My Tips n Techniques

Sunday, December 23, 2012

Fabric Ice Dyeing......Parfait Style


The fabric dyeing supplies are on the table...



Let's try some Parfait or Lasagna style dyeing...






5 gallon bucket........wire napkin holder in bottom

to keep fabric off the bottom...




 Soda Soaked Cotton Fabric:


Scrunched up......then placed in 5 gallon buckets...




Ice piled on top of fabric:


Sprinkle Procion MX dye powder on top of ice...






Place another layer of ice on top of dye powder...




Add more soda soaked fabric on top...


Sprinkle more dye powder on top of ice...

  


Keep repeating fabric, ice, dye, ice:


Like making lasagna or a parfait.

Keep going until the buckets are full.



My neighbor, Kathi, is wearing a mask...


prevents her from breathing in the dye powder.




We filled all the big containers in the house:


It took 2 days for the ice to melt.

Then I placed them by the wood stove to warm up and batch.



On the 5th day I rinsed and washed the iced fabrics:


Parfait Iced Fabrics......Washed and Dried




What I learned...


I used waaay too much dye powder...






I used plenty of ice......but too much dye powder.






I lost a lot of the texture created by the ice...






because too much dye powder...






over saturated the fabric with color...






I was hoping for softer, paler colors.....and this is too dark.






This piece has lighter blues...






and so did this one...






you are able to see the icy textures in these pieces...






For the most part, each layer of the parfait maintained its'

original dye color......not too much blending.






The colors stayed true and didn't muddy up...




I learned a lot from this dye experiment...


This is a technique you can use year round....

No need to wait for winter to bring the snow.

It is fast to layer up, easy and FUN!

Next time...

I won't have such a heavy hand with the dye powders.



The darkest fabrics I plan to do some discharging


Yes, that is a puppy paw on the fabric.


CLICK HERE:  to see My Quilts


CLICK HERE to view:  Rust Dyeing Fabrics

CLICK HERE to view:  Microwave Dyeing Fabrics

CLICK HERE to view:  Snow Dyeing Fabrics


May Your Bobbin Always Be Full,
LuAnn Kessi

9 comments:

  1. Wow, I luv these!!! Any chance you'd be willing to sell some of the dark ones? They suit me to a tee!!!
    Maggie in Arizona

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  2. LuAnn,
    I absolutely love your fabrics. Even the ones you say are too dark have depth and interest in them. You have inspired me to try ice dyeing myself!
    Will look forward to seeing your discharge results.

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  3. I agree with Maggie and Anita , the Ice dyed darker fabrics are wonderful!! I would love to have colors like them6 , maybe someday I will try this too.
    It surely was not a waste to me!

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  4. Nice, and icy. I like the saturated colors myself!

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  5. Thanks for your tips. I love saturated fabrics and tend to use too much dye with low water immersion. Good to know that I need to cool it with the amount of dry powder in ice dyeing. Gotta give this a try soon!

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  6. Thanks for the tip on adding too much dye powder. That is something I am always too heavy handed with. Can't wait to give the ice dyeing

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  7. Thanks for sharing this great way of dyeing fabrics. Could you tell me how much soda to use when soaking the fabric. Thanks

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  8. Good job on dyeing the fabric. I love and would like to try it out. Please tell me how much soda to use when soaking the fabric. Thanks so much, Sharon

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  9. To pre-soak fabric use 1 cup soda ash per gallon of warm water. Allow the fabric to soak a few minutes until totally saturated, then wring it out and begin the parfait dye process.

    LuAnn

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