Setting Dye

[deeky 0]

I had posted way back about a patch of black dyed deer hair that I had purchased. When I work with it, the dye rubs off and stains my fingers. That patch has resurfaced, so I need to do something with it.

 

Some one had talked about using a vinegar bath to set the dye, but left no recipe for it. I am assuming I'm not going to soak the thing in straight vinegar.

 

Any ideas? Thanks in advance for the help.

 

Deeky

[sandflyx 0]

yep 50/50 vinegar/water hot for about 30 min. then rinse in cold water...

[perchjerker 0]

Believe it or not, Black is one of the most difficult, if not THE most difficult, color to dye materials with. As a result, quite often an excessive amount of the dye is used in a effort to attain the desired depth of the color. The material being dyed will take up only so much, and no more. In these cases, the excess may rub off onto your hands. If the dye rubs off does no necessarily mean that the dye was not properly set originally. Before trying to set it, I would wash it thoroughly in warm soapy water, dry it, and then check the color as well as seeing if it continues to rub off. If it is not as dark as it should be, then I would try to dye it again.

[WYKnot 0]

Sometimes a mordant will help, especially with water based dyes. I used 2 iron supplement tablets (dietary supplements from the vitamin rack) in a cup of warm, dilute vinegar. The 50:50 mix sounds about right. Pure washing with soapy water is also excellent advice.

[oldtoolsniper 0]

All good advice. After you wash your hide it will curl up and distort on you. If it is a small piece dry it between newspaper with a weight on top swapping the paper every so often with dry. If its large nail it to a board with long nails hair side out and slide the hide up the nail to allow air to get all around the hide. It will shrink. Do not pull of tug on the hair while the hide is wet it will come out in some cases. I process entire hides this way after I wash them in my washing machine.

[Harold Ray 0]

Always great information!! I am getting ready to dye some horse hair for weaving flies, and I wanted to dye some in a variety of colors, so this will help me. Will thwe vinegar also help set all colors better? I want to get the strongest colors I can and am totally new to dyeing. Is there a best brand of dyes? I will be tyeing these and poppers at the Sowbug in Mountain Home in march so I want them to look great.

 

Thanks, guys!!

[Capt Bob LeMay 0]

At times I use lots and lots of dyed black materials (strung saddles, neck hackles, and bucktail). Most of the strung feathers are preety color fast, the bucktail is always a mess to work with. At the end of a few hours tying I'll actually need a bit of bleach to clean the fingers of the hand working the materials (your serving hand as one high end tyer used to describe the hand that holds the materials....). I've always just put up with black dyed items being that way. One thing is sure, if I do any rinsing I'm very careful not to use anything but cold water, instead of hot water - your results may vary...

 

If I ever get a badly dyed batch of materials - it's usually in black. The poster who said that black is the most difficult color is right on the money. I believe commercial dyers do an initial run with orange dye, then a second bath for the black color. My favorite dyed black feather (always strung - in saddles or neck) is natural furnace dyed black. Done properly you end up with gorgeous black feathers with a natural greenish shiny center....

 

This time of year (winter into early spring in the Everglades) I start to get a lot of calls for one particular pattern for giant tarpon. I'll be doing a few for myself as well. Here's a pic of the Tarpon Snake (it's usually in 4/0 Owner Aki or Tiemco 600sp for the standard size or 2/0 for the smaller version).

Tight lines

Bob LeMay

[Stippled Popper 0]

In his book DYEING and BLEACHING Natural Fly-Tying Materials, A.K. Best writes on page 14:

 

"Rinse the feathers under cold tap water to further set the dye and to wash away excess dye, then

rinse them again under warm (not hot) tap water to wash away any remaining excess dye."

 

He repeats this statement about how he sets dye in other parts of the text. I gathered from his

writing improper rinsing probably has much to do with color coming off in the hand from materials

when tying. If the materials were properly dyed, it shouldn't be necessary to further set the dye to

keep the desired color.

 

Mr. Best does use white vinegar in the dye bath to color materials and states that the dye bath

temperature should not be higher than 140 degrees Fahrenheit.

[perchjerker 0]

Another bit of advice I read somewhere form a professional dyer is to first dye dark brown anything you want to dye black. It supposedly produces a much deeper black.

[perchjerker 0]

Another bit of advice I read somewhere from a professional dyer is to first dye dark brown anything you want to dye black. It supposedly produces a much deeper black.

[perchjerker 0]

Another important point about dyes is that different dyes require different things to set them. Some require a 'mordant', often iron, and others require an acid medium, such as vinegar. The dye manufacturer will note the specific requirements on the package. A.K. Best based his comments on his use of RIT dyes. Another excellent, and old brand is Veniard, from England. They are also 'acid' dyes.

[deeky 0]

Just for clarification, this was a commercially purchased patch of hair. I didn't dye it and I'm not looking to re-dye it. I just wasnt to get rid of the 'loose' dye and keep the black on a useable patch of hair.

[creekwalker 0]

I have dyed feathers and deer hair with a kool-aid vinegar mix. 1 gallon hot water 1 cup vinegar 5 packs kool-aid. Prewash material to be dyed in mild detergent rinse well and place in mixture for 5 to 10 minutes. Remove from mixture and place between paper towels.