Basic dyeing step by step.

1. Stainless steel pan and basket.
2. Stainless steel 2/3 Gastronorm pan for larger items.
3. Distilled water for brighter shades.
4. Distilled vinegar.
5. Degreaser such as Venpol, Synthrapol or washing up liquid.
6. Stainless steel measuring pans.
7. Powder scales that can weigh in grains.
8. Spatula for dye.
9. Thermometer.
10. Dyes.

Step1.

Fill your bucket with enough hot (not boiling) water to fully cover the material, add around 1 teaspoon of degreaser and stir gently. Add the cape/saddle. This should be left for a day to soak and to let the degreaser work. If the material is exceptionally dirty of greasy, drain and refill the bucket and repeat.

Step2.

Step3.

Step4.

 

Step5.

Some shades take better at higher temperatures but great care should be taken in order that the material being dyed doesn't suffer heat damage.

Step6.

You should allow the material to become a shade or two darker than required as it'll get lighter during the drying process. When dying feathers, capes or saddles I always keep a "test feather" loose in the pan that I can periodically remove and hold against the light to check for the effect of transmitted light on the shade of the material. I believe the transmitted light shade is easily as important as the reflected light shade when it comes to the effectiveness of the end product.

Step7.

You should then fill the sink with enough cold water to immerse the material and let it sit in the sink for about an hour. This will finish the fixing process and allow any excess dye to leech out.

Step8.

Once you're happy that all excess dye has been removed you should then get your bucket and, where capes or saddles are involved, attach them to the inside of the bucket by means of a clothes peg in order for it to drip dry. If you're dying a number of capes you might find it usefull to rig up a mini washing line and hang the capes up with a drip tray underneath. I prefer the bucket as I can sit it out of harms way. With other loose materials such as feathers or Seals fur you can simply put them in a couple of pieces of kitchen roll to soak up excess water and allow them to dry naturally at room temperature.

Step9.

Once the material is merely damp rather than soaking you can then place it between a mixture of newspaper and kitchen roll.

Firstly place a few sheets of newspaper on a board or similar flat surface. Then place the kitchen roll on top of the newspaper. In the case of capes and saddles you should then straighten out the feathers so that they lie neatly and then cover them with a layer of kitchen roll and a further layer of newspaper. The same method can be used for skins such as Deer or Rabbit. Make sure the hair fibres are neatly combed using an old hair brush so that they sit correctly before compression.

Finally cover the newspaper with large, and more importanly, heavy books to compress the material between the layers of paper. The alternative would be to put another board on top of the newspaper and pop a couple of bricks on top. You should leave the material in the compress for a few hours, this will soak up most of the remaining liquid.

Step10.

Once the majority of the excess liquid has been soaked up by the compress, remove the material and then brush a mix of 50/50 glycerine and surgical spirit into the back of the skin.

This will help to keep the skin supple (for a time) rather than dry and likely to crack. Finally, dry capes or saddles with a hair dryer at a low/medium heat setting. For fur pelts, you should allow them to dry naturally at room temperature. This can take a considerable amount of time, weeks in the case of Deer hair

This cape looks like a medium shading to very dark brown olive by reflected light. However, by transmitted light it looks a rich golden brown olive.

The importance of good note keeping can't be stressed highly enough. Keeping accurate notes helps to maintain consistency. There are five main variables when it comes to dying.

• Base material used.
• Quantity and type of water.
• Quantity (weight) and shade of dye.
• Time in dye bath.
• Temperature.

In order to achieve consistent results you should keep accurate notes of the above and make up a "recipe book" for future reference.

The recipe for the above saddle is as follows:

• Tap water - 6 litres.
• 3 grains of golden olive dye.
• 2 grains of green olive dye.
• 2 tablespoons distilled vinegar.
• Saddle in dye bath for 15 minutes at 180° Fahrenheit. Saddle removed, dye bath drained and refilled.
• 8 grains of brown olive dye.
• 2 grains dark olive dye.
• 2 tablespoons of distilled vinegar.
• Saddle in dye bath for 25 minutes at 180° Fahrenheit or until exhausted.

This might seem like huge amount of dye but it must be remembered that a) it is a large saddle and b) the skin patch soaks up a considerable quantity of dye.

When it comes to dying natural colours and shades on to capes and saddles I prefer to use naturally coloured materials such as ginger or brown. Cream is only used where bright colours such as hot orange or sunburst yellow are required. The reason for this is that in nature there is no such thing as a solid colour. I've yet to find an insect that is one pure shade of green from head to tail and so the naturally coloured base material helps to achieve a small variation of shades within a given range depending on the quantity and shade of dye used.

Here's a list of natural base cape/saddle colours I use for different shades.

• For light claret, magenta or golden olive - light ginger.
• For medium claret, medium olive or brown olive - medium ginger or light brown.
• For dark claret - medium red game/ medium brown.
• For sooty olive - iron blue dun.
• For black claret, black crimson or black olive - natural black.

The following notes are reproduced by the kind permission of Mr. Mike Connor.

To degrease water bird feathers, which are covered in preen oil, wash in hand hot water with a generous dash of Fairy liquid. Agitate the feathers a few times,
and let them soak for a while. ten minutes will normally suffice. Rinse thoroughly.

Immediately before dyeing place the feathers in very hot ( but not boiling!) water. ( this is only done to get the feathers up to temperature. Otherwise
they will cool the bath too much). Then transfer to the dye bath. The dye bath should be just below boiling point. The dye should take almost immediately.

It is IMPERATIVE!!!!!!! that all the material you wish to dye be placed in the bath simultaneously. You CAN NOT dye things the same colour one after another.
Each piece of material you dye exhausts the bath to some extent. If you try to dye things "one after another" in the same bath, the dye shade becomes progressively lighter with each piece of material you dye.

There are formulas for calculating the amount of dye required for a specific dry weight of material to be dyed, but you donīt really need them for dyeing a few feathers.

It is also essential that the feathers do not touch the sides of the dye vessel! This will cause them to curl or burn! That is why you need a steel colander or sieve.

It seems there are one or two misconceptions about dyeing. Material which is dyed, actually takes on the dye itself, which when properly done, bonds to the material also making it colour fast. The liquid in which the dye and the material is placed, is merely a transport medium to ensure even dyeing.

If you have the right amount of dye in the bath for the amount of material you are dyeing, then the bath will clear almost completely, and look like clear water.

Dye is not like ink or paint. If you put too much material in the bath, then you will get a lighter shade, because the dye is distributed evenly among the material in the bath.

Using more dye of a particular colour, for material of a certain dry weight, will not give you a darker shade! Using less dye than would normally be required will however give you a lighter shade.

I know people continually write to the contrary, but that is simply because they do not understand the process.

If you have a crimson dye, and you use the right amount of that dye to dye a white cape. Then you will get a crimson cape. Regardless of how much dye you add, the cape will still be crimson. The extra dye you added is merely wasted.

If you use the same crimson dye, and use only half the amount which would normally be required to dye a white cape crimson, then it will turn out a different shade. Usually a lighter shade of red, but also maybe even pink or light orange.

The dye used is related to the dry weight of the material you wish to dye, and is independent of the water in the dye bath. The dye actually leaves the water, and bonds to the material.

If the dye bath is still bright crimson after you have finished dyeing something, then either the dye has not "taken" properly, or you have used far too much dye.