I just realized that I should have posted my sewing group info here last night instead of in PWYC. Oh well, I'm just going to copy it over so I'll be able to find it later.
For the educational part of the meeting, we played with 3 dye techniques. My focus was mostly on the procedure that used ice cubes. I took an old white cloth purse that I was going to throw away because over time it looked dingy no matter how many times I soaked and washed it. I am hopeful that the dye will revive the purse so I can use it again.
The procedure is to first soak the fabric at least 15 minutes in a mixture of water & soda ash (washing soda) to make the dye colors stay in the fabric. Put it on a rack on top of a plastic bin (to catch the runoff) and pile ice cubes on top. Sprinkle powder dye(s) wherever color is desired. Let it set for 24 hours so that the ice will melt and combine with the color(s) to form random patterns. Then I was told that after the 24 hours, it needs to be rinsed until the water runs clear, and then left out to dry. I need to do some research on the internet to make sure that is correct. I don't think it will help to ask the person who was teaching the class, as she was just going from instructions she found on the internet.
So far my purse looks like it will be pretty. I scrunched it up a bit on the rack. I used 3 different colors, starting at 1 side with fuschia, then purple through the middle, then a medium blue. The recommendation was to bring a plastic dish pan with a wire rack on top, but I took a large plastic bin and a dish rack that fit all the way inside -- I did not want to risk dye splashing out on my drive home. As soon as I got home, I put the bin in the back yard and lifted the rack up to set it across the top. It was at that point that my latex glove developed a hole and as a result, I now have a purple ring finger.
(If I had left the rack down inside the bin, the purse would have been sitting in the colored water and would have ended up all 1 color instead of the 3 separate ones.)
I went out and checked it an hour ago. The ice had finally all melted. I drained out the colored water, put the rack back inside the bin, and brought it into the kitchen to set overnight. I was afraid that if I left it outside overnight, I would end up with bugs and bird poop or worse, a possum might come along and turn the bin over and destroy my purse looking for food.
PS: The other 2 techniques were "reverse dyeing" using various forms of bleach, and "rust dyeing" where the fabric is put in a plastic bag with water and some rusty items. I may play more with the bleach some day because one suggestion was to use either a Tide bleach pen or to put something like a gel cleaner with bleach into a little bottle with a pointed tip so it can be used to draw designs onto the fabric. The rust one doesn't appeal to me because I don't do much with browns - although I guess some day I might want to do a table runner for autumn.
it has LAYERS to find! 
