Create Your Own Custom Tie Dye Prints with Ice Dyeing!

We love DIYing around here, and what's better than sewing your own clothes using fabric you dyed yourself?! Whether you want to customize a length of fabric or add a little sumpin-sumpin' to clothing you already have, this ice-dying DIY is for you!

Today's ice tie-dye tutorial is likely our most requested, ever since we featured a gorgeous ice-dyed rayon for one of our Elodie Wrap dress samples. I made this custom fabric when I stayed at a friend's country house and set up a mad scientist laboratory in her backyard; her 85-year-old neighbor thought I had lost my mind, running around wearing rubber gloves and sprinkling mysterious powders on piles of ice in the summer sun. Ah, the joys of being a maker! (If you're looking for more dyeing ideas, check out our past posts on tub dyeing with fiber reactive dyes, basics of natural dyeing and dyeing with avocados!)

WHAT IS ICE DYEING?

Ice dyeing is an easy and satisfying way to dye clothing or fabric using ice and fiber reactive dye powder. You mound the ice on the fabric and then sprinkle the dye over it. As the ice melts, it pulls the dye down through the fabric, creating beautiful patterns and gradations. What makes this process so special is the way the dye "breaks" or splits as it comes into contact with the ice.

As you may know, commercial dyes are rarely made from one solid extract. Rather, they are blended and mixed with other colours; when everything is dissolved in water (like in our tub dyeing tutorial) the colour becomes solid. However, when you sprinkle it on ice, the different extracts aren't able to blend, so you can get some really interesting effects. It's a  bit unpredictable (feels a bit like magical fabric alchemy, to be honest) but a big part of the fun is unfurling your project after it's had time to cure and revealing just exactly what you've created. The final result has the same unpredictable, slightly psychedelic look of traditional tie-dye, but is more concentrated in colour and has a more random "broken" effect. To me, it looks a lot like those galaxy prints that were all the rage a few years ago! The best thing about ice dye? It's cheap, easy, and fun!

CHOOSING YOUR ICE DYE

The biggest decision to make with an ice dyeing project is the colours you want to work with. One thing you should keep in mind is that it will be applied in a fairly deep, saturated way-  a dye that creates a light grey or beige solid hue when tub dyeing will look completely different when applied with ice. The dye will split and you'll likely see more intense or vibrant shades than you are expecting. This is why testing is KEY; before you go to town on your final garment or a big piece of fabric, take the time to experiment with scraps first to make sure you like the way the dye breaks.

While you may be tempted to experiment with a variety of colours, I'd also encourage you to try single colours - since the dye breaks, with multiple dyes you may end up creating something a lot more multicolored than you have in mind. Also, fiber reactive dye is very inexpensive (a 2oz jar is more than enough and is less than $3) so my advice is to purchase a range so you can test them out and see what you prefer. To give you an idea of the range of effects from a single dye, I tested a bunch from my collection. Here are my results (all dyes are from Dharma):

As you can see, a single colour can break into multiple, unexpected hues! This is the fun of ice tie dye. Keep in mind that you can get less "dense" results by using less dye. In most of these test cases, I sprinkled quite a bit of dye, but you can't pretty results by using a lighter hand.

To give you an idea of what it looks like when you use multiple colours, here are a few I experimented with:

Once you've figured out your dyes, it's time to get to work! 

1. Prepare your fabric

First, start by washing your garment or fabric. As we've repeatedly stressed, just because your fabric looks clean doesn't mean it doesn't have skin oils or chemicals left over from the manufacturing process that will impact dye adhesion and colorfastness. Wash with one of the professional textile detergents above, or a mild regular detergent if that's all you have. 

2. Mordant your fabric

Next, soak your fabric in a soda ash solution for a minimum of 15 minutes. This helps "fix" the dye you're about to apply - do not skip this step! As a general ratio, mix 1 cup of soda ash in one gallon of warm water. You can reuse your soda ash solution so it's best to use a container with a lid. 

While wearing rubber gloves, squeeze out the excess soda ash solution.

3. Prepare your workstation

If you're not able to do this outside, make sure you thoroughly prepare your workstation. Use garbage bags or a drop sheet to protect your surfaces. We'll be using highly concentrated dye powder which will stain anything it comes into contact with.

Next, prep your containers. Make sure that the grill or rack for your fabric is sturdy on the container - it's really important that the fabric doesn't touch the muddy dye water runoff.

4. Scrunch your fabric

In order to get the beautiful random, tie-dye effect of ice dyeing, you have to scrunch and twist your fabric while it's still wet. This will create nooks and crannies for your dye to seep into. In the image below, I had 5 yards of rayon to squeeze onto the rack. I alternately twisted areas into a rope, and then scrunched others to get a random effect overall. Have fun and see what kind of effects you can achieve!

5. Apply ice + dye

Now it's the fun part! Pile your ice on top of your fabric. Try to cover as much of the fabric as possible in an even layer. Once the fabric is coated with ice, use a plastic spoon and sprinkle the dye powder over the ice (you must wear a mask during this step to protect your lungs!) You can do a fairly even coating, or break it up with more powder in some areas than others. If you have a very big piece of fabric I would use a lot of dye pretty evenly across the surface - this ensures the dye will seep in through most of the fabric.

Below you can see how the ice looks at the beginning and what happens as the ice starts to melt. Don't be too alarmed if the colours look very strong or vibrant; I was worried I had ruined my fabric when I saw those deep pinks and purples but once it was rinsed and dried you could see the transformation into something really special.

6. Cure & Wash

While you may be super excited to check your fabric once the ice has melted, it's really important to let it sit out overnight. Because the fabric is wet, the dye will continue to activate and spread even after the ice has melted. You can just leave it on the rack; make sure you give it a good 18-24 hours to marinate in its juices.

Once the time is up, rinse the fabric thoroughly with cold water. Once the water runs clear, wash it with textile detergent in the washing machine to prevent future bleeding and remove any lingering dye.

It is that simple! I encourage you to go forth and experiment with this technique - it's a lovely way to really personalize your garment from start to finish, and it also makes a WONDERFUL activity to do at home with kids.

Have you experimented with ice dying? How did it go?