Time to do an ice-dye experiment

I am relatively new to ice dyeing.  I've done enough to decide that I really love the "controlled chaos" of it.  What I mean is that you can choose colors (based on your test swatches) and style (what you want it to look like - folds, gravity flow, splotchy, etc) but you can't really control exactly what the colors are going to do.  So, in order for you to try and get what you want out of your creative process you read, look to see what others do, and experiment, experiment, experiment. 

This has lead to my latest experiment with creating geodes.  I used the same 3 colors and the same tie style (sinew pulled pretty tight.  I soaked all the swatches in a soda ash soak (1 Cup soda ash per gallon of water) for 20-30 minutes, spun them out in my washing machine, tied while damp, and left to dry overnight (except for one that I put in a sandwich bag to keep damp).  I applied an equal amount of dye in the same areas on each one and sprinkled a bit more soda ash over the dyes to make sure the dyes got the message "dye this fabric and stay there".  After each reached its end of time, I rinsed them in cold water and gradually warmed the water until it was hot (our hot water heater is set at 120 degrees).  Then I washed in blue Dawn dish detergent, rinsed, dried, and ironed.  If this was going to be used to make into something or worn, I would have washed in Synthrapol.

As a side note, the swatches were processed in the shade.  The temperatures ran from low 70's to upper 80's while these were processing.

In case you don't know these terms:

• DOI (Dye sprinkled over the ice)
• DUI (Dye sprinkled over the fabric before ice is placed over the fabric)
• on rack (item is placed on a rack so the melting ice runs through the fabric and drips away into a tub)
• in the muck (the fabric is placed in the tub without a rack so that the item sits in the melted ice water)

These 3 colors were used on all the swatches in the same locations - Lapis in the center, deep purple on the 1st ring around the center, and Lapis for the outer ring and background area.  I tried to use the same amount of dye in each area.

This experiment compares: 

If you look closely, you will see that I wrote what I wanted to do with the swatches on the top of each one before I soaked them in Soda Ash.  Unfortunately, life got in the way and I rinsed them about 6 hours after I planned to.  So in order to maintain the comparison, I processed all of the remaining swatches about 6 hours longer than originally planned.  That is why what is in the picture does not match what is written in the blog.

1. Damp, DOI, on rack, 30 hrs after ice melted

   

2. Dry, DOI, on rack, 30 hrs after ice melted (It is hard to get the dye to stay on the fabric when it's dry and in such area.  I spritzed a little SA water on the swatch but it was still hard to keep it in place on this one.)

   

3. Dry, DUI, on rack, 30 hrs after ice melted

   

4. Dry, DUI, in muck, 30 hrs after ice melted

   

5. Dry, DUI, in muck, 2+ days after ice melted

   

6. Dry, DUI, in muck, 3+ days after ice melted

   

7. Dry, DUI, in much, 4+ days after ice melted

   

It's really interesting to see the differences that time creates for each.  I think I like the muck bath best in this experiment.  I believe I will conduct the experiment again but process all the swatches on the rack for 2, 3, & 4 days to see how that compares to the muck process.