Monday, June 17, 2013

Ice Dyed Parfait

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Last week Lori posted a tutorial on how to dye fabric using ice cubes, it is similar to snow dyeing.   She did a ‘parfait’ which is layering a few fabrics in one jar and using different dyes on each layer. You can see Lori’s instructions here.  I had never tried dyeing a parfait or using ice cubes before so I wanted to give it a try.  The top pictures shows my jar with three layers of fabric.  The bottom layer has Bright Yellow and Cerulean Blue, the second layer has Hot Pink and Bright Yellow and the top layer is Cerulean Blue and Hot Pink.  I used more dye powder then Lori suggested as I wanted dark bright colors, I used about 1 tsp total per layer.  You can see the dye powder on the ice cubes in the next picture.  I also crushed my ice cubes a bit, Tim smashed them with a hammer for me.  I had tried using the blender but it just made slush.

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I let the ice and fabric sit in the jar overnight.   By morning all the ice had melted and the jar looked like this.

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You can see my excess dye powder on the fabric that didn’t dissolve. I think I would use a bit less dye next time.   Here are the results of my half meter pieces.

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There is a similar texture to snow dyeing and I like how the colors from the other layers sneak into each other fabrics without over powering the main color combinations.

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10 comments:

  1. What a fun little experiment! All those pieces are so pretty.

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  2. Looks good. Will you try it again? Once is never enough with a new technique!

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  3. Very pretty. I like the fact you used ice cubes because there is no snow in hell (Phoenix).

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  4. Well, that's interesting! I'll have to bookmark it to try out. I love the blue snow-dyed piece you included with my quilt when you sent it back. Definitely cool techniques.

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  5. need to add this to the list of "gotta try that"

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  6. Looks so fun! Gorgeous colors! I've never tried this, but sure is tempted to do so! Guess I need more time... :-)

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  7. So...you just put the crushed ice on the top after layering the items and dye? Do you have to use the soda ash as well like normal tye dyeing? I LOVE the way those turned out. Will definitley try!!!

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    Replies
    1. The order from bottom to top is Crushed ice, fabric, ice, dye, fabric, ice, dye, fabric, ice, dye. Yes the fabric has been soaked in a soda ash solution for at least 15 minutes. I have a few tutorials on Snow Dyeing on my sidebar that is a similar process.

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