(Almost) Candy Corn Dip Dye T-Shirt

Before I begin this last minute costume DIY I should mention that technically this isn't a true candy corn pattern. The orange should be on top and the yellow on the bottom, but having the darker of the two colors up top doesn't work for my layered dip dying purposes. So be it! The colors are out of order, but probably no one will notice (except candy corn purists).

Materials:
*white t-shirt
*yellow dye
*orange dye

Step 1: Set up your dying area.

-Ideally this will happen in your bathroom or kitchen. In this Brooklyn apartment, that is not meant to be due to those areas being tiny, restricted and with bad lighting.  If you also find yourself with a less-than-ideal space, you can easily improvise an adequate area for dying the shirt:

-Set up a well covered table with an aluminum pan large enough for both holding the dye and catching the drips. 

-Next, string up a makeshift clothesline across a doorway. It should be the right height for the shirt bottom to be just above the pan so it can drip into it.

Step 2: Decide how far up the shirt you want the two colors to go. As evenly as possible, pin the first two safety pins across from one another at the height where you want the yellow to end. Do the same a little lower down the shirt for the orange, using your last two safety pins. This is also a good time for pinning the sleeves out of the way.

When you're done with this step, your shirt will look like this.

Step 3: Wet the dying area by dipping shirt into warm water till just below the top safety pins. 

Step 4: Dip your shirt into the yellow dye, stopping when you get to the the top two safety pins.

Because the dye will dry to a lighter color, you may want to repeat this a couple of times so the shirt looks as bright as possible. When you're satisfied with the color, let it hang over the tray for 15-20 minutes so that some of the excess dye can drip off into the dying pan.

Step 5: Change out the dye in the pan to the orange and repeat step 4. This time only dipping the shirt  up to the bottom two safety pins. Again, dip a number of times to have a brighter colored orange.

Step 6: Let the shirt hang for a little while before rinsing so that the dyes will be less likely to seep into othre areas. Thorough rinse the shirt until the water coming off of it runs clear. 

Step 7: When you're all finished remove the safety pins and let dry.

Hope this is a good solution for someone who waited to till the last minute to pull something together.

Be safe in this hurricane, East Coast friends! And Happy Halloween! 

TOOLS:

-pan for holding the dye

-4 safety pins
-coat hanger

-yarn for stringing a makeshift close line
-foam applicator (optional)

Painted Water Bottles

Like lots of people, we keep filtered water in various glass containers in our fridge. Lately, I've been wanting to dress them up a little, so I decided on H2O inspired images in simple white designs.
This project is cheap, easy and gives you results are pretty and subtle.

Materials:
*Cleaned out glass bottles
*Oil-based paint pen

Step 1: Sketch out a some designs and pick your favorites.

Step 2: If your design area is designated for a specific area or shape, use masking tape to mask off that area. Visually this can help you with placements, etc. (If your design covers the entire bottle, go ahead and skip this step.)

Step 3: Shake up the pen, then press the point up and down on a piece of scrap paper until the paint starts to come out at an even consistency. This ensures that your pen has an uninterrupted flow before you start drawing in the bottle.

Step 4: Draw your design on the bottle.

Step 5: Remove the tape. This is also a good time to draw on a border if you want to.

Step 6: Repeat the above steps on the rest of your bottles.

*After 24 hours, it should be safe to wash without disturbing the design, but avoid using anything abrasive or it will scratch it off.

 I'm more excited about  getting hydrated already. Cheers!

**A few notes on this project**

-I had already taken the labels off of my bottle before starting this project, so no pictures for this step:(

If you find you're having trouble with this, you can find my favorite removal method here.

-Etsy's How Tuesday had a great bottle tutorial awhile back using Pebeo Vitrea 160 paints. These paints are more translucent than the oil paint pens, so depending on what design you have in mind, these may be a better match. You can check the Etsy tutorial here.

-If you choose to use an oil paint pen like mine, just be aware that while this is totally safe to have on the outside of the bottles, you do NOT want to put it on the inside.

TOOLS:
-masking tape
-oil-based paint pen