365 Days of Creativity - Day 2 - Ice Dyeing

Last week, with the arrival of my tax refund, I placed an order for new fiber reactive dyes from Dharma and some raw bamboo/cotton & hemp/cotton yardage.  At our local thrift store, I found a number of blank, white men's t-shirts and baby onesies that I could add to my newest passion:  Ice Dyeing.  Since it's more cost effective to dye projects in large quantities, I rummaged through my overstock and discovered about a dozen of my Made in Oregon t-shirts that, for one reason or another, hadn't sold.  I added those brilliant white t-shirts to the steadily growing pile of stuff needing color.

With the equivalent of about 20 yards of fabric, I decided the best way to tackle the prep work was to throw it all in the washing machine, split over two loads.  First the fabrics were washed in Synthrapol to remove any sizing or fabric softener residue.  Then, the fabrics were soaked in a soda ash mixture for about half an hour before being wrung out and placed into the two dye tubs.

This time around, I decided to layer the fabric, ice and dyes.  Seven colors were used in the first tub and four in the second tub.  Each 64-quart tub held about four layers of ingredients:  fabric, ice, dye, repeat ... then covered with a lid and allowed to sit overnight so the ice could melt and do its job.

 

This morning heralded in the grand reveal:  opening the tubs, rinsing off the fabrics, and surveying the results.

I have to admit ... they look pretty damned cool!