Quick way to dye a big batch of shirts?

[dancingbearmama]

Hi!  I'm trying to figure out a way to make a monthly order go more quickly, and wondered if anyone has done anything like this:  let's say you want to do 40 shirts with hearts, and a scrunch background.  And perhaps you want to use 3 or 4 colors in your scrunch.  And because you are doing your hearts sort of off-center at a slant, and only on the front of the shirts, the fabric that you have scrunched up includes some spots that are very thick because of how one of the sleeves gets into the scrunch fold.  So you need the dye to penetrate well, but you don't want a solid-looking background.  Is there a way to do the salsa jar/immersion technique, but have the shirts sticking up on end (in order to keep the heart out of the mix) rather than laying flat?  Would you want to tie up your scrunch or would it be better to keep them untied and just smash them up into the bottom of some sort of container with the tied up heart part sticking up?  If you want to use multiple colors, or multiple shades of a color, do you need to move the fabric around in between applications to get different white parts showing?

I've also thought about putting all the shirts on a long table or 2 and doing them that way, but it seems like some sort of immersion technique would be much faster.

This has been rolling around my brain for awhile, but I am too lazy to experiment with it, so thought i'd throw it out there to see if any of you have tried something like this!

thanks!
nicole

[pburch]

I've dyed shirts with a single central bullseye sticking out of the bath, one rubber band setting off the circle, the rest scrunched down into a glass mason jar or other container. I wasn't doing this in large quantities, just in order to have a good printable space, but it seems a lot like what you're talking about.

Paula

[dancingbearmama]

Thanks, Paula!  Did you pour dye over your shirt as in LWI?

[pburch]

Yes, exactly. Maybe I started with some dye already in the container.

Paula

[mysticmountainsmama]

I have been using aluminum pie plates (the disposable ones, you know?) to keep the extra dye from escaping and it seems to be a form of LWI! I knew I've been saving them all my life for a reason Anyhow I can maximize space by putting them beside eachother and re-use them and I always try to keep the design up and use gravity too. I like the pie plates because I have more control than a jar

[pburch]

I have been using aluminum pie plates (the disposable ones, you know?) to keep the extra dye from escaping and it seems to be a form of LWI!

Does it produce a dark discoloration on the aluminum? Soda ash is said to be corrosive to aluminum.

Some dyes may alter their colors a bit in the presense of aluminum or other metals, but I have no idea if any of our fiber reactive dyes are among them.

Paula

[steve]

1020 nursery trays may also work--ones without holes. That would avoid corrosion.

Steve

[mysticmountainsmama]

On aluminum and soda ash....I noticed the texture of the pan seemed rough and slightly dusty with corrosion now that you mention it....I love the size and shape of the pans(I do tons of baby stuff)...I will line them with a plastic grocery bag and maybe go shopping at the 2nd hand store for plastic containers without lids-they'de be so cheap...I just love the ease of working with a shallow open pan as opposed to a jar or on the table