Tie-dye fireworks for the Fourth of July

Mike’s mom has been visiting us for the past week. I found out she’d never done tie-dye! So of course I had to show her. We spent the mornings of July 3 and July 4 tie-dyeing shirts, socks, and a bathrobe (yes, a bathrobe!). I stupidly forgot to take photos of her tie-dyes (which came out beautifully), but I thought I’d share the products of my labor.

I started with fireworks. I was originally envisioning seven stars floating in space, so I scrunched the shirt up into seven spirals, and dyed the spirals orange and yellow and the background cobalt blue. When I untied the shirt, however, I was surprised to discover that instead of stars, I had bursts of fireworks!

Next, also in the theme of tie-dye in outer space, I dyed a starburst. I was actually going after a mandala pattern, so I folded the shirt in eight parts, tied it tightly, and dyed it in rainbow colors. I didn’t get the mandala, but I got a very beautiful starburst:

Going from space to sea, I did a scrunch-dye (basically a low-water immersion tie-dye) shirt in deep ocean colors, which came out very nicely:

And, finally, the bathrobe. My previous bathrobe (also tie-dyed) had become threadbare, and I bought a replacement years ago but never got around to dyeing it. But of course I couldn’t break with tradition and wear a white bathrobe (I’ve been wearing tie-dye bathrobes for almost 30 years), so I’ve been making do with the old bathrobe that entire time. So I jumped at the chance to dye a replacement.

Now, some people prefer light, casual bathrobes, but I personally prefer the formal, floor-length bathrobe, because I often wear it to black-tie occasions and a little black cocktail bathrobe would never do. So I had a huge bathrobe made of luxurious terry-cloth…and dyeing one of those is like trying to dye four or five giant, super-heavy bath towels. And of course towels are made to soak up lots of water.

Nonetheless I was surprised to discover how much dye it took to penetrate the fabric. We poured on dye. Then we poured on more dye. Then we peeked inside the folds, saw tons of virgin white, and added dye again. Repeat, repeat, repeat until at least three quarts of dye had gone into the robe – and there was still plenty of white peeking through.

At this point, I was starting to run out of my chosen colors. So I added several other shades of blue and orange to the mix, squished down the tied robe to help the dye penetrate, said a few prayers to the gods who look over tie-dyes, and left it to batch.

And it came out fabulous!

There’s still a bit more white than I would ideally like, but the colors came out happily exuberant. It will be perfect for those black-tie fundraising balls. (And just as fabulous for lounging about the house in the morning.)

I have, of course, also been busy with developing the business website, and am almost ready for the website launch. It’s looking good! There is a lot I could improve, but the basics are set up. I’m very pleased. Expect the Big Reveal soon!

Finally, the book release is going to be NEXT WEEK!! so I’ve been doing something I have been waiting for for almost four years…planning the launch party! It’s going to be Saturday, July 23. I’m inviting all my friends – in fact, darn near everyone I know – to help me celebrate. I’m trying to think of book-themed activities to make the party more interesting – would love suggestions!