[1] Jim hates sleeveless shirts because he thinks his arms are too skinny, but warm days and gym workouts demanded more than his single 1980s Cayman Islands souvenir shirt. And it became another excuse for me to play. We bought some white shirts.
Best result: doodling in melted soy wax with a djanting–an Indonesian “pen” with a copper well for melted wax. I should have dipped it twice for a richer, more even blue.
[2] I think my brother did this hippie-dippy tie-dye a few years ago, but the style was not “Jim.” The indigo overdye gave it a new life. For the resist patterning, I pressed the shirt into a vertical accordian fold and clamped it before dipping it into the dye vat.
[3] I tried the potato-starch resist again, with a simple brush-applied design. But the cotton knit and the consistency of my paste were a mismatch. The resist didn’t penetrate very well and the dye seeped under it. I have to remind myself to keep at it. Every lackluster result adds to my learning.
