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How to Make a Tie-Dye Shirt for a Science Project

Create a tie-dye shirt for a science project using the dye colors of your choice. To turn this task into a science project, compare two different techniques to test which technique is the most effective. Both techniques use the same type of dye, but the style for tying the shirt before dying is different. Compare the outcome of the "Twisted Tie-Dye" technique versus the "Knotted Tie-Dye" technique.

Things You'll Need

100% cotton T-shirts
Rubber bands
Bucket
Neswspapers
Different-colored fabric dye
Salt (1 cup per dye bucket)
Rubber bands
Plastic squeeze bottles
Plastic bags
Latex gloves

Instructions

Twisted Tie-Dye Technique
- 1
  Put on your latex gloves. Lay your 100% cotton t-shirt down on a flat surface. Choose the area on the shirt in which you want the center of your design to be located. You can have the center of the design be in the middle of the shirt, towards the neck, the arms or the bottom. Gather the selected portion of the shirt and tighten it with a rubber band about an inch from the top. Gather the remaining portions of the shirt and fasten with rubber bands about two-to-three inches apart, starting from the first rubber band.
- 2
  Get your buckets of fabric dye ready. Prepare the fabric dye as indicated on the fabric dye instructions. Add one cup of salt to each of the buckets. Remember to use one box of dye per bucket. Lay down newspaper at your working area in case of spills.
- 3
  If using one color, immerse the entire shirt in the bucket and let sit for five minutes. If using more than one color, immerse sections of the shirt in different colors and let each section sit for five minutes. Put the dyed t-shirt into a plastic bag and let it sit for about one day. Take the shirt out and rinse with cold water. Hang to dry.
Knotted Tie-Dye
- 4
  Put on your latex gloves. Gather a small section of the shirt from the front and back. Twist it as tight as you can. Fold the tip of the twist and tighten it with a rubber band. Create more twist with different sizes at different sections all over the shirt or make the twists the same size for consistency.
- 5
  Get your buckets of fabric dye ready. Prepare the fabric dye as indicated on the fabric dye instructions. Add one cup of salt to each of the buckets. Remember to use one box of dye per bucket. Lay down newspaper at your working area in case of spills.
- 6
  Fill squeeze bottles with the colors you want to use on your shirt. Squeeze the drops of dye onto your shirt. Squeeze the dye onto the tips of the knots you created with the rubber bands. Put the dyed t-shirt into a plastic bag and let it sit for about one day. Take the shirt out and rinse with cold water and hang to dry.
- 7
  Compare the results for each t-shirt. Write out your observations. Indicate the most effective tie-dying method for t-shirts.

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