MICROWAVE ICE DYEING

The Fiber Junkies began about 12 years with one simple notion that I had.....to create a group made up of 6 like-minded fiber friends who would be willing to meet monthly to explore as many surface design/dyeing/printing/painting etc. techniques we could find to play with.

Though microwave dyeing with dye solutions isn't new to us and we had dabbled with microwave ice-dyeing one other time several years ago....this month we hit the jackpot.  Everyone went home with successfully dyed fabrics. 

The big difference was thanks to Denny.  She spent lots of time doing a series of experiments to come up with a reliable formula.  We've been missing Denny at our meetings for months as she recovers from a back fusion.  Wisely she's allowing her body to heal by keeping fairly inactive.  So 4 of us Asheville area members traveled to Simpsonville, SC where Kate and Denny live. Denny, seen here, is taking a well deserved rest after getting us started.

 Kate had everything all set up in her garage, including a new small microwave provided by Denny.  First we soaked our fabric in soda ash.  I concentrated on working with one of my favorite fabrics, silk noil.  Here a small piece has been rung out and loosely placed in a quart size 'Dollar Store' plastic container.  Of course fabric can be positioned more deliberately, but I was aiming for mottled all over results.

 Crushed ice is sprinkled evenly over the fabric, topped with small amounts of Procion MX powdered dye.  (Yes, we wore masks and rubber gloves!)  Denny found that plastic cling wrap worked better to retain the heat than the lids that came with the storage bowls so that's what we used.

To create a shorter processing time and prevent damage to the fabric or plastic bowls, Denny suggested we use finely crushed ice.  This is a lower watt microwave as the small size would indicate, so the timer was set for 4-5 mins. depending upon how much fabric and ice was in the container.

In a very short time we were hanging fabrics on the line to dry!!

 Here are some of my results.....this was simply scrunched into the container.

 This piece was bunched up in the center, held in place with my fingers while swirling the outside edges around inside the container.  I was pleased how that method provided movement to the pattern.

 I placed these two pieces together in one container and was surprised how evenly they dyed.

One last example......honestly I can't wait to do this again.  Obviously if the goal is to work with large fabric pieces, pan ice-dyeing would still be the way to go, but for immediate gratification with smaller sizes.....oh my....this is it!!!!

Many thanks to everyone for making it such a great day, special kudos to Denny we all loved seeing you again!!

Check out these blogs for inspiration this week:  Nina-Marie's Off The Wall Friday and Sarah's Whoop Whoop Friday.