Note: Plan on dressing in old clothes for this lab. These dyes are powerful and may permanently stain your clothes if you splash or drip them on yourself.

Part 1: Prepare cotton for tie dye

(Hint: If you read through these instructions before coming to lab, plan on completing this step before the pre-lab discussion to ensure the most vibrant colors possible.)

1. Use a permanent marker to write your name on the tag of your garment.
2. Soak your garment in the sodium carbonate wash for at least 30 minutes. This solution is very basic, so wear gloves when in contact with the wash.

Part 2: Tie and dye cotton

1. Wring out the garment to dry it as much as you can.
2. Fold and tie with waxed sinew your garment however you like.  Here are some designs you might like to try.
   
3. Working in a foil pie pan on a surface covered in newspaper, apply the dye. Use your knowledge of the color wheel to select colors that will mix well. (Hint: colors that are next to each other on the color wheel mix well, but colors across from each other make brown/black.) Be sure to saturate the fabric with dye, but don’t put so much on that the dye pools underneath the fabric. Again, wear gloves when working with dye or it will dye your skin!
4. Wrap your garment in clean newspaper and put it in a sealed plastic bag. Place it in your cabinet and leave it there for the week.
5. Clean your foil pie pan, return it, and throw away wet newspaper.

Part 3: Rinse loose dyes from your tie dye

1. Wearing gloves, snip the sinew with scissors and untie your garment. Throw away the wet newspaper and sinew.
2. Rinse the garment with cool water until no more dye comes off the garment. This will probably take 5-10 minutes.
3. Put the shirt back into the plastic bag and give it to the instructor.