As many of you know, the Northeast has had more than its share of snow this winter, with more again today! Using the directions for snow dyeing, courtesy of Nancy S. Breland, we gave it a try this week and came up with some absolutely gorgeous fabrics. So, why not give this a try? You will have the best results using a color of MX Dye that is an in-house mix,versus a pure manufactured color, because the components in it will separate out on your dyed fabric.
Here are the end results:
This one had the dye drizzled over a layer of 3″ snow.
This fabric had the dye mixed into the snow first.
Both fabrics used three colors of MX Dyes: Pagoda Red MX 3220, Ultraviolet MX 8194 and Grass Green 720N, mixed up at 2 tablespoons per cup of urea water.
Please watch this slide show for step by step details
HAPPY DYEING!
Your friends at PRO Chemical & Dye
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Since I live in the south, what effect would something like shaving cream have or could one use crushed ice or ??? Trying to decide what kind of options would give me the above results. That is if at all possible.
By: Madeleine Walker on January 21, 2011
at 9:06 pm
Those turned out very nice. Your instructions are very similar to the ones I wrote for the Quilting Arts Magazine Oct/Nov 2009.
By: Judi on January 21, 2011
at 11:05 pm
Hello,
I have a question: MX dyes are excellent for a hot and humid and offer good color, how it is it then to snow, the colors are washed once they mitigated?
Bonjour,
J’ai une question : les colorants MX sont excellent à une température chaude et humide et offrent une bonne coloration, comment cela se fait-il alors pour la neige, les couleurs sont elles atténuées une fois lavées ?
By: marianne on January 22, 2011
at 10:42 am
Thank you for the great tutorial. There’s lots of snow here in PA, so I might just try this crazy technique.
By: Cheryl Lynch on January 22, 2011
at 2:06 pm
Crushed ice may not be able to hold the dye long enough to get a good effect. I have used snow from an inexpensive snow cone machine, and it works well. It just takes time to grind up all that ice! You can snow dye in the summer. You do need to warm up the dyed fabric after the snow has melted, and let it set for a while. If you wash it out while it is cold, the color will wash out. I put my bins of dyed fabric (covered with plastic) on top of a heating vent on the floor over night. In cold weather, the bin heats up to 80 degrees.
Nancy B.
By: Nancy Breland on January 22, 2011
at 9:56 pm
Madelaine, we are not sure if shaving cream would give you the same results as the snow does, seeing as they are so very different in texture. The dyes would trickle down to the cloth, creating slightly different visual texture on the dyed cloth.
By: prochemical on January 24, 2011
at 3:15 pm
What a perfect project for today. All I have to do is open the sliding door to our deck and fill a bucket with snow. I don’t think we’ll run out of snow on Long Island until spring. Watched the slide show twice, found my copy of Judi’s article and I’m ready to go. Thanks for the inspiration!
By: Marijoe on January 27, 2011
at 1:55 pm
If you are thinking about using some of the plentiful “raw material” outside your door today, don’t overlook the possibilities of snow dyeing some knit shirts. Cotton knits, from onsies to adult XXL, take the dyes very well. (The stitching won’t take color, however, as it is done with poly thread.) Knits are thicker than pfd cloth, so you may get some white spots. Don’t skimp on the amount of snow/dye mix.
By: Nancy B on January 27, 2011
at 2:40 pm
nice tutorial. I may try the dyed snow technique to see how it compares with my usual technique.
I have found that mixing dyes to “dark” concentrations seems to give the most vibrant color, medium concentrations can add a subtle touch. Light concentrations tend to fade right out.
I’ve also found that the type of snow tends to make a bit of a difference as well. We tend to have the dry “sugary” kind of snow here on the Canadian Prairies due to lower humidity and colder temps but we do get the wetter snow when temps warm up so I’ve had a chance to compare them. Also putting snow on top of soda ash soaked fabric for 15-30 min before pouring dyes seems to freeze the fabric a bit and give much more intricate and complex dye patterns.
I have to admit – I’m hooked on snow dyeing. It’s so exciting to see what emerges as the snow melts and then when the washed, rinsed and dried fabrics are ironed to see the dye patterns emerge. Who knew ironing could be so much fun!!
By: Louise in SW Saskatchewan on January 29, 2011
at 6:22 pm
There’s a lot to explore with this new kind of dyeing. I’m not sure what all the
“critical variables” are. Color of dye, consistency of snow, temperature of the fabric, concentration of dye, time and temperature of warm up, kind of fabric – all of these might make a difference. I keep experimenting. If you would like to see the results of some of my experiments, visit my very new blog:
http://findaluckypenny.blogspot.com/
By: Nancy B on January 30, 2011
at 2:20 am
[...] Pro Chemical & Dye put together a timely blog post on Snow Dyeing. [...]
By: What to do with all that snow? / Quilting Gallery on February 2, 2011
at 5:07 am
can any other dyes be used? like liquid reactive dyes? thanks
By: Jane Murray on February 2, 2011
at 3:36 pm
How do you safely dispose of the spent dyes? Or do they exhaust completely into the fabric?
By: anne on February 2, 2011
at 5:24 pm
I’ve had so much fun playing with the snow that I posted my own tutorial on my site. But my question how do I know which dyes will split? Thanks. Lynda
http://www.bloombakecreate.com/2011/02/snow-dyeing-technique-2/
By: Lynda on February 2, 2011
at 6:49 pm
@Jane – We have only done research with the MX Dyes in the snow dyeing process. So we are not sure if others will work. However, due to the snow dispensing the dyes, it seems like the liquid reactive would work as long as you steam the piece once the snow has melted.
@Anne – The fabric is rinsed and washed after the snow has melted and the fabric has batched, preferably overnight. Any excess dye will get rinsed out or poured down the drain from the container that you used.
@Lynda – There is no list of colors that will split. Our advice is to use one of our in-house mixes and not one of the pure MX colors. So, sampling will be important, before you dye larger pieces of cloth.
By: prochemical on February 2, 2011
at 9:46 pm
If you don’t have snow and don’t want to buy a snow cone machine, find a skating rink and use the Zamboni scrapings. You can find big piles of it outside hockey and other indoor skating rinks and it works just fine. It’s a little more granular that regular snow but finer than a snow cone. This also means you can snow dye in the summer, depending on the activity at the rink — you just need to be careful in timing your visits.
I’m sure the security guard told his buddies about me when I asked permission to park next to the snow and take some, He saw me shoveling it into big buckets and hauling it away in my car! He must have thought I was some kind of nut job.
By: Margaret Reek on February 4, 2011
at 8:22 pm