1960s Drop In Day

Yesterday, 18 teens stopped by for our first drop-in day of the school year. The theme for this one was the 1960s. I didn't do much advertising, so I'm glad the word got out! We watched The Birds, Alfred Hitchcock's famous horror movie from 1963, and played Rock Band: The Beatles. The best part of the event was making tie-dyed stretchy book covers. They are perfect for back-to-school! Doing tie-dye definitely gave us the psychedelic feel of the 60s hippie movement even though the book covers are a modern invention. We snacked on food introduced in the 60s, including Doritos (1966), Lays (1965), Pop-Tarts (1964), and Tang (1966). Everyone was also entered to win a 60s gift basket as they arrived, which was ultimately won by Laurel. Congrats to her, and thanks to everyone who attended.

PS--Bring in your book covers if they turned out. I'd love to see them!

The gift basket had candy introduced in the 60s, some Woodstock memorabilia, an ex-library copy of the teen classic My Darling, My Hamburger from 1969, and an Archie comic book celebrating the decade.

Rubber banding the book covers gets a thumbs up! (Really, what doesn't!?)

A crowd trying to add color all at once.

A less busy time at the dye table.

Some completed book covers. They turned out amazingly well!

Patriotic Tie-Dyed Shoelaces

Today, 20 people dropped by between 11:00 and 2:00 for our first teen craft of the summer! Even though there was a heat warning, we went ahead and set up the tie-dye outside. We had a canopy and a cooler of water, and there was a nice breeze and some cloud cover that helped it not feel so hot. Anyway, we had a great time hanging out and making the shoelaces, so I hope everyone's projects turned out well! Thanks to Christine and Laurel, TAB members who showed up early to set up the craft supplies. And thanks to everyone who stayed after to help me take it all down again!

See you next week for painted bottle vases. They are going to look really cool, and everyone gets to make two!!

Rubber banding the laces and putting them in the soda ash soak

Dyeing the laces

Finished projects, ready to go home

DIY Tie-Dye

Last Wednesday (the day before Thanksgiving), 12 teens showed up for our drop-in tie-dye craft. A lot of people did our shoelaces, but we also had people bring shirts, socks, and even a messenger-style bag! I also had some random shirts and baby items that some people made as extra items.

I made a few baby items for my cousin that turned out pretty well, but I managed to dye my hands completely blue when rinsing them out at home! I am still blue around the nails, and I will remember to wear gloves next time...

If you want to learn more about how to tie-dye, check out this post from the summer.

Two girls rubber banding their shirts into different patterns.

These girls modeled their trash bag smocks and plastic gloves.

One trash bag model and two girls showing off their shoelaces.

One person wore her awesome new shirt to the library on Friday! It turned out amazingly well.

This is a great baby onesie I made for my cousin. It's probably the most perfect tie-dye I have ever done.

I also did a baby burp cloth that turned out really well.

Katie's socks came out super-cute!

Tie-Dyed Shoelaces!!

Last Wednesday, 27 people stopped by our outdoor teen craft station to make tie-dyed shoelaces. It was messy, but great! We had some samples available, but a lot of people tried their own patterns. The library provided all of the materials, but the teens had to take their laces home to rinse, wash, and dry them the next day. We will definitely do this again in the future.

A lot of people had questions about tie-dyeing during the event. To help you in the future, I arranged the photos in order below, so you can see the steps of the process we used. When you tie-dye, you must use 100% cotton items. Many things you buy at the store are blends, so you have to be careful. Also, when I orginally bought our tie-dye materials, I bought this kit at A. C. Moore, which included a helpful DVD. Try tie-dye at home with all kinds of stuff!

Here are the pictures...

The first step is making a pattern on the laces with rubber bands. We used the tiny rubber bands meant for hair braids, and they worked perfectly!

More teens preparing their laces. After being rubber banded, laces went in a soda ash soak for 10 minutes.

After that, it was time to go crazy with the dye bottles! Actually, this project didn't take much dye at all.

Another group getting started with the dye bottles.

Everyone wore gloves to prevent stained hands.

Laces after dye was applied.

More dyed laces, ready to put in bags to set for 24 hours.

Genni and I made some extra laces for prizes at the teen summer reading party. I took these home and did the finishing work myself, and they all turned out well.

Two people wore their laces to the library on Friday!

Sock It to Me!

On December 28, 14 teens came in to tie-dye socks, including a few of our grads who were home on break! Marissa headed several crazy card games while waiting for her socks to soak, and everyone seemed to have a good time. Stop by and show me your socks if they turned out well!

Squirting the dye.

Everyone was concentrating.