Tie-Dye Throwback

There haven't been too many tie-dye related posts on the blog in a few weeks now, and unfortunately that's due to our being in a bit of a creation-slump. We started to run low on blanks and with my job situation rapidly evolving and changing over the past few months I've been hesitant to put any money towards the hobby when I had more pressing adult matters to worry about (like keeping a roof over my head and food in our bellies)... Things should be changing for the better here soon, and we've gotten some good news and a couple of checks coming in, but we're certainly not rich by any stretch of the imagination. This is part of why I'm so passionate about getting our tie-dye off the ground, though, while it can be a challenging balance to find. We need a day job (for now) to keep afloat but the desire to invest heavily in our own business is strong, too. I can't go crazy and buy all the blanks I would like to, though, because I need to be sure we stay out of the red each month. So far 710Visuals has been a mainly self-sustaining project, but to grow it further I need to bump it up a notch or two out of my comfort zone. Not the easiest thing to do. But I digress.

Since we haven't been making much these past few weeks, please enjoy the photos of a previous batch I don't think I've ever shared here yet. These shirts were all made by Antho while I was over in Korea, so that makes them extra special. Typically we make all the shirts as a team, sometimes one will fold and the other will apply the dye, but when it comes to rinsing and processing them it's a team effort every time... except for this batch, because I was so geographically distant there was just no feasible way I could help outside of texting him instructions and motivation/support. He had to fold, dye, rinse, untie, wash, photograph, process and post all of these all by his lonesome, which isn't the easiest of tasks. I'm proud that he did this, though, and I think it helped him understand more how much work actually goes into the back end of running our shop. I usually handle the processing and listing for everything because I have the desktop computer and have more familiarity with it. It's a team effort here, at 710Visuals! 

Art: March Tie-dye

While I haven't been posting about tie-dye as much this month, we are still certainly creating away! Recently we've been applying the dye directly to the shirts and then putting the ice on top so that we have a bit more control over the dye placement with the design of the folds. It's worked out pretty well so far, though I don't know that we use any less dye in the process... in fact, this might actually use more dye! Previously we would apply the ice first, then sprinkle the dye over the top and you get a very strong visual guide as to when you might want to stop as the dye immediately begins to hydrate and spread. One of the best things about tie-dye, though, is that you can't really do it incorrectly so long as you're having fun. It's such an abstract process that you can take all sorts of creative liberties- feel more traditional and want to do a single-color indigo shibori? Go for it! Want to make a prismatic rainbow alien smoking a joint? If you've got the skills to fold it, you can make it. 

Personally, I tend to stray away from overly intentional designs, like the aforementioned prismatic alien with a joint, because I get too stressed out and anxious in the process. I'm something of a perfectionist and from the point of choosing a particular image and trying to create it to the final unveil, it cranks my anxiety up high...and I don't want that. Tie-dye is supposed to be fun, relaxing, enjoyable craft-time. Doing the ice dyes is soothing, an exercise in patience that's rewarded with colors galore... I'm sure I'll try again and again in the future, to create that particular image I had in mind, but given the nature of the tie-dye it's better (for me, at least) to go in with some flexibility. Even if the design doesn't turn out the exact way I had envisioned or hoped, there's still someone out there who might love it for exactly what it is! Each shirt is unique, after all, just like people, and there's something kind of cool about that, don't you think?

We HAVE started to dabble in techniques for creating images on the shirts separate from the tie-dye, and we might experiment with screen-printing in the not-too-distant future, too. There's always something new to try, after all, and even if you use the exact same colors on the exact same size shirt with the same folds it might not be a perfect carbon copy, so the options are quite truly endless.

More photos below!

Art: January Tie-dye 2018

Tie-dye, ice-dye, fabric art, textile dyes... it goes by several names depending how pretentious you want to be, but for us it's just good ole' fashioned hippie tie-dye. We've been going through so much ice that our local 711 employees have all started asking what the deal is, curious if we're having some epic party every night that they've not yet been invited to... And we go so often that our buddy Jimmy  has taken to always welcoming us with shouts of "Mister and Misses Tie-Dye!" when we enter the building. I have to admit that I kind of love it, though! I've been talking a lot about our tie-dye these days, probably because we're making some almost every night. If you follow our Instagram you'll have a pretty good idea of some of our various tie-dye shenanigans in real-time but there's also several Twitter accounts, from our official 710Visuals account to my personal account @shethatisnau and  +Antho Jay has his own, too... I try to update the blog steadily and regularly but this is a habit I'm still working on. I've got tons of stuff to share with everyone, though, and my goal for 2018 is to have a post every. single. day!! I missed a couple days in the beginning of January when I was still sick, but since then I've managed to get a post out every day. I'm working on finding my rhythm, getting the writing habit to stick, and figuring out the direction I want my blog to go in the next couple years. Yes, years. I'm at that point now where I want to plan for further and farther out into the future, and tie-dye is playing a large role in that, as is my blogging. While it's all well and good to have a day job to pay the essential bills, I really want to move away from that and get to a point where I'm less reliant on the whims of others for my financial independence. I've been pretty self-reliant over the years with my caricatures and art, but it's always good to have different projects going so that if there's ever a lull in one area you've got something else you can buffer with. If nothing else, we really enjoy making the tie-dye so it's always going to be an enjoyable hobby no matter what else we find ourselves doing.  

