Mallard flank dying

[ducksterman]

I've been wondering this and since Ron M's generous post it might be a good time to ask.

RonMt [as said ] points out the use of red onion skins to get the wood duck color...it's probably fairly simple but I'd like to know if there are any Kool Aid colors that gets one to the wood duck color?

duckster,

Just looked at the chart.Doesn't appear that any one or any combination will yield a wood duck color.

Take a look for yourself: [url=http://www.thepiper.com/fiberart/koolaid/colorchart.html:c39f0]http://www.thepiper.com/fiberart/koolaid/colorchart.html[/url:c39f0]

Allan

[Ron Mason]

I've died mallard flank w/ Koolaid, Orange, Purple, Claret, etc. The trouble w/ Koolaid is that it does not yield natural tones. I'm still waiting for them to come out with olive flavored Koolaid, lol. I have not tried the onion skin method myself as I have enough real wood duck that I don't need too. It would be great to see the results though if someone is willing to play around w/ this.

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Ron M

[biot midge]

I use A K Best's recipe from his book "Dyeing and Bleaching Natural Fly-Tying Materials".
10 cups water in a coffee carafe
1 cup of wet mallard flank
1 tablespoon Rit tan #16
2 tablespoons white vinegar

This recipe makes a good wood-duck color, you just have to experiment with how long to leave the feathers in the dye bath.

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

[ashbourn]

Instant Coffee works great.

Joe Fox

[ducksterman]

ashbourn,

How about details on how you use it?

Tried it last night...but "chickened out" and added a pinch,[dash,little,etc.,] of kool aid lemonade....ended up with what I'd call a deep yellow but not like my real wood duck.

It's very possible it would have been good without the kool aid.

I thinkit works better with yellow onion skins and some red shins mixed in.Bring it to a boil and let it simmer for a 1/2 hour and then add some mallard flank.Allow to simmer until color is about right and risne.If somewhat light,add a little red skin, resoak and view the results again.

Allan

[ashbourn]

I would have to play around if I was going to do it again. I use real woody unless I am doing fan-wings then I dye but I have not and will not need to for a long long time.

Joe Fox