Like the ice melting across her fabrics, Melanie Summers’ path to becoming an artist was beautifully unpredictable. Chosen as an emerging artist for the 2025 Main Street Arts Festival—an honor given to 14 creators among nearly a thousand applicants—the Fort Worth native transforms ordinary garments into wearable art through a distinctive ice dyeing technique. 

During the pandemic, Summers learned how to tie-dye while going down YouTube and TikTok rabbit holes. She started experimenting on her family’s clothing, joking that between her daughter and husband, there was no shortage of stained garments to practice on. 

Growing up in East Fort Worth, Summers rode horses and participated in competitive rodeo.

What began with what she calls the “stereotypical hippie spiral” evolved when a friend suggested she try ice dyeing. The process involves placing ice on fabric and sprinkling dye powder over it, creating unique patterns as the ice melts in unforeseen ways. 

“I couldn’t recreate it if I tried,” Summers says. “I really liked the results.”

The technique proved particularly fitting for Summers who was diagnosed more than 25 years ago with a genetic eye disorder called Stargardt Disease. Though doctors predicted she would lose most of her vision by age 24, the condition progressed slower than expected. While she can’t drive at night or far distances, her life remains relatively normal otherwise. 

“Compared to a lot of other people, I’m really lucky,” she says. 

Summers’ business name, Blind Eyed, is a playful nod to both her ice-dyed creations and partial vision loss. Unlike liquid dyeing, ice dyeing doesn’t require the same level of visual precision. 

“It’s a really lucky accident,” she says. 

Summers’ unfiltered authenticity extends to her brand’s tagline—“made with love and profanity”—inspired by her creative process.

“If anyone knows me, the profanity runs strong,” she says laughing about how often strings together colorful language while working. The motto resonated so well with customers that she now prints it on T-shirts, which she sells alongside her custom pieces.

Before discovering her unique artistry, Summers’ journey was as singular as her ice-dyed designs. She grew up in East Fort Worth, rode horses and rodeoed competitively through college. After a stint training as a therapeutic horse riding instructor in France, she made a career pivot and spent over a decade in radio promotions and marketing. When a detached retina—completely unrelated to her Stargardt Disease—forced her to stop driving for three years, her career options decreased drastically. 

“Being known as an artist was not anything that I could have ever imagined,” she says.

What started with selling T-shirts at pop-ups evolved into something more sophisticated when Summers began transforming thrifted professional wear into one-of-a-kind statement pieces. She eventually expanded into creating dual works—pairing clothing with matching wall art. Her appearance on the television talk show “Unbroken with Janeé Hill” opened doors for more opportunities. She landed her first gallery show at Fort Worth’s House of NeVille, where she now displays an ice-dyed Armani suit, along with several canvases, and teaches dyeing classes.

Summers describes her style as “cowboy chic” or “couture-ish,” creating a sense of sophistication with a dash of rebellion. 

“A banker that has to wear all black can easily throw on one of my jackets, and it takes everything up a notch,” she says. Her work has also found particular resonance in the western and horse worlds—a testament to her rodeo background.

Most of Summers’ pieces are upcycled or thrifted, and she specializes in custom transformations of clients’ existing garments. She’s meticulous about size, fit and measurements—nothing is generic. Thanks to her work’s wearability, she is often able to market it organically. 

“If I’m going somewhere, I usually have something on that I’ve made, and I make my husband do the same,” she says laughing.

As she gears up for Main Street, Summers is hard at work creating more wearable art with matching wall pieces, along with some higher-end clothing offerings. She sees the festival’s audience as her ideal market—people seeking unique pieces they won’t find anywhere else.

While she hopes to eventually expand her business into retail, Summers is currently content operating from her dining room studio—focused on meticulous attention and care rather than rapid growth. 

Though she doesn’t let her vision impairment define her, Summers embraces opportunities to inspire others facing similar challenges. 

“If my story encourages someone somewhere, then I definitely want to take advantage of that,” she says.