{"id":3128,"date":"2023-12-14T13:10:29","date_gmt":"2023-12-14T03:10:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dyediy.com\/?p=3128"},"modified":"2023-12-15T17:45:07","modified_gmt":"2023-12-15T07:45:07","slug":"how-to-make-ice-dyed-swatches","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dyediy.com\/how-to-make-ice-dyed-swatches\/","title":{"rendered":"How to make Ice-Dyed Swatches"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Ice-dyeing can be surprising…and not always in a good way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When you open up the shirt you pictured as a lovely gradient of browns and greys and find splotches of hot pink and bright blue instead, it’s not a happy accident – my first experiment with Dharma’s Shiitake is a perfect example.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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But it’s a common problem. Dye colour samples are created from liquid dyeing in a solid colour, so they’re not always accurate (or even useful) when you’re using the dye powder to ice-dye.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The solution? Make your own ice-dyed swatches<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These are small samples you can use to see exactly which range of colours each dye will create when used for ice-dyeing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And in this tutorial I show you exactly how to make ice-dyed swatches, with my 68 different colours of Dharma Procion dyes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Why do ice-dyed colours split?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

So why can ice-dyeing turn a supposedly single colour into a range of unexpected colours?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are only a few ‘pure’ dye colours. These are usually shown by an MX code.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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They’re made up of a single dye colour, or pigment. When you use them to ice-dye you’ll get gradients of that colour, but no rainbow surprises.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But most of the other colours are mixes of two or more pure colours.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Think about your printer – you can get a full range of colours from just a few base colours.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That’s why in the Dharma Shiitake example I used above you can get splits of yellow, blue, pink, even orange – the manufacturer has used all of those pure colours to make that shade of mushroomy grey-brown. And when you mix it up in a liquid, all those different colours will blend to make the intended grey-brown. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But in ice-dyeing, the colours will split. Many individual powder particles will hit the fabric without being mixed, and you’ll be able to see all the different colours.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But if you have ice-dyed swatches, you can check them to see what your dye colour will actually look like when used for ice-dying.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Ice-dyed swatches supplies list<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Here’s what you’ll need to make your own samples.<\/p>\n\n\n\n