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Coloring chamois

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I use chamois for the claws of my crayfish. I just get one from the auto department at Walmart and cut it up. I have used sharpie markers to color them and put patterns on them. Is there a way I can dye a large piece in the brown or green I want? Or should I just stck with the sharpies? any other ideas. I thought of rit dye, but that seems like youd have to be dying a lot to justify using it.

thanks

Dan

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Dan, I've used chamois cloth also, and color it with permanent markers too.

 

I suspect that if you try to dye it, it may become hard & brittle. I've tried it on rabbit skins & that was the result. I was told that the dyeing process, which requires the water to be hot, takes the tanning out of the skin, and they have to be re-tanned to get them soft again. I don't know that will be the case will chamois, but I wouldn't chance it. I tried dyeing with cooler water but just have not gotten very good results with the color.

 

Rit, is a great dye for dying feathers & some fur, and will dye a lot of stuff, but you don't have to use the whole package at one time. I use gallon size glass jars for a lot of the dyeing I do, and just add whatever dye I think I'll need. I also add some white vinegar. Some colors of Rit will give you very good results with a little dye, while other colors require a lot more dye to be used with the same amount of materials.

 

Keep in mind that Rit is sold for dyeing clothing, and the instructions are for doing so in a washing machine or large tube, so you do get a lot more dye than what you need for small batches of tying materials. If you keep the unused dye dry it won't go bad.

 

If you do decide to dye some chamois, do a very small test piece first, let it dry completely & see what kind of results you get before you attempt a whole cloth. Be a real shame to waste such a good tying material. wink.gif

 

 

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