, rinsed in cold water and thrown in the washing maching and dryer. These are some amazing shirts! I can't wait to see what the kids think of them tomorrow!

.