Project Thursday: Bleach Art Tees

School is OUT 

(at lease where we live)

Time to start gathering FUN activities for the kids.

This project is best suited for older kids who can safely handle bleach.  For the younger crowd - adults should control the bleach spray bottle.  

These Bleach Art Tee Shirts are very simple to make - needing only a few items - but it's easy for the kids to make them filled with their own Personal Style.

We started with plain black cotton tees

We did this project inside - so we were careful to cover all our work surfaces to ensure nothing unexpected came in contact with the bleach. 

This is also a great project for outside fun - but be aware the bleach will kill the grass and lighten concrete - so you may still want to cover your surfaces.  

I also put a barrier inside the shirts to keep the bleach from soaking through to the back of the shirts - although that could make for an interesting look as well.

Not many Rules here.  

The girls Raided my Craft Studio and pulled out all kinds of decorations:

stencils

chip board shapes

keys

paper clips

flowers

rice

silly bands

almost anything goes

Make sure your decorations are fairly water resistant (heavy cardboard worked just fine).  And that you don't care if they get bleached (metal objects can discolor and paper will lose it's color).  This is not the place to use  family heirlooms or expensive mementos.

 After (what seemed like) Hours of Arranging - and Re-Arranging.  They each decided on the perfect design.

Next step is to mix up a solution of bleach and water into a spray bottle.

 

  Approximately 1/3 bleach and 2/3 water. 

Then simply Spritz the bleach water over your tee shirt.  The reaction occurs immediately. 

Remove the decorations and admire your creation.  

Where the shirt is covered - it will resist the bleach and remain black.  Where the shirt gets bleached - the black color will fade to brown.

If you use lighter colored shirts - the color can be almost completely bleached out to white.  On darker shirts - it fades to a lighter shade of it's original color. 

You can even experiment with different strengths of bleach solution. Weaker will create less contrast.  Stronger will pull out more color.  

I gave them a quick rinse in lightly soapy water (to remove any bleach residue) and threw them into the dryer before the girls wore them. 

Next I want to try the Bleach Pen method - but I'm afraid that will require more artistic effort than I want in a Fun Summer Project.  

Thanks for reading along...