ICE DYEING: REFRESH STAINED CLOTHES AND HAVE GREAT SUMMER FUN!

My father is something of a tie-dyeing-connoisseur. He loves to tie dye and wears it so frequently that some of my cousins call him "Uncle Tie Dye" and the tie I had him wear to walk me down the aisle was tie dyed as well. Recently I came across ice dyeing: A new way to use the dyes! It seemed super simple and I loved the way the fabrics were promised to come out, so we decided to give it a try! Here's a peek at what some of our end results were:

I decided to use old items of clothing that I had either become bored with or were stained. We used the dyes that my father already had for traditional tie dyeing. (He purchased the dyes and ash for soaking from Dharma Trading Company which is also where we got the directions on how to ice dye.) 

http://www.dharmatrading.com/html/eng/13399009-AA.shtml

Basically, you just soak the garment for twenty minutes in soda ash and then wring it out really well:

You'll need to set something up where the item will be suspended over a container in such a way that water can run through as the ice melts. We got laundry baskets from the dollar store and shoved them into buckets, or put chicken wire into various containers. Use whatever you can find around the house!

Take a garment or two and scrunch them up, placing them in the top container and then cover them in a generous amount of ice. Begin sprinkling dye powder over the ice VERY SPARINGLY. Use as many or as few colors as you'd like. (Some of us chose to tie sections of our garments with rubber bands as in traditional tie dye before putting ice on top, just to see how it would turn out, but that is not necessary.) 

Now all you have to do is sit back and enjoy the beautiful weather while you wait for the ice to melt! That's the great thing about this project-Tie dyeing is best done outdoors anyway to avoid messes and what better thing to do during great weather than to play with ice while you sit outside? 

It's also a lot of fun watching the ice melt; The colors become so vivid and they begin to blend together and the anticipation is really fun. Kids LOVE this part!

Finally, you can pull the garments out and see what you've got! These colors will be a little more saturated than what you're going to end up with, because you're going to wash them after waiting overnight, but here's what ours looked like once the ice melted:

You're almost done! Carefully place each item in a separate plastic bag and let them set overnight. The next day, rinse them out very thoroughly with the hose or in a sink, and then put them through the washer and dryer. (Only wash them this first time with other tie dyed items, NOT any of your other regular clothes!) Put them through the dryer, and then you're finished! From here on you can care for them as per the instructions on the garment tag! Here's an idea of the difference in appearance between when a garment has just been dyed and after it comes out of the wash:

 Here are images of some of what I started out with, and what I ended up with:

Here are some pointers:

*This is a great way to revamp stained or dingy kids clothing and the items don't have to be white! The skirt above was a pale pink and I think it came out lovely! I even like the dye on striped fabric. 

*Wear gloves to avoid possible irritation and staining the skin and wear clothes that you won't mind possibly becoming stained with dye.

*If the dyes listed above are a little outside your budget, there are ways to cut costs. One way is to just buy the three primary colors (red, blue and yellow) because you can mix these to get just about any color. Or you can get a large group of people to share cost because really, these containers will dye a LOT of stuff. Also, check your local swap sites and Craigslist to see who may be looking to sell or give away the remainder of their dye if they've lost interest in it. You can also use the cheap dyes that come in tie dye kits found at Walmart, Michael's Crafts, ect, but these tend to result in garments with a much paler or subtle color so be prepared for that and you may want to use more of it when you dye to ensure good saturation. 

*You can make this a teachable moment by showing young children how you can mix certain colors to create an all new one!

The bottom line is that all you have to do is soak, scrunch, layer with ice, sprinkle with dye, and then rinse and wash. This is a lot of fun, it can save dingy or stained items that you would otherwise toss, and I believe it can be done for less than $40 if you incorporate materials you already have!