Inkodye - Enrich Your T-shirts With Various Photos Using Sunlight

A company called Lumi has come up with a light-sensitive dye dubbed Inkodye that one can apply on a t-shirt, handkerchief and other materials made of cotton, silk or linen, and enrich the fabric with various images based on photo negatives.

The dye may also work on wood and other materials, but this may require some experimentation. The user will find in the kit red, orange and blue dyes, each in a volume of 118ml. These can be mixed to make other colors. One dye is enough to cover an area of about 6 sq ft (0.5 sq m), but if it is diluted with water, the area can be extended.

Here's how it works: the first step involves the application of paint on the surface. Then you should accurately place the photo negative on the wet dye. To keep the negative flat it is advised to put a piece of glass on top of it. After the project is ready, you should expose the material to sunlight for about 8 minutes in case of a sunny weather and 16 minutes if it's cloudy outside. Finally you only have to wash the fabric using a strong detergent to eliminate the unexposed dye.

Of course not all people have photo negatives, which is why it is also possible to use inkjet-compatible transparency sheets to printing out pictures. Another alternative would be paying a visit to a photo studio. A more simple way to enrich a fabric with an image would be using a cardboard that would allow creating a silhouette picture by cutting out specific shapes.

[via Photojojo]