Okay, so I had this old t-shirt lying around, pretty boring. I was looking for something different to do with it, not just the usual tie-dye. Stumbled upon this weird idea, sounded like “frying” the fabric. Not literally deep-frying it, obviously, but using heat and some stuff to get a unique look. Figured, why not give it a shot?
Getting Started
First thing, I grabbed the shirt. Plain white cotton, perfect test subject. Then I needed my “frying” gear. I decided to try melting some old wax crayons, thought the colours might bleed nicely under heat. Mixed the melted crayon bits with a tiny bit of linseed oil I had, just to see if it would change the texture. Not exactly cooking oil, but felt safer near heat.
Stuff I used:
- Old white t-shirt
- Wax crayons (broken pieces)
- A little bit of linseed oil
- A metal bowl (to melt crayons in, placed over hot water)
- An old paintbrush
- A heat gun (could use an iron too, probably safer)
- Cardboard (to put inside the shirt)
- Newspaper (lots of it, for the mess)
The “Frying” Process
Spread out the newspaper everywhere. This felt like it could get messy. Shoved the cardboard inside the shirt so nothing bled through to the back. Melted the crayons carefully over a pot of hot water, stirred in that tiny splash of oil. It looked like weird, colourful gunk.
Then I started dabbing and painting this stuff onto the shirt with the brush. Didn’t really have a plan, just made some splatters and streaks. Let it sit for a minute.
Here came the “frying” part. Turned on the heat gun, kept it moving on a low setting about six inches away from the fabric. The wax started melting again, spreading into the cotton. It bubbled a bit, kinda like spitting oil, which was cool. Had to be careful not to scorch the shirt itself. The crayon colours blended in some spots, creating these strange, translucent patches where the wax soaked in. It smelled a bit waxy, not too bad.
Cleaning Up and The Result
After heating the whole design, I let the shirt cool down completely. The wax hardened, leaving these raised, waxy areas with colour blended in. Looked kinda weird, honestly. Felt like a candle had a fight with my shirt.
Next step was tricky. I needed to get some of the wax out but leave the colour and maybe some texture. I put the shirt between more newspaper layers and went over it with a hot iron. The paper soaked up a lot of the excess wax. Did this a few times with fresh paper.
Finally, gave it a gentle hand wash in cold water. A bit more wax came off, but the colours stayed put, stained into the fabric. The areas where the wax mix was thickest remained slightly stiff and darker, almost like… well, kinda like fried bacon bits stuck to a shirt?
The final look is definitely unique. It’s got this distressed, almost greasy-looking pattern in spots, but colourful. The fabric texture is changed where the wax was. It’s not something you’d buy in a store, that’s for sure. It was an interesting experiment, glad I tried it on an old shirt first. Messy, a bit unpredictable, but hey, that’s crafting sometimes. Got myself a one-of-a-kind shirt out of it.
