Chronicles of Snow Dying

....And when the caterpillar thought the world was over, she turned into a butterfly.


The story continues.  I was not really satisfied with the results of my snow dying experiment so I decided to continue with the same fabrics and re-dye them using the same snow dying techniques.


I soaked them again in soda ash and dried them. I found aluminium broiler trays at the dollar store. The have slots in the bottom to allow the snow and dyes to melt off but keep the fabric elevated from the water.

I crumpled up the fabrics with lots of twists.

I covered the bundles with a smaller layer of snow. It was about two or three inches deep. Last time I used way too much snow. It took almost a whole day for the snow to melt.

Then I sprinkled dye powder on top of the snow. I used black, olive green and brown dyes. I also discovered that I have a few tins of black!!! why?? I don't really know.

But actually the black is a good choice for this type of dying. As soon as I sprinkled it, I could see the separation of colour. A dark blue emerged first, then something along a cranberry red colour. All of the dyes that I used the second  time released different colours as the snow melted.

I rinsed and rinsed and washed and hung them over the shower rod to dry. Next time I take a selfie, I will have my makeup done. We've been discussing Vivian Maier's work and I have decided to follow her example and do a lot of self portraits.

I think I have finally finished!! The colours are very vibrant. There are a few very good lines of separation, which is what I was hoping to achieve. Heat setting to follow and then I hope to use them in a series of  log cabin quilts that I am planning.

Thanks for stopping by.

Karen of the Fabrigos.