Ice Tie Dye
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The Ice Dyeing technique is so much fun and really easy. It uses the same kind of dye as tie dye, but instead of mixing up the dye with water you use ice to mix the power dye into liquid. I'm making color swatches with a new kit and I think they turned out so nice! These will help me in the future when I'm picking out colors for new projects. Color theory and placement are so important! If you have a lot of dyes in your stash then this is a good way to keep track of what they look like. There is still a lot of dye in the containers and I can't wait to make more projects. The kit comes with soda ash and synthrapol, which is really a great value. Soda ash fixes the dye before you apply the dye and synthrapol is known as dyers' detergent. It helps to keep the colors from transfering from the dyed parts of the fabric and going onto the undyed parts of the fabric when washing.
(not pictured with the soda ash and synthrapol but the come in this kit)
Supply List:
-Pro MX 6 Dye Sampler Kit- https://amzn.to/3kDEqCD
-Mixing Containers Pints- https://amzn.to/3Bj5cpw
-Bucket 3-5 Gallons for Soda Ash Solution- https://amzn.to/3cQTlVi
-Gloves- https://amzn.to/2SaTBHo
Disclaimer: We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program. This is an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com.
First I prepped my fabric with the soda ash. I added about 1 gallon of water and the packet of soda ash. I prewashed my swatches and then soaked them for about twenty minutes.
While they were soaking I got my containers ready. I cut little triangular shaped holes in the bottom of 9 of them. Then I put a rock to create space and another container without holes to catch the run off. I wanted to make sure the fabric was not sitting in the dye. As the ice was melting I checked to make sure it wasn't pooling up on the the fabric. I did pour some of the run off out about half way through the melting process.
Once my containers were set up I took my swatches out of the soda ash solution and wrang them out. I wanted them to be damp but not too wet. Then I scrunched them up with as much surface area exposed as possible. I put about 5 ice cubes on top of each. The next step is to add the dye. I always wear a mask when I'm working with powdered dyes. It's not something I want to breath in. I use the tip of a platic knife and sprinkled a very small amount over the ice. I would say less than a teaspoon for this very small amount of fabric.
Then I waited for the ice to melt completely. I emptied out excess run off from the bottom containers as they were about half way melted. After the ice was complete melted I took them out to examine the pieces. They turned out great! Then I rinsed them with cold water until the water ran clear and washed them with hot with the synthrapol provided in the kit. I dried them on hot to set the dye. I got some really bright beautiful colors and I also like the mixed colors. Mixing colors with ice dyeing is really fun- they can split and do unexpected things when the colors mixed.
Red/ Red and Sun Yellow/ Leaf Green/ Leaf Green and Blue
Red and Sun Yellow/ Sun Yellow/ Leaf Green and Blue/ Blue
Leaf Green/ Leaf Green and Blue/ Reddish Purple/ Reddish Purple and Black
Leaf Green and Blue/ Blue/ Reddish Purple and Black/ Black
Check out my other Ice Dye Projects here:
https://onyxartstudios.com/blogs/news/ice-dyeing-with-stitched-shibori-and-colors-that-split-shitake
https://onyxartstudios.com/blogs/news/ice-dyeing-with-colors-that-split-brushed-steel
https://onyxartstudios.com/blogs/news/ice-dyeing-procion-dye-color-combinations-and-unboxing-video