We had Snow!

We had a little snow as you could see, it's mostly gone now but I made use of it while it was here to try out Kathy's snow dying technique again. On my part it's nothing scientific, I'm just using up these old Procion MX dyes that I inherited in a round about way, they have been hanging around for a long time now, I think some of the mixes may be dis-continued so it's fun to see how they turn out???

I soaked my fabric in Soda Ash solution for 2/3 hours and gathered some snow but left it outside ready....my fabric measures approximately 1 1/2 yards in each tray.

I got my dye solutions ready, in the first tray I used:
1 tsp Purple, 1 tsp sodium sulphate, 1 cup water
1 tsp Wine, 1 tsp sodium sulphate, 1 cup water

And in the second tray I used:
1 tsp Chestnut, 1 tsp sodium sulphate, 1 cup water
1 tsp Ultramarine, 1 tsp sodium sulphate, 1 cup water

I piled the snow on top of the fabrics and added the dyes... they looked good enough to eat!

That's when I left and went to bed....here's what it looked like in the morning...at this point I brought the trays into my warm kitchen to help warm the fabrics and set the dye.

 

Around lunchtime I rinsed the fabric until the water ran clear, then added detergent and very hot water and left the fabrics to soak out any unspent dye, Mid afternoon I popped the faric into the washing machine with a little synthrapol..... 

and 'Voila'!

Love these Raspbery and Magenta ice crystals!

I didn't exactly expect the Chesnut and Ultramarine to turn out so light but there are some very interesting textures there so I'm please with the results. My snow was a little heavy and wet, maybe one day I'll get to try out some of that light dry snow like Kathy gets in Northern Manitoba!