Mandala done with dye cubes

Just as I described in the previous post I folded small quares of fabric (10"x10") in different ways and used binder clips to keep them like that.

I had poured left over dye concentrate from previous dye sessions in ice cube containers and placed these in my freezer. No idea exactly which colors it were, as I did that last year. I use these containers only  for dye and not for making regular ice cubes.

The folded fabric was soaked in soda ash and placed on plastic plates.

On each fabric several dye cubes were placed. I advise to put on gloves when you do this, as it is very messy :-).

The plates were left batching till the next day at room temperature. After rinsing, washing and ironing this is how the fabric turned out:

As you see you have more control of where which color shows up. Of course you can do this with bigger pieces of fabric. Keep in mind that the thicker the folded layers are, the more difficult it will be for the dye to penetrate the centre. I used plastic dinner plates, but if your fabric is bigger you will have to use bigger trays or containers.

Mandala

You can call this mandala dyeing or clamped shibori. I used small pieces of fabric 10"x10", but of course you can do this with bigger pieces as well. I folded the squares in different ways and used binder clips to keep them in these shapes:

Soaked them in soda ash and placed them on a raised platform in a bucket.

Put ice cubes on them and sprinkled dye powders. I used Plum, Deep Purple and Amethyst (all G&K)
and let them batch till the next day.

If you remain in the same area, it is best to cover the dyepowder with some more ice or put a lid on the container. You do not want to inhale the powder.

Next day the fabric was rinsed, washed and ironed and this is how they turned out:

I did not mark which fabric I folded in which way as I do not mind a surprise. In next blogpost I will show you how you can do this with dye cubes.