I came across a great article in Quiltmakers Workshop where Janet Jo Smith was descibing dyeing fabric with snow. How ingenious! Instead of heat to dye the fabric to use the cold of the snow.
Snow is not something that we see very often so it meant a day to the mountains with ice chests loaded in the back and blankets to keep them cold enough on the ride home. We drove for 1 1/2 hours to arrive at snow, 1/2 of that driving on unmaintained Forest Service Maintenance roads. The roads were so full of ruts that my 9 year old granddaughter sitting behind me started calling me “Bobble Head” after those little dolls that you put on the dashboard of your car to watch their heads bobble from side to side.
gathering snow
Well… you can’t drive for 1 1/2 hours without the reward of building a snowman! So we did!
Building a snowman
And of course a walk in the snowy wonderland.
Walking in the snow
Once we got home, we got to work. The “mad scientist” with her assistant “mini-me”” mix the dyes.
Mixing the dyes
We had the fabric all prepared so once we had it covered with the snow it was time to dye!
There was even enough snow for a fun filled snowball fight afterwards.
I think they turned out quite lovely. The colors aren’t as bright and clashed together as they would be with tie dye in heat. They just gently change from one color to another. Oh…the projects that lay ahead with such fabrics.
