Trucos de montaje

Dyeing Rooster, Hen, Saddles and Backs
By AK Best


"Chicken skins - even those from the famous hackle farms - have some oils in them. It's what keeps them flexible. You can often see a darkened area on the white cardboard that rooster necks and saddles have been stapled to. If this area is quite dark, it means either there are a lot of oils in the skin, or the neck has been in the package a long time. The trouble is you never know how much oil is present. I usually dye six rooster necks at a time; if you're going to dye more, increase the degreasing formula in proportion or use two containers instead of one (treat saddles, hen backs, and hen necks the same as you would rooster necks.)

Carefully select your necks according to hackle size distribution and quality of the individual feathers. It is very important to remember that cream-white necks, when dyed, will always give you a brighter color. Darker necks will slway produce darker colors. You can only dye to a darker color than the natural, never lighter. Thus, you dye bath can only dye natural colors that are lighter than the dye bath. This may sound redundant, but it is very important to understand some of the hard rules before you begin. If you want to dye all the necks to the same color in the same dye bath, be certain that they are identical in their cream-white shade. If one or two are a little darker shade of cream, those same necks will produce a darker shade in the dye bath as well. Sometimes this is desirable." ~ A.K. Best

Credits: From Dyeing and Bleaching By A.K. Best, Published by the Lyons Press.

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