Q&A for How to Make Tie Dye Paint

It all depends what you mean by regular paint. Read the paint labels and what it's intended to paint. Avoid watercolor, as that will just wash off in the next wash.

Purchase "urea substitute" that is composed of diamine and ammonia. However, it may be difficult to find, whereas urea is available from most dye suppliers.

100% cotton t-shirts worked great for me. Most polyester or mixed-fiber t-shirts will work, but the color will be lighter.

You should let the t-shirt soak in the dye for around 5 hours, and it might be better to leave it somewhere warm to allow the dye to set better.

For about as long as it takes your fabric to actually dry, then if you want you could wash it later to get the chemicals out, depending on what you used to dye it with.

I don't think so. Oil and water don't mix as a texture. Fabric paint could work though, and you could also try acrylic, although fabric paint is probably best.

No, some fabrics are definitely better than others for fabric painting. Cotton, rayon, hemp, linen and ramie work very well. If you can't find 100% natural shirts, then a 90% cotton and 10% polyester is okay too. But avoid 50/50 blends because the color comes out too pale.

Yes you can, though it would probably be best if you used fabric paint. If you don’t have any, you could use acrylic.

If you want to you can. If you use plastic bags, you can put it in the sun to dry faster. The colour won’t get paler.

Tie dye is a favorite summer activity because it's known for being very messy -- the kind of craft you want to do outdoors.