Tulip Review

I had the opportunity to work with my two nieces, (ages 6 and 10), on three products; Tulip Tye-Dye kit, Tulip fabric markers, and Tulip Color-changing paint.  We had a great time making some customized tops for Summer!

The Tye-Dye kit was the first one we tried.  Since, of the three of us, there isn't a single one of us who is neat, we opted to make the shirts in the laundry sink, instead of covering the table, walls, floor and ceiling with plastic. That was a fantastic idea, highly recommended.

We also strayed from the instructions in that the kids put the rubber bands on dry shirts, which we wet afterward.  It seemed more logical, (and less messy), and that worked beautifully too.

 

The dyes are pre-loaded in the bottles, so we added water and shook as instructed.  That would have worked well, except the bottles leaked by drips, so be careful when mixing the dyes.

The process for getting the die on the shirts couldn't be easier.  It is extremely messy, but easy.  Aim and very gently squirt.  The kids were surprisingly careful when doing this, possibly because they saw the purple stain on my wrist from shaking the bottle up.  The problem is that to get the quantity of 8 items dyed they advertise on the front of the box, (in a starburst, no less), you'd have to be dying baby bibs.  We got two children's shirts done, half of one more, and luckily, the younger one wanted to use the dye at the bottom of the tub to "soak up" a splotchy shirt design.  If she hadn't been so unknowingly easy-to-please, there could have been a sibling rivalry tantrum that Oprah couldn't have fixed.

Tulip suggested wrapping the shirts in plastic wrap.  I'm not so much for wrapping wet dyed fabric rolls with seamed plastic.  Plastic wrap --> plastic bags?  Bingo.  They don't leak, they seal, and they are easier to deal with.  Word to the wise.

 The process takes 6-8 hours, for the dyes to soak in.  We left it overnight, to ensure the best possible color development.

A good rinse in the washing machine with a tiny bit of soap resulted in these:



The 10 year old's worthy effort

  

The stylings of the 6 year old


The secondary efforts, not less cool, but certainly less dyed:


The leftover dye from the bottle



The "soaked" shirt from the leftover dye in the sink.

Next, we looked at the color changing paints.  The 10 year old was so enthralled about the markers, that she wanted nothing to do with the color change stuff.  The six year old could barely speak when she saw it.  Ahhh, youth.

To show off the coloring capabilities better, I bought two Disney shirts, that were black and white drawings only. 
The color paint comes out a bit like white "school" glue; there is no color at all, until it is out in the sun.  It also doesn't spread on it's own.  If you spread it too thinly, it will not show up as a color, and you won't know that until you get it out into the sun. These were tough concepts for the six year old.  The technique we finally agreed on was to touch the tip of the bottle to the fabric, at an angle, and gently squeeze.






Brushing, it turns out, often makes the paint too thin.
Take care in brushing!



Awwww.   So cute!

Overall, the paint is very easy to apply, it takes a little finesse to work out the details.  I think the results are cool in the sunlight!

The 10 year old took on the fabric markers, as she like to conform to established color lines and is more conventional in her thinking.

The markers are pretty self-explanatory.  They work like markers on paper, and the colors were nice and vibrant.  There was a bleeding problem with the colors, which my niece was NOT impressed with, but that might be avoidable if the colors are allowed to dry before the color next to it is applied. 

Adding just a little color

She decided that it would be "cooler" to leave some of the characters without color, and some with. 

The very cool "rainbow bone" was the real bleeder.  She wasn't real happy with the running color!



Who can argue with an artist?  :-)



Would you have your kids try these products?  How would you tailor the prep based on your situation at your home?  Would the minor limitations of the products deter you from them, or would you push ahead with these fun projects?