Colorways By Vicki Welsh
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Snow Dyeing Mandalas

Lots of people like the effect of snow dyed fabric. Some want to buy the fabrics but some people want to make it themselves instead. For those who want to do snow dyeing this is not a full tutorial but here are some tips from my sessions last week. These instructions use procion MX dyes with snow but you can also use ice.  For basic instructions for snow dyeing check out my Snow Dyeing Tutorial.
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Soda Soaked Fabric
The fabrics has to be soda soaked first. I tried working with it dry and wet and found no real difference. I did not iron the fabric but I settled on this process:
  1. Cut and fold the fabric into the shape. I spritzed it with a little water to help hold creases.
  2. Soda soak the fabric. It was much easier to handle the fabric if I folded it first and soda soaked it last. I let it sit in the soda solution a few hours to make sure it soaked through all layers.
  3. Drain the fabric. I set the fabric up on a grid of some sort over a bin so that the excess soda solution could drain out. I left my fabric overnight to dry out some. In the future I would consider prepping a lot of fabric ahead of time and letting it totally dry out. You can leave soda soaked fabric for months  and it will be OK.

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Fabrics arranged for soda soaking. Pour the soda solution over the fabrics and let sit for several hours before draining. Leftover soda solution is still good to use again. 

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Arranging The Fabric
I have the best results making mandalas when the fabric is elevated over a container so that as the melted snow drips through the fabric and the fabric doesn’t sit in the water. Experiment with different ways to fold and arrange the fabric.

​

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You don't have to lay the fabric flat on a surface. In this example I used a opened cardboard box lined with a trash bag to create a tube so that I could wedge some fabrics on end. It was worth it for the different effects that I got.

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The piece on the right is a mandala that’s been rolled and then set flat. Try every idea you come up with. The results will surprise you.

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 Applying Dye
​

I got good results with 2 methods. In this example I poured dye concentrate on top of about 4" of snow. See the results of this one below.

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Using dye powders I spread a light layer of snow and then sprinkled on dye

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Things I tried but didn’t like as much:
  • Dye powder on top of the snow. It seems to lose a lot of color when it has to melt through 4” of snow but I think the process does need about 4” of snow for the color to migrate through all layers of fabric so put the powder closer to the fabric.
  • Diluted dye just doesn’t work well at all.
  • Dye powder directly on the fabric and under the snow. This left behind some dye speckles that I didn’t care for but a lot of dyers have success with this method.
After the snow is applied just leave it until it melts and then wash out as you normally do. Following are some samples of fabrics with photos of how they were arranged and dye applied.
​Following are some examples of mandalas and how the fabric and dye were set up for the process.

