I was thinking of dying some Caribou with this.
Was wondering will kool-aid dye this kind of material, need to dye it blue. Have used Rit with good result but kool-aid is considerably cheaper and more readily available.
thanks
Mike
Mike,
Here’s alink to Kool Aid dyeing info. Stuff works well but the end result depends on the color of the hair you start with. See the charts.
[url=http://www.thepiper.com/fiberart/koolaid/:4e41c]http://www.thepiper.com/fiberart/koolaid/[/url:4e41c]
Allan
Thanks Allan,
I’ll try a small bit to see how it takes.
later
Mike
Hi Mike.
I’ve used the kool-aid to dye hackle in a few different colours.I have some Carabou straight from the rock in a natural white colour. I’ve considered dying this as well.
Let us know how your dying experiment turns out. -Yaf
OK, I dyed the caribou, maybe the equivalent of a 10 by 8 inch peice, stove top.
Not sticky on details, pot was about 12 inches wide water was about 3 to 3 and half inches deep.
Threw in 1/2 cup of vinegar and two packets of Rasberry-lemonade Ice Blue.
It took alot longer than 30 minutes though, I suspect it was more like 2 or more hours.
The water was alot clearer after I had finished as the hide absorbed most of the colour.
The results were very nice, except the very tip of the hair did not absorb much colour.
The Part for spinning and clipping did.
I’d put a photo if I knew how. I can tell you this, the colour is more vivid and bright than the rit navy blue I dyed earlier this year.
I suspect if I use less hair the color would have been richer, hard to imagine, and I suspect if I used more hair it would have been a bit duller. I suspect if i used another packet or two of kool aid it would have been really rich. All I can say is I was extremely, extremely pleased with the results. Had good success with the navy blue bug this year(orange hackle). I think the Brookies will really love this new colour with the orange hackle, maybe chuck one at a salmon or two next spring as well.
later
Mike
[This message has been edited by LadyFisher (edited 12 November 2005).]
Thanks LF, for those who wondered how my Kool aid dying went, here are the results.
The colour does look quite a bit lighter on photo than the original results, Actual colour is slightly darker.
later
Mike
[This message has been edited by Newfoundlander (edited 12 November 2005).]
[This message has been edited by Newfoundlander (edited 12 November 2005).]
Mike, I’ve used Kool-Aid a lot, and there are some things to consider. First, a microwave makes it go much faster (3 minutes). I guess you can use vinegar if you feel you have to. I’ve never done it, and the colors stay fast. What I like about Kool-Aid dying is that what you see in your mixture is pretty much what you get. I use a clear pyrex dish with a rubbermade top (maybe its a rubbermade dish, but it’s glass and microwaveable). This top has two holes, and is ideal. I dye small quantities only with this, a whole neck or something like that you might as well use real dye. But it’s really quick and handy to do small bunches of hair, hackles, mallard feathers, whatever. It MUST be animal though, acrylics just can’t be dyed with Kool-Aid. Up in Canada you can get Dylon multipurpose dye, which I like to use. Alice Conba from Ireland gave me a heads up on these, and they’re great. Just a small quantity of water in a saucepan, heat to a boil, add a small quantity from the tin (experiment with how much), simmer, add salt to make color fast. Very easy to do as well. You should see the subtle shades Alice gets with these.
Eric
Mike, those bugs look great, should work well on your Avalon Brookies and Atlantics.
Looks to be close to the right colour to tie up some extended body Damsels as well, although I’m not sure that Caribou hair would be stiff enough for this. - Yaf
Dylon dyes, do you have a sight for colour selection, I have never seen them on the rock, would be interesting to see colours available. Flies with orange,brown, yellow and blue were great flies for me this year,
And the flies were large. We visited one particular place on the salmonier line for trout and it seemed the bigger the fly, the bigger the fish 
.
Yes Yaf, I have a good feeling about those bright blue bugs, I rose a couple of big brookies on the royal blue bugs this year, hooked one while I had the rod between my legs lighting a smoke, but as luck would have it he got of after about 8 to 10 seconds. Brookies were at least in the 2 pound range, and the RIT royal blue certainly doesn’t have the same brilliant properties that the kool aid bugs do. I can’t wait 'til next spring to give 'em a whirl.
I always tie a pencil type body on my bugs I find the longer more uniformed body looks more natural,I equate them with worms maybe the fish do the same. I think this shape is more natural than the fat bodied bugs you see most anglers tying, Not sure it matters with salmon, but on one river this year they only wanted the slim design, I put on another bug after loosing one, and it was only slightly fatter, same colour design and they would not even rise for it. Selected a thin bug to replace the fat one, and the action was back on.
later
Mike
[This message has been edited by Newfoundlander (edited 15 November 2005).]
Did a google on this as I’ve never herd of Dylon Dyes either…But I will have em…
[url=http://www.dylon.co.uk/colourcentre/:15316]http://www.dylon.co.uk/colourcentre/[/url:15316]
I wonder which kind is best, , all kinds there, which one for fur I wonder.
later
Mike
was’nt sure either but I went with the Pure Color…says it’ll dye either warm or cold…so it oughta do…
“I’ve often wondered why it is that so many anglers spend so much money on,and pay so much attention to.the details on the wrong end of the fly line.If they took as much care in selecting or tying their flies as they did in the selection of the reel and rod,They might be able to gain the real extra edge that makes it possible to fool a fish that has,in fact,seen it all before” A.K.Best
Everyone wants to excel in this sport but at the same time we let traditionalists place restrictions on our tactics, methods, and ideas. I always assumed that fly fishing was a sport that allowed imagination, creation, adaptation, investigation, dedication, education, revelation? : Fox Statler, On Spinners (Not the dainty Dry Fly kind) “Spinner’d Minner Fly”
“Wish ya great fishing”
Bill