Flowy Ice Dye Steps

Pre-soak the shirt in soda ash water to help the dye bond to the fabric. Mix 1 cup of soda ash per 1 gallon of water, soak the shirts, then wring the shirt out by hand. Sprinkling soda ash over the ice tends to block the washed-out watercolor effect. Pre-soaking gives better flowy results.

Flowy ice dye on thin fabrics requires one or two layers of polyester fleece placed behind the shirt. Scrunch the shirt and fleece together into three to five tall bunches. The fleece must be synthetic (cotton doesn't work) and can be upcycled or new, as long as it’s not much smaller than the shirt.

Set up the shirt on a rack so melted ice and dye can drain through the bottom. This downward flow helps create the smooth, flowy lines. Avoid containers where the fabric sits in pooled dye because it will block the movement that creates flowing dye lines.

Sprinkle powdered fiber-reactive dye over a generous layer of ice. Use two or three colors, applied randomly, with about ½ teaspoon per color for one shirt. Take a photo of your dye placement and color choices to compare with your final results.

Let the shirt sit for 18 to 24 hours at room temperature after the ice melts. This gives the dye and soda ash enough time to react with the fabric. Flowy ice dye doesn’t respond well to rushed batching.

Blotchiness can happen when soda ash is sprinkled on with the dye, because it keeps dissolving at the surface instead of washing through at the same rate as the dye. If your ice melts too fast, the tops of the peaks may rinse out while the color pools and darkens between them.
If your design turns out too busy, you might have made too many small scrunches. Stick to three to five tall peaks.