There are so many beautiful fibre reactive dyes out there which all have their own special quality in regard to colour and the way they split. When creating something, I often rely on my collection of ice dyed fabric swatches to show me not just how a colour has split, but also enable me to compare different dyes to see if they’ll go well together.
I had some left over rayon fabric from when I sewed some sarongs. I washed it, soaked it in soda ash, cut it into smaller pieces after it dried and zig-zagged around the edges with a sewing machine to stop it fraying and keep the swatches tidy.
Others may have their own way of creating colour swatches, but I just gently crumpled up the fabric and held it together loosely with a rubber band, put the pieces on a rack over a plastic container, sprinkled on the dye and lay pieces of ice carefully on top. I left these approximately 18 hours overnight which gave time for the ice to melt and for the dye to do its thing.
The process of ice dyeing colour swatches
Just one thing to remember, try to keep a note of which colour is which. If you get a few blues together or a few different reds, it may be difficult to pick one from the other.
I then rinsed each piece individually, first in cold water and then a few soaks in hot water to rinse out the excess dye. Then I left them to dry before labelling. The results of the above are in the top picture. Aren’t they gorgeous?
Ice Dyed Fabric Swatches 
Ice Dyed Fabric Swatches
You can see on the corner that I’ve labelled each colour. As I presently buy dyes from two different companies, I’ve also noted this on the label as different suppliers may mix their own dyes and there could be a slight difference from one to the other. I’m in Australia, so I’ve been using Sunny Daisy Tie Dye and Kraftkolour, however there are more suppliers out there selling a fabulous range of colours.
Happy Dyeing everyone.
Couleur Creations 