Discharge printing - masking tape

So, after trying out the stencil version of bleach dyeing, I decided I wanted to branch out.  There was this one idea that was just stuck in my head... And so, even though I didn't truly have the proper supplies, I struck out.

Really had no idea what I was doing though...

I guess I should start by explaining that I love cats.  I have two of them, and the dog you can see hamming it up in this photo.  There is this one doodle I've done for forever of an exaggerated cat, and I immediately wanted it on a shirt.  Go figure. 

So I started googling the water resistant properties of masking tape.  With little to no success, I decided to just go for it anyway.

Making a masking tape cat?  Not quite as easy as it seems.




But, doable, as it turns out.  It requires much tearing, ripping, things not going quite right, etc.  I put multiple layers of tape on, for two reasons.  One, I wanted it to be as water/bleach resistant as possible.  And two, I was hoping it would come off in one piece later so I could possibly make a stencil of it or something.

The tail wraps around to the back of the shirt and curves back to the front. I was the most worried about the ears and the tail as far as bleach blocking pitfalls go.

I decided to go with a slightly different model of spray protection this time.  Because I wanted a more even spray on the front and the back pretty much simultaneously, the cardboard method was out.  So, I tied a garbage bag to a hanger, taped another one to that to make it long enough, and hung the shirt off of my shower head. 

My shower is completely enclosed with a built in vent, so it worked pretty darn well. I had to remove the hand shower sprayer for it to fit, but that was exceedingly easy with my model of shower head.

 Again... I didn't have the proper materials and I was much too lazy to actually head to Target that day.  So, armed with the pre-mixed counter cleaner (bleach brand), I started to spray.  I wanted a bottom up look, which worked really well for this hanging style.

The number 1 thing I've really learned from these two shirts that I've done? Be. Patient.

When you aren't patient and just keep spraying the shirt because you don't see anything happening... you end up with unintended results.

And thus, my shirt bled.  Interestingly enough, the ears did great.  I think it's because I didn't have a heavy spray next to them.  The neck, tail, part of the back, and all along the bottom bled heavily.  I pouted about it, then tried to move on. I told myself that obviously, overspraying the fabric soaked it and allowed the bleach to travel where the tape was covering the fabric.  If the shirt was just sprayed lightly, it turned colors and the bleach stayed where it was supposed to be.

But the bleed continued to bug me...

I rinsed and dried the shirt.  Then, I masked around where I wanted the skull inside of the cat head to be.  This was a slightly last minute addition, but I liked the idea of it.  I had no idea if it would work, because I had a slightly different plan this time.

I sprayed twice to lightly coat the skull area, but not strongly because the tape around it wasn't very extensive.  Then I broke out the paint brushes.

One of the things that I missed during this process was having the option to make my mixture stronger.  I really wanted some straight bleach to mix up my own dilutions for better painting abilities.  So I know what to do next time.  This time, I just tried to paint over an area multiple times if I wanted it lighter.  It... sorta worked.  In an artsy sort of way, I suppose.

And I was still thinking about those areas that bled...

So I decided to try and dye it back.  I did a little more googling and found out that Prismacolor markers weren't permanent, nor were Sharpies.  Pigma Micron pens were, but they aren't the best for this type of fabric.  I did end up trying them all on the shirt, and liking none of them.

And then I remembered that I had some black Ritz fabric dye tucked away.  Perfect.

Because the tail had ended up nearly completely filled in, I tackled that first.  The Ritz dye went on well, and spread slightly when I painted it on.  However, that may have been due to the dampness of the shirt. 

The one complaint I really had about the dye was the lack of fastness.  I rinsed the shirt and then stuck it in the dryer without washing it to try and help set the dye, but it really ended up looking splotchier than I wanted.  Better than before, yes, but still splotchy.  Next time, I will be trying a vineger solution first to help neutralize the bleach and set any dye I have put on later.

What I have mostly learned is that I need to plan better.  I have a tendency to forge ahead without much thought when I get a hair-brained idea.  But I still really, really love this look and I plan on doing many more.  I probably won't go as step by step, unless one of the three people that read this blog ask.

I want to do a cat again, but this time with a full skeleton.  A better skeleton.  A galaxy shirt.  Possibly do one with tentacles...

As a side note, I have noticed that none of the areas that have been bleached seem weaker, but I suppose only time will tell.

Discharge printing - bleaching fabric

My friend, Leslie White, decided that she wanted to try this really awesome technique of reverse dyeing T-shirts and took me along for the ride.  It was amazing fun.  I think I'm addicted to it, really.  I can't wait to get some more T-shirts to try it out on.

First attempt, with stencil.

In any case, you can google "bleach dyeing", "reverse dyeing", "bleach galaxy how to" etc and end up with a ton of results. Some great tutorials, etc.  This is just a quick "hey, this is what I did" accounting.

We started with a couple of cheap T-shirts from Target, medium thickness, etc. It was actually more challenging than expected to find some that were of a decent thickness, and we ended up going with some undershirts that came 2 for $11, just in case these bit the dust.  Leslie had found a ribcage stencil that we used to do the first shirt.  She had decided to do a front and a back on her shirt, and I was just going to do a front.  So she started first.





We actually had a fairly technical method worked out at her house.  We wrapped a cardboard insert in plastic, so the bleach wouldn't bleed through. That worked very well.  I ended up stretching the shirt over just this insert and taping it at the back.  I didn't like that as much.  It made a sharp line where the splatters stopped.

Then we pinned the stencil to the cardboard with basic pushpin tacks.  Leslie had spent some time cutting out the stencil with an exacto knife, so we had both a positive and negative relief of the stencil.  She also covered it with clear packing tape to make it waterproof.

A tip: tape beyond just the stencil, or the bleach will bleed through and make unintentional shapes.  Or use a more waterproof material for your stencil.

Another tip: a paper stencil with pins works very well for one application of bleach.  After that, the pin holes start to enlarge and may let bleach through the stencil in unexpected areas.

Leslie and I used her shower to contain any splatters.  It worked pretty well and wasn't hard to maneuver in there.  But it does splatter. Not so much on us, actually, but on the area around the shirts.

 The back of Leslie's shirt turned out fantastic.  You can see the small triangle where the bleach had started to bleed through.  Otherwise, it was a very sharp relief.  I think a combination of stronger bleach mix (we mixed it 1:7 with water, but I think she ended up with a little more of it in her application) so she didn't spray as much and being the first one to use the stencil helped out.

Check out her post to see how her shirt turned out.  It's pretty freaking awesome.

The shirt I did, I ended up soaking too much.  You can see the wet outline on the fabric.  I think this made the bleach bleed more once we upped the concentration.  Not a bad thing, and I kind of like the look.  I ended up adding more splatters to it as well.

After I got home, I ended up using some fabric dye to 'erase' some of the lines that I didn't like.  Those that were made because we skimped on the waterproofing to some extent, and because I went crazy with the spray.  I also blended that hard line of spray ending that I talked about back into the black of the shirt. I'm digging it.


I did a second shirt with a cat relief that I love, but I'll talk about that in the next post.