I recently picked up a couple of shirts on clearance at Walmart. They weren’t really colors I was excited to wear, but they were $2, so I figured they’d be good fodder for experimenting with bleach effects. The final products:
One was originally an orchid color. I just sprayed it with diluted bleach and left it out on my deck in the sun for a bit. It started reacting almost immediately, turning pink in places.
It’s hard to see in photos, but up close you can pick up some of the spray pattern.
The other was a borderline-blinding pink. I like a hot pink, but this was pushing it even for my taste.
This one was a brat. I was going for (something resembling) an ombre look, so I thought, submerge the top for a while (see figure 5 
), then a little more, then the whole thing. Bosh.
Well. It was in there for ages with absolutely no noticeable change. Swished it around. Added more bleach in case the mixture was just too diluted. Nothing, apart from a couple of spots where I must have splashed bleach on it. Finally I laid it out on the deck for a bit in case that was the secret ingredient to the other one. It did change a little, including some visible ombre, but how it came out of the washer this light – even a bit lighter than the photo reflects – I’ll never know.
Still, for a couple of bucks and some bleach apiece, they’ll do just fine for mowing/loungewear, etc. Thanks for looking, and letting me rant.
