Tie Dye: An art form usually associated with unwashed hair, joints and general hippie-dom is much more than a throw back, its a great lesson in creative flow and inspiration.
Yes, I was a tie dye virgin. I often admired the colorful, bleeding shapes on T-shrits and tanks, but never actually attempted this mystical, infamous 60s art form. So, when a girlfriend hosted her annual blowout tie dye fest to color her own clothes and make some gifts, I was all in.
Watch Out Jerry Garcia
I collected my 100 percent cotton shirts, a mix of new and old and showed up ready to rock it. With an efficient set-up already established in the yard and colors mixed, all I had to do was soak the clothes, wait a bit and get to creating.
As a writer I am used to the blank sheet of paper, computer screen or journal, but this was a totally different “overwhelming”. When I write something I don’t like I don’t have to share. A piece of clothing is like a billboard showing a completely different side of my creative prowess. Would I love it or be handing it off to Goodwill? Or, could I let it be what it was without expectations?
After a few quick demos on technique I laid out my tank top and started musing. Colors? No idea. The others were already speedily using their rubber bands, clothes pins and scrunching fabrics. Others had their t-shirts neatly tucked together and were squirting colors that spanned the rainbow and then some. I was still staring at my naked, white tank top trying to “think it out.”
Then, finally…I just dove in.
I slapped on the rubber gloves, grabbed colors I thought would mesh, applied my rubber bands in patterns, squirt the die and tossed it into a plastic bag to set. And so it went, for subsequent pieces, and slowly my confidence increased. I tried diagonals, spirals, verticals and more. I made some sweet color choices, and some that could potentially come out looking like bodily fluids mixed together. If you know anything about tie dye, there’s just no way to know HOW it will come out until the very end. All you can do is go for it and see what happens.
And this is where the real lesson came in for me about creativity. When you do a certain type of art for a long time, you get used to your approach, technique and ideas about the potential outcome. It’s a somewhat predictable and safe way to work with a talent.
When you are venturing into new territory, things can get a little scary, mostly because the outcome is completely unknown. However, it’s this discomfort that allows us to create in new ways, ways that challenge us and make our core talents richer, more dynamic for the effort.
A Hippie Christmas
Opening your dyed shirts for rinsing is like Christmas morning in a way — busting open your packages to see the awesome loot. As you remove the rubber bands and rinse out the extra dye, you see an even subtler transformation of your art, happening right before your eyes.
My pieces came out as an expression of my exploration with a new way to create. Some pieces were fantastic in design, color and symmetry. Others were a bit of a bust due to how the colors bled and the patterns were coming together. I was most proud of my last piece, as it incorporated a mix of techniques I had learned by practicing and watching others throughout the afternoon.
Interestingly I chose a lot of green for my art without even realizing it. It totally works because my summer wardrobe was lacking green but more importantly, its the color of the heart chakra, the color of doing what you love and what swells your heart.
Now I have living art, art I can wear. I loved my tie dye experience because it reminded me of my creative dimensions and how I can only benefit in the long-run when I explore new creative boundaries as much as possible. Overall, my writing just becomes more inspired, my thinking, expanded.
Side bar: Little known fact: tie dye actually started in India, Japan and Africa years ago, with samples found in 4th century Chinese tombs.
Some more photos of my fabu creative time:
