Hi David
Blue liquid food works well for feathers. (blue
charm blue)
If you want darker use cloths dye or possibly
cool-aid.
All that you need is:
Dye
Dish to do dying in
Vinegar
microwave
strainer for rinsing
fork for checking feathers
rubber gloves (optional)
All you need to do is wet the feathers in some
water that has a little dish soap added. This is just to wet the feathers
and you will not be using any water to do the dying.
Rinse the feathers to remove the
soap.
Use a plastic dish for dying (ice cream
container or similar)
Put enough vinegar in the dish that would just
cover the feathers and add some dye. (A half bottle of food dye will do a
saddle.)
Note: powered cloths dye works well also but
best if you put the powered dye in the dish first and then add the vinegar.
Cool-Aid works also as it is mostly food color - use unsweetened
only.
Add the feathers and heat in microwave for
several minutes until hot.
Check color after a few minutes. Color will
appear darker when wet so you may need to dry a feather to see final color.
If not dark enough you can let soak longer in the hot dye. If the dye
solution looks pale you may need to add some more dye. Reheat in microwave
if it cools and still not dark enough.
When done, rinse the feathers in cold water to
remove any excess dye.
Do not use hot water to rinse as this will
remove too much dye. But you could use hot water rinse if it is
darker than you wanted.
Remove as much water as possible.
Place the feathers on newspapers to dry. 1 - 2
days drying time
If you need them dried fast - place on paper
and put in oven at 150 deg, with the oven door slightly open. 1/2 - 1
hour drying time
Note: There is a maximum amount of dye that
material will absorbed so use a dark enough dye for the color you
want.
Easy process so you should have no problems.
The vinegar sets the dye.
Works for feathers on or off the
skin.
Any questions just ask.
Harmen
