When I began experimenting with different ice dye methods, I couldn’t help but notice that one was missing. I’d played with powder-over-ice, liquid-over-ice, powder-under-ice… But nowhere did I find anyone talking about applying liquid dye and then setting ice on top.

Naturally, I had to try it.

To be fair, the outcome isn’t all that exciting. My test was to create two samples, prepared with a simple accordion fold, and pour liquid dye over the top. I put ice over one of them and let them both cure overnight.

I wasn’t surprised that in the iced sample, the dye spread and merged more as the ice water dripped through. What did surprise me was how much the color softened, given how bright and vibrant colors remain when applied powder-under-ice.

I’m glad I did the experiment, though. There are times that it would be easier to apply the dye as a liquid (for example, in heavily folded projects like mandalas), but it’s a shame not be be able to get the fun patterns of ice dyeing. If this experiment is accurate, I might be able to get some of both worlds — as long as I’m ok with pale colors.