Tie-dye
Unlike regular resist-dyeing techniques, modern tie-dye is characterized by the use of bright, saturated primary colors and bold patterns.
These patterns, including the spiral, mandala, and peace sign, and the use of multiple bold colors, have become clichéd to become symbols of the counterculture movement of the 1960s and 1970s.
The extra complexity and safety issues (particularly when using strong bases such as lye) restrict the use of vat dyes in tie-dye to experts.
In general, discharge techniques, particularly using household bleach, are a readily accessible way to tie-dye without the use of often messy and relatively expensive dyes.
Tie-dye can be used to create a wide variety of designs on fabric, from standard patterns such as the spiral, peace sign, diamond, sunburst, and the marble effect to beautiful works of art.
Using techniques such as stencils (as in screen printing using dyes or discharge pastes), clamped-on shaped blocks, and tritik (stitching and gathering), tie-dye can produce almost any design desired.
Another shibori method is to wrap the fabric around a core of rope, wood, or other material, and bind it tightly with string or thread.
In the 1941 book, "Orphans of the Pacific", about the Philippines, it was noted: "There are a few thousand Bagobos, who wear highly decorated clothing made of hemp fiber, all tied-and-dyed into fancy designs, and who further ornament themselves with big metal disks."
[10] Tie-dye techniques have also been used for centuries[11][12][13] in the Hausa region of West Africa, with renowned indigo dye pits located in and around Kano, Nigeria.
Tie-dyeing was known in the US by 1909, when Professor Charles E. Pellow of Columbia University acquired some samples of tie-dyed muslin and subsequently gave a lecture and live demonstration of the technique.
[15] Although shibori and batik techniques were used occasionally in Western fashion before the 1960s, modern psychedelic tie-dyeing did not become a fad until the late 1960s following the example set by rock stars such as Janis Joplin and John Sebastian (who did his own dyeing).
[16] The 2011 film documentary Magic Trip, which shows amateur film footage taken during the 1964 cross-country bus journey of countercultural icon Ken Kesey and his Merry Pranksters, shows the travelers developing a form of tie-dye by taking LSD beside a pond and pouring enamel-based model airplane paint into it, before placing a white T-shirt upon the surface of the water.
[17] Tie-dyeing, particularly after the introduction of affordable dyes, became popular as a cheap and accessible way to customize inexpensive T-shirts, singlets, dresses, jeans, army surplus clothing, and other garments into psychedelic creations.
[14][16] Some of the leading names in tie-dye at this time were Water Baby Dye Works (run by Ann Thomas and Maureen Mubeem), Bert Bliss, and Up Tied, the latter winning a Coty Award for "major creativity in fabrics" in 1970.
