Tuesday, January 08, 2008

Ice Dyeing part 2

After washing, drying and ironing the pieces from the previous day, I held each piece up by the top and bunched them in a roughly gathered fashion (eg not folded), then wound them loosely into a ball like a pinwheel. Then I once again placed them in a plastic bag, this time adding a cup of soda ash to each bag and ensuring the fabric was dampened through. Then I put them in the freezer overnight. Here they are when I removed them the next day.

This time, I just squirted a quantity of dye over the outside of the frozen ball - Navy for the blue one, and Warm Black for the brown one. Then I batched them and washed them in the normal way. These are the results - I like the brown one better as there's more contrast. My conclusion? A lot more time-consuming, and I can probably get much the same result without ice, but fun to play around with , particularly the over-dyeing.

It was all too much for Seven, who had to go and have a rest out on the deck.

10 comments:

Featheronawire Sally Bramald said...

I gree they look OK but all that effort? I think the cat has the right idea (grin).
The brown one would make a good forrest with a bit of this and a bit of that...

Julie said...

I wondered where you were going to get ice from!!!! Doh! I like the brown piece too.

alice said...

I definitely like the overdyed pieces better. Thanks for doing this experiment & sharing your results!

Anonymous said...

Hmmm, now I am wondering if I even want to bother....I think Seven has the right idea. Oh, BTW:

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Janet said...

WOW! Where do you get these ideas! Awesome!

Sheila said...

I never heard of ice dyeing. That is so interesting. I love the contrast on the brown piece. But the blue is interesting in a subtle way.

Joyce said...

I think I'll have to give that a try. Given our sub zero temps it should be easy. Maybe I'll try to incorporate snow somehow.

Marilee Rockley said...

I thought that the dye had to be at a nice warm room temperature in order to work. So I'm totally mystified by the purpose of the ice, but the results look very interesting! I also like the brown one better.

Sandra Wyman said...

Read about this and wondered...so thanks for the post (and the cat picture - my three look like that all the time!)
I've nominated you for a Make My Day award - details on my blog!

Liz Plummer said...

Hmm, might try this - as soon as the freezer gets empty enough!! (not long with 3 teenage sons...). Or we may even have a cold enough day - it is January after all... haven't had many so far! Nice results!