I want to dye some rabbit olive. I’m going to do this after the flies are tied, so I could tie something like a zonker with crosscut rabbit palmered up it, and then dye the back green or something. So I’m looking for a technique where I could put the fly in a shallow pan and let it sit for a while, or just hold it in halfway in the dye bath. Any suggestions?
Benjo,
I do most of my dying in a coffee carafe on a hotplate. If you used this method you could rig something on top to hang the flies from so they are only immersed half way in the dye bath.
Steve
“If there are no dogs in Heaven, then when I die I want to go where they went”-Will Rogers
Hmmm. . . here’s how I’d do it.
- Tie up a dozen or two.
- Get the flies moist and stroke the hair on the bottom of the fly down, and the hair on top up. Give it a double mohawk.
- Use a long, thin piece of soft wood or foam (should be a few inches longer than the pan in step 5), and stick the flies into it all in a row, all perfectly straight.
- Get your dye solution hot and ready in a separate container.
- Flip the flies over and rest the ends of the stick over the sides of a shallow pan (somethink like a 9"x9" cake pan comes to mind).
- Pour the dye solution into the cake pan and fill it enough to cover the top half of the hair (which is now facing down).
- Let them soak or put them over heat, whatever it is that you do with dye (I don’t really know).
[This message has been edited by OkieBass133 (edited 14 February 2005).]
Benjo, The dye will migrate up the rabbit fur, so if you want a two tone or a natural color migration from one to the other, don’t put the fur all the way in the dye bath, just maybe a third of it.
I’m guessing here with a little bit of experience also.
Bob
I believe I’d try it with a Pantone or other type of marker…not a dye bath.