Ice-dyeing is normally best done on warm sunny days.......it was so cold and rainy here west of Phoenix that none of the golfer were even out slamming the ball around! We wee worried about our results.
But of course that didn't stop us. Out come the plastic trays, wire racks, soda ash soaked fabrics, ice cubes, and MX dyes......
Once all the 'ingredients' were layered.....the tray was covered with plastic, secured with clips and left for 24 hrs.
Then the fun begins....the melted dye-water is discarded, the fabrics are rinsed, and rinsed and rinsed. When the water runs clear they are washed, damp dried, and pressed. We got awesome results...maybe the cold weather requiring a long and slow melt is better?!?
That's the end of my report......Now I'm headed back to the chatter, calorie filled snacks, fabric frolic, laughter, and of course bubbly. Sound like fun? Grab a buddy or two and plan your own girlfriend art camp!
3 comments:
Ah, ice-dyeing! Hope you'll show them when dry and pressed? You use dyes in the powdered form and sprinkle it over? And are the wire racks legs tall enough to keep the melted muddy dye water from back-flowing up onto the fabrics? Questions, questions... I really like the process.
Yes Nancy, I'll post the pieces after pressing..... We use MX powdered dyes, sprinkled over the ice. The wire racks are typical cookie cooling racks....these less than an inch from the bottom of the trays.....and didn't get any back flow...even though some fabrics sat in more water than others. Remember it's how the dye stikes the fabric....and the fabric can only accept so much dye.....too much is wasted as it will simply wash out. We've used higher racks as well which leaves room to place fabrics below the rack for a different dye look. There are lots of videos on you-tube.......we just dug in when we first started ice-dyeing.......finding methods that work for us. Can't really go wrong!!
You are having way too much fun!!! You may never go home~~~
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