One may also dye an excellent range of furs for various purposes using these dyes, which may also be mixed in turn, giving a vast range of possibilities. For dyeing small amounts of fur and feathers you will need the following equipment.



A large enamel or stainless steel pan. Do not use aluminium saucepans or other naked metal equipment. It can affect the dye bath, and the acid used in the process will attack aluminium and some other metals. Stainless steel is usually OK, but enamel is definitely best. If you can get it white enamel, for reasons which will become obvious! A metal sieve or colander, preferably stainless steel, but chromed steel will do, which fits the pan fairly well. An excellent piece of equipment is an old chip pan! (Mine is shown in the photo). Some plastic (heat resistant!) or stainless steel tongs for handling material, rubber gloves, a measuring jug, and plenty of old newspaper.

The dye in the colours you wish to dye, and a bottle of vinegar. Either malt vinegar or wine vinegar is ok. This is a relatively mild acetic acid necessary to the dyeing process. It helps the dye to "bite" and fixes the colour as well. For some processes other acids are used, but vinegar works well for most things. One may of course obtain stale asses urine, if you can find a stale ***, or a variety of other things, and for some things they will work very well indeed, but this of course involves a lot more pissing about!

When dyeing Arctic Fox, the best acid to use is formic acid. This is the same acid ants use to paralyse their prey! It is quite difficult to obtain, unless you have contacts, and is quite dangerous as well. I suppose you could crush a lot of soldier ants if needed.? It definitely works a very great deal better than most other acids. Giving bright vibrant colours . I don't know why this is so, but it is a fact. One may in fact use almost anything from sulphuric acid to maiden's water, but vinegar is by far the easiest to obtain. There are in any case not many asses, and precious few maidens of my acquaintance, whom I might reasonably ask to provide the necessary, without getting a black eye, or locked up!

If you do use any other acids, make sure you know what you are doing and take all necessary precautions. If you are not sure, stick to vinegar!

Your tools and equipment should be plastic or stainless steel. Wooden tongs and spoons must not be used, they will soak up dye and are impossible to clean properly, and may contaminate your bath. A few small plastic spoons for measuring the dye powder will also be required.
I use a camping stove with a gas cartridge for heating my dye bath. I usually do all my dyeing in the garage. I have done some in the kitchen on occasion, but this is really asking for trouble, and I would not normally do so. An electric heating ring may also be used, but I prefer the gas as it gives more immediate control. If you wish, you may use a cooking thermometer to control the temperature of your dye bath. I have never bothered doing so. The cardinal rule is, as hot as possible without actually boiling. This can easily be determined without a thermometer.

The procedure is quite simple, a measured quantity of water (I invariably use exactly one litre or multiples thereof), is poured into the pan, brought to the boil and the measured amount of dye is added (this depends on the colour you are dyeing and the results you wish to obtain, instructions are included with Veniard dyes) and then well stirred. The vinegar is added (one or two teaspoonfuls is usually sufficient, for dark colours and deep shades you may use more) and also well stirred, the bath left to cool for a moment (it must not be boiling!) check the temperature, and then the clean, thoroughly wet and preferably very warm material is then added to the bath. Results can be checked by using a small piece of the same material as a monitor, removing this from the bath from time to time, and rinsing it under cold running water. It will show you exactly how things are progressing, and when your desired shade has been reached.

Some shades are achieved almost immediately, others require quite some time. If the shade is not deep enough, even after a while in the bath, then you may add more dye and vinegar, but only after first removing the material from the bath.

Do not add dye to the bath while material is in it. The results can be disastrous as far as the final colour is concerned, and streaking or spotting may also occur. Do not be tempted to put more dye than necessary in the bath; this is wasteful, and unnecessary. The material will only take up a certain amount of dye in any case, and using more is simply a waste. A really good dye bath "exhaust" is almost clear water, as most of the dye is taken up. If you are trying for lighter shades or "special" overdyed colours, then of course use less dye, and "sneak up" on your required result by adding small amounts to the dye bath. Always remove the material first, and give it a good stir.

A set of instructions comes with each pot of Veniards dyes. Mr. Veniard also produced a very good pamphlet on dyeing some years ago, and most Veniards stockists should have it or be able to obtain it. It is shown in the photo. The instructions here should suffice though.

You should definitely do your dyeing in the garage or an outhouse if possible. These special powder dyes are extremely powerful and will colour anything with which they come into contact. The result may be quite impossible to remove. Your family harmony may be severely strained if you colour your new fitted kitchen work surfaces in all the colours of the rainbow, in fact one colour will usually more than suffice! A spilled dye bath or a few coloured patches in the garage is a nuisance, although also an interesting talking point, most people simply have oil and stuff, but if it happens in the kitchen it is a major catastrophe! Basically the same applies to the bathroom. These dyes will colour grouting cement and other stuff immediately. Bright purple grouting does not go well with pale green tiling, believe me!

When dyeing feathers and other delicate materials you must not boil the dye bath while the material is in it. The material will be damaged. It is also best to prevent the material touching the sides of the bath if possible, in a very hot bath this will cause feathers to curl or singe, which makes them useless for tying purposes.

Some materials will only take up the dye properly, when the bath is very close to boiling. This is especially true of many furs and hairs. If the dye is not "taking", then increase the temperature, but don't boil the bath with material in it. Sometimes, the effect when the dye "takes" is quite sudden and dramatic, variations of one or two degrees Celsius can make all the difference here. The bath suddenly "clears", and the material is almost magically coloured. It is quite fascinating to watch. If you can get it, a white enamel pan is a great help here, as it is easier to observe such changes. If you use a dark coloured pan, then place a piece of white hard glazed tile or similar in the bottom as an aid.

These aniline (Veniard) dyes are combination dyes, this means several dye colours are combined by the manufacturer to produce a certain colour, just as an artist mixes primary colours to achieve various tones and shades, dyes are also blended to achieve the desired effect. The principle is the same, but with one slight but very important in fact absolutely major!!! difference.

Different dye colours penetrate at different rates!!! Also, some materials may have more affinity for a particular component of the dye, or vice versa. If you remove your material from the bath too soon, it may well be a completely different colour than the one you were trying to obtain, the material must remain in the bath long enough to absorb all the colours present.

Dark colours are much easier to dye than light colours. You can dye practically anything darker than it already is, but you cannot dye a dark colour lighter. Deep shades of light colours are difficult to achieve as well, especially fluorescent dyes sometimes produce only light pastel shades of the required colour, although the material may fluoresce like a firework display when viewed under the correct light.

Theoretically you can dye anything black, in practice this is often really quite difficult as a large amount of dye is often needed, and the material may have to stay in the bath a long time at the hottest possible temperature, without actually boiling, to achieve a really deep black. Other materials may only need a short time.

One trick here to achieve a good black, is to dye the material orange first, and then overdye it. This works very well. It also has some other advantages for some fly patterns.

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