Tie Dyeing with Ice is a unique technique allows you to create cool designs on fabric using just ice and dye. This simple and enjoyable craft project is fun and engaging for all age groups!
Make sure you start with my How to Tie Dye shirts and make a party of it! post where I share how to choose your shirts, dyes, and set the dyed colors after the party. There are a lot of tips in that post that will help you to Ice Tie Dye as well.
How do you tie-dye with ice?
1+ 2. Prep your T shirt for the Tie Dye Process.
3. Place it in a container or tray that is large enough to hold your fabric and can collect the melting ice.
4. Sprinkle your choice of powdered dye onto the ice. We used this I Love to Create Tulip One-Step Tie-Dye Kit, Large, Luau. Make sure use just the dye powder itself directly. Do no dilute with water in the bottle as the instruction says! You can use multiple colors to create a vibrant and unique design
5. Then start carefully placing the ice cubes on top.
6. Create a barrier of some sort to hold all the ice on top in place
7. Let the ice melt and do it’s magic! As the ice melts it will react and activate the dye and move the dye in the direction of the water melt to create unique designs.
8. Once the ice has completely melted, remove the fabric from the container and place into a plastic bag to prevent the fabric from drying out for at least 8 hours.
Tie Dyeing with Ice VIDEO
Watch the video! Ice Tie Dyeing Tutorial VIDEO
It is so much fun to watch the ice melt and dye the fabric: https://youtu.be/6MxsC8xpDMU
Tips For ice tie dye:
- Make sure the fabric is in direct contact with the ice and dye mixture. I got best results while sprinkling the dye powder directly onto a dry T shirt and placing the ice on top. You can alternately place the ice onto the T shirt first and then sprinkle the dye powders on top and experiment.
- When Tie Dyeing With Ice, you can choose to allow the melted ice + dye mixture to drip away from the fabric. For this set up a wire rack, place your fabric on top and add the ice onto it. Make sure to place the wire rack in a large enough container to catch all of the melting ice.
- You can also purchase this Tulip One-Step Tie-Dye Kit Ice Dye, intended for ice tie dye projects and comes with an ice-dye grate included.
Can you use a hair dryer for ice tie dye?
You want to allow the ice to melt completely, which can take 30 minutes or several hours depending on the climate where you live. If you wish to speed up the melting a Hair Dryer would work, but you need to make sure that you are using the dryer to quickly melt the ice only- and not dry out the fabric. If the fabric dries out, the dye will not set properly.
Can you use snow for ice dye?
I am pretty sure the melting snow would work for this technique amazingly! Living in Minnesota means I will have endless access to snow come winter, and I cannot wait to try!
More Crafts to try with your Kids
- Easy Scrape Painting Tutorial that kids can enjoy too
- Easy Magazine Craft Wall Art Tutorial
- How to Paper Mache
- How to Make a Zine: Fold a Sheet of Paper into an Easy Book!
- Rock Painting with Kids!
- How to Make Hot Chocolate Bombs
Conclusion:
Tie Dyeing With Ice is such a fascinating experiment with color and movement. As the ice melts, the dye will continue to spread and create beautiful patterns and colors. The path the ice takes will drag different colors in different ways that is so unique!
Hi I’m Smitha! I live in Minnesota with my husband and two daughters. You’ll always find me painting florals in my sketchbook. And I love the sheer joy of making something with just my hands! But my bigger love is capturing it all on camera Read more.
Thanks for stopping by today! If you learnt something from this tutorial, do share this post with a friend or on social media! Tag me @smithakatti #smithakatti I’d love to see what you create!
