We had snow on the ground for almost two weeks here at the end of February, which got me thinking about ice dyeing. Since most of my dyeing involves using raw plant materials, the process tends to be long and labor intensive. Ice dyeing is the exact opposite! In fact it could not be easier.

You can purchase one of our Ice-Dye Infinity Scarf kits here.

Here are the easy steps to achieving amazing colors on natural fibers. I dyed my fabric before sewing but you can dye after sewing if you prefer.

• Wash your fabric in hot water with 1 tsp Synthrapol. You can do this in the washing machine or in a bucket by hand. 
• Rinse and ring out the fabric.
• Dissolve 1 cup of soda ash in warm water (wear a mask until dissolved), put in the wet fabric and soak for 15 minutes. If you have one of the kits just dump in the whole jar.
• You can save the soda ash water, to soak another piece of cloth for dyeing.

• Wearing gloves, ring out (but don't rinse) the fabric.
• Arrange the fabric on top of a cooling rack (it will be scrunched up) and cover with ice or snow. The cooling rack can be in a vessel or outside over the ground. Just make sure that it is raised enough so the water from the melted ice won't touch the fabric.

• With a mask and gloves on, sprinkle 1/4 tsp to 1/2 tsp of each dye color you want over the ice. A little seems to go a long way. For my scarves I used about 1/2 teaspoon of each of the 6 colors but you can choose to use more or less of a color, or to use fewer than 6 colors. I used a mesh tea strainer to dust the colors on but you can sprinkle from a spoon as well.

• Let the ice completely melt into the fabric.
• Once the ice is melted the colors on the fabric will look sort of muddy and not pretty. Do not worry this is correct. Rinse the fabric in hot water and then hand wash in a basin with 1 tsp of Snythrapol until the excess dye runs off.
• Step back and admire!
• Hang to dry (or tumble in the dryer if you prefer)