Dirty, worn down denim in a bucket with paint remainings filled with tea and more..

[the Repeater]

If you actually wanted these dyed, it would be salt and powdered dye. Salt helps dye be absorbed, and tea really isn't going to darken them much.

I over-dyed a weird-blue colored pair of 501's with brown, and that didn't even add that much darkness, after it was washed out.

[keska]

If you actually wanted these dyed, it would be salt and powdered dye. Salt helps dye be absorbed, and tea really isn't going to darken them much.

I over-dyed a weird-blue colored pair of 501's with brown, and that didn't even add that much darkness, after it was washed out.

where can I get powdered dye?

[c.r.e.a.m.]

nice project... i also thought that the tea wouldnt do much.. you need something darker. a fabric store would deff have powdered dye... also walmart maybe... but then youd just be dying your jeans instead of an experiment.

[Androo630]

How long are you gonna leave them in for?

[ernest]

add some booze to the bucket

[Sympathy-For-The-Denim]

i think you would get better dye with less water and more tea... cool idea anyway,

i always considere to dig a hole in the grown and bury them for half few month, at best in the fall or spring when there is enough moisture in the soil...

[Skeese]

add some tobacco....

and some sort of househould fragrance

[panicnation]

dissolve some pheromones in there, and watch as dogs hump yr legs in the rain.

[Double D]

nice project... i also thought that the tea wouldnt do much.. you need something darker. a fabric store would deff have powdered dye... also walmart maybe... but then youd just be dying your jeans instead of an experiment.

Needs real English tea... a box of black teabags boiled in a pan for a while has one hell of a shade.

[FUCK]

yeah, cool project, but i keep scratching my head over your choice of sugar. did i miss your explanation? that is just going to cause problems!

[Charlie Delta]

You guys do realize that mold is not at all good for denim?

[viv1984viv]

Did the tea wash in evo a while back.... I dont know why you thought different teas like black currant would help??? Best would be shit loads of black english tea - like DD said.

And the sugar? Why???

Unless the next set of photos will be shot at a diner table...?

Im seriously considering an orange dylon over-dye for my APCs or PBJs....

[keska]

About the sugar; I guess I was more curious than I was cautious. Ofcourse if you stop to think about it it seems like a bad idea, but obviously I didnt, since I wanted to experiment and have some shared trial and error. Who knows, maybe the sugar will leave a matte wax effect or a good smell.

[fre-co]

Who knows, maybe the sugar will leave a matte wax effect or a good smell.

No, it'll just act as a source of energy for the bacteria and fungus that will soon be growing in your denim.

[denimdestroyedmylife]

add cocaine

(julian red likes the cocaine)

julian gives good head. and is dead.

[keska]

No, it'll just act as a source of energy for the bacteria and fungus that will soon be growing in your denim.

I added a bar of soap and some 'lemon extract mixture with alcohol' for disinfecting wounds, I dont think there will be any bacteria and fungus.

[viv1984viv]

add cocaine

(julian red likes the cocaine)

julian gives good head. and is dead.

'ello Yoko....

Where have you been? Busy returning video tapes?? ;-)

[keska]

So its been a while since my last update, I haven't been posting updates here. But I did take some pictures of the progress my jeans made since the last update.

This is how the bucket looked on Wednesday after being out in the sun for 2 days. I wasn't happy with the color and consistency of the 'tea' in the bucket so I decided to pour it all out and re freshen it. I did this by applying some pressure on the brick and then tilting the bucket till all of the tea was out of the bucket, so the mold of the jeans is still the same, as is the position of the soap on the jeans. As you can see I put the brick back on there after noticing that the soap bar did a bad job at keeping the jeans under water. The soap bar is still squished under there tho.

I decided to go with less but a lot darker tea. The bags are English tea bags;

The other stuff is the same dark tea I used before. I filled this kettle with water and then boiled it. Its not large, I'd say it can hold about 1 liter of tea.

And then I poured it over the jeans while it was hot, on a hot day so it would evaporate faster.

The color of the tea

And this is how they looked on Friday. I think.

Now I think that all of the tea is gone, will check to see later, but im thinking of adding about 250 ml of liquid starch. Maybe I'll let the jeans soak it in for a while and then hang them to dry.

[Paean]

would definitely love to see how they look after the soak !

[Stylish Pilot]

i would say let them soak in the starch for about a half an hour then put them in direct sunlight and let them harden up.

[CrashTestBrummie]

Yeah, but...no, but...PG Tips?!?

You could at least've used Earl Grey, and added a slice of lemon for good measure!

Or if you want different smelling jeans, use Lapsang Souchong. You'll have all the strays in the neighbourhood following you down the street trying t work out what it is that smells of bacon...

[callejeros]

Are you planning to take them out of the bucket soon?

Post some progress pics

[Tarmac]

Jesus, how long they been in that bucket? 3 weeks? Probably a slug or two living in there.

[jyoni]

Stir a little fresh concrete in there.

[pokpok]

drink the tea.

[CrashTestBrummie]

Drink the jeans...

[keska]

Ok, so this picture was taken on September 14. This was right after I had drained the tea out by letting the bucket sit on its side with the back slightly tilted. Unfortunately sometime during those 2 days it rained for a bit, the jeans didn't get wet but the the rain splashing against the ground did leave some dirt on the jeans.

After this picture I took the jeans out and noticed some living shit on the bottom of the bucket. So i put the jeans back and poured about 5 liters of boiling water over the jeans. They sat like that for like a day or 2 till I had it drained. And then they sat in a moderately moist bucket in the sun until yesterday September 19th. I took them out and let them dry in the sun till they felt dry. The following pics were taken when I took them out;

First look; These reminded me of some expensive Japanese LVC's at first impression. Most of the white stuff is not paint, its from the soap that was under the brick on the 1st pic. I'm hoping that in the final result the jeans will be clean and blue where the soap used to be.

As you can see the tea left some significant markings, the jeans have an overall shade of brown as well as some irregular brown 'stains'. These pictures don't really do the color of the jeans justice, they have more contrast, but I'll try to capture that with better lighting later.

All threads that used to stick out on the jeans now have a nice shade of vintage brown, the ass used to be a much paler shade of blue.

The top is more affected by the tea than the bottom

Soap and tag

Glam shot, as you can see the inside has a dark shade of brown too.

The jeans seem to have some very irregular tea stains which I very much adore. But I'd like the jeans to be a little more discrete, stainwise, so I'll rinse them extensively, to get rid of anything that might leave a stain or smell, later in the shower. Nonetheless I like the outcome and I think the final result will be a nice pair of wearable 100year old pair of jeans.

Still taking advise, ideas.

[Jimbo69]

It looks like those jeans could give you herpes.

[raulishere]

would have been better minus the paint

[lenn]

looks like you fucked up a perfect pair of worn down jeans

bravo