I meant to post this for SaturdayDIY originally (hence the tags), but it’s taken me so long to get into the swing of my first semester as a parent (!!!) that now it is a proper #TBT!
These flare-tastic t-shirts appeared on my Twitter feed thanks to colleague & collaborator Dr. Mark Marley, who (like many astronomers) organized a trip to totality, in this case with college buddies & their families, for the recent Great American Total Solar Eclipse. When I asked for more info, I was definitely NOT disappointed!
The shirts were masterminded by Mark Waggoner, who describes himself thusly:
I’m a microprocessor design engineer, fortunate enough to live in northwest Oregon, within easy driving distance of the band of totality for our recent eclipse. I’m also fortunate enough to have an astronomer friend (Mark Marley) who alerted us to the event WELL in advance so we could spend absurd amounts of time making plans for our group of college friends and families to be there. After all that, a T-shirt to mark the occasion seemed like a requirement.
He was also kind enough to share exquisite details for how he made the shirts. It’s never too early to prepare for April 8, 2024 (or even earlier, outside the continental U.S.!)
How they were made, from Mark W.:
Various places on the web say that it is a good idea to neutralize bleach using diluted hydrogen peroxide so that the bleach that remains even after you rinse the shirt won’t gradually eat holes in the shirt.
Work in a place (and wearing cloths) that won’t be harmed by a little stray bleach, in case it gets spilled or splashed.  It was the bathroom for me
Fill a wash basin with diluted hydrogen peroxide. Some things I read said to use 1:10 HP:water ratio… I think I had about 1:5. It’s art, not science :-) (Sounds like science to me! –Emily)
Put a T-shirt on the floor, with the plastic box lid inside, between the front and back. Â Position the box lid under the area where you want the eclipse.
Put the cat food can / round thing on the shirt where the moon/eclipsed sun will be
Use the water sprayer to spritz the area around the round thing. Â The water helps the bleach spread outward away from the moon. Â Keeping it dry under the moon means that the bleach will not spread inward (at least not much).
Use the squeeze bottle to dribble bleach all around the outside of the round thing. Â I actually squeezed it onto the side of the round thing so that it would drain down onto the shirt.
Leave the round thing in place; You may want to add more bleach.
Let the shirt sit for 10-20 minutes, to your visual taste
Remove the round thing, pull out the separator, put the bleached part of the shirt into the hydrogen peroxide solution to neutralize the bleach.
Leave it there for a few minutes, then you can soak the shirt in water, or put it into the wash.
The amount of flare will change depending on the amount of water sprayed on the shirt and the amount of bleach you use.Â
Photo credits: Dave and Lynn Hawley
