Early December saw something that has become rather rare around here, snow. Lots of it. It came as such a surprise that I was totally unprepared to even think about snow dyeing at first.
Snow dyeing is something I read about in a Wheel Magazine a while back, I can’t remember which issue though. It’s a technique where you pile snow on top of the goods you want to dye, pour dye on it and let it melt. It’s one of those fascinating processes where you have little control over the outcome.
I had done this once, the last time I had snow readily available. In that attempt, I had done it over the bathtub, on a mettle mesh. That turned the bathtub into a mess and caused the mesh to gather rust.
And that’s part of why I kept debating with myself for days whether I should give it another go. The mesh was unusable, and I didn’t want to deal with that kind of mess again.
On day three the snow showed the first signs of melting, so I had to act if I didn’t want to miss my chance. By then I had come up with the brilliant idea of using one of the grid plastic boxes I use to store my wool. I have a basin to catch dripping water whenever I hang up washed projects to dry in the cellar. Those two items should prove a perfect combination for this experiment.
I had some sheets of silk lying around that I had bought with this kind of thing in mind. I had to put them into the box folded into layers to fit, but was confident that the dye would soak through them. A bucket of snow was quickly gathered in the garden, already pretty damp.
I got my Ashford dyes ready, improvising a little with the measurements as I had neglected to weigh the fabric beforehand. I picked simple red, yellow and blue hoping for a rainbow effect once the colours bled together.
I poured the dyes over the snow and all I had to do then was to wait. It took all day for the snow to melt so I had to come back the next day to check on the results.
At first glance it seemed like not a lot had happened, the colours sitting side by side without blending together much. I got out my old steamer for baby bottles, which got little use for its intended purpose, but has proven invaluable in steaming fabric to set dye colours. I gave each sheet of silk two rounds in the steamer, unfolding them after the first one.
It was at this stage that I got to finally see the magic the melting snow had worked. While not quite rainbow-y, the colours had still bled into an interesting pattern. And I was a little surprised to see that both sheets had turned out completely differently. Both have a unique look to them and are truly one of a kind.
Now all I have left is to rim the edges, which I know will take ages.
Snathanna 