Activity: Tie-Dying

Talia Tie Dying

On SCOPE's Clothing Technology episode, you saw Talia have a go at tie dying. Here's what she did. Watch the clip.

CAUTION: As the name suggests, you will be changing the colours of things in the experiment, permanently, so best to not do it near anything valuable, like rugs, carpet, a pet, your good jeans.

What you need

• Synthetic fabric dye (can be bought at most supermarkets)
• String
• Rubber gloves
• Marbles
• Tap water
• Whatever garment you want to tie dye

What to do

There's a bunch of different ties to create different effects.

•  Grab a section of the fabric and tie intervals tightly with the string. This will create wavy lines.

•  Start with one marble and then tie with string at very close intervals, you will create an amazing sunburst.

•  A series of individual marbles tied tightly with string will give you a sea of little circles.

•  You can experiment with different coloured dyes, but best to start simple.

1. Put on the gloves and prepare the dye according to the manufacturer's directions
2. Soak your tied up masterpiece in your chosen dye for about half and hour.
3. Remove from the dye and rinse in cold running water until the water runs clear.
4. Give it a gentle squeeze to wring out the excess water.
5. Then untie the string and remove the marbles to reveal your handiwork.

What's happening?

Ever since people have been wearing clothes, we have used colour to jazz them up.

We've used iron oxide found in dirt as a red dye, sepia found in cuttlefish to create a warm brown colour, and the urine from cows that have been fed mango leaves, to dye our clothes yellow!

Natural purple dyes are particularly rare, which is why it was a colour associated with royalty and money.

But the colour revolution really began, when English chemist William Henry Perkin, discovered in 1865, that dye could be made synthetically in the lab.

Today most dyes are made synthetically, making them less expensive, easier to use and a whole lot easier to obtain (imagine needing a certain quantity of cow urine to fill an order for yellow clothes, what a tough job).

The reason a dye looks a colour (say yellow) is that the chemical makeup of the dye absorbs all the wavelengths of light except for a particular colour (yellow light in this case) which it reflects. So in theory, white clothes reflect all colours of light (to make white), and black clothes absorb all colours, reflecting nine. That could also explain the temperature difference between wearing black and white.

The idea is that if you tie before you dye, you will prevent the dye from reaching some areas of the fabric and so create some groovy patterns. No two designs will ever be the same, so every time you tie dye you will be creating a truly unique masterpiece.