Snow Dyes Chapter 3

Get ready for some serious cool.

In more ways than one. (Ar ar ar.)

Here are the results of the second batch of snow-dyes I did this weekend, the 3rd batch for the winter (hence, "chapter 3"). I may do another batch tonight since we have about 12" or more of fresh snow out there. Hate to let it go to waste!

For each set, there are two 1/2 yard pieces, and then I took detail shots just so you can really get a feel for the effect that snow-dyeing creates.

First batch: Turquoise and Black.

(Sorry--forgot to write down which black was which. I used 628 for one and 629 for the other--ProChem names.)  Yes, it looks like I threw purple in there, but I didn't! That's the black breaking.

The next batch was one of my favorite combinations to ice dye or snow dye, because it breaks so wonderfully. 

Batch 2: Teal, Grape, and Black.

(Whatever number black the other one wasn't). Teal is a Dharma color, the other two are Pro-Chem.

1st piece

1st piece detail 1

1st piece detail 2

1st piece detail 3

2d piece

2d piece detail 1

2d piece detail 2

Third batch: Ecru, Old Rose, and Camel.

Now, the final batch heads in a completely different direction. Neutral dyes are just so much fun to break!

Ecru, Old Rose, and Camel 1st piece

1st piece detail

2d piece

2d piece detail

It all looks so cosmic, doesn't it? Groovy.

If you've listened to my most recent episode (posted 2/1/15), you'll know that Sandi of Quilt Cabana Corner and I have challenged one another to a Snow-Dye Duel. Well, okay, a Snow-Dye Art Quilt Challenge. We've both been snow-dyeing lately (she's in MA, I'm in Western NY, we have a lot of raw material to work with these days) so, in order to be sure we use some of these wonderful new creations we're making, we've challenged one another to make some sort of project using at least one--if not more--of our snow-dyes by March 15. At some point, I'm going to have stop dyeing and figure out what I'm going to make.

But wait...What's that I see? More snow falling outside my window? Heading to the basement...

More Snow Means More Snow Dyes

We got more snow! So, of course, I ran to the back yard, shoveled some into a bucket, and headed for the basement.

I did half yards this time, and in this batch stuck with variations on yellow/orange/red (mostly) so I could play with proportions of each, variations on each (tangerine dye versus orange dye, etc.), and also be able to more easily rinse/wash it all together.

Tangerine and Strongest Red combination. The one in the back has more tangerine and the one in the front more red.

Once the snow has melted--so you can see how I had the fabrics arranged for the dye process.

Tangerine and Strongest Red #1 (the one from the back of the snow picture)

Tangerine and Strongest Red #2 (the one in the front of the snow picture)

Next batch: Golden Yellow, Strong Orange, and Mixing Red

Now with snow melted.... These were both just sort of scrunched up, although I did a few little loose spins in the one on the bottom. I used a lot less red in the one in the back, emphasizing more of the yellow and orange; the one in the front got a lot more of the Mixing Red.

Golden Yellow, Strong Orange, and Mixing Red #1. 

Golden Yellow, Strong Orange, and Mixing Red #2. Although it was quite interesting to me that some of it looks more fuchsia. I'm thinking that must come from the Strong Orange breaking.

Finally, the yellows. In this one I combined Sun Yellow and Antique Gold. I wanted to see how Antique Gold would break.

Here they are dyed. I did a loose pleat on the one in the back. The one in the front is just scrunched, nothing fancy. I believe I used about the same proportions of dye on both, although the one in the back may have gotten a little less of the gold.

Sun Yellow and Antique Gold result #1. The white splotches at the top are likely places where a little bit of fabric hung out over the edge and wasn't getting hit directly by snow and dye. I tried to keep track of that but things can move around when you're stacking the snow up.

The pleat isn't all that pronounced, but I could use this fabric for depicting reflections on water and that kind of thing. (The "Rorschach Test" of hand-dyeing: "What do you see in this fabric?")

And obviously Antique Gold has a lot of green/brown in it. Makes sense, when you think about tarnish and all that.

Sun Yellow and Antique Gold result #2.

You can see a lot more of the green coming through in this one. That's why snow dyeing is so much fun. You never quite know what you're going to get!

Stay tuned for Snow-Dye Batch #3, which is in the rinse/soak cycle as I write this. And we're due for another storm tonight and tomorrow, woo!

Mad Quilt Scientist Walks Again--Snow Dyeing

When life hands you lemons, you make lemonade.

When life hands you bales of snow...

When I started feeling somewhat better from the Great Sinus Infection of 2015, I decided I could probably handle doing a little dyeing. It's been a long while since I've been in my dye studio in the basement, so after I did a little cleaning up and removing of cobwebs (!) I made good use of the dogs' time outside and filled up three buckets of snow while they were snuffling about. 

This is not the first time I've snow-dyed, but last year when I did it, I followed directions on on a few blogs that all said about the same thing, but I wasn't pleased with the results. Most snow-dye instructions I've found call for creating the dye concentrate with water first, then using the water dye on the snow. Well, what happens when you take a water-based dye and let it melt with snow? Of course--it dilutes. I got very pale pastels. Pastels are all well and good but I like a little more saturation, so this time I did what I do with ice dyeing--I just dumped that dye powder right on top of the snow.

It does, indeed, use up more dye powder that way but hey, I only do this a couple of times a year so I'm okay with that. 

I did three different color combos and three different folds on the fabrics (one yard each). 

The first was fuschia and intense blue, and I folded the fabric in quarters lengthwise and then did a loose pleat.

The second was stormy grey, old rose, and boysenberry, and I spiraled the fabric.

The third was turquoise, lemon yellow, and tangerine, and I just scrunched it up.

So here's what I remembered while I was rinsing the fabric. Turquoise and tangerine are pretty close to being complementary colors, which means that mixing them gives you something in the neighborhood of brown or gray.

I'd been thinking more about the turquoise and yellow, and about the tangerine and yellow, without really thinking through the tangerine and turquoise. So, this isn't the most attractive end result but I already have some ideas for possible overdye designs I might do. (I like a nice neutral but I'd want it a little more intentional and not just muddy like this.)

And here's what I learned: Boysenberry is an aggressive little fella. I used more gray and rose than I did boysenberry--I just barely dotted the boysenberry on there. But it ran amuck.

I was surprised with the amount of light I ended up with in the middle (a very pale gray-purple with one bright random splotch showing). I thought I'd spun it more loosely than that. However, I can play with that, so no worries there. I don't mind this result at all--it's just not what I was picturing it would be. But that's what I like about hand-dyeing. There's always that surprise element involved.

Finally, the fuschia and intense blue combination--this one I knew what I'd get, more or less. There's a lot less variability when you're only working with two colors.

Because of the way it was folded and pleated, one end has more blue than the other. I'd planned on cutting all of these into fat quarters but I'm thinking this one will probably do better has half yard pieces so each piece would have both blue and pink; the spiral one above will stay as a whole piece; and the muddy mess at the top needs more work done on it anyway.

It was fun to be in my dye studio again, but I want to actually have a plan for my next dye session so I've got to do some thinking first. Plus, I think it's time for me to break out the wax resist (batik) supplies...