Snow Dyeing

 On Monday we had a foot of snow! Great fun! Time for snow dyeing!  I thought I would write up a little demo on how I do my snow dyeing.

I start off with Prepared for Dyeing (PFD) fabric. I have several bolts of Moda's version, but any brand will do. I tear my fabric into either yard or half yard pieces.

Soda Ash Bucket

Next it goes into the soda ash bucket. I let it soak for 10-15 minutes, making sure that it is fully saturated. I use an old wooden spaghetti fork to stir it around and to push it down into the liquid. *NOTE*when ever you use any kitchen tools in the dyeing studio, they can never go home to the kitchen!

Out of the bucket

Using gloves, I wring out the pieces and toss them into a plastic wash tub.

Mixing dyes

While the fabric is soaking, I will mix up dyes if I need more than I already have mixed up. I spread out a dampened mop up cloth to catch any stray powder. ALWAYS wear a mask when handling powder dyes.

Ready to go

Ready for snow

I have been playing with twisting some of my fabrics. In the wash tubs I try to spread out the fabric as much as possible. In the round ice cream buckets I played with some twists and accordion folds.

Snowed!

I then dump a bunch of snow on top of the fabric. In the past I have crammed it full of snow. This time I was testing just making sure that there was a decent layer of snow on the fabric.

Dyed

I pour the liquid dye over the snow in various patterns. I found out last year that some colors will meld and make brown! LOL! So this year I am trying out dyeing with complimentary colors.

All the dyed snow

I do this in the afternoon and let the snow melt overnight. I guess you could do it in the morning and rinse out in the evening. Whatever works for your schedule.

Melted snow

I love to see what dyes look like after the snow melts! Even though you think you know what you are getting, it is never quite what you expect.

Rinsing

I rinse out all the pieces.  I then toss them into a big bucket of clean water and let them stew for a bit. Then another quick rinse and into the washer.

Synthrapol

I wash the batch with Synthrapol. It helps set the dyes.

Brown, terra cotta and a bit of purple

I am trying to dye a background for a flower quilt. I have had several attempts that didn't quite turn out the way I wanted it to. Love this piece, but I am not sure that it is right for my flower.

blues

I may go back and over dye the light area

Pleated twist

I took quick photographs of the finished fabrics out in the snow. Some of the photos look a bit on the blue side.

Another twist

I may go back and over dye the light areas on this piece. I am really happy with the way the twist turned out.

Navy, forest green and yellow

Another folded one

This piece looks great in person. I folded it in half and then accordion folded it. I swirled it into the round bucket.

Another accordion fold,.

My favorites

These last two are much brighter in person. I love the bottom one the best of all this batch.

This is my off the wall and finished Friday post for this week.