Kool Aid brittle hide

I'm just trying the Kool Aid dying thing and used a technique mentioned recently in another thread....

Microwave 2-3 minutes...no vinegar....nice soft piece of white rabbit...It was very simple and the color of the fur was excellent....however...the hide became hard and brittle so as to be unusable as zonker or crosscut strips .

I think I remember someone saying it has to do with getting too hot???? I don't think I'd want to go much shorter for fear of a poor color take.
Is it the microwave?
How can I keep the hide soft?

ducksterman,
I have died zonker strips in a coffee carafe on a hotplate and they came out fine. I used a candy thermometer to find the right setting on the hotplate and then marked it so I don't have to check the temperature every time I dye something. The temperature should not be over 140 degrees. I don't know if that method will work with kool-aid. I have been using either Rit or "FlyDye".
Steve

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"If there are no dogs in Heaven, then when I die I want to go where they went"-Will Rogers

Duckster,

You may have already tried this, but:

When that happened to me, and old friend sugested washing the hide with shampoo then using a good quality cream rinse on it.

It worked.

Good Luck!

Buddy

Duckster,

It is best not to exceed 140 degrees no matter what material you are dying,Lengthening the amount of time at a temp not exceeding this is what A.K.Best suggests no matter the dye used or color being applied..and is why dyeing things to darker colors such as black tend to make things brittle the extra time in the dye bath.
A.K. has a wonderful book on dyeing and bleaching natural materials...great read even if not going to do your own dyeing!

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"I've often wondered why it is that so many anglers spend so much money on,and pay so much attention to.the details on the wrong end of the fly line.If they took as much care in selecting or tying their flies as they did in the selection of the reel and rod,They might be able to gain the real extra edge that makes it possible to fool a fish that has,in fact,seen it all before" A.K.Best

Everyone wants to excel in this sport but at the same time we let traditionalists place restrictions on our tactics, methods, and ideas. I always assumed that fly fishing was a sport that allowed imagination, creation, adaptation, investigation, dedication, education, revelation? : Fox Statler, On Spinners (Not the dainty Dry Fly kind) "Spinner'd Minner Fly"

"Wish ya great fishing"

Bill