Altered Tie-Dye T-shirt Challenge featuring Jeshua of Boi from Ipanema

Wednesday, July 3, 2013



When I was a kid, I use to be like, totally OBSESSED with ancient Egyptian culture. 
I would spend hours at the library, reading books about Pharaohs and mummies and Nefertiti    

 *kids be like "Whaaat? What's a li-berry?*.....


A few of my favorite movies are The Prince of Egypt, The Ten Commandments and Cleopatra. All completely accurate tellings of ancient Egyptian culture, amirite?
 I was completely enraptured with the mystique and magic of a great civilization, lost in time.  

I've always considered traditional Egyptian chest-pieces super cool and interesting.  Those Egyptians were ahead of their time, style included. I was inspired to do my own take on the chest piece look that can be dressed up for a night out or paired with a denim shorts or leggings for a more casual look great for both guys and girls.  
Here's what you'll need:
-White cotton t-shirt
-Spray bottle
-painter's tape
Lay out your shirt and with your painter's tape, mark off a point about mid chest.  I've found that marking off the "dye limit" point will help keep the collar at a reasonable place, because once you get going, it's kinda hard to cut yourself off! lol
Mix up your dyes and add the colors in alternating rings to DRY fabric.  The key to this technique is to add the dyes in a clean "dots and dashes" pattern.  Make sure that there is space between each dot of color and each section of your collar because the dye will need room to spread. If the colors are too close together, the end result may be more muddy than majestic and no one wants that to happen, right?
Thoroughly spray the collar of your tee to blend the colors. Try to keep the water ONLY on the dyed areas. The dyes will spread to any part of the fabric that's wet so you don't want the colors to spread too far down the tee. The goal is too keep the colors about mid chest to give the appearance of the Egyptian-styled chest piece.  
Allow the shirt to rest for about 6 hours to ensure that the dyes really soak in and the fabric absorbs all of the pigment.  Then wash according to instructions and wear!
I hope your new shirt makes you feel like a rad Pharaoh King slash Queen of the Nile because you will definitely turn some heads rocking this tee! 

Until next time,
ttyl.
Jeshua

Check out more of my posts at boifromipanema.com