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Brother Brent's Blog


Tie Dye Hasn't Had Its Paint in a Tube Moment
Painting exploded when paint came ready in a tube. Tie dye is still waiting on its moment. Chemistry is what's in the way, and the series takes it off the table.
4 days ago3 min read


Hot Water Irrigation Is Just Irrigation
Hot water irrigation puts one setting in the name of an entire technique. It is just irrigation. Temperature and soda ash are dials you choose, and heat is the one that fights saturation hardest.
Aug 2712 min read


Why Tie-Dye Belongs on Stage
Why tie-dye belongs on stage and why I've been putting my work on musicians for years. The stage is the natural environment for this work.
Jul 233 min read


What a Dye Fixative Actually Does, and Why You Probably Don't Need One
A fixative doesn't fix anything. Here's what it actually does to the loose dye sitting in your fabric, and why washing it out properly is the permanent answer.
Jul 195 min read


How to Care for a Hand-Dyed Fiber Reactive Tie-Dye Piece
Nobody really talks about this. You buy a piece, you love it, and then you wash it like a gym shirt and wonder why it looks different in two years. This isn't a gym shirt. It's a piece of art. Treat it like one. Here's how to care for fiber reactive tie dye so it stays that way. The dye isn't going anywhere Fiber reactive dye forms a covalent bond with the cotton fiber. That's not marketing language. It means the dye molecule and the fiber molecule share electrons and become
Jul 23 min read


Fiber Reactive Tie-Dye Supplies: What You Actually Need
The Tie-Dye Supply List I Wish I'd Had When I Started There is no shortage of fiber reactive tie-dye supplies lists on the internet. Most of them were written by someone who bought a kit once. This one wasn't. Everything on this list is something I've actually used. A lot of it replaced something else I tried first. The squeeze bottles replaced bigger bottles. The smaller tips replaced the standard ones. The beakers replaced guesswork. Every item here earned its spot through
Jun 83 min read


Why Is Tie-Dye So Expensive? What a $100 Shirt Actually Costs
Let's start with the honest answer: most people have no framework for pricing handmade art. They see a t-shirt and they price it against the rack at Target. That's the wrong comparison, and I want to explain why. You're Buying Something That Will Never Exist Again Every piece in this store is one of one. Not "limited edition." Not a small run. One. The fold, the dye application, the chemistry, the timing, the specific cotton fiber in that specific blank on that specific day.
Jun 43 min read
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