Tie dye masks are now making a very loud noise in the fashion industry – especially because of the pandemic.
We all have health and safety on ourselves and those around us due to the pandemic. Face masks have long been a popular tool to defend against and avoid the spread of bacteria and viruses, but most retailers are still in limited supply now.
Since the world faces a significant health crisis these days, face masks are part of our normal functional daily life. Some think wearing plain surgical face masks is a major turn off of our OOTD’s and an embarrassment to fashion trends, and people had created a variety of ways to solve this.
Some people are creative enough to make their own, and while they are not the same as surgical masks, they do offer a certain degree of protection rather than not wearing one at all. It serves to stop us from scratching our faces, and they are becoming trendy, too. Tie-dye is a perfect way to add beauty to your masks, and the best thing is, you can make it your way and style.
Being creative amidst the situation these days is never a negative thing to do. It is one way of showing positivity despite all the happenings around us. You may also cop a trendy, reusable mask that will give you a little glimmer of happiness when you go out to get groceries.
DIY Tie Dye Masks
Tie-dying
Tie-dye is such a perfect art practice because you can play with so many different colors and patterns. You can use various approaches to use different techniques, but the most common is the use of loops, rubber bands, and even zip ties.
Tie-dying masks have the same procedure when you tie-dye your t-shirts.
With natural fiber tie-dye, more dye is maintained, resulting in a brighter, longer-lasting result. You can use 100% cotton shirts or even other fun stuff like scarves, bandanas, and string bags. It is recommended to pre-wash fabrics to measure and remove some debris so that the pigment is properly dissolved.
Color choice and color saturation are the two most important factors for successful tie-dyeing. To be able to avoid a large amount of the original color on your finished product, the trick is to squirt enough dye into the folds. Squeeze the dye-saturated area to ensure the color penetrates the inside layers of the fabric for a bold result.
When picking colors to be put next to each other, consider the color wheel. Do not put opposite colors next to each other, such as red near white, blue near orange, or yellow near purple: the effect will be a dark, dirty mess. Unless you do like vivid colors, stop having a hue mixed with red in it, such as yellow, similar to white.
Tie-Dye Design Techniques
Vertical or Horizontal Stripe: Fold a piece of cloth in vertical pleats and finish with horizontal stripes. Horizontal pliers are the product of vertical stripes.
Diagonal creases are an alternative for diagonal lines.
Bullseye: In the case of concentric circles, grab the cloth where you want the center to be and pull it until you have more or less made a long tube of clothing, then apply rubber bands at intervals along with the cloth.
Classic Spiral: Place the clothes on a flat surface, smooth out all the wrinkles, then make a tiny pleat right over where you want the middle to be. Take the very middle of the crease with a clothespin, and continue spinning. When you twist, the pleats come further from the center; as these pleats become too large, divide the pliers with your hands, keeping each of them at the same height.
Circles: Another method is to use small rubber bands to loop and bind the cloth around the garment in many areas. This is going to make circles of light.
Mixing the Dyes
Just apply liquid dye to empty squirt or spray bottles first and then add water. Be careful when you weigh the dye. Let the jars open as long as possible and use a face shield. Do not breathe the residue of the paint.
Replace the bottle cap and shake until the dye is fully absorbed. Add the color to the cotton for better results within 30 minutes of mixing.
To help ensure that the dye stays on and helps prevent color bleeding, you can pre-soak the fabric in a sodium carbonate solution for 15 minutes to 1 hour, mixed with 1 cup per 2 gallons of water, unless pre-mixed with the solution.
Applying the Dye
Before you fold and tie your project, rinse or soak in warm water and wring out so that the item doesn’t drip. The damp tissue will absorb the dye much more quickly.
Once your fabric has been folded or tied, place your clothing on a protected plastic surface. Squeeze the dye directly into the fabric and check to make sure that it has penetrated the folds. Squeeze the area that you just used to dye to get into the folds. Flip over and repeat it on the other side.
Seal the dyed fabric in a plastic bag to keep wet.
Be sure the cloth remains moist for the reaction to take place. It will be kept in a plastic bag for 12-24 hours.
Washing the Tie-Dyed Material
Carefully cut the rubber bands to make sure you don’t snip the thread. Rinse by hand in cold water before cleaning the machine.
Rinse first in cold water to extract any dye from the cloth, then again in the hottest water possible to eliminate any sign of unreacted dye until the water is clear. Now, the clothes should be primed for the washing machine. Wash and rinse the first couple washes separately.
Now you have a fashionable tie-dyed face mask!
Extra Tip:
When you don’t have the actual dyes at home, no worries, you can use food coloring as your dye material.
Even with a regular tie-dye, wash the fabric in a soda ash solution to produce the most vivid colors. For this process, we recommend that you first soak your shirt in vinegar. In a large bowl, mix one part of the water with one part of the vinegar until there is enough liquid in the bowl to soak the cloth. Soak for an hour.
Worth Appreciating. Great work.
Fashionable tie-dyed face mask!