15 lbs and some color

I like to experiment with the dyeing, but sometimes I'm just too lazy to mess with it. It is a big job, and usually I end up with blue fingers for a week or so.

And there are dye splashes on the bathtub. Drips on the floor between the tub and all the way through the kitchen to the laundry room and the washer. Dye bottles and their little spouts sitting on the kitchen table upside down in a tray after rinsing, they sit at least a week so they will dry before I put them away.

Buckets.
I use 5 gallon buckets for the soak solution and sometimes it takes more than one bucket, depending on how many things I dye. This time there were two of them in the hallway outside the momcave for a couple days, I was waiting for them to be completely dry before I put the lids on.

I try to make it worth my time by dyeing a bunch of things at once. This time I did a pillowcase, 20 pairs of socks, which I like to give as gifts on occasion, some underwear, some shoelaces (I use tie dyed shoelaces and a breakaway clasp for my work lanyards... 100% cotton and doesn't make my neck itchy) and a zip up hoodie for my friend Tami. I have been threatening to do it for more than a year, I've had the shirt in my dye blanks for quite some time.


So I started with the light blue sweatshirt. Soaked it in the soda ash solution, then tossed the wet garment into the washer and spun out most of the moisture.

I put some socks and underwear in the bottom of a big plastic Rubbermaid tote. Then plastic disposable cups in the corners and racks on top of those to make a surface for the dye to drip.

A layer of ice over the shirt and pillowcase, then the fun began. I put on my dust mask (dye powder is really bad for your lungs) and started sprinkling dye. I chose dyes that seem to separate a bit on garments,a yummy blue/violet combo, some green, another blue... if I had to be honest, and usually I do, I don't even remember all the bits of color I used. I tried to use a smaller amount than I did the last time, I've done a bit of reading and given it a little thought.

So what you see first is the big gloppy mess that happened before I added the second layer of ice.I'm not sure why, but apparently I didn't photograph it after that. Take my word for it, it was a rather thick layer of ice. Had a 10 lb bag from the grocery store as well as a completely full bin from the freezer's ice maker

Then, I put the lid on the container for about 2 days. Could have sat longer, but maximum dye retention happens after about 18 hours anyway.

The ice melts, the dye drips through the garment and lands on the socks and other items below so they get colored, too.It's really messy looking and if you'd seen the socks and other items in the bottom, you wouldn't believe they'd turn out nicely, but they did.

 

Not as nice as the sweatshirt, though. I have to admit that it's completely by accident that the dye distribution looks like flowers, but I have to say that I was really happy with how it turned out, too.