dying feathers

[snake River]

redman I have done work for commercial fly tying people and we always use vernier regardless on what die I use we always use vernier it sets the die . We've used many different dies over the years you must use of acetone or something like that to set your die you have to realize that all material that you use as oil and other stuff on fur or feather that you need to breakthrough we do so also wash the material and soapy water it helps a lot I hope this will help out others that want to try to die.

[JUNGLEJIMJIGS]

I dye a lot of feathers,kiptails and bucktail.I've never tried the vernier,instead I use the Cushing's Perfection dyes. This with white vinegar I've had great success with.The price for enough to dye 1 lb. of material dry weight is around $3,so it goes a long way. I've seen some guys on cc use koolaid for dying tree rats and bucktail and the results looked fantastic. Something on utube on it,I believe.For a couple packs of koolaid it could be worth checking out.

[gabulldog]

yea i have done alot of koolaid dying mostly on furs work real well if you dont rush it but i have used every dye out there from koolaid to rit cushing and even boxed hair dye

[Redman]

Guys thanks for the Ideas on the Koolaid. Now if we can just come up with a color chart and mixing chart. I may be a old geezer but I do remember strawberry making my tongue being red as could be.

One of the things that I have found out when dying is to wash your material with hot soapy water like snakeriver said. Never use bleach on any thing you want to dye. Something in the bleach will not let the dye take. I only used bleach on white bucktails to make them whiter.

These board are giant think tanks. So lets keep adding our experiances. Right now we have one of the best boards around even if we happen to get off topic. Maybe we can come to a agreement on wheather to eat ribs with or without BBQ sauce since we have agreed that ribs have to be dry rubed.


Redman

[gabulldog]

there is a koolaid/drinkaid color chart i would link it but im at work its on a site that tells you how to koolaid dye but its just like 8oz water 2 packs koolaid 4 oz vinegar bring to just under a boil and go about a shade to 2 shades darked them you want then wash with cold water to set btw get a pot from a yard sell i used one of my wifes pots that she now calls the tree rat pot and makes me keep with my tying gear lol

[Redman]

I thowe all my dying equipment away when I moved form the north. Said I would never do that again. Well never say never!!!!! Oh well life is a journy and we make mistakes along the path. Will start to look for a new dye pot.

Redman