Marker Tie-Die T-Shirts

Here's What You Need:

• Rubber bands (at least 2)
• Cups (at least 2)
• Colorful assortment of permanent markers
• Water
• 70% isopropyl alcohol, also called rubbing alcohol
• Dropper
• White t-shirt that can be dyed
• Plastic sheets (these are to protect your work surface)
• Optional: Hair dryer

Instructions:

1. Lay out the t-shirt on the surface you will be dyeing it on.
2. Wherever you want to make a design on the t-shirt, place a cup underneath the t-shirt (below both the front and back sides), and then loop a rubber band around the edge of the cup, going from the front of the t-shirt. This should end up making a flat, tight circle of t-shirt fabric be stretched over the opening of the cup. Do this to at least two places on the t-shirt so that you have at least two flat circles to draw in.
3. Use the permanent markers to draw some colorful designs in each flat t-shirt circle that you made with the cups. Fill in at least two flat circles with your drawings.
4. Use the medicine dropper to drop a few drops of water onto the center of one of the flat circles that you drew in.
5. Drop several more drops of water onto the same flat circle until it is all damp. Does the permanent marker ink change as the piece of fabric becomes all damp?
6. Now use the dropper to drop a few drops of isopropyl alcohol onto the center of one of the other flat circles that you drew in.
7. Drop several more drops of isopropyl alcohol onto the same flat circle until it is all damp. Observe what happens!
8. Dry your t-shirt overnight and wear the next day!