Microwave Dyeing SBS

[Scottp]

Per request from the Mods. Reposting this with some new pics since my refusal to pay for Photobucket's shakedown cost me the old ones.
List of ingredients:

Glass containers

Dawn dishwashing soap

White vinegar

Dye (we're aiming for ginger here)

Substrate

dish #1 (for degreasing) = hot water and a few drops of soap; add the feathers and let them soak for about 5 minutes

dish #2 - hot water, a few drops of soap and 2 tablespoons of white vinegar; soak for 5 more minutes

dish #3 - hot water (4 cups for this color), a few drops of soap, 2 tablespoons of white vinegar, 4 teaspoons Golden Yellow, 1/2 teaspoon Camel

add the feathers, cover with plastic wrap

2 minutes on high (depending on the microwave - keep an eye while it's cooking; you don't want it to boil too much, it can ruin the substrate)

check the color of one of the feathers; if it's what you want (it'll lighten up when dry), rinse everything off in a strainer under cold water

lay everything out to dry

ready to go

I've also used a hot plate, coffee carafe and candy thermometer; they work well when you want to keep the dye at a constant temp for an extended time - stuff like deer hair, calf tail, etc. usually takes a bit longer.

Regards,
Scott

 

[Brute]

damn...I might have to give this a try...

 

[SpeyrodGB]

Thanks for the post.

 

[Zak]

Per request from the Mods. Reposting this with some new pics since my refusal to pay for Photobucket's shakedown cost me the old ones.
List of ingredients:

Glass containers

Dawn dishwashing soap

White vinegar

Dye (we're aiming for ginger here)

Substrate

dish #1 (for degreasing) = hot water and a few drops of soap; add the feathers and let them soak for about 5 minutes

dish #2 - hot water, a few drops of soap and 2 tablespoons of white vinegar; soak for 5 more minutes

dish #3 - hot water (4 cups for this color), a few drops of soap, 2 tablespoons of white vinegar, 4 teaspoons Golden Yellow, 1/2 teaspoon Camel

add the feathers, cover with plastic wrap

2 minutes on high (depending on the microwave - keep an eye while it's cooking; you don't want it to boil too much, it can ruin the substrate)

check the color of one of the feathers; if it's what you want (it'll lighten up when dry), rinse everything off in a strainer under cold water

lay everything out to dry

ready to go

I've also used a hot plate, coffee carafe and candy thermometer; they work well when you want to keep the dye at a constant temp for an extended time - stuff like deer hair, calf tail, etc. usually takes a bit longer.

Regards,
Scott

I've used your Kool aid method to make a bunch of hot orange feathers. I'll have to try this Rit method!

 

[Scottp]

I've used your Kool aid method to make a bunch of hot orange feathers. I'll have to try this Rit method!

Zak,

Although I dye mostly with Rit liquid now, I still use Koolaid Ice Blue Raspberry (luckily, this stuff s still available in just about any grocery store) to get something approaching Silver Doctor/Kingfisher Blue; I’ve tried lots of mixes with the Rit and never came close to this color.

Regards,
Scott

 

[mickey rat]

The color charts on the Rit dye website have useful to me for mixing up a few custom colors. A whole new rabbit hole though.

 

[M_D]

Anyone have a reliable olive recipe?

I've pretty much rolled over on this color but since we have this new thread, thought I'd give it another go.

Back in the day, Rit Yellow Green 529 was my all time favorite....dyed up some great buck tail and rabbit ...but then the dye mixtures must have changed cuz I haven't been able to get a good olive in quite a while and, for the most part, I've lost the gumption to keep trying.

I tried small tweeks to the 529 mixture but just kept getting farther and farther away from what I was after.

I've tried Jacquards avocado, some hand me down Veniards olive, and a bunch of Rit ( either straight outa the bottle or a recipe) and continue to get baby poop brown or some funky green


these colors are not accurate, I'd be happy with the shades of rabbit on the bottom.

This is my latest attempt with some icelandic sheep



it's Jacquards avocado with an over dye of Veniard's chartreuse, followed up by prolly 3 or 4 overdyes of Rit Green Apple....thought the Rit was gonna do it but nope.

works well on fingers tho




anyway....if you have something please share

 

[Scottp]

The deer hair on this muddler was dyed with 1 Tbs Rit Golden Yellow/1 cup water, then overdyed with 2 Tsp Rit Golden Yellow, 1/4 Tsp Rit Dark Green/2 cups water to get olive.

Turned out okay but I’ve had inconsistent results elsewhere; hard for me to control the temps in a microwave (a carafe/hotplate combo would be better). Dyeing grey substrate yellow produces some nice olives; mixing yellow and black dye can, too (need to do more experimenting with this combination).

Buy the way, the rabbit, sheep and your fingers came out a nice sooty olive; that’s a keeper.

Regards,
Scott

ps - I’m assuming you’ve looked at the formulas on the Rit site? Some interesting colors there, although they don’t always turn out like you want.