Custom Made Alcohol Dyes

[Archer69]

I'm thinking of trying to use RIT dyes for some custom color blends. I'm wondering what type of alcohol is used in alcohol based dyes? Would denatured alcohol found in a hardware store work? Would 190 proof grain alcohol work?

[sandycreek]

Hi Archer,

Somewhere on this site you'll find the recipe for making the homemade RIT spirit dyes, just do a search on "RIT" maybe. I made up a bunch of different colors using this recipe and have had great luck with them. I've never had a problem with them rubbing off, or trying to transfer when I oil a project. I personally use Sunnyside brand Denatured Alcohol Solvent as a base, although it does smell suspiciously similar to some brands of vodka that I have a hazy recollection of drinking while at college...

Granted they aren't quite as nice as the Fiebings spirit dye, for example, but I can make make almost 2 quarts of RIT dye for just a little more cost than 4oz. of the Fiebings....

-Aaron

Edited February 9, 2012 by sandycreek

[mrdabeetle]

I did a few searches and came up empty. Can you see if you can track it down? I searched "homemade dye" "rit dye" and "diy rit dye". Not knowing the content of the thread/post, it's difficult to know what keywords I need to find it. Thanks to the searching, though I think I have all the info I need to become an expert at Vinegaroon.

[cem]

This question pops up every now and then, these are the threads I know of for some reason they didn't come up in my intial search here, had to use google to find them I only know of them because I posted in a couple.

http://leatherworker.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=1423 I believe this might be the original thread I based my recipe on the info found here.

http://leatherworker.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=3924&hl

http://leatherworker.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=6864&st=0&p=76598&hl=+methylated%20+spirits&fromsearch=1entry76598

http://leatherworker.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=15347

Hope these are of help, the one thing I found though is that the Rit mixture isn't that light fast probably even worse than the actual leather alcohol dyes, that's under the harsh West Australian sun though. So you might get better durability depending on where you live and what you make.

I no longer use Rit or any other alcohol dye as I developed a sensitivity to them and swapped to Craftsha water based so I'm afraid I can't help with any other info.

The above threads should definately get you started with it though.

Cheers,

Clair

[sandycreek]

Hey all,

Did a little digging on my computer and found the recipe I used. Copied word for word from the text file on my computer:

In a 1 pint jar:

Mix 1/2 packet of RIT powdered dye with 1 tablespoon boiling water until a paste is formed.

Add approx. 1 cup methylated spirits (denatured alcohol)

Tighten lid securely and swirl until powder is disolved.

Not sure if this exact text came from here or where, but I seem to remember doing a copy-paste of it wherever I found it. So... to whoever originally wrote that I give the credit.

Some notes I'll add:

- After mixing it up I let it sit for 2 days or so... then....

- I never could get the "powder" to completely dissolve. It left some kind of sediment in the bottom of the jars that would occasionally float around and end up on a workpiece. I strained it off through some paint strainer cones (borrowed from work) to get rid of the majority of the sediment then through a coffee filter to nab the rest.

RIT colors that seem to work great on leather: Purple, Scarlet, Wine, Cocoa brown, Kelly green, any of the shades of Blue,

RIT colors that I can't get to work at all well: Golden Yellow, Sunshine Orange, Pearl Gray

every other color I've tried I'd rate as satisfactory.

Again as I said before, they aren't quite as nice as Fiebings, but they stretch a dollar a bit further, and being it DIYer it was fun playing mad scientist and mixing up my own colors

-Aaron

[mrdabeetle]

Thank you for the info. I'll give it a shot.