Pinterest Project #5 - T-Shirt + Bleach pen = Cool!

This one is from my Pinterest board titled "T-shirt art ideas". 

There are quite a few of ideas there I want to try but this one really intrigued me. It seemed so simple - a shirt and a bleach pen. The idea of being able to draw a design on easily with a fine tipped bleach pen seemed too simple to be true - but it was!

Click on the following link to see the original Pinterest post that I pinned -

Bleach designed tshirt

So Here's What I did - 

I started with a black t-shirt from Target that I purchased on sale for $5. 

It's 100% cotton - but would probably work just fine as long as it was mostly cotton. 

I also picked up the bleach pen there for about $3.

I wanted the design to be on the side of the front and back of the shirt similar to the blue one above so I turned the shirt on the side so that the seam was in the middle. I slipped a piece of cardboard into the shirt and also added some wax paper so the bleach wouldn't seep through to the other side.

And away I went! - drawing my design with the fine tip side of the bleach pen. I wanted to do a cherry blossom branch like design and was confident in just going for it without a design drawn out first. 

You could take a piece of chalk and draw out the design you want first.

It was fun to watch how fast the color changed as I was drawing. The fumes from the bleach pen started to bother me a bit so I took it outside to sit for about 30 minutes. The longer you leave it on the lighter it will become. Of course that is dependent on what color of shirt you start with. On a lighter shirt you may not need to have it sit as long. Just keep an eye on it until it is the color you want.

I rinsed the shirt in cold water to get the remaining bleach off and stop the bleaching action. 

Then tossed it in the washer on cold with a bit of soap.

The Finished Product! - 

It has the Toby sniff of approval!

I think it came out pretty good and I can't wait to try it again. Next time with a lighter color. I'm also thinking of trying to use a stencil and spray bottle of bleach to mist around a design.