When we go on our clothing buying trips, we ALWAYS find a ton of white clothing that obviously no one wants because white is really a horrible color to wear. Especially for kids! (Am I right?!)
So we have started getting as many white garments as we can and just stock pile them for our tie dye days!
We have been tie dyeing for a while now but we recently started experimenting with ICE DYEING!
We are totally hooked. The vibrancy of the colors is really extraordinary and the way they blend and shape, is truly awesome.
Here are some pics from our latest batch which was our best yet!
We recently built a better ice dye set up with higher walls to channel the ice and water, which we are super stoked to try out! In addition, we will be experimenting with BLACK and NAVY next weekend, so stay tuned!!
First we start with a prewashed pile of white and cream textiles and garments!
And then we spin them into spirals or scrunch them for a bunching effect, wrap them in bands and soak them in a soda ash solution.
And for this batch, we used these rubbermaid tubs with grates. We experimented by putting garments UNDER the grates. The reason was to soak up the excess dye and create a more organically formed design!
Add the ice!
We then sprinkle on the powdered procion dyes. Remember to wear a mask!
The dyes will sit on top of the ice and as the ice melts, the dye mixes with the water and is brought down by gravity. The t shirts then get extra wet from the melting ice and create that cool water color effect with the dyes. It's such a cool process!
Heres the view from side of the tub, a few minutes in. You can see the ice melting and the dye dripping down on to the shirts!
Here's the view from above. Pretty, isn't it??
Here's one of the shirts, after we left the batch to sit for 24 hours.
You can see that the dye has soaked down through the ice and
settled in the fibers of the t shirt!
Here's what happened UNDER the grates! The t-shirts soaked in the dye water overnight and they turned out aweeeesome!!
Wait till you see when we unfold them...
Awesome!!!!
These are being processed into kids harems as we speak! I'll post pics as soon asI get them sewn up!
Our next batch will be heavy with the black and blue dyes so we'll post process pics for that batch as well. We are really excited to see how those deep dark colors react with the ice. Shhhhhh... Stay tuned!!!
--Alix
Al always, check out our instagram HERE for lots of fun pics!