WHITE LINES

A guide to bleaching your own designs

by Eliza Williams

As a broke student in Wellington, one of my greatest ongoing dilemmas has been this: how do I create the sickest fits Eyegum Wednesday has ever seen, whilst existing within a cost of living crisis? 

I’ve tried it all, whether it be cutting up existing clothes, wearing them in new ways, and straight up making my own. My new favourite solution to this issue has been bleach painting. As all good ideas start, I saw a TikTok of a girl bleach painting this crazy-as dragon onto a hoodie and thought “I can do that”.  

Being a veteran op-shopper, I always have had no shortage of blank tees that were fairly good quality but also fairly boring (thank you AS Colour for your services!). 

I started taking these and painting on them with the $3 bottle of bleach I already had under the sink. After a lot of trial and error, I’ve ended up developing a list of tips for bleach painting that I wish someone had told me before I started. 

My top tips for bleaching clothes at home:

• Be safe – it goes without saying, but bleach is highly toxic and you should avoid inhaling or touching it directly at all costs. Either work outside or open all your windows in your flat and potentially piss all your flatmates off – up to you. 

• Use protection – newspaper on surfaces, and a piece of cardboard put inside whatever clothing item you are painting on should be enough to stop the bleach from getting anywhere you don’t want it to.

• Use shitty brushes that you’re not worried about messing up: bleach will fuck up everything it touches; this includes the brushes you use to paint with it. Spend as little as possible on brushes so you don’t cry when they start to dissolve.

• If you don’t have some kind of fabric safe chalk or pen, start with a 50/50 dilution of bleach to lightly sketch out your design first. This can easily be covered up later with a more concentrated layer of bleach.

• If you’re a bit of a perfectionist, work in layers, handwashing the item in cold water and a dash of laundry powder between each one. I find this makes it easier to have more control over the different shades of light and dark.

• Less is more – load your brush with too much bleach and you’re going to cause splotchiness and spreading. To get smooth clean lines, you have to go over the same lines several times with a microscopic amount of bleach on your brush. It takes ages, but is worth it in the end! I promise!

•  If you finish painting and hate what you’ve made, get a big brush, dip it in your bleach, and add a bunch of splatters. This is best done outside with eye protection - unless you don’t mind risking blindness. It can be a great way to disguise mistakes, as well as adding texture and interest to your clothes.

The most important tip, though, is to enjoy yourself. The thing I love most about bleach painting is how easy it has made it for me to customize my clothes to cater to my own interests and style. Think of a design you wish you could get on a t-shirt, take matters into your own hands and make it yourself. GLHF!

(If you’re keen, feel free to check me out on Instagram @lizoomay where I post my own bleach designs, among other art and creations!)