Faux Tie Dye with Sharpies

Last week when my friend and I and our darling children tie dyed shirts, my friend mentioned seeing a little girl with a tie dyed shirt she loved. She had asked the mother about the shirt and found that the shirt had been created using Sharpie Markers. The instructions were on Sharpie's website. We decided we had to give this new-to-us craft a try and so we squeezed in one last summer craft this morning.

Here is Little Man after he drew some of his designs with the Sharpies. The shirt has been stretched over three plastic cups so that it was easier to draw on and then when the rubbing alcohol was administered with the dropper the excess alcohol had a place to go.
Not as dramatic as actual dyes but very nice just the same. We found that some colors seem to spread better than others, and it may have been the amount of ink available in the marker, or how much was applied that made the difference.
While we played with Sharpies, Little Bubba watered my weeds for me.

It's amazing how entertaining a can full of water (or several can's full of water) can be for a child. (Did I mention that I just love his cheeks. And look at the little pudgy wrists. There is even an indent in his hand. So adorable!)

While Little Man went with the "design as you go" method, the girls all went with a pattern they had designed by tracing an object or printing off the internet. All were equally successful.

GO UTES!

Here is a close up of one of the designs as rubbing alcohol is being applied. It was interesting to see the colors that bled out. It didn't bleed true red as we expected.

This ball looked like it was on fire as it bled.

Another of Little Man's wonderful "design as you go" creations. My favorite of his I believe.

Things did get a little messy from the excess alcohol in the pie tins under the shirts but no where near the mess as with traditional dyes.

All in all we had a great morning and created some fun shirts!