Kool-Aid dying

[dafunk5446 0]

So I have been messing around with dying materials recently and thought I would pass some info along to others. There have been some good red quill hatch's this year, and enjoying attractor patterns I thought I would dye some super reddish quills. I am by no means an expert at this, but anyone can do it. It just takes some practice to dial it in, play around with these directions and have fun. Make sure you use a glass container for this. If you use plastic it will absorb the dye.

 

 

Step one:

 

Strip a LOT of quills in preparation for this. I used a cheap pack of saddle hackle for this. Grab the tip of the feathers and remove all the feather barbs from the rachis. After you have done this, take a pair of hemostats and clamp the base of the rachis. Submerge this material to be dyed in hot water with a bit of dish soap. This will make the dye take easier, and clean the material.

 

 

Step two:

 

 

Grab a mason jar and fill it with water, about 3/4 the amount to completely submerge the material to be dyed. Next grab some packs of Kool-Aid. You need quite a bit because as the material absorbs the dye, the solution will become weaker. Always use more then you think, for a large mason jar I used 8 packs. As you can see I used a few different packs of kool-aid to get the color I wanted. You want to be careful mixing the colors as they dont really follow the color wheel style of mixing. The next step is adding an acid to "burn" the dye into the material. Grab a jug of vinegar and add the other 1/4 of the volume needed to submerge the material.

 

 

 

Step three:

 

Mix the solution, and microwave for 2 mins. You want the mixture to get really hot, so be careful when removing the solution from the microwave. The heat and vinegar are what actually set the dye in the material. Once this is complete, rinse the material to be dyed under warm water to remove any of the soap. Then submerge the material in the solution, and swirl it around for a bit. How long it takes for the material to absorb the dye is dependent on a lot of factors. Temperature, amount of vinegar, amount of kool-aid, and how long you soaked the material before hand. So check frequently to ensure you get the color you want. The quills absorbed the dye in a few seconds, while a previous dye job took an hour to get the color I wanted. Also remember that the color will be darker when wet, and lighter when dry.

 

 

Step four:

 

Once you reach the desired color rinse the material thoroughly with warm water.

 

 

Step five:

 

Thoroughly dry the material before you through the mix away to ensure you have the correct color. As you can see you can get some pretty cool colors from this method. Here is the final result of the quill dye job, and a white India cock neck that I dyed a silver doctorish blue. I used iced blue raspberry for that one.

 

 

Hope this helps some of you!

[Old Hat 0]

Great job Dafunk! A very helpful tutorial.

[Robert M 0]

Nicely done. Easter egg dyes work well using the same method also.

[BBBruce77 0]

If you are doing hackle feathers I'd be very careful as to how hot you get your dye bath. Candy thermometer and hot plate are better choices than a microwave. I've done a lot of dying but never with Kool-Aid, but had a friend that used the process frequently. Still have a bunch of Emu plumes he gave me after his initial experiments with Kool-Aid. Neat tutorial, Thanks.

A.K. Best did a really good book on dying, it saved me a number of times from making big mistakes. Title: Dyeing and Bleaching

[Chris Patterson 0]

Good stuff. I'd heard about this but never seen any tutorial. Looks easy enough even I might be able to pull this off

Thanks for sharing.

[ashley 0]

Nice step by step. One of the best I've seen. Thanks to friends who send Kool-aid over form the US. I dye stuff myself BUT found I had to use another method. Due to fibres on some materials being damaged by heat I boiled some water and poured it into a bowl and mixed the power while pouring. The material was then put in the dye and left till the colour was right then the vinegar added.

[Ruffells311 0]

I've been wanting to try this. Will it work with hair? I have some deer tails from hunting I'd like to try to make some black and chartreuse from

[ashley 0]

I've been wanting to try this. Will it work with hair? I have some deer tails from hunting I'd like to try to make some black and chartreuse from

 

 

I don't think so. You may be able to use the method of dying but not Kool-aid (unless someone as found the right mix). I would suggest trying an acid dye for deer tails in the colours that you want. Although I have used Kool-aid for deer tails with good results (orange, maroon and red).

[Ruffells311 0]

Also how would you go about belching for solid white feathers and deer tails?

[feathers5 0]

DaFunk5446. Thanks for the tutorial. I guess you have to start with basic white quills, correct? Also, I fish red quiils, too. Can you post your dyeing recipe for the red quills?

Thanks

[feathers5 0]

Dafunk5446 & ALL. I'm interested in trying this kool aid dying. From what feathers would I strip the quills to dye.

 

If anyone has a recipes for certain dye colors like hendricksons, olives, sulphurs, etc. I would be very appreciative. I'm going to be off for the holidays and I have some time to play around.

 

Thanks,

Bruce

[ashley 0]

Dafunk5446 & ALL. I'm interested in trying this kool aid dying. From what feathers would I strip the quills to dye.

 

Thanks,

Bruce

 

 

The quills I use are the large hackle from a Chinese or Indian neck which are perfect for dying.

 

For quill bodies I tend to use pentone pens (light olive on a medium red game hackle)because I don't know of any dyes to match the mayflies in the UK.

[feathers5 0]

Dafunk5446 & ALL. I'm interested in trying this kool aid dying. From what feathers would I strip the quills to dye.

 

Thanks,

Bruce

 

 

The quills I use are the large hackle from a Chinese or Indian neck which are perfect for dying.

 

For quill bodies I tend to use pentone pens (light olive on a medium red game hackle)because I don't know of any dyes to match the mayflies in the UK.

 

 

Hi Ashley. Do they have to be white Chinese or Indian Hen Necks?

Bruce

[ashley 0]

Dafunk5446 & ALL. I'm interested in trying this kool aid dying. From what feathers would I strip the quills to dye.

 

Thanks,

Bruce

 

 

The quills I use are the large hackle from a Chinese or Indian neck which are perfect for dying.

 

For quill bodies I tend to use pentone pens (light olive on a medium red game hackle)because I don't know of any dyes to match the mayflies in the UK.

 

 

Hi Ashley. Do they have to be white Chinese or Indian Hen Necks?

Bruce

 

Hi Bruce,

 

Simple anser is no, for my BWO I use the red game as already mentioned. Yellow on white works (I forgot I had done that one) for small mayflies.

 

I use cock hackles not hen for my quill bodies.

 

Ashley

[GrizzlyBear 0]

Dafunk5446 & ALL. I'm interested in trying this kool aid dying. From what feathers would I strip the quills to dye.

 

Thanks,

Bruce

 

 

The quills I use are the large hackle from a Chinese or Indian neck which are perfect for dying.

 

For quill bodies I tend to use pentone pens (light olive on a medium red game hackle)because I don't know of any dyes to match the mayflies in the UK.

 

 

Hi Ashley. Do they have to be white Chinese or Indian Hen Necks?

Bruce

 

Hi Bruce,

 

Simple anser is no, for my BWO I use the red game as already mentioned. Yellow on white works (I forgot I had done that one) for small mayflies.

 

I use cock hackles not hen for my quill bodies.

 

Ashley

Use a Rit Dye for deer hair or tails. I've found it to work the best for that.