Can You Do Natural Ice Dye?

In this video and tutorial I share how I tried to natural ice dye with natural dye stuffs. Natural dyes are really fun, but it turns out not every method works!

When I first did my ice dyeing tutorial, I got so many questions, like how long does ice dyeing take. I also finally answered the main question I am getting which is, can I ice dye with liquid? You’re going to love my whole dyeing page too.

The other question I kept getting was, can I use natural dyes? I am a natural dyer after all. I tried using powdered natural dyes here. Now that I know liquid dyes can work, I’ll be trying that soon!

What is Ice Dyeing?

Well, I have a video above explaining the whole thing. But essentially it is a method of tie dye that uses powder synthetic dye and ice cubes. The ice slowly melts leaving a really neat tie dye effect.

What I Used

Turmeric

Nettle Leaf Powder

Color Remover

Tongs

Stainless Steel Pots

Cooling Rack

Cookie Sheet

Can you use ice dye with natural dyes?

From the tests I’ve tried the answer so far is no. I tried nettle leaf and turmeric. Watch the process below to see all the details!

The two types of natural dye I used were nettle leaf powder and turmeric powder. Powder is (as of now) the only way that I know how to ice dye.

One of my towels had been in an alum bath and the other hadn’t. I have found turmeric powder doesn’t require an alum bath.

Get your towels wet and ring them out so they are damp.

Wad them up on the cooling rack. The tighter you scrunch them the more white you will have.

Place ice on the towels.

Use a spoon to sprinkle the powder onto the towels.

Allow the ice to melt.

Once melted, rinse until water runs clear.

wet cloth before tie dye

In this video and tutorial I share how I tried to natural ice dye with natural dye stuffs. Natural dyes are really fun, but it turns out not every method works!

rinse tie dye

Pin below if you thought this was useful! I am always experimenting on my YouTube channel so make sure to subscribe there!

In this video and tutorial I share how I tried to ice dye with natural dye stuffs. Natural dyes are really fun, but it turns out not every method works!

If you’re wondering about how long this whole process takes I did a post about how long it takes to ice dye here!

In this video and tutorial I share how I tried to natural ice dye with natural dye stuffs. Natural dyes are really fun, but it turns out not every method works!

Can You Do Natural Ice Dye?

Prep Time: 5 minutes
Active Time: 5 minutes
Additional Time: 2 hours
Total Time: 2 hours 10 minutes

In this video and tutorial I share how I tried to natural ice dye with natural dye stuffs. Natural dyes are really fun, but it turns out not every method works!

Materials

  • Turmeric
  • Nettle Leaf Powder
  • Color Remover

Tools

  • Tongs
  • Stainless Steel Pots

Instructions

  1. The two types of natural dye I used were nettle leaf powder and turmeric powder. Powder is (as of now) the only way that I know how to ice dye.
  2. One of my towels had been in an alum bath and the other hadn't. I have found turmeric powder doesn't require an alum bath. 
  3. Place ice on the towels.
  4. Use a spoon to sprinkle the powder onto the towels. 
  5. Allow the ice to melt.
  6. Once melted, rinse until water runs clear. 

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