Tie-Dye is a Big Hit

Estelle’s final “special project” of the week was “tie-dye” … an art that many of us learned back in the 60’s :-).  This project was a huge hit with the kids … so much so that they begged to do the same project for a second day, so they could bring back some more clothes from home to decorate.

One of the local women, Blanca,  came this day to help with the tie-dye.  (As an aside here, Blanca’s parents own El Paraiso, the locally-owned hillside posada where Estelle stayed, and the entire family is always extremely helpful, without being bothersome, with their guests).  Here, she begins the process of mixing up one of the three colors of dye that Estelle brought for the purpose.

The kids used elastics in different patterns to tie off the sections of their shirts.

Then they dipped all or parts of their shirts in the different dyes.

After a good soaking in the dye (or the dyes, as this shirt was) the kids left them to set for the night.

The next afternoon, they ran to unwrap their shirts to find out how the design turned out.

And they put them in the sun to dry.

The kids could hardly wait for the shirts to dry so each could proudly display their design.  The day was such a success, that they all clamoured for another chance to do the same thing the following day, so they could bring more clothes from home to re-invent.