They seem like such a small thing to care about, but these are special, I swear! They are stretchy elastic, no tangle and double as a bracelet & look really cute at the same time.
The best part is they won't pull your hair out, & I have a lot of hair!! My locks are currently about 2 feet long, just to the small of my back, its curly, thick (heavy) and unruly most of the time, so I have been going through about 1 of these ties a week.
They cost about $1.50 at a local store, no biggie but lately I have been flying through my supply.
They go from looking like this :)
....to this :(
So as usual, I made my own.
I bought a bulk roll of elastic from a sewing supply store. 100 yards to be exact. That should last me a while. According to my calculations I can make approx 350 hair ties.
How I made them:
These are the dyes I had laying around already, in green, black, navy, and royal blue. I also used a scissor, rubber bands, a plastic fork, rubber gloves, hot water, cold water, a candle and various plastic dying cups.
I love them in a tie dye pattern. You don't need to dye them this way if you simply want them a solid color. But the variance & multi colors is my favorite part. So I used a couple rubber bands and tied up about 2 yards at a time into a small bundle.
I dipped the elastic into concentrated dye.
I placed the dipped elastic into a large tupperware, to set for a minute.
Then I poured a bit of hot water on top to activate the dye.
Let that sit for just a bit and scooped it up with my plastic fork.
I then plunged it into a cup of cold water.
Then I rinsed them off in the large tupperware in the sink until the water was clear and removed the rubber bands.
I hung them outside in the shade to air dry.
Cut them to length and tied a knot. I used the candle to heat melt the edges, so they won't unravel and fray.
And there you have it!
My hair should be supplied with ties for the next few years. They were really fun to make. I haven't tie dyed anything since I was a kid. It was so much fun, I may be tie dyeing things around the house for pure entertainment!
4 comments:
This is awesome. Can I ask what kind of elastic was it? I didn't realize there were so many until I went to Hobby Lobby today to look at them and it was a little overwhelming! Anything would help. Thanks for sharing! :)
@Sus, yes the elastic specifically is called Fold Over Elastic or FOE. I had a very hard time finding it at my local crafting supply store.
I believe I bought it in 5/8" width and I got it online. Unfortunately I don't remember the online store that I bought it from, but I would suspect a search for "Fold Over Elastic" should get you somewhere fast.
I would like to mention that I bought 100 yrds and I have way too much left over. This elastic is also great for making baby girl headbands, and other purposes so I will eventually use it up.
Hi! I love this post, I've been trying fruitlessly to to tie dye hair ties and this has definitely helped!
I tried using this tutorial with Tulip tie dye, but it didn't seem to work as well for me as it did for you, the colors ran together and didn't have a very "tie-dyeish" effect. I've just purchased Rit dye and plan to try it again, but just wanted to know if you have any tips on what NOT to do before I do another trial run. I'd love to know about your trial and error process so I don't make the same mistakes. Another question: you simply used concentrated Rit dye, correct? The directions say to heat the dye, but I'm assuming you didn't do this. Also, do you have any idea how to do different patterns? Let me know and thanks so much in advance!
@Caroline, Hi I hope you read this reply before you attempt this again!
I actually needed to make about 40 more hair ties for an upcoming event in pink and red, so I went back and read my tutorial here and followed the directions exactly, and they came out great a second time.
So if you do what I did you should be successful!
To answer your questions:
Yes I used concentrated liquid Rit Dye.
Yes, I did activate the dye with heat. After I dipped the hair ties in the dye, I pour boiling water on them in a separate container.
The patterns I achieved by just wrapping rubber bands around the bundles of elastic. I made sure to leave areas of white where the dye didn't bleed into before pouring the hot water on them.
You really just need to experiment, and if you buy the elastic in bulk its not expensive to practice on a few bundles. Good luck!
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