Tie & Dye Crafts at Indigo Dying House
Dying our creations
During our holiday in Taiwan I brought the kids to try out various different crafting activities. Many of these activities are extremely expensive if it was done in Singapore and it was great that we could try out many different activities at an affordable price.
Indigo Dyeing House was one of the place which we visited. Located in Miaoli County this Dyeing house uses natural dies from plants to color their products.
The teacher explaining about the tie dye process
Before we started on our crafting we had to choose the item we wanted to dye. There were many different items which we could make ranging from lamp shades, handkerchiefs, bags or even scarfs. Tiger girl chose to make a scarf for her paternal grandmother while the Monkey boy chose a handkerchief and Doggie boy a Strawberry Bag.
The other side of the workshop
The workshop was divided into two sections. There were benches for the participants to do the tying of the material and the other section was where the dying took place.
The teacher showing the different patterns that one can make
The kids in action deciding on how to tie their pieces
The kids had to use the rubber band and sticks to tie the pattern that they wish to see on their pieces of art.
Tiger girl picking up the chopsticks to tie
The patterns that were made on the cloths were done by using the chopsticks/ ice-creme sticks to block out certain parts of the cloth so that it is not stained by the dye.
I personally have taught Tie Dye during Art lessons in school but we never used natural dyes nor sticks in creating the patterns on the cloths. What we used were just rubber bands and marbles.
Doggie boy soaking his piece in blue dye.
After each piece had been tied up it was time to dye it. We had to use aprons and gloves so that we wouldn’t get the dye onto our clothes. Each piece had to be soaked within the blue tie for 3 minutes before being giving it a rinsed. There had to be 3 rounds of soaking to ensure that the cloth absorbed enough of the dye.
The design on grandma’s scarf
The design on Tiger girl’s scarf
Monkey boy’s handkerchief
Doggie boy’s Strawberry Bag
Have you tried Tie Dye before?
卓也藍染 Indigo Dyeing House
No.1-9, Bengshanxia, Sanyi Township, Miaoli County 367, Taiwan
December 16, 2015 @ 9:04 am
This sounds interesting.The outcomes are really pretty and beautiful.Seems your kids had a great time there…
December 16, 2015 @ 9:48 am
Your tye dye cloth is beautiful. Out here in the states we like to tye dye t-shirts with our children. We use rubber bands and make bright circle patterns on t-shirts. It is a lot of fun. Thanks for linking up for Wordless Wednesday. Have a great week!
December 16, 2015 @ 10:09 am
I remember tye dying tee shirts in the 60’s! ( Now I feel really old!)
December 16, 2015 @ 10:53 am
Great experience for the kids to do it in a bigger set-up and non-home based.
Curious if the colour of the end product run-out when you do washing?
December 16, 2015 @ 11:47 am
This is an awesome activity. Can’t remember the last time I did that kind of thing. The outcome looks so nice I didn’t expect it to be that nice 🙂 good job!
December 16, 2015 @ 11:53 am
That looks like it’s so much fun! I know my youngest would love it. It’s been so long since I’ve dyed fabric.
December 16, 2015 @ 4:25 pm
How brilliant is that for the kids looked like they had fun 🙂
Have a tanfastic week 🙂
December 16, 2015 @ 9:04 pm
What a fun place to visit on vacation!
Here’s my Wordless Wednesday!
December 16, 2015 @ 9:44 pm
look at all those patterns…so lovely :)..I really wanna try it at home. is it really that simple? I hope I can do that at home 🙂
December 17, 2015 @ 8:25 am
It’s not that difficult. If you can’t get natural dyes can use food coloring to try. I’ve done it at home too with the kids. it’s all in the folding and tying to make the patterns. When you fold the cloth you have to make it like a paper fan so that the pattern will come out.
December 16, 2015 @ 9:52 pm
My kids have tye dyed as well, it is much fun. But to experience it in a class had to be most fun. Thanks for sharing the wonderful photos!!
December 17, 2015 @ 11:04 am
What a fun family activity! Your designs turned out awesome.
December 17, 2015 @ 12:32 pm
While I have tie-dyed before, it was always with knots, never like this. I love the patterns you were able to produce.
December 18, 2015 @ 9:54 am
I can imagine why this would be fun for kids. I see myself enjoying it too. It’s really nice to learn about this! The patterns are lovely!
December 18, 2015 @ 11:12 am
Great looking dyes! I’m sure both kids and adults had a lot of fun!
December 19, 2015 @ 6:20 am
I did this when I was a kid too, I will introduce this to my son maybe on summer vacation. 🙂
December 20, 2015 @ 4:11 am
Everything here is so pretty, I like the blue a lot it just makes the pattern pop.
December 20, 2015 @ 7:28 pm
Everything turned out so great. I haven’t tried tie dye but I bet the kids would love it if I did!
December 20, 2015 @ 11:06 pm
Wow, so this is how it’s done. Looks like fun! I’m sure the kids had a blast. Thanks for sharing.
December 21, 2015 @ 8:41 am
If I remember right, I tried dying when I was in the Elementary grade. It was part of our Home Economic subject. It’s nice that your kids tried dying and are exposed to various crafts. Would want my son to try crafting too.
December 21, 2015 @ 1:38 pm
Before we did dyeing t-shirts with “spider web-like” pattern back in our elementary days.
December 22, 2015 @ 11:22 am
Omg I use to try and tie-dye all
The tie when I was a kiddo. Always failed. So need to try again now that I’m older and know what I’m doing.
December 22, 2015 @ 4:23 pm
Wow that is very creative and educational! I want my kids to go there and have fun! Thanking you for sharing their fun adventure! 🙂