July 2017 Summer Tie-Dye Session

Lovecraftian nightmare of a sea creature/alien, or a shirt in the making?

Sometimes it can be hard to tell...

I mean, look at all those nubby limbs in strange and unusual shades melting together, like a band of multicolored worms of unusual size, or especially flambouyant space octopi having an arm-wrestling contest! 

Tie-dye is kind of like a Rorschach test if the inventor had gone to fry parties and listened to records of The Doors in the back of a converted school bus, I suppose. What do you see when you look at the shirts? Some crafters go for more intentional designs, using the fabric to draw things- a face, a bear, an alien, what-have-you. I respect this and know it's not an easy thing to do. When you draw on paper, you're using an almost entirely flat medium (depending on the paper and texture/weight) whereas with fabric you're putting your designs onto an item meant to drape across a human body (or a wall, a bed, so on). You have to be meticulous in your folds and plan ahead, often drafting out your intended results on the fabric beforehand. Then you get to the actual tying part of the process, using either sinew, rubber bands, or sheer force of will to constrain the fabric into those predetermined patterns you've plotted out... Prepare, measure, mix and pour the dye...

This is to say, it's quite a process. Measuring the dye and hydrating it is an art in and of itself- do you mix soda ash into the dye solution or no? How hot do you want the water to be to activate that specific dye to get the exact shade you're hoping for? 

It's a lot of work. And I respect that.

But me?

I like chaos.

A little uncertainty, following an intuition, an impulse. 

I'm not saying I'm a full on anarchist...oh, heavens no. Not this girl. Chaos, without any order, can descend into confusion... Chaos AND confusion?! Nope. I like some planning, and I do ever so love a good steady routine in some areas of my life, when it comes to making art I find I'm a bit sick of precision and planning ahead after years of drawing people for work, I just want to relax a little and make pretty things happen that can be shared with people who want to wear those pretty things. Tie-dye, if nothing else, is an exercise in a patience and delayed gratification, and while there is a time and a place for being meticulous I find I quite like being more abstract and seeing what the dyes and the fabric do without my trying to overthink their interaction. Considering that our Etsy shop is rated 5 stars suggests I might not be the only person who enjoys the end result.  We're certainly not in the top tier of sellers on Etsy by any stretch of the imagination, though, so I know there are things I could be doing differently. All things in time, though. For what started as a one off idea for a date night has turned into a passion that we've been able to share with other people all around the world, and for that I couldn't be more grateful!

With this batch, I wanted to experiment with using gravity to distribute the dyes. We have several containers that we use when we ice dye, and instead of simply tying up the shirt and putting it fully inside the vessel I draped some of it over the sides and under, so that it held itself in place. As the ice melts and the dye is hydrated, it would drip through the center and up/down the sides as they hydrate. This created a really neat effect and I'm super excited to experiment with it more in the future!

More photos after the cut!

Winter Tie-dye 2016-02-05

It's been awhile but now that it's starting to warm up again Antho and I made some tie-dye the other day. I'm quite pleased with the results! I'll be posting them on Etsy in the next few days.

Las Vegas: Brennan's B-day Tie-dye project finale 2015-09-25

He really likes tie-dye, what can I say? :)

Once the shirts were soaked overnight, we rinsed them off thoroughly and dried them. 

I took these photos the very next afternoon! They faded a bit, but that's to be expected as the shirts are going to look a lot darker when still wet anyway. 

My black and orange shirt.

Project: Spring Dye round 2

We're often doing some sort of colorful project or event, so naturally we love creating tie-dye!

Here's some photos of a batch we did earlier this year.

These puppies will be up in our Storenvy and Etsy soon. :)

If you like what you see, please help support our small business so we can keep bringing you colorful new creations!

Project: Spring Ice dyes

     So, Antho and I recently tried out ice dyeing for the first time. We've been experimenting with tie-dying fabrics and creating various designs since last summer (which, if you're curious, you can find over on our Storenvy shop) but this was our first experiment with ice dye and I made sure to document the process.

    And seriously, look at this gorgeous shirt Antho made! Isn't it fun?