I've been obsessed by what folks have been doing with Clorox bleach pens and knew I had to give it a try myself. Pintress has pins of a bunch done on all sorts of tee shirts but only a few posts on jeans. After reading all about making your own bleach pens and more I decided to just purchase the bleach pens for my first go around. Honestly the pens are under $3.00 each and it took me just over one pen to do every bit of doodling on this pair of jeans. To me it would never be worth bothering with trying to make my own but that's just my opinion. I would hate to get totally finished with my project just to find out my bleach ratio was off and I didn't get the nice deep bleached pattern I was looking for. Supplies: Jeans or other mostly cotton item Clorox Bleach Pen or empty glue bottle to use as applicator **********update! soft scrub with bleach works great for pen refills update!************ Tooth Pick or other sharp implement Wax Paper Paper Towel My friend Bethany made a good point, you don't want to use the dollar store version of these bleach pens, they work great on the grout in your bathroom but are to watery to be any good for this application. Bleach bleeding will happen with the cheap pens, this is yet another reason I didn't want to mess with trying to make bleach paste. I have found that soft scrub with bleach is a great pen refil. Here are my finished jeans, I just thrilled with them. I should have started by shaking my bleach pens to make sure the bleach paste inside was evenly distrubited throughout the pen. I didn't do this but you will :). I started by placing waxed paper on the inside of the pants so the bleach wouldn't bleed through. I simply cut the basic leg shape and slid it into both pant legs. I wasn't sure where I would end up doodling with the bleach so I simply lined both sides top to bottom. You could draw a design onto your pants with chalk before applying the bleach but this goes against my jump in with both feet mentality so I didn't. Before you start doodling on the pants try it on a paper towel to get the feel for the pens bleach consistency, have a toothpick handy so you can pop any bubbles that need busting, trust me there will be bubbles. I realized that I needed to start squeezing the pen before putting it down onto the denim to make sure I wouldn't be starting with a bubble. I completed the the leg doodle and moved onto the front pocket because these were areas I could do without flipping the pants. The bleach must completely dry before you can work on the other side so no bleach smudging happens. This is what the bleach looked like after drying, I took this powdery mess outside and brushed it off the pants. Once it was pretty much all off I rinced the jeans in the tub to get out any extra bleach. I didn't want it to take the chance that it might lighten the rest of the jean fabric in the laundry. I have a front loader and they don't use as much water to dilute the bleach so this was just a precaution. Here is the back of the finished jeans. Close up of the leg, the toothpick also comes in handy to pull the bleach into points because the pens lay out a fairly thick line. Here is the rear pocket and I did it last, I don't think that I had the pen as well shaken as the front and it's not as crisp of a design so shake those pens. This is the front pocket and you can see some of it isn't as crisp as the leg pattern again with the shaking. LOL. This project was so much fun I see more in my future, I may have to doodle on friends jeans because just how many doodle jeans does one person need. My jean jacket may be next on the docket. The two pair below I did for some friends. Latest projects 4/20/15 My friend Maralyne lives on South Padre Island in Texas and I when I was down visiting her I bleached these jeans for her. She works with the sea turtle rescue so I thought this design was appropriate. I used a tribal tattoo design as the inspiration for these jeans. The above design wraps around the leg so I had to wait for the bleach on the humming bird to dry before I could work on the flowers. Maralyne has a pair of cowboy boots with the design that inspired this pair of jeans.

I have made bleach shirts in the past, but never with a bleach pen. I decided to embark on a new adventure this weekend--bleach pen t-shirts. I bought a black shirt and a bleach pen at Target and whipped out this bad boy on Saturday morning: (Part of Psalm 139) I was quite please with how it turned out, so I couldn't just stop there.... For those of you who would like to embark on this bleachy fun filled activity, I'll walk you through it step by step. You will need: * A t-shirt of some sort (I decided to bling out some of my gym shirts instead of buying anything). * A bleach pen (you may want to keep some extras on hand because you'll want to do this again). * Magazines or cardboard or wax paper or something to keep in between the layers of the shirt. * Chalk (optional) *And.... * A window you can crack so you don't pass out from the fumes. (I used magazines because they were right there and provided a nice solid surface) Let the games begin! 1. Trace a design on your shirt with chalk (some say that it helps the bleach from running; some say it helps you know where to put the bleach--I say it's a waste of time). 2. Give the pen a few shakes and test it out on a paper towel (do this periodically throughout the process to keep the bleach at the tip of the pen and hopefully prevent bubbles). 3. Begin tracing your chalk design with the bleach pen, keeping the tip of the pen off of the fabric like you would puff paint (or, if you're not using chalk, just start free-handing it). 4. Continue until you are please with the design and wait! 5. Before long, you'll start seeing the fabric change colors. 6. Let the bleach set for 10 or 20 or 30 or however many minutes you want... (it differs depending on the fabric, but you'll notice when it has changed). 7. SOME people say to then rinse out the shirt in cold water, but I say that's another useless step--just march that sucker to the washer, drop it in for a short wash (maybe a second rinse), and BAM! There you have it! I really have no clue why the spots where I actually placed the bleach stayed purple and the areas surrounding them turned pink, but it looks cool to me. Aaaaaand, like I said, once you start, you won't want to stop. :) Here is another gym shirt I transformed shortly after the first.... No chalk on this bad boy---I just went to town. You can really see the colors of this one turning... And BAM! Here it is after the wash! Again, I'm not sure why it stayed blue where the bleach was and turned white around the edges--it must be the kind of fabric--I bet I couldn't do that on my own if I tried. :) Go ahead---run your little self to Target right now and get your supplies. I'd love to see your finished products if you so dare. Oh! And one last thing... May the odds be ever in your favor.

...in pint sized packages... just perfect for popping into a pretty purse or a pant pocket or a plastic protective ATC page... ready for a Muse to imbibe for the sheer pleasure of it. Each vintage has been packaged under its own private label...signed by the designer and has been sent directly from the manufacturer to the "Light of the Moon" swap at Illustrated ATCs. :) "Full Moon White Tank Mountains" "Saguaro Sentry" "Midnight Arroyo Magic" ...and lastly, "Through the Mesquite...Painted Desert". ♥ So... why not sit back and relax, sip in some of this prickly desert warmth, and celebrate in style this last Cactus Monday of the month of January. (BTW... If you are in the mood... a larger portion of desert heat can be requested by simply clicking on each image.) "Here's looking at you, kid!!" ~Rick ( Humphrey Bogart) Casablanca...1942

Dye update - no dyeing has taken place yet. I got sidetracked by a bleach pen, black cotton and mark making.

One Clorox Bleach Pen, an old t-shirt, old yoga pants and 30 minutes yields some new-to-me clothes! After creating my designs with the pen, I let it set for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes I rinsed them in the bathtub and washed/dried them as normal. My T-shirt Design My Yoga Pants Design (On the bottom side of the leg)

Dye update - no dyeing has taken place yet. I got sidetracked by a bleach pen, black cotton and mark making.

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