Finally!

I have finally gotten to use that abundance of white stuff that is outside my back door! I thought I would never get to icey-snow dye this winter. After setting up my work table, I went out and hacked at the ice encrusted tops of the piles and used it to get back in my groove. Or at least get some much needed practice in.

 

Here is the offending fabric that shared it's color with the rest of the pot before I over dyed it. It was actually a little brighter than what you see here (which doesn't look so bad.) Maybe I'm to critical???

 

And here it after it's snow bath

 

 

 

I had used some blue and soft orange....it's different. I even had another piece of smallish fabric and used some more of the ice/snow on it  and  I really like the results.

 

 

 

 

I'm encouraged by the results and have gone full tilt to snow dye. Hope they come out as good as the above one. I'll keep you posted. 

 

 



Suprise!!!!

Surprise!!!

I have had the urge to do some ice dyeing for a while and decided one day last week to just get to it. I gathered all the dyes. buckets, containers and the tub of soaking fabric. I set up my work area and proceeded to open the tub of fabric. I knew I had put a bunch of fat quarters in there to soak along with a piece I wanted to over dye.

Nice surprise when I saw all of the fabric and the solution was a lovely shade of pink !!!! It appears that the piece I wanted do over dye was not sufficiently rinsed and shared it's color with everyone  in the tub. Needless to say, I did a few loads of bleach wash to get them back to white.  No dyeing this time around.

I mixed a new batch of soda ash and re-soaked the fabric and thought I would try a gradation instead. Only one color and  some plastic bags, good for a warm-up to ice dyeing. I played around and did a ten step gradation of mulberry.



More Iced Dyeing

I"m happy the Easter holiday went so well, with all my children and grand children coming for dinner. But the planning and executing of dinner left me longing for my dye pots and a little creative time.

I finally was able to do some more iced dyeing on a few pieces. It felt like I'd  been away for ever, but  I perservered and created some interesting pieces.

This is a little softer in color than my usual, but I like the movement of the dye. It reminds me of spring and approaching summer. Blue skies, warm sun, and my flowers starting to bloom. Hmm, I think I'm ready for the seasons to change.

I have another piece I also like, more in my color palette. Scrunched fabric is becoming my new favorite. It has a lot of surprises and great ice movement. Although my absolute favorite is still the diagonal folded fabric.  Kind of reminds me of shibori, but without the stitching.

You can see a few more pieces over at Sisters In Cloth, a group I belong to. I plan on doing more today.

A Little Ice With That DYE Please!



Fan-folded Diagonal

It's been a while since I last visited here having had an 'interesting' and busy year.  I am finally back into the swing of things and my creative juices are perking along.

I had the itch to do some snow dyeing, but there wasn't any snow this year in the North East. Horrors!!! It certainly is strange to have winter with no snow when I was ready to dye.
So I decided I needed to play in the dyes and produce something and found my  August/September issue of Quilting Arts and the article on ice dyeing. Ice is related to snow, right , so why not?

I did enjoy the process and found waiting for the dye and melting ice to do its thing the hardest part.  My first few pieces were exciting to watch as I rinsed out the fabrics.

Fan-folded Long edge

 And ironing them after they dried left me amazed. Who knew I could get such bright colors and those little ice cubes would produce glorious blends of color. Each piece was so different than the next and just as beautiful. I am hooked!!!

I couldn't stop and did some more, loving every minute spent getting the fabric covered in ice and dye.  And then I spotted an empty vase on my counter and parfait dyeing came to mind.



Could this work???? Well, let's just see how it goes. It went even better than I thought possible.  Five pieces stacked in one place, all the ice and dye scattered and  I'm a happy dyer!! I believe I have found my new favorite ice treats.

Parfait Diagonal Fold