Ice Dyeing Retreat Pt. 2

Here are some of the results from my ice dyeing...It was nice to experiment with different fabrics.

The above is challis on left and a blend of silk and cotton on the right. The silk/cotton had a nice sheen to it and took the dye beautifully.

I also took advantage of the situation and made scarves which I have in 3 stores so always in need of extra inventory. Below, the one on the left is the mercerized, broadcloth cotton. The process of mercerization is the treatment of cotton with a caustic soda solution to give it strength, luster and more receptive to dyes. I've done experiments using different cottons in the same batch of ice dyeing and mercerized is always the brighter, more intense color. Maybe that's not for everyone but I love the look. On the right (below) is Hoffman batik for dyeing - very nice color.

This is another piece of mercerized cotton....

and more fabric - mixed...
I did label some of the fabrics with the dye combos I used; sometimes it's useful if you want to repeat. I usually like to have a more serendipitous approach to this technique. With scarves I do like to keep tract of color combos for the purpose of selling.

More samples on silk and cotton....

I was mostly happy with my scarves although some I can see scrunching up and putting in a stocking to overdye...like the beige on the left...not too pretty. The yellow is crazy bright and I might want to tone that down a bit.

This is such a fun technique with usually good results and if not...there's always the next time when you can overdye it.