Snow dyeing

Well we have enough of it,  snow that is, but I was too busy yesterday to work with it. So I will post the results from last years experiments.

• I worked on a variety of fabrics all silk. They were all soda soaked and taken outside wet in containers that they were squashed down into. I believe they froze as the snow fell on them, I left them outside for several hours. 

snow dyed with MX and fiber reactive sitting on a silk screen

3 small bubble silk chiffon snowed dyed in the same container

• Next I brought the in to the studio and squirted them with premixed mx and some liquid reactive dyes.
• I did several smaller pieces in the same container. They will become scarves that I call silk boas. I will post some  finished ones below.

15MM habotai draining on a silk screen over the sink

• I let them drain over the sink sitting on a silk screen

I just left them sit like that over night and the next day I packed each lump of silk in a large zip lock bag leaving the last inch of it unzipped so steam could escape and nuked them soaking wet for 2 min. in the studio microwave.

Heavy weight organza

Each of the silks took the dye in their own ways. I was most pleased with a heavy weight silk organza that is still hanging just as it came out after being washed and dried. I am not sure if I will ever work back into it, so it is pinned to the curtain that hangs in front of my bookcase. Waiting for me to have a vision of how to finish it.

Here are the snow dyed boas.

 You can see that these were done on a crinkled silk chiffon. I really enjoy choosing the color to serge the edges with.