Group Kid-Friendly Tie-Dye Shirts Activity

I found these how-to links helpful:

• Procedure, generally*
• Different styles/effects

*General steps are to:

1. Use natural fiber shirts, e.g. white cotton
2. If shirts are new, pre-wash shirts (at home) to remove sizing
3. Wet shirts via soaking in warm water ("baby bath water temperature," they say) + ash mixture (comes in tie-dye kits)
• Wear rubber gloves, because ash is slightly caustic
4. Wring shirts dry or dry in washing machine's spin cycle
5. Protect yourself and your work area
• Use rubber gloves, plastic tablecloth, so many paper towels, and disposable plates
6. Dye shirts in whatever style you like (I will probably choose the "pie" method but who knows - see links above to find a style you like)
• Will need rubber bands (at least 5 per shirt)
• Tip: if you're using yellow, apply yellow first (darker colors will "eat" your yellow if you don't add the yellow first)
7. Place shirts in individual Ziploc bags for 24 hours
8. Run shirts under cold water (at home) until water runs clear
9. Wash shirts separately in washing machine at least once before mingling with general purpose laundry

Supplies:

• Natural fiber shirts (what I bought for a baby girl, and for a boy)
• Tie-dye kit (what I bought)
• Bucket(s) for soaking (note: tie-dye kit should include a small basin)
• Rubber gloves (what I bought)
• Plastic tablecloth
• Paper towels
• Disposable plates
• Plastic wrap and beans, if you choose to do polka dots in Step 6
• Rubber bands
• Gallon-size Ziploc bags

My Enneagram Type

I took a free Enneagram type test from Truity. What's my type? According to the test, 9, 5, 6, or 1. Look at this brilliant pie chart that Truity created.

What this shows is that I am not really a type at all. I'm not bad at guessing my type, I just don't have one. I guess this is somewhat good news since I was worried that I'd clearly be a Type 6 like my father, not that there's anything wrong with that, other than that it would prove my mother right about me worrying too much (I don't).

What to know more about Enneagrams? You can visit The Enneagram Institute for descriptions, although taking their test is not free (and thus not something I personally did).

While I think Enneagrams have helped me to understand the motivations of some people which are not motivations I feel strongly myself (I'm looking at you, Type 4 people, who are my opposites), I'm not placing too much stock in this or any other personality test. I think the people who find a particular personality test most useful are those who fit more clearly into one type for that test. And in doing the test, they gain a better understanding of themselves.

Personally, I'm not really any of the Enneagram types, nor for that matter any one of the "four color" Four Temperaments types (see my results from Open Source Psychometrics Project below).