Example of Some safe easy dying

[Piker20 0]

Dying using Tea bags/leaves is an easy method, relatively safe if you spill it on your clothes (if you wash soon after) and doesn't need any additional substances to make it colour safe.

Here is some Musky dog hair before.

Dyed with some used teabags. Fresh ones would obviously make a stronger colour.

Overdyed with orange kool aid

[kimjensen 0]

Now the question is, does trout drink tea? :-)

[subailor618 0]

Earl Grey - Hot!

 

Nicely done!

[NoSlack 0]

Neat but I'll stay with my acid dyes.

[flyDology 0]

I can see some practical application with this, but I will also stick to commercial grade acid dyes.

[Piker20 0]

This example is with Nescafe original coffee. Just boil up the water, add 10 teaspoons of coffee to approx 1lt of water and stir. Put fur in and mix gently. Microwave for 2 mins and I left soaking in it for 4 hours. Then rinsed and dry. A much more golden colour than tea.

[McGnat 0]

Try yellow onion skins for dying mallard into a wood duck color.

[Piker20 0]

Does that need any mordent to set it in or will it work as is?

[TheCream 0]

I dyed some cream color nymph dubbing I like to Royal Blue last week. It was extremely easy with Rit liquid dye. I used a small plastic container, put some hot water in it, a teaspoon of dye, and soaked the dubbing for several minutes. It has great color, when Photobucket gets over its issue I will post some pics.

[McGnat 0]

Does that need any mordent to set it in or will it work as is?

It's been so long since I did it, I do not recall. Sorry.

[TheCream 0]

 

 

[Andy Fisher 0]

Do the tea and kook aid dyes fade quickly in use? I've read about these methods but keep picturing a color trail in the water behind the fly.

[Piker20 0]

No the tea and coffee don't bleed and don't need any thing to set the colour hence the idea behind this thread. Grab something from your cupboard and its safe and easy. You do have some initial washout from the material when first rinsed but once dry its set.

heather and lichen produce good effective dyes too buy need a bit more work. I'll try onions and see how they work.

The kool aid doesn't fade in my use yet, but you need vinegar to set the colour. Although some internet folk seem to do ok without the vinegar.

[TheCream 0]

No the tea and coffee don't bleed and don't need any thing to set the colour hence the idea behind this thread. Grab something from your cupboard and its safe and easy. You do have some initial washout from the material when first rinsed but once dry its set.

heather and lichen produce good effective dyes too buy need a bit more work. I'll try onions and see how they work.

The kool aid doesn't fade in my use yet, but you need vinegar to set the colour. Although some internet folk seem to do ok without the vinegar.

 

I used blue Mixed Berry KoolAid to dye some mallard flank earlier this summer. Color held up great, I was using the feathers on Bronze Goddess variants, fished deep as a crawfish pattern (black and blue color mix). I lost the flies long before the dye could fade.

[m_grieb 0]

i think the real test would be to fish the patterns with the died materials and see how long it takes to fade, rather than test them by the colors it gives you. great colors, dont get me wrong, but i would rather have a decent color that lasts forever than a really great color that lasts a few days of fishing. let us know how long they last!!!!

 

 

Matt