This is my Prototype 2 Tea Shirt, made by using tea and other natural products as dyes. Protoptype 1 turned out like all 1st prototypes: it looked like crap. Prototype 2 was also an old, out of shape white tee that I had sitting around. I certainly couldn't go out and buy shirts to experiment on. Still, I did buy about 8 shirts at $3-$4 each at the craft shop, since Prototype 2 looks pretty good in person. Can you make out the subtle leaf pattern in this photograph? I plan to do the rest of them in similar colors and patterns and try to sell them at the flea market for about $10. What do you think?

The weird thing is that I have had these ideas for the dyes and the patterns for years, but I never even tried to see if the dyes would take on so much as a handkerchief. When I had a "straight" job I always thought to myself, "For God's sake, that would never work and even if it did, who would buy such a thing when they could make it themselves?" Now I think to myself, "Well, heck, somebody bought a pet rock. Somebody bought Billy the Big Mouth Bass...and you can at least wear this. And it is true that, if other people had the same ideas for the dyes, they could do it....but I DID do it and, if they don't sell I can give them away as gifts."

Look out friends and family!

The thing that surprises me the most is that I knew exactly what colors the tea and other items would make. Don't you think that's strange knowlege for somebody to have in their head, just walking around? I wonder if there's anything else in that attic of grey matter I can use.