“When life gives you lemons, make lemonade” is something we have all heard I think. But I prefer lemon pie!
So when life gave us snow yesterday (about 8 new inches after having almost all bare ground), I decided to try some snow dyeing! I’ve done it at guild meetings on silk and cotton(using cool temp dyes), but decided to try it with my wool dyes on wool yarn and top.
I pre-soaked my wool in warm water with vinegar added, then lifted on a mesh to drain in my colander.
yarn on wool top
Meanwhile I gathered a bucket of snow, then froze my hands carefully packing it around and on top of the wool, to a depth of about 3 inches, then sprinkled a little more snow on top.
I sprinkled powdered dye carefully on top of the snow, using magenta, teal, and yellow.
They looked so pretty as they started to melt into the snow.
dyes beginning to migrate
The science behind snow dyeing is that as the snow melts, the different components of each dye dissolves and spreads at a different rate,remixing and being carried into the material below it. (Of course there is a pan underneath to catch the run-off.)
After the melt and before hot water bath.
The results; The snow (in the house) melted 🙂 The resulting wool didn’t look anything like I had envisioned (I had gotten carried away and sprinkled way too much dye for the amount of wool I was using.) Since this dye is heat set I placed my lump of wool into a pan of hot water and heated it for about an hour. Lifted carefully by my trusty mesh I then put it into two rinse waters.
Actual yarn colors are deep red/burgundy, dark purple, and high-lights of blue
Looking at the dyed snow water drippings, I added those to my heating pan and placed more wool top in to heat. I always try to exhaust all of the dye from the water and sometimes get some interesting shades.
dye exhaust is a soft purple/mauve
Snow dyeing is fun, but I have more predictable results with my rainbow dyeing and kettle dyeing (unless I’m in the mood to play “mad chemist”, then any unexpected color may appear 🙂
Mulch and More Crafts 
Very pretty!
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Thank you. I wish my finished pictures hadn’t glared so much, but they were still drying 🙂
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They look nice 🙂
I’ve never heard of snow dyeing before and I hope I will not have a chance to try it myself before Christmas at least ^^
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that looks like fun – I have never heard of it, but in a normal winter, we get plenty of snow, so I may try that next winter! I love how it came out. 🙂
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Next snow dyeing, I may try heat setting by wrapping in plastic and steaming for the heat..or getting the right dyes and using them on cotton, linen or silk! I do like the deepness of the colors, although I usually go for bright!
I learned about the snow dyeing at spinning guild, but sure there must be instructions on line too. It’s fun to play in color 🙂
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Oh my gosh, that’s so cool! The colors are fantastic and your finished pieces are beautiful. But I confess, I’m glad I have no snow here!
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I thought of you and your love of purples as I rinsed this to dry 🙂 I think I will spin the top bulky to combine with the yarn for another hat…I seem to have caught your hat-knitting-bug !
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Aw, that’s sweet! Yep, those colors are definitely my cup of tea. And you could do worse than a hat-knitting bug for sure!
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Beautiful experiment!
And what about making limoncello instead of lemonade;) Although lemon pie is of course just as good;)
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Is limoncello the same as lemon jello? or something entirely different?
Glad you liked my experiment, it was fun to do 🙂
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Haha! I fear limoncello is much more potent than lemon jello – it´s actually an italian lemon liqueur which is served after dinner as a digestive;) Quite tasty, especially on a hot summer´s day!
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You sure got a lot of snow, hopefully that’s melted mostly by now 🙂 I love how your dye experiment turned out
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No 😦 we still have snow, a few more inches on top of what’s in the pictures…20’s or lower at night and 30’s-40’s in the day time so it’s slowly melting! It’s giving me more time to concentrate on inside stuff that needs to be done 🙂
Thanks for the comment and for following. I’ve spun the smaller top and have a hat knitted so more pictures before too long.
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Wow! This is quite creative and lovely idea of turning sour lemons into sweet lemonade.
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Thanks Jacqueline, playing with colors can brighten any day 🙂
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