Batching

I decided to use just one color so I could create a swatch for the color “black ice” from Dharma. My shirt is 100% cotton in size medium.

I used a wire basket and a cooling rack above the plastic bin so that the item would drip off excess ice and dye.

It took about six hours for the ice to melt. I let it sit for about 18 more hours to fully set and this is what it looks like after the ice has melted.

This shirt was pre-soaked in soda, ash water in a repurposed bucket that used to be a kitty litter container. It was only hand wrung, so it was pretty wet before folding.

I decided to apply the dye with ice, so I piled on a bunch of ice before adding dye. The green fleece around the shirt is just meant to hold up the ice around the shirt so it gets plenty of liquid.

I threw the shirt into my utility sink and sprayed it with cold water until it ran mostly clear. Then I rinsed it with hot water and then sent it through the washing machine with some normal detergent.

I folded the shirt up at an angle. On that fold line, started rolling the fabric really tight in the center, but I let it roll looser on each end.

These days it’s common for people to do an incline set up when they’re using some variation of the rolled technique. I used some mega blocks to hold the basket up at about a 30° incline.

The final shirt turned out pretty cool. I like the way the fold turned out, as well as this die color. Next time, I would like to add some black somewhere on the shirt just for a little extra contrast.