Hemostat Sunflower Tie Dye
Are you looking for a great summer tie dye design? Well, how about a sunflower? Truthfully, sunflower tie dyes are perfect all year long, but I especially love them during the summer.
My favorite way to make a sunflower design is with hemostats. Yep, hemostats - like the medical professionals use. If you haven’t ever watched one of my YouTube sunflower tutorials, here is a link to them.
For this design, I use two 8 inch curved hemostats and two 10 or 12 inch curved hemostats. Here are some links to hemostats on Amazon so that you know what I am talking about (by the way these are affiliate links, so if you purchase from these links I may receive a commission from Amazon): https://amzn.to/2QowKnk https://amzn.to/3wbKAMH I’ve purchased most of my hemostats from Amazon and Ebay. They can be found several different places though. Hemostats come in a variety of types and sizes too. I didn’t really know what to buy the first time I ordered mine, but through trial and error I am much wiser now and hopefully I can help keep you from wasting your money.
I try to find sturdy ones that have a long teeth area. Some hemostats are long, but have a very small teeth or gripping area. I know those were designed that way for some specific purpose, but I don’t find them very useful for tie dye. The longer the teeth and gripping area the better for tie dye. In addition, they really need to be sturdy. I have broken several of the more delicate ones trying to clamp them down on the fabric. Lastly, I have hemostats that are smaller than 8 inches, but I very rarely ever use them. An 8 inch hemostat seems to be the smallest size that I normally use. For this design, I am only using curved hemostats. However, I use both straight and curved ones on other designs.
On almost all of my hemostats, I have coated the teeth area with heat shrink tubing. The tubing helps to give a good grip on the shirt, while also helping protect from the teeth ripping a hole in the shirt. I purchase my tubing from Home Depot in the electrical area. It is available in a variety of sizes (which is great to fit the variety of hemostat sizes). I place a piece on each side of the hemostat and use a heat gun to shrink it to fit. If there is any excess hanging over the end - I use my scissors to trim it. I tried ordering a variety pack off of Amazon, but the tubing pieces were all pretty short. I try to cover the entire side of the hemostat if possible, and so I’ve found that the Home Depot tubing works best for me.
Now that I’ve explained the hemostats, let’s get to the sunflower part. I fold the shirt like I was going to tie a mandala. Once the shirt is folded, I mark an area where I want the center of the sunflower to be - remember sunflowers have really large centers so make that area pretty large. I tie the initial line with sinew and continue tying diagonal lines of sinew down to the very end of the mandala. Once I reach the end, I start tying diagonal lines going back toward the original line. Essentially making a criss cross design. This will add some texture to the center of the sunflower.
Then for the petals, I put one 8 inch hemostat at a slight angle in the middle close to the sunflower center with the curve going out toward the side. Then I place the other 8 inch hemostat next to it with the curve going toward the other side. It truly is easier to understand if you’ve seen the video. The curved hemostat is what makes the petal design. I do the same thing with the 10-12 inch hemostats. I place them not too far away from the row of 8 inch hemostats. The rest of the shirt I usually scrunch and hold the folds in place with rubber bands.
Like I mentioned earlier - hemostats can break or pop. When you are clamping them down on the fabric - make sure you are prepared to move quickly if one goes flying off. They can fly across the room. I also try to clamp them down as tightly as they will go.
After tying the shirt, I allow it to dry out completely before I start applying the dye. The sunflower fold is pretty thick and I get much better dye saturation on the inside of the center and the petals of the sunflower when it is dry.
For the dye I usually use Golden Yellow for the petals and Dutch Chocolate for the center (both are Dharma Trading Company colors). I use a blue dye for the scrunch area outside of the sunflower. I personally think that when I use blue - where the petals of the sunflower meet with the rest of the shirt it forms a little green and gives the illusion of leaves. I also think the blue makes the sunflower stand out. If I have a couple different shades of blue mixed, I will use both of them on the shirt and add a little dimension to the main area of the shirt.
I use small needle tip bottles for the Golden Yellow and Dutch Chocolate dye. https://amzn.to/31xOFOJ https://amzn.to/2FXVoJn Here are links to the 1 ounce and 4 ounce bottles that I purchased. The needle tip bottles give me more control over the dye and makes it easier to dye the sunflower area.
I usually start with the center of the sunflower and slowly apply the dye. Since I put so many sinew lines in the center, I go slow to make sure I get dye into each and every section. I will also come back and reapply dye several times just to make sure I get it well saturated. Then I add Golden Yellow to the hemostat area. Right up next to the first row of hemostats (the 8 inch ones), I place a very thin line of Dutch Chocolate and then I usually go over it with yellow to soften the line. I think this gives dimension to the petals, kind of like a shadow. Once the sunflower is dyed, I add the blue color/colors to the rest of the shirt.
Then I gently turn the shirt over and repeat the dyeing process. I try to be gentle when dealing with the hemostats so that they don’t pop off of the shirt. If one happens to pop - just clamp it back down on the shirt and continue on.
I allow it to process for at least 24 hours and rinse it out like normal.
Some of the links above are for Amazon items, and I am an Amazon Associate. Therefore, if you click or purchase through these links I earn a commission from qualifying purchases.