Sometimes I feel like doing something different instead of jewellery and suncatchers, so this morning I got my plain black organic cotton t shirt, raided my jewellery and suncatcher components stash and had a go at bleach resist dying!

Here is the final result so you can see where I'm heading. It's sort of OK. Not bad though for my first attempt .....

So here is how I did it ...

I started with a few bits of maiden hair fern and then went and raided my brass leaves and flowers, a filigree dragonfly and butterfly from my collection .... then I bent a few bits of brass wire for some swirly bits and made a spiral for the sun.

I used a garbage bag to protect and cover the outdoor bench  ... then hopefully I can re-use it later.

First I cut some cardboard and covered it in foil so I had a smooth waterproof surface.

I then placed it up inside the shirt and folded the t shirt back behind itself so I could get a sqare shape for the print. Then smooshed it down to get it all sitting flat.

Now to strategically place all the bits and pieces on the tshirt ready for the bleach spray ... very pretty! =)

I used an empty deodorant mist spray bottle for the bleach .... and my lovely assistant Dorry just has to be a part of everything I do and go everywhere I go! =)

So this is what it looks like after a light mist spray (and a few big drips) of bleach ... 

I wanted a few more bigger drips so I got out the bathroom bleach and gave it some balance at ground level.

Then along comes Albus ..... upsetting everything (and me), so I had to stop there and rescue it.

He then layed in all the bleach and stuff and chewed a massive hole in the garbage bag just to be extra annoying!

He's so naughty!

Here it is ... 

I think I overdid it with the big drips, but I had to rush while I was trying to shoo Albus away .... 10 times!

I took all the bits off, raced it into the laundry and threw it in a bucket with warm water, white vinegar (this neutralises the bleach) and a bit of laundry detergent. Gave it a handwash, then chucked it in the next load of washing.

I somehow lost the photo's I took of the full tshirt result, so I can't show you sorry!

I just plain didn't like it ...  as not only was it a wonky square, it needed not to be square at all. 

Anyway ... so I tried to fix it by covering all the black design with glad wrap so I could spray around the edges.

And here's the final yukky result!

In hindsight next time I would do it as a whole shirt front (not a square) with minimum bleach soaking time (about 1 -2 minutes at most) You will see it starts fading almost immediately, so just whenever you think it's going to make a nice colour.

I would also make sure I do it all in one hit and not have to go back and fix anything.

Where the new bleach hit the old bleached areas, it went greyish and dirty looking but this was an experiment, so I'm not going too hard on myself this time.

I'm off to "Best and Less" to get another $5 organic Black tshirt and give it another try. =)

I will keep you posted!

I think I'm actually going to get out my lino cut leaves and stamp them around the yukky bits with Black fabric paint.

Back in a couple of days with that result. =)

I hope you enjoyed my first blog post ever!

Cheers

Cathy =)