A visit to the Tie Dye Lab in Avon

Just west of Indy down Rockville Road in Avon is a little creative gem called The Tie Dye Lab. You can pop in and create your own wearable work of art with friends and family, young or old! 

The TDL is a member of Indiana Originals like we are, so I saw a posting about a particular workshop they were hosting for this particular style that I thought might interest my 14 year old son. For those with teens, you know how rare an opportunity this is so I jumped on it when he said yes!

We easily reserved our spot online, selected our size shirts, and even selected our colors from their color guide online so that our station was all set up for us when we arrived. We were able to add a couple more colors when we started as well so they are flexible with that! 

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To get started, one of their many employees came to walk us through the process. Now, being a DIY-er at heart I do wish that we got to be a part of the process more. They provided thorough instruction sheets with photos, but our helper informed us she would be tying our shirts up for us. She followed the pattern for the style we were doing, the "blackhole" design, and wrapped our shirts with several rubber bands. She then instructed us to lay our wrapped shirts across the grates and generously apply the dye as she had instructed us. TDL provided plastic gloves and aprons so this process really wasn't too messy! Once that step was complete, they took them for us so the dye could set about 15 minutes, cleaned up our area, and offered us a game to play while we waited! (We chose UNO, and I lost bad).

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Once the dye had time to set, they called us over to rinse the excess dye out of our shirts in their big sinks. It took just a couple minutes and then she ran them through a ringer to squeeze out the excess moisture (my son says he wishes he could have done that part!). And that's it! The shirts are still wet and need to be washed at home with their special detergent they give you within a couple of hours, so they put them in a plastic bag and send you on your way! Once they are washed, the colors are more safely set for future washings. 

You do not need a reservation if you have less than 8 in your group. They are recommended for 8+.and YES, you can book a birthday party with them! For all the info, visit www.thetiedyelab.com! 

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