Dyeing Marabou

[OldBear]

Hello everyone. I'm trying to dye some marabou. How hard is it to do? I've put this question on the flytyers site but know one there has tryed to answer it. Could someone here please help me. Thank you. OldBear

[James Smith]

In my experience, Marabou is no more difficult to dye than any other feather; that is to say, not difficult at all. The difficulty only comes in when you try to get a true black color. If you're going for colors, you shouldn't have any particular problems.

Jim Smith

[Lotech]

I don't know about dying marabou but I do want to say Welcome Aboard! I'll bet you get your answer in short order. We are family friendly here at FAOL. We all look forward to hearing more from you.
Again, WELCOME!

[ScottP]

I've played around with Kool-Aid and RIT and didn't have any problems dyeing marabou. If you're trying for black, the only tip I could give you is dye it dark brown first, then black. Have fun.

Regards,
Scott

[kengore]

Dying marabu is no harder than dying any other feather. Just be careful how much heat is used. You can burn the fragile fibers if the water bath is too hot, or if you use too much heat with a hair dryer. Burned feathers will be brittle and break easily.

After the dye bath I blot them dry with paper towel and use a hair dryer on WARM setting to fluff up the feathers. If you just air dry them the feathers stick together in a clump, no problem just re-wet and blow dry. Clumped feathers are fine but are harder to tie with.

The best reference for dying is A.K. Bests book.... I highly recommend it. If you aren't interested in buying it at least try to find a copy through your local library, they can get a copy through the inter-library loan system even if they don't have it on the shelves.

http://www.amazon.com/Dyeing-Bleachi.../dp/1558212140