Hi Chuck, Black is a color even pro dyers have problems getting! It's quite a problem.
It depends on what you intend to use the dyed material for, and what final qualities it must have, but... I found the easiest solution is to use women's hair dye, the boxed typed sold for women's hair coloring at Rite-Aid and similar stores. (brand names such as Revlon, Loreal, etc.) Naturally, that product is very good for dyeing fur. *wink* What the hair dyes have that Rit type dyes do not is they add an ingredient for "build", which produces more body in the hair. I haven't found that quality objectionable for the applications I need the dyed material. For example, it produced a beautiful black arctic foxtail. One plus is that you don't need boiling water to set the dye. The whole process is much easier than regular fly tying dye. While dyes like Rit might be a little more permanent than women's hair dye, you are likely to lose the fly long before the color from women's hair dyes fade. Women's hair dye has worked for me for the furs I use, and often the colors available (just purchased a light auburn and black today) are spot-on for the flies I need. Using the dye for feathers might or might not work, haven't tried that enough. But, it you need an olive, you are not likely to find that in a women's hair dye color, unless you try the Lizard Lady brand. Ha! Wes Wada Bend, Oregon On Tue, Nov 18, 2014 at 12:08 PM, Scott Bearden <[email protected]> wrote: > I second what Gary just said. You can find it for fairly cheap too. > > On Tue, Nov 18, 2014 at 2:27 PM, <[email protected]> wrote: > >> Chuck >> Get a copy of A.K. Best's book DYING & BLEACHING Natural fly-tying >> materials. Feathers and cotton do not dye the same way. Best has full >> instructions and will take you through it step by step. >> Gary s >> >> ------------------------------ >> Folks: Can anybody give me the “secret” to dying feathers (and/or >> fabric) with Rit dye?? What happened is that my son had some dark purple >> demin material he wanted dyed black. He added TWO boxes of Rit dye to the >> three gallons or so of water as he had four yards of material to dye. Adde >> the salt but not the vinegar as it said to only use the vinegar with salt >> if the material is silk or wool and not cotton. Brought the water to a >> boil, then let it soak all day. Still just came out a darker purple and NIT >> jet black like the dye is. >> >> Now is my problem in that. He saved the water as I have a ton of grizzly >> feathers, but hardly any black, so I was just going to sye a grizzly neck >> in that same dye water mix after he finished. But I don’t want the grizzly >> to go from black and white, to purple ad white. Any tips?? Should I add >> vinegar?? 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