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Copyright © 2021 by Vicki Welsh. All rights reserved. Content from this site may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of Vicki Welsh. You are welcome to link and share links to any page on the site.
  • Welcome
  • Shop
    • Hand Dyed Fabric
    • Glass
    • Just Plain Soap
  • Blog
  • Galleries
    • Customer Gallery >
      • Project Submission Form
    • Quilt Gallery >
      • 2023
      • 2022 >
        • Summer Sunset Quilt
        • Soundwave Quilt
      • 2021 >
        • A Big Green Quilt
        • Finally! Quilt
      • 2020 >
        • Jackies Choice Quilt
        • Penguins on Ice Quilt
        • Corona Cats Quilt
        • Kim's Garden
      • 2019 >
        • Indonesian Batik Quilt
        • Lost My Marbles
        • Remaking Flora's quilt
        • I'm Not a Snowflake Quilt
        • Where In The World Is My Cat Quilt
        • Fireworks
        • The Groovy Quilts
        • The Puppy Quilt
      • 2018 >
        • The Maine Quilt
        • Stars At Sea
        • Antelope Canyon Quilt
      • 2017 >
        • The Wedding Quilt Quilt
        • Rainbow's End Quilt
      • 2016 >
        • CSQ Challenge Quilt
        • Wholecloth Quilt of Valor
        • Luras Choice Quilt
        • Black Swan Quilt
        • 2016 Quilt of Valor Quilt
        • Non Unus Pluma Quilt
      • 2015 >
        • Snaps Quilt
        • Batik Crossroads Quilt
        • Wild Goose Chase Quilt
        • Fractured Fragments Quilt
        • Tell It To the Stars Quilt
        • Cathedral Window Quilt
        • Time In Place Quilt
        • Shaken Not Stirred Quilt
        • Pleiades Quilt
      • 2014 >
        • Spinning Stars Quilt
        • Fractured Spiral Quilt
        • Autumn Leaves Quilt
        • Sea Dreams Quilt
        • Woodland Star Quilt
        • Zombie Ball Quilt
        • Innova Angles Quilt
      • 2013 >
        • Murder For a Jar of Red Rum Quilt
        • Patroitic Quilts
        • Red Sunset Bedding Quilt
        • The Infamous Fish Quilt
        • Gratitudes Quilt
      • 2012 >
        • Illuminated Blocks Quilt
        • Kims Wedding Quilt
        • Crossing The South Anna Quilt
        • Coming Home Quilt
        • See Reverse Quilt
        • Overboard Quilt
        • Floras Fans and Modern Crumbs Quilt
        • The Patriot Quilt
        • On Point Quilt
        • Grinch Quilts
      • 2011 >
        • Star Struck Quilt
        • On A Whim Quilt
        • Catena Quilt
        • Zig Zag Scraps Quilt
        • Purple Keepsakes Quilt
        • Fiberactions Challenge Quilts
        • Journal Quilts 2011
      • 2010 >
        • Maggie the Messmaker Cross Stitch
        • Fiberactions Challenge Quilts
        • Wootten Memory Quilts
        • Teal Tomorrow Quilt
      • 2009 >
        • Shereen's Peaceful Garden
        • TShirt Quilt Commission
        • Three Generation Quilt
      • 2008 >
        • Flora's Quilts
        • Monkey Baby Quilts
        • Citrus Quilt
      • 2007 >
        • Snails Trail Quilts
        • Quilts of Valor
        • Other Quilts
      • 2006 and older >
        • Scrap Bin Quilt
        • Flora's Dutchman's Breeches
        • The Gift Quilts
        • Reversible Quilts
        • Spectacular Scraps Quilts
        • Foundation Pieced Quilts
        • Art Quilts
        • Kathy's Memorial Quilt
    • Symmetry Quilt Gallery
    • Dyeing Gallery >
      • Tie Dye Gallery
      • Shibori Gallery
    • Postcard Gallery
    • Fused Glass Gallery
    • Mosaic Gallery
    • Zentangle and Spirograph
  • Tutorials
    • Save My Bleeding Quilt
    • Postcard Tutorials >
      • Silver Christmas Tree Postcard
      • Easy Framed Motif Postcard
      • Trash to treasure postcards
      • Holiday Ornament Postcard
      • Postcard as a Door Hanger
      • Plaid Tree Postcard Tutorial
      • Button Tree Postcard
      • Fireworks Postcard Tutorial
    • Quilting Tutorials >
      • The Gift Quilt Pattern
      • Keepsakes Quilt Pattern
      • Blocking a Quilt
      • Facing A Quilt Tutorial
      • Veterans Quilt Tutorials >
        • Allegiance Quilt Pattern
        • Gratitudes Quilt Pattern
        • Strength Quilt Pattern
        • Blockade Quilt Pattern
        • Redoubt Quilt Pattern
        • Regiment Quilt Pattern
        • Bars and Stripes Quilt Pattern
      • Rainbow Quilt Free Pattern
      • Binding a Quilt
    • Surface Design Tutorials >
      • Ice Dyeing tutorial
      • Snow Dyeing basics tutorial
      • Snow Dyeing Mandala
      • Sun Printing Tutorial
      • Lamp Printing Tutorial
      • Dyeing extra large fabrics
      • Hold the Retayne
      • Painted Shower Curtain Tutorial
      • Metallic Paint Effects on Fabric
      • Curing Metallic Fabric Paints
      • Zentange Pens
      • Leaf Printing Tutorial
      • Printing On Fabric
      • Life of MX Dye Concentrates
      • Testing Soda Ash in fabric dyeing
    • Color Theory
    • Placemat Tutorials >
      • Rise and Shine Placemat Tutorial
      • Coming Home Placemat Tutorial
      • Mineral Pool Placemat Tutorial
      • Sugar Maple Placemats
      • Fat Quarter Placemat Tutorial
      • Merry Mats Placemat Tutorial
    • Basic Tutorials >
      • Custom Sewing Table
      • Liquid Spray Starch Recipe
    • Crafts and Small Projects >
      • Surgery Drain Bag Tutorial
      • Drawstring Bag Sewing Tutorial
      • Large Tote Tutorial
      • Big Fabric Flower Tutorial
      • The best potholders pattern
      • Notebook Cover Tutorial
      • Pillowcase tutorial
      • Wide Brim Sun Visor
      • Trash To Treasure Holiday Ornaments
      • Pet Bed From Scraps Tutorial
      • Framed Metal Quilt
      • Shooting Shirt Tutorial
      • Making Paper
      • Making Soap
      • Favorite Soap Reicpes
      • Lotion Making
      • Bowl hot pad pattern
    • Longarm Quilting Tutorials >
      • The longarm machine does matter
      • Double Wavy Crosshatch
      • Wavy Crosshatch Longarm
      • Quilting Letters on a Quilt
      • Centering a Quilt back on a longarm
      • Quilting Snowball Blocks
      • Easy Longarm Piano Keys
      • Using Channel Locks
      • Sewing/Serging quilt backing to zippers
      • Adding backing on the longarm
  • Contact
  • Newsletter
  • Privacy Policy