Ice Dye & Shibori Kit

Fabric (in soda ash) is wadded on a grate, covered in ice, and dye powder is sprinkled on the ice — as the ice melts, the dye travels in unpredictable, organic blooms (no two alike). The result is a watercolor-like organic pattern. The grate (so the meltwater drips through) and the slow melt are the technique; the surprise is the appeal.

The Japanese resist-dye family — fold, clamp, bind, or pole-wrap the fabric so the dye cannot reach the resisted areas (a geometric, repeating pattern). Itajime (clamped between boards), arashi (pole-wrapped), and nui (stitched resist) are the techniques. Shibori is the precise, geometric cousin of freehand tie-dye; the discipline of the fold creates the pattern.

A dye bath of natural indigo (reduced with a chemical or a natural reducing agent) — the fabric is dipped, pulled out, and the indigo oxidizes from yellow-green to blue in the air. Multiple dips deepen the blue. The indigo vat is the traditional shibori dye (the deep Japanese blue); it is more involved than procion but the color is unmatched. The vat must be reduced (oxygen-free) for the dye to dissolve.

Procion dyes cotton (cellulose); acid dyes silk and wool (protein). For tie-dye and shibori, 100% cotton is the procion standard. Silk (and wool) need acid dyes and a different (heat, acid) process. Match the dye to the fiber — a procion dye on silk washes out; an acid dye on cotton does nothing. Read the fiber content; choose the dye class.