We had quite a bit of snow here yesterday so I took advantage of it and did some snow dyeing. I ended up with mixed results and learned a lesson at the same time.
Here is what the bathroom looked like for most of the day…
I’ll give you the bad results first…
Yup, the color came out in the wash. Nope, your eyes do not deceive you. The problem here, I think, is that I had some premixed dye left over from last time and I think it was too weak/too old. This should have been blue and yellow.
Another not great result…
This was blue dye in powder form and some of the premixed dye…see a pattern…premixed, old dye doesn’t get the job done! The powder dye is all that shows up.
Now for a better result…
This was dye in powder form with some squirts of the premix…came out ok but I’d rather not see so much white.
My favorite piece was this one…
This was all dye in powdered form and I really love the result.
I think I’ll overdye at least the first two. The third could be useful cut up in a landscape.
I think I’m not really going to do much more snow dyeing. I like the results from low water immersion dyeing the best.
Housekeeping: – Send me your name and address if you are interested in being in the Spring Postcard Swap!
Have a happy day!
Sandi
3 responses to “Snow Dye Results – You Win Some, You Lose Some”
I found I wasn’t as keen on snow-dyeing results as I was on ice-dyeing, and with the ice version, it really had to be powdered dye or everything got far too diluted. I was interested, though, in your results with your old pre-mixed dyes. I have some in my basement that are probably going on 3 months old now (it’s been awhile since I’ve gotten down there) so I’m now forewarned, although I’d already had my doubts about their efficacy. I’m thinking I’ll dump them all in one big dye bath with a couple of pieces of fabric and just see what happens. Like you said, there’s always over-dyeing! I do love your last result–that’s got great colors. At least you had fun!
Sandi, I think the second one would be a perfect candidate for sky background for a landscape quilt. Perhaps background for your Spring post card! I really love the one with the pink and yellow!
Sorry your tops one were disappointing, but as you said, you learned some valuable things. My first thought was “why wasn’t it in writing somewhere.” But then I realized if it were me, even if I had read somewhere not to reuse old dye, I would have tried it anyway. 🙂 Love the last one, very pretty.