What started as a family fun night for Amethyst Carter and her sons led to an unexpected result.

An unlocking of her creative flow and a newly discovered love of tie-dyeing.

While helping sons Jacen (11) and Sylis (7) create their tie-dye shirts, Carter said, “I really enjoyed it, so I just kept doing it.”

At the time, she was expecting her third son, Emrys who is two months old now. Not long after he was born she began spending more time watching tutorials and practicing tie-dye techniques.

“I had a creative block up to that point and my imagination was completely shut off,” Carter said.

“When I started doing tiedye, everything began to flow.”

With various techniques available, Carter has mainly focused on liquid dyeing.

It is a time-consuming process that requires specialized folding and/or sewing a design onto the piece of fabric which is then drawn together tightly and tied off to allow the dye to penetrate specific areas producing the desired design.

Depending on the complexity of the design, Carter said, some can take up to three hours to complete and they don’t always turn out as expected.

“Practice makes improvement,” she said, “and usually the third time is a charm.”

After posting some of her work to social media, other people began to show interest by requesting her creations and it took off from there Carter said. She now has a Facebook page for her tie-dye designs, “A Better Way to Dye.”

Not only did her tie-dyeing inspire her and unlock her creativity, another Kingfisher woman saw Carter’s creations and reached out for advice on tie-dyeing.

Karisa Eaton said she has always loved tie-dye and loved Carter’s creations, so she messaged her.

She said Carter gave her some ideas of how to get started and she also watched tutorials on different techniques. “The first thing I did was a white hoodie sweatshirt and it turned out pretty cool,” she said. “I ordered more things and that fueled the fire to keep branching out.”

Eaton has primarily used ice and hot water irrigation techniques.

Both processes employ a powdered dye which is added to the fabric after the folding and/or sewn design is completed.

To create the design, Eaton said she uses lots of rubber bands, sinew and hemostats to tie off different areas before applying the dye.

When asked how she is able to control where and how the dye penetrates only certain areas, she responded, “it takes a little bit of science and a whole lot of luck.”

Before getting into tie-dyeing, she said she didn’t realize how much effort and time went into each creation.

“The more intricate designs are very time-consuming, but worth it,” she said.

Working full-time as a nurse and taking care of her 12-year old son, Zach, Eaton said her time is limited, but she makes the most of it.

One of things she enjoys the most, she said is not knowing what you’re going to get until you rinse it out.

“I love that when they’re handmade, no two are the same,” Eaton said.

Eaton’s creations have also received attention on social media and have recently been added to a local coffee shop’s merchandise as well as her Facebook page, “Dyed Kaos by KZ.”

Eaton and Carter have their own style and often encourage and learn from each other.

“We learn from each other’s successes and failures,” Eaton said, “We want to lift each other up.”

In unison with Eaton, Carter said one of the things she loves the most about tiedye is how each piece comes out different and special in its own way every time.

“It’s like how, as humans, we all have the same foundation, but we are all different and that is how I see my tiedyes too,” she said.

“Even though it may not look perfect to me, it may be perfect to someone else.”