This is the first year in four that we didn't break out the indigo but don't worry, there was plenty of dye sloshing around!

The first step was to set up the garage. Thank goodness the weather improved a bit with slightly cooler temperatures and a lot less humidity. I cut open some large trash bags, taped them to the work surfaces, and made sure we had plenty of paper towels!

Next, we had to prep all the items that we wanted to die. We used rubber bands, string, marbles, and even a bamboo tiki torch to wrap a shirt around (because I couldn't find anything else pipe-like in a pinch) to twist, fold, and bunch up the fabric as desired/hoped.

Junah joined us this year...

When I put aprons on the boys, one of them remarked that they looked like doctors. When I gloved them up, Addie said, "Yeah, we're doctors of art!"

Jün wasn't really all that into the process, but he was more than content to be hanging around... riding his bike, and coming in to check on Mack & Addie from time to time. I rather left the big boys to their own devices because a) they've done this before, b) we dyed a lot more than last year, and c) I was mostly busy just wrapping things up to cure!

There were six adult shirts, seven for Gin/Jun, three onesies in a couple of sizes, and six for Mack & Addie!

Once wrapped, it was all left to cure for approx. 24 hours.

It's a blast to unwrap everything. I hosed off as much excess dye as I could, first just as it's unwrapped and then when unbound... and, man, there is a LOT of excess dye! Then everything is tossed into the washer...

...I ran four cycles in hot water and with Color Catchers (lots and lots of color catchers... thankfully, Kate was running errands and brought more)! I laid it all out on my bed yesterday morning so the boys could paw through and admire their work.

Here are a couple of faves (I think I did these):

A onesie, a swirl shirt Gin/Jün size, front & back of another Gin/Jün size.
It's almost impossible to keep track of who did what...

Then we had some modeling and photos yesterday morning before Ann & family headed to Madison for the boys' Nana's 96th birthday party!

They're packing up and getting things done today, heading to Chicago on Tuesday to board their flight to Spain, where they'll arrive on Wednesday! We won't see them state-side again until Christmas... and I miss them already. It was a fun visit!

Ali came over later with the kiddos and they modeled, too!

Maybe you can see Ginny where already made her own mark on the one she's wearing... after finding a spray bottle of bleach/water that I had under the sink! (Uh-oh, Grandma's obviously slacking in the childproof department.)

We did a lot more than this at Auntie Camp... another post or two or three is in the